CAA: GA News, "Former Colorado Airport Director Resignation Linked to Expenses"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Monday, February 11, 2002

Resignation linked to expenses
Jeffco airport director spent $7,700 on seminar in Hawaii
By Charley Able
The Denver (CO) Rocky Mountain News


GOLDEN -- Former Jefferson County Airport Director Jeff Price resigned
after being confronted with questions about his expense account, which
included at least $7,700 spent on a trip to Hawaii for a
self-improvement seminar. 

An audit of Price's county-issued charge card account also found
undocumented or incomplete documentation associated with charges for
meals, lodging and other items as well as a trip made without written
authorization, all violations of county policy, according to documents
obtained under Colorado's Open Records Act. 

"Jeff made what I believe to be unwise choices as far as spending county
tax dollars," Commissioner Michelle Lawrence said. "As we have done
previously on various issues where there may be a violation of
accounting procedures, we immediately started an investigation. 

"Jeff chose to resign at that time." 

Price said he resigned for a combination of reasons, including
commissioners' questions about his expenditures and the Hawaii trip. 

"It all talks to the same quality of life issue. The county was curious
about some of this stuff and sure, that's going to be an issue," Price
said. "I noticed my quality of life, due to a lot of these issues and a
lot of personal issues, was not the same as I wanted." 

The county announced Price's resignation in a Jan. 11 press release. 

According to county records, Price used his county credit card to pay
$11,995.48 for materials, services and seminars by Tony Robbins, a
motivational speaker who developed a personal achievement program that
was the focus of Price's September trip to Hawaii. 

That total was offset by $4,634 later refunded by Robbins' organization.
All but $1,044 of the refunds came after Price resigned. 

Some of the refunds cover duplicate charges, but county staff is still
trying to determine why the other refunds were issued. 

"We still don't have all the information and what charges there were,"
said John Masson, county spokesman. 

Price repaid another $2,500 after commissioners questioned the
expenditures. Airfare and the hotel bill for the Hawaii trip amounted to
$2,908.41. 

Price said he secured "verbal approval" for the Hawaii trip and the
Robbins seminar from former County Administrator Ron Holliday. 

But Holliday said he "absolutely did not" give verbal approval and gave
no written authorization for the trip as required by county policy. 

Including the trip to Hawaii, Price charged more than $32,000 to his
expense account from Dec. 29, 2000, to Jan. 23, 2002, when the last
transaction was recorded. 

Price submitted expenses of $9,534 without the documentation required by
county policy. Most of that money was determined by county staff to be
for office supplies, airport expenses and other job-related costs. 

County policy requires that expense receipts be submitted with the
purpose of the expenditure and, when meals are charged, who was present
and the purpose. 

Price said many of the receipts he provided were lost in the shuffle. 

Commissioner Rick Sheehan, who chairs the Board of County Commissioners,
said the questions surrounding Price's expense account are
disappointing. 

"After discussing it, we felt like Jeff had not followed county policies
and procedures in the travel piece of it," Sheehan said. "We were very
frustrated with that and very disappointed, and he knew that our trust
had been diminished." 

Commissioner Pat Holloway said she sees both sides of the issue. 

"The charges concern me and the amount concerns me," Holloway said. "But
with Tony Robbins there is probably some real validity to what Jeff
could do with his training. I don't know whether we ever got a clear,
100 percent answer on that." 

Both Sheehan and Lawrence said the use of county money for the trip and
the Robbins seminar was improper. 

Price said his participation in the Robbins program proved valuable to
the airport's operations. 

"It's a leadership seminar; that's fundamentally what it comes down to,"
Price said. "I sent my staff to Stephen Covey seminars for almost two
years and each time we were raising the bar on our skills and abilities.
This (the Robbins seminar) was just another level. 

"For this particular program, the program costs were more expensive than
previous ones. So I felt, rather than trying to send additional staff to
a variety of programs, I'd go to the one program that taught it all and
then bring that back and implement the system. 

"The fact of the matter was: We were getting good results at the
airport."


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