Over four million dollars worth of mismanagement hasn’t turned many heads at the County. So it’s unlikely that a few hundred dollars worth of graft is going to change anyone’s mind about Denny Inman. But here goes.
Recently I learned about a little behind the scenes battle behind Inman and then County Auditor Mike Frerichs in early 2005. It looks like Frerichs was doing a little more than sitting on his rear in this particular instance and he deserves some credit for standing up to Inman. Here are the details as I’ve learned them so far
In 2004, Denny Inman attended two conferences for the Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA); one in Ft. Lauderdale and one in Colorado. I can’t speak to the merits of the conference for his particular job responsibilities. What is apparent from the documents provided me by our current Auditor, Tony Fabri, is that Inman tried to bill the taxpayers of Champaign County for over a thousand dollars in personal expenses. He ended up reimbursed for none of his expenses, including those which appear valid. Here is the packet of information.
The first trip was in June, 2004 to Ft. Lauderdale. The conference ran from June 14-16, 2004. Despite the three day length of the conference, Inman attempted to bill the County for six nights of hotel rooms, plus accompanying meals. He also billed the county for laundry services. The receipts for his meals include liquor on a couple of occasions. Two expenditures stand out most. A $43.99 bill for Sloppy Joes, which is known as an inexpensive bar and eating establishment in the Ft. Lauderdale dining guide. That bill was rung up at 11:42 P.M. Another receipt was for Rush Street which is listed on line as follows:
Dual sided dance club with 70's disco on one side and more modern progressive stuff on the other, it doubles as a Martini bar with tasty coctails like the Sour Apple at $10.75 a pop. A bit expensive, but good fun.
The receipt unfortunately doesn’t tell us on which side Inman chose to display his moves.
The second trip was to Copper Mountain, Colorado. The conference ran two days, August 2nd and 3rd. Inman decided to bill the County for 5 days. Interesting highlights for this trip include the fact that the extra hotel rooms are in Louisville, Colorado, just outside of Boulder, where I believe Inman went to college. Inman also charged the County for two bags of ice on Sunday morning, no doubt to keep his laptop from overheating from all the hard work he was putting in for taxpayers.
Inman of course has no defense on charging the county for nights on the town and alcohol. He tries to defend his extra days by suggesting that he’s meeting with other county officials. He gives no details about those meetings, and why those county officials would be so much better to meet with than, say, county officials in Joliet. Of course, one of the extra nights was for a Saturday night in Colorado. Does he really want us to believe that he met with other County officials on a Sunday?
There is no doubt that county officials can gain valuable knowledge and insight by meeting with officials in other counties. It generally happens at conferences, but a special trip for such a meeting would not necessarily be wrong. For example, I am taking a trip to the vacation hot spot of Lake County on some technical issues in preparation of designing a new voter registration system. Under Mr. Inman’s vague premise, I could travel just about anywhere to meet with local officials on elections.
Thankfully, for taxpayers, Inman's attempt to stick the county for his vacation expenses was rebuffed.
