By: Diane Benjamin
From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10911
In June I posted receipts showing Tari Renner is feeding himself and calling it “business meal”: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/30/free-lunches-do-exist/
This month’s P-Card spending shows more Renner meals with no one else listed. Of course I’m going to file a FOIA for the receipts.
More questions: Eric Rankin is a County Board member and fellow Democrat. Who was the City Board Member? Why not state the name?
The US Conference of Mayors was June 24-June 27. That’s 3 nights and 4 days. How did Tari’s hotel cost $1044.52? FOIA filed.
The former Coliseum management did not issue financial information before they quit. There is now NOTHING on the City website from May 1, 2015 to when VenueWorks took over on April 1, 2016. Was Bronner Group hired to fix the mess? Is this all it cost? Will it even be possible to figure out what CIAM did? Why did the City write John Butler a check for concession equipment with my lawsuit still pending, a financial mess at the Coliseum, and from what I hear – a mess inside the Coliseum?
Outside legal was close to $70,000!
I believe Beerfest was funded on behalf of the BCPA, but the BCPA had no plans to reimburse the City from the profits.
Considering the prices at Chipotle, I’m guessing the meal with Renner and Rankin just has a mistake and meant County Board member. That is a LOT of eating on the taxpayer dime though. Can’t they meet after breakfast and before lunch, in the afternoon, or in the evening? If I’m IWU, I’m wondering if this guy is ever on campus working.
Tax dollars provide an office for the Mayor and Hales. There is no need to eat out for city business.
Also, for Renner’s hotel stay, he sure chose an expensive hotel. It looks like that Marriott charges about $180-200 a night for a standard room right now, so during a busy time, it’s probably more. Including about 20-25% in local/state lodging taxes that they charge and probably $20 a day for parking, it’s not surprising to see the cost be over $1,000.
Why not stay at a cheaper hotel for $100 a night or less and commute to the conference? We do that all the time to save money. Why not take the bus system there, Mr. Mayor? Why not see if they have daily bike rentals?
Yeah Tari! Get on your bike and ride hypocrite!
Conventions often offer group discounts. $1,000 divided by 3 equals $333.00/ night. I’m guessing Renner stayed 4 nights at the hotel hosting the conference so as not to miss any early morning elbow rubbing.