Municipal officials in Richmond Co. have voted against making changes to their travel expense claims.
Brian Marchand, Warden, says the current time limit to submit claims is 60 days- that was changed from 30 days in September.
He says there’s been problems previously, and they’re having a hard time getting past them; a motion was put forward to remove the time limit for submission of expense claims at Monday night’s council meeting.
After the meeting, Marchand told The Hawk the issue isn’t about the time limit.
“You can see the divide in the issue for sure; to me, the major concern should be whether the travel is legitimate or not,” he said. “30 days- if you waited 30 days as opposed to weighing pre-approval, I believe the 30 days is minor compared to being pre-approved.”
Marchand said some people have been paid when they shouldn’t have.
He said he’s not pleased with the discussions.
“I’m just surprised for sure- very disappointed and very surprised at the outcome of these discussions,” he said. “On one hand, some are saying they don’t want any changes; they want policy to remain, but yet they’ve allowed three changes already.
Councillor, Alvin Martell, raised concerns about not changing policy based on the forensic audit and Ombudsman’s report.
He said he feels the policy is appropriate the way it is.
Marchand said this could potentially be the end of the discussion.