The National League of Cities is holding their Congress of Cities and Exposition Nov 28-Dec 1, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts.
Long time readers of this blog know that I have in the past been critical when we sent large delegations to these meetings. It has been my opinion that the most number of people we need to send to NLC conferences is four (Mayor, City Manager and 2 Council Members).
For awhile, that is what was happening. The city reduced the number of participants to these NLC conferences to four.
Now, that is changing. Even though Council is supposed to announce who is taking these trips in advance they very seldom do. At least not without some prodding.
Last week I obtained the list of those who are planning on attending:
Mayor Jeff Meyers
Jim Neighbor Ward I
Alan Willoughby Ward II
Neal Sawyer Ward II
Dawn Kuhn Ward III
Jeff Vaught Ward III
Mickey Sandifer Ward IV
Carol Gonzales City Manager
The city manager did confirm that tentative travel and hotel arrangements have been made for those listed above.
Eight folks going!!!!! Unbelievable. The only two not going are Dan Pflumm, Ward I and Michelle Distler, Ward IV. Happy to see that they care enough not to add to this waste.
Four people would be sufficient. They could come back and educate the others, and the city. As a matter of fact, there was an effort to have the attendees write a synopsis of these meetings, and publish them on the city's web site. To the best of my memory, that was only done once.
Sidebar: A cup of coffee says that Mickey Sandifer spends the most for this trip. In the past, his schedule has usually shown him to arrive before the others and leave after them, resulting in more hotel nights and per diem expenses.
