After following the City of Sugar Hill politicians and employees on their spring retreat to Thomasville from Thursday, March 3 through Saturday, March 5, I submitted Open Records Requests (ORR) asking for expense reports, receipts, and invoices to see exactly how much this trip cost the taxpayers.
Conspicuously missing from the documents were dinner meals for ANY of the 16 people at the retreat on Thursday, March 3 and Friday, March 4.
It was also peculiar that none of the elected officials filed expense reports. The only meals they ate that were accounted for were the catered breakfasts for which the City paid, and lunch on Friday that was paid for using a City credit card.
The meetings started at about 2 PM on Thursday, and it takes a little more than 4 hours to get to Thomasville from Sugar Hill. I expected to see people seeking reimbursement for lunch that day. I only saw lunch receipts for the Assistant City Manager, City Clerk, HR and Executive Services Manager, Facilities Director, Parks and Rec Director, and Economic Development Director. So, 6 out of the 16 people that attended. Maybe the rest took a brown bag from home. Maybe they are all devotees of intermittent fasting. But, it looked strange.
Saturday was the final day of the retreat, and the meetings ended at noon, and everyone had a 4+ hour drive back to Sugar Hill. There were no receipts or expense reports for lunches that day. That also looked strange.
To ensure I had every receipt, I resubmitted my open records requests a month later. I was told by the City Clerk that there were no more receipts associated with the retreat.
I know these people ate. After the meetings broke, I saw them heading off the hotel premises, presumably to have dinner together. It didn't seem likely that people would have paid for those out of pocket without being reimbursed. But, to be thorough, I inquired and confirmed that the City attendees did not pay for their own meals on the trip.
I submitted an open records request to the City of Thomasville to see if they had paid for the meals. They did not. The clerk from Thomasville was going to ask around to see if anyone knew anything, but I never heard back. I don't know if that's because they didn't know, or knew but didn't want to talk.
Ultimately, it's clear that some third party paid for the dinner meals (and possibly for some lunches). Given that lunch at a sandwich and bagel place was $222 for the whole group, I'm estimating (extremely conservatively) that dinner for the whole group would run around $500 for each of the two nights. That's a minimum $1000 contribution from someone out there.
I submitted another open records request to find out who paid for the meals, and specifically mentioned looking for emails or texts making arrangements or thanking the generous hosts. I was told that there was nothing responsive to the request.
The City Clerk is just a conduit there, so when I submit a request, she can only pass along my request, then pass back the answer she receives. Had anything been on the City servers or voice mails, the IT department would have been able to retrieve it. As far as I know, discussions of official business on private emails and phones are subject to Open Records Requests. But also, as far as I know, officials are on the honor system about disclosing the presence of that material and handing it over in response to an ORR. However, I do not trust that any elected official or the City Manager would answer that question truthfully.
Even though I still don't know who paid for these meals, I do know a couple of things.
First of all, the person or people dealing with this contributor made an effort to keep all this off the record. The City folks didn't just randomly encounter people who offered to buy them all dinner. Prior arrangements were made, but not in a traceable way.
Second of all, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Or a free dinner. Especially not in politics and government. Whoever paid for those meals expected something in return, and the cost of whatever they're asking for probably FAR exceeds the cost of those meals.
The people of Sugar Hill have a right to know who made such a sizable contribution, and what that contributor wants from our elected officials and employees.
To see the receipts and reports for yourself: