Council acts on travel, city attorneys, pot, lodging fees

By Kathryn Reed

On a 4-0 vote Tuesday, the South Lake Tahoe City Council said no to sending Finance Director Christine Vuletich to Monterey for training.

The $785 expense was put on a city credit card prior to the meeting, though staff said it is refundable.

“The $785 is not as important as the procedure. That policy we debated pretty vigorously and (it) should be followed,” Councilman Hal Cole said.

The policy he is talking about is that requests for training or conferences by staff be made in advance, not after the registration and payments are sent in.

City Manager Dave Jinkens said he is the one who wanted Vuletich to attend the conference to learn more about what the state is doing in terms of taking away money from cities throughout California.

“I’ve looked at the schedule of speakers and don’t think anything will be brought forward that hasn’t already been brought to the city,” Councilman Bill Crawford said.

Cole, who is on the finance committee, also seemed exacerbated that the warrants the council requested be put in their packets each meeting have not been. Warrants are essentially the bills that have been paid.

Councilman Bruce Grego was absent from the meeting.

In other action on Nov. 17 the council:

Approved the contracts for Patrick Enright and Jacqueline Mittelstadt, now city attorney and assistant city attorney, respectively. Councilmembers Cole and Crawford commented on them just a bit — mostly about the fact they can’t comment on the negotiations that led to the settlement agreement with Mittelstadt. “This had nothing to do with corruption. It has nothing to do with a cover up,” Cole said.

Heard a presentation about raising the fee lodging guests within the city limits pay. The money is for the Tourism Improvement District. A vote is expected at the Dec. 8 meeting, with implementation of the fee on Dec. 18 so holiday travelers will be paying more. The money collected goes toward marketing the South Shore.

Agreed to a temporary moratorium on medicinal marijuana establishments until the city crafts an ordinance dealing with this type of business.