What exactly directors should be reimbursed for, and how those payments should be viewed, came to the forefront during a lengthy discussion at the Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District’s monthly subcommittee meeting last week.
At the center of the matter was director Melissa Temple, who made the argument for wider latitude in what directors may collect reimbursem*nt for, namely in regard to expenses relating to cross-state travel for meetings and training sessions, including housing and transportation costs. A handful of other directors disagreed, citing the demands of public service and concerns about the reimbursem*nt process being taken advantage of in the past, while most argued for clearer language and consistency in how reimbursem*nts are processed.
“I think there’s a level of respect and not micromanaging each director and (supporting) them when they’re trying to get educated,” Temple said during the meeting.
State statute sets a limit on how much elected representatives may be reimbursed for job-related expenses, including a $70 per-diem cap that the district follows and a $3,600 maximum yearly reimbursem*nt. Far less clear is what qualifies as reimbursable, with statute simply referring to “actual and necessary expenses” being reimbursable and leaving it to local authorities to define what fits that definition beyond sanctioned events within the district.
Approval for out-of-district events falls to the executive committee of directors, which includes LENRD chairman Roger Gustafson, vice chairman Matt Steffen, secretary Jay Reikofski, treasurer Mark Hall and Anthony Wisnieski. LENRD general manager Brian Bruckner said the item was placed on the agenda to avoid the necessity of the committee voting on reimbursem*nts.
“I just think that there’s the risk of staff being put in a sensitive situation when it comes to processing (a reimbursem*nt request), because we then become the judge and jury,” Bruckner said.
Temple — who said in a later interview with the Daily News that she believes she takes among the most trips outside of the district for training sessions of any board member — took issue with the policy, which had not previously been enforced, and called into question the ability of the executive committee to render judgment because of “unfair biases at play.”
While she did not mention the matter at the meeting, Temple and the executive committee were involved in a high-profile lawsuit that resulted in a settlement earlier this year related to the committee’s decision to censure her following a complaint she filed against fellow director Scott Clausen, a ruling that was ultimately rebuked by a federal district judge. The censure was accompanied by a number of penalties that also were repealed by the federal ruling, among them restriction to travel reimbursem*nts and per diem compensation.
During the meeting, Temple said she spends roughly a third of her income on expenses related to events she attends as a director. She said the costs might discourage other citizens considering running for the board, a sentiment later backed by a citizen in attendance who said she was running for a board position.
Temple said various events, such as visiting with local residents and attending training outside of the district, are important to her ability to serve in her position effectively.
“Yes, it is a public service, but we don’t want to eliminate people that do want to serve who also have to take time off work,” she said. “It’s a privilege to be able to say, ‘I can afford not to collect my per diem … to not collect mileage, or to pay for my own hotel.’”
Director Chad Korth responded by showing his callused hands, stained nearly black from working on a broken hay baler that he had to leave out of commission just before the meeting as a representation of the sacrifices he makes for his director role.
“I’ve been on the board coming up on 10 years … I haven’t taken a red penny from the NRD,” he said. “I do it because I’m an elected official, and I think I’m doing it because I hope to make a difference … we shouldn’t be here for a paycheck. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of directors come and go; a lot of directors have made this a part-time job.”
Asked during a later interview with the Daily News about previous abuses of the reimbursem*nt system, Bruckner, who’s served the LENRD for 18 years in various roles, agreed with Korth’s assertion while declining to offer specific names.
“There’s definitely been things that have called into question whether or not it was a necessary activity as part of a director’s role,” he said.
In response to Korth, Temple said the $3,600 annual limit on reimbursem*nts serves as a check on anyone who might try to abuse the system. Temple said she puts in about 10 hours a week to the district that goes unpaid.
Wisnieski provided his own argument in favor of codifying sanctioned in-district events as the sole reimbursable events, referring to the business he runs and the balance he has to strike with his director role.
“I have to decide what’s more important: My daily business or this, and it is a tough decision to know when I want to go (to an event), when I don’t want to go, where I want to go; I gotta do what’s right for me,” he said. “So if you get reimbursed for it, it’s there, if it’s not, it’s not and it’s on your own dime.”
Clarifying his position in a later interview with the Daily News, Wisnieski said that many of the training sessions the board referred to in the meeting may be viewed by recording or live-stream instead of being attended in person.
He also said that while he doesn’t support eliminating the $70 per diem compensation, as Reikofski and a few other board members suggested during the meeting, he said that limiting reimbursem*nts is important to avoid abuse as well as cost to taxpayers.
“I think I’m speaking for … the majority of the board, we just want to be fair, we don’t want to be a burden,” he said.
A few other directors spoke against expanding the definition of reimbursable events, including Jim Aschoff, who asked why Temple needs to go to so many out-of-district events.
“Because I care,” she responded.
Gustafson said it would be unrealistic for him to ask for compensation for all of the things he does for his role outside of sanctioned events, and that clear language for what qualifies as necessary would be helpful.
“I run into farmers every day that ask me questions,” he said. “If I had a notebook, I could be writing down my time all the time, and so it (would give) us some clear lines.”
A handful of others carved a path somewhere down the middle. Former chairman Gary Loftis agreed with codifying authorization for out-of-state events and spoke on how reimbursem*nts have been approached.
“Over 30 years, I’ve never felt mistreated,” he said. “I think we’ve always really gotten along pretty well as a board in general in terms of what’s reimbursable and what’s not, but I think you need to be careful to be consistent in what you do, and that might be a little bit of the issue here.”
In a later interview with the Daily News, Temple said reimbursem*nts may cover only a small portion of the overall cost of taking her role “very seriously,” ranging from lost income to the extra hours she logs.
“Why do you want to punish somebody who is willing to make those sacrifices?” she said. “Public service isn’t supposed to be martyrdom.”
Bruckner, meanwhile, said during his interview with the Daily News that he’s optimistic that the conversation helped to “clear things up a bit” for the board about what qualifies for reimbursem*nt. During the meeting, he called it a healthy first step in moving toward a definite set of policies for the board to vote on, which he indicated wasn’t likely to happen this month.
In the meantime, he said during the interview that the board and LENRD staff intend to follow the letter of the law as it now stands.
“Melissa considers this a form of micromanagement, and … you can come to that conclusion, but as I stated (during the meeting), we’re only now following our policies as they’re written,” Bruckner said. “That hadn’t been previous practice, but we’re doing things differently now.”
