title
Adopt a Resolution to Approve Reimbursement a City Council Member to Attend Strategic Organizational Training
Staffreport
RECOMMENDATIONS
Staff recommends the City Council adopt a resolution to approve reimbursement of travel and training expenses incurred a two City Council Member to attend the Senior Executives in State and Local Government executive education program at the Harvard Kennedy School, that is more than the $10,000 allocated to Councilmembers per fiscal year.
BACKGROUND
Councilmembers and the Mayor are provided with a technology budget, a travel and training budget and an apparel budget per fiscal year. City budgets are set by the City Council as part of the budget cycle. The aforementioned budgets for the Mayor and Councilmembers are set per account, the monies are non-transferrable, and cannot carry over from year to year.
Councilmembers currently receive $10,000 and the Mayor receives $15,000 per fiscal year for official City business travel or training, to be reimbursed after providing sufficient supporting documentation to the City Manager.
Approved earlier this fiscal year, on July 17, 2023, Council added to their handbook the following language, “if Councilmembers have unused funds in their official City business Travel/Training budget, unused funds shall be deposited or set aside into a separate fund or pool and held for one fiscal year, to be used to cover the costs of future travel or training expenditures for Councilmembers who have exhausted their budget. Pooled funds will be administered through financial administrative procedures.”
As a part of continued leadership development, the City Manager recommended allocating funds in the budget of the City Manager’s Office for leadership programs designed and facilitated by higher education institutions. Two very reputable colleges including Harvard University and Stanford University sponsor such programs focused on soft skill leadership development and provide intensive training programs in a curriculum delivered in one-to-three-week formats. The reason for establishing this special budget account is that these programs can be expensive, ranging from $8,000 to $17,000 for tuition, and typically cannot be covered by normal operating training budgets. Approval for expenditure of these funds would occur in two ways. The City Council would approve attendance and the expenditure for Council Members and the City Manager would approve attendance and the expenditure for staff. The idea behind this program is to have focused leadership development opportunities for both the council and staff.
Councilmember Bowen has been accepted to the Senior Executives in State and Local Government executive education program at the Harvard Kennedy School program in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The program runs for three weeks in July, on campus in Cambridge, Ma.
Analysis
The cost of the Harvard Kennedy School program is $17,000 which covers tuition, housing, materials, and meals, and however it does not include airfare. The Local Governance Institute at Stanford costs $7,500 and includes tuition, instruction, and all materials.
Councilmember Bowen was accepted to the Harvard Kennedy Program. Councilmember Bowen has spent $9534.75 of her $10,000 travel and training budget for the 23/24 Fiscal Year. Thus, leaving Councilmember Bowen with approximately $465 to use on any training or travel for the City of San Leandro during the remainder of the 23/24 Fiscal Year. Councilmember Bowen will need approval for any costs over the $10,000 allocation to cover the cost of tuition in an amount of $17,000 plus the reimbursable costs of transportation and airfare to and from Cambridge, Ma estimated to be as much as $960. Since the tuition includes meals, there shall be no per diem paid.
The average round trip flight is around $600 dollars plus the cost of travel from the airport to the hotel and an estimate of 30 trips at $12 to and from the Harvard Kennedy School, which is 1.5 miles away, for an estimate of $360. The exact amount to be determined once plane tickets are purchased and receipts for taxi or bus tickets are submitted for reimbursement.
Fiscal Impacts
The total reimbursements may cost up to $17,960 , which requires increasing the FY 2023-2024 Budget by (the same amount) ($17,960) and will be funded by transferring existing appropriation from Account 010-12-050-5120 to 010-12-020-5510.
ATTACHMENTS
A - Draft Resolution
PREPARED BY: Kelly B. Clancy, City Clerk, City Manager’s Office
Michael Yuen, Finance Director, Finance Department