Council
Communication

Office of the City Manager
 
 

Date

February 25, 2008

 

Agenda Item No.       28

Roll Call No.              08-

Communication No.  08-098

Submitted by: Richard A. Clark, City Manager

 

 

AGENDA HEADING:

 

Submitting travel request for Bruce Braun, Richard Clark, Steve Lussier, Mindy Moore, Debra Richardson, Tom Vlassis, Stephen Waymire, Venkata Yarlagadda(2).

 

 

SYNOPSIS:

 

Recommend approval for travel requests listed below.

 

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

 

Amount: $1,458.25 (Braun); $2,017 (Clark); $1,750 (Lussier); $2,420 (Moore); $1,371 (Richardson); $2,217 (Vlassis); $2,153.39 (Waymire); $6,100 (Yarlagadda)

 

Funding Source:  2007-2008 Operating Budget under:

 

·        SP360 PWK040400 – Public Works – Street Maintenance (Braun)

·        GE001 CMO010000 – CMO – City Mgr-Administration (Clark)

·        SP360 PWK070100 – Public Works – Bridge Maintenance (Lussier)

·        GE001 PKS010100 – Parks & Recreation – General Administration (Moore)

·        SP324 POL982200 – Police – State Forfeited Funds (Richardson)

·        GE001 MCC010000 – Council – Mayor & Council (Vlassis)

·        SP324 POL982200 – Police – State Forfeited Funds (Waymire)

·        SP720 HRS980100 – IT – City Wide Training/Benchmarking (Yarlagadda)

 

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 

Bruce Braun (R-0), Street Maintenance Administrator, to Louisville, KY, from April 12 – 16, 2008 ($1,458.25), to attend the American Public Works Association’s (APWA) 2008 North American Snow Conference.  The Conference combines four days of education programs and technical tours with opportunities to network with manufacturers, distributors, consultants and other public works professionals.

Richard Clark (R-0), City Manager, to Washington, D.C., from June 11 – 13, 2008 ($2,017), to participate in “DC DM UNITED,” the Greater Des Moines Partnership's 2008 lobbying trip to speak with Congressional leaders and discuss the needs of the city.

Steve Lussier (R-0), Assistant City Attorney, to Denver, CO, from February 23 – 26, 2008 ($1,750), to perform a deposition in the case of Delong v. City.  The witness is only available on Monday February 25, 2008.  Unfortunately, the timing and nature of this occurrence has made it necessary that the travel take place before being included on the Council agenda for February 25, 2008.

 Mindy Moore (NR-0), Park Planner, to Las Vegas, NV, from April 26 – May 1, 2008 ($2,420), to attend the American Planning Association’s “2008 National Planning Conference.”  Conference sessions will focus on park planning, skill building, and conservation & sustainability.

Debra Richardson (NR-0), School Resource Officer Sergeant, to St. Louis, MO, from March 8 – 12, 2008 ($1,371), to attend the “35th National Conference on Juvenile Justice.”  This conference offers juvenile justice professionals a national perspective on the issues they face in their day-to-day efforts to make a difference in the lives of children and families.  The sessions at the conferences will highlight effective practice and programs, offer tips and tools, provide an opportunity for networking, and inspire and invigorate participants. Also, breakout sessions will include a wide variety of topics, from truancy and safe schools, to gangs, to family violence, to child abuse and neglect, to juvenile sex offenders, to substance abuse.

Tom Vlassis (R-1), Council Member, to Washington, D.C., from March 8 – 13, 2008 ($2,217), to attend, as a representative of the City of Des Moines, the National League of Cities’ “2008 Annual Congressional City Conference.” The Conference provides local elected officials and city staff an opportunity to learn about federal issues that are important to America’s cities and towns, to lobby Congress on short-term issues that will be on the Congressional agenda in 2008, and to make sure cities and towns have a clear, unified voice in the national campaign.

Stephen Waymire (NR-0), Police Captain, to Kofu, Japan, from April 3 – 9, 2008 ($2153.39), to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Greater Des Moines Sister City Commission’s relationship with Kofu, Japan.

Venkata Yarlagadda (NR-1), IT Senior Web Developer, to Chicago, IL, from March 4 – 7, 2008 ($3,200), to attend a three-day course on “Introduction to Programming ArcObjects using the Microsoft.NET Framework.” This course will provide training on GIS and how to integrate this within our web development.  Previously approved by Council at the December 17, 2007 meeting (Council Communication No. 07-743), circumstances have caused necessary revisions to be made to the original dates and costs of travel.

Venkata Yarlagadda (NR-1), IT Senior Developer, to Redlands, CA, from March 11 – 15, 2008 ($2,900), to attend a three-day course on “Developing Applications with ArcGIS Server using the Microsoft .NET Framework” This course will provide training on GIS and how to integrate this within our web development.

The amount budgeted for travel in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 is $293,866.  The amount expended for travel in FY 2008 as of February 19, 2008 is $191,866.

 

 

PREVIOUS COUNCIL ACTION(S):

 

Date:  January 20, 1992

 

Roll Call Number:  92-214      

 

Action: The City Council approved a revision to the policy for travel authorization requests.  Such revision requires trips that exceed three days and $1,250 be approved by the Council.  The number in parentheses indicates the total number of trips previously authorized for that individual for the current budget year.

             

 

BOARD/COMMISSION ACTION(S): NONE

 

 

ANTICIPATED ACTIONS AND FUTURE COMMITMENTS:  NONE