Posted by Charles Marsala, a resident of the Menlo Park: Downtown neighborhood, on Oct 14, 2007 at 4:20 pm

Some clarifications on the comments from the auditing firm on the police chief's expenses.

1. The Police Chief is not issued a Town of Atherton Credit Card.

2. The Police Chief is authorized to attend an annual conference.

3. Town policy prohibiting staff from using "Valet Services" during overnight travel was meant to prohibit laundry services.

4. Alcohol with meals is prohibited.

The Police Chief attended a conference at a hotel that did not have self parking and used Valet Parking. The Finance Director has called this a violation of using "Valet Services".

During the conference with his dinners, he also had wine and an appetizer.

On his expense reports he did not ask the Town of Atherton to reimburse him for his glass of wine. However the glass of wine and the appetizer were about the same price and he did not make clear if the he was being reimbursed for the glass of wine or the appetizer. Techinically the police chief should have put a line through the price of the wine to make clear that the reimbursement was for the appetizer.

The Finance Director reported both of these as expense report violations.

There were no questions on the airfare, hotel, or other expenses of this conference.

Regards,

Charles Marsala

Council Member