Indio Mayor Gene Gilbert talks with a reporter from The Desert Sun on Monday in front of Indio City Hall in this file photo. / Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun file photo
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Read previous stories about the credit card issues in Indio in our series “How They Spend Your Money,” at mydesert.com/creditcards
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Indio is revising its credit card policy to ensure it “brings accountability back to us,” the mayor said Monday.
Mayor Gene Gilbert, in a meeting with The Desert Sun's editorial board, said he saw a draft of the new 14-page policy Monday morning.
The new requirements replace a two-page policy the mayor described as “very liberal” and “vague,” especially when it came to dining out and travel.
Because the policy is still in draft form and being revised, a copy was not available Monday. It should go before the City Council on Feb. 17.
Those with the taxpayer-funded credit cards “will have to be more accountable for what they spend it on,” Gilbert said Monday.
“It brings accountability back to us. Basically, there was no accountability down there.”
A review of the city's policy came after a Jan. 3 report by The Desert Sun that showed the city's 62 cardholders had charged more than $805,000 since January 2008. That included nationwide travel, frequent meals out and tickets to three national sporting events.
The new policy is designed to provide greater oversight by department heads and the finance department, and specifically outlines when purchases can be made on the taxpayer-funded cards.
Employees also have to take a class on card usage, Gilbert said.
City Manager Glenn Southard has defended the city's spending as fiscally prudent and necessary city business.
“Credit cards are the way most people do business. Obviously you have to make sure what you do is appropriate,” Human Services Manager Dave Ison has told The Desert Sun.
“I can assure you no one is buying anything for themselves on the city dime.”
City Hall has since tightened oversight of the spending and revoked most of the cards.
Only department heads, council members and key managers maintain direct control of their cards.
No other cards are being reissued until after the new policy goes to council, said Mark Wasserman, assistant to the city manager.
Councilman Glenn Miller also has suggested a “blue ribbon panel on finances” comprised of residents independently auditing the city's spending habits.
Expenses gave Gilbert pause
Gilbert, who told The Desert Sun he was initially “blindsided” by what the credit card statements revealed, reviewed the public records the newspaper obtained and on Monday said, “I was not happy with what I saw.”
He describing the food and travel expenses as “excessive” and enough to “give me pause.”
“This is my interpretation only, OK? It basically said: ‘If you are thinking about the city of Indio, you can write this off,'” Gilbert said of the old standards.
Gilbert noted he had talked to staff to better understand how such charges were tracked and found that “nobody's watching this.”
Council members have told The Desert Sun they did not regularly review the card statements before approving the final payment to the bank.
In drafting its new card controls, Indio officials reviewed the policies at cities in and out of the Coachella Valley, including the city of Palm Springs, Wasserman said.
In Palm Springs, 81 of its nearly 450 employees have cards, according to The Desert Sun's review. They charged about $2.5 million from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 3, 2009, through a process that has replaced its old purchasing order system.
Palm Springs uses a bank program to give rebates based on the large volume of sales and, with the exception of regular food for the City Council, the card statements indicated few meals were purchased.
Indio's policy review includes looking at “out-of-date” language in the municipal code that refers to gas and phone cards, Wasserman said.
The review will not be completed in time for next week's council meeting. The policy should be on the Feb. 17 agenda.
“I think we're moving in the right direction,” Gilbert said.
