Agency budget freeze doesn’t apply to cross-country trips by Mayor Scott’s top aides
The mayor’s office has spent nearly $34,000 on out-of-state travel since a budget freeze was imposed on police, fire and other Baltimore city agencies
Above: City Administrator Faith Leach tells city agencies to tighten their belts at the City Council budget hearing. (CharmTV)
City Administrator Faith P. Leach announced Tuesday that the Scott administration had placed a freeze, dating back to March, on spending by police, fire and other city agencies.
Fiscal austerity, she told the City Council’s budget committee, was essential because “we are facing unprecedented times locally, and we are trying to be as responsible as possible.”
“What we are shouldering will have a very significant fiscal impact to the city of Baltimore,” said Leach, whose own $275,000-a-year base salary was recently guaranteed by a 3½-year contract extension.
Today the city’s top administrator is in San Francisco, attending the National Black Forum for Black Public Administrators (NBFBPA).
She’s not alone.
Five other mayoral aides flew out to the conference yesterday for a total cost of $18,035, according to pre-paid plane, hotel and registration receipts reviewed by The Brew.
Attendees include Deputy City Administrator Shamiah Kerney, who appears in an online promo for the conference, and Marvin James, who left his position as Brandon Scott’s chief of staff on April 8, but continues to travel extensively.
Last Friday, for example, James returned from a Chief of Staff Association meeting in Seattle, spending three days at Microsoft’s corporate headquarters “gaining actionable insights . . . to drive excellence in chief of staff role,” he wrote in a memo to the Board of Estimates. That trip cost taxpayers $3,554, according to city records.
And although Calvin A. Young III is now the mayor’s chief of staff, James will be accompanying Young to the African American Mayors Association Annual Conference in Washington on April 15-18.
The Board of Estimates has already approved the pair’s meals, registration fees and lodging at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in D.C. for $5,332.
What’s more, the BOE is set next week to pay $5,860 to Linzy Jackson III, the mayor’s director of external partnerships, who attended the South by Southwest (SXWS) festival in Austin, Texas, “to gain firsthand knowledge and insight” of public events management.
In short, Scott’s office has spent over $30,000 – $33,771 to be exact – on out-of-state conferences and festivals since the time the budget freeze was imposed on city agencies – and will likely spend more to cover the cost of Scott’s anticipated attendance at next week’s Black mayors meeting.
Deputy City Administrator Shamiah Kerney (third from right) is featured in an online promo for the National Black Forum conference in San Francisco. BELOW: After attending his farewell party at City Hall on March 28, Marvin James traveled to Seattle and San Francisco. He’ll be going to another taxpayer-funded conference next week.
Six-member Contingent
Leach’s trip is notable for the number of people approved for travel.
The city’s Administrative Manual (AM-240-3) notes that “approval of more than 1 person from an agency per event will normally not be granted” by the Board of Estimates, and that “substantiation for additional attendees to the same event is required with the submission” for reimbursement.
Leach’s office gave “training and professional development” as the reasons why she and the five aides – Deputy City Administrator Kerney, former COS James, External Partnerships Director Jackson, Mayoral Liaison Ty’lor Schnella and Operations Assistant Joshua Carr – needed to go to San Francisco.
The Board of Estimates approves multiple requests, despite the Administrative Manual saying that no more than one person from an agency per event should “normally” be approved for travel.
Specifically, Jackson said he would “gain insight on innovation strategies,” while Schnella said his goal was to “strengthen my legislative and public administration skills to support implementation of Mayor Scott’s agenda.”
Leach and Kerney initially requested to be reimbursed for three nights in San Francisco.
But at the April 2 BOE meeting, they amended their forms to include a fourth night and $1,947.82 in added expenses. The spending board approved the changes without comment.
The mayor’s director of external partnerships spent a week at the SXSW conference last month, costing nearly $6,000. BELOW: The National Black Forum’s events today at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.
Corporate Events
Founded in 1983, the National Black Forum for Black Public Administrators currently boasts 2,500 members from 350 jurisdictions nationwide. Former Baltimore County Administrator Stacy L. Rodgers is its president-elect, and Baltimore-based software executive Donna Stevenson heads its corporate sponsorship program.
J.P. Grant sits on the group’s corporate council. The Brew reported in 2019 that the financier reaped $537,000 in master leasing fees from Baltimore while making secret payments to former Mayor Catherine Pugh in connection with the “Healthy Holly” scandal.
On the list of corporate sponsors – financier J.P. Grant.
Stripped of city contracts in 2020, Grant has made a gradual comeback in Maryland political circles.
He and his company, Grant Capital Management, made a $5,000 contribution to Scott’s reelection campaign as well as $4,500 to Governor Wes Moore, $6,000 to State Comptroller Brooke Lierman and $10,000 to the Howard [County] Coordinated Slate, according to State Elections Board records.
This week’s NBFBPA conference is heavily weighed to recreational and business-sponsored events. They include a six-hour visit to local winemakers, a bowling tournament, an electric bike trip over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito, a panel discussion on how to “build your brand” in the public sector, and workshops on public-private partnerships.