Editorial: VBT Board balks at passport cost for clerk

The voucher list to be approved at the March 7 Van Buren Township regular meeting showed a prepaid reimbursement to Clerk Leon Wright for a passport.
It was $110 and sent up a red flag for board members and the press.
Trustee Reggie Miller said she checked with the Michigan Township Association attorney and was told, “We cannot be spending public money on private ID.” Supervisor Kevin McNamara said he, too, checked with the MTA attorney and got the same advice.
Clerk Wright was not at the work/study session on Monday or the regular meeting on Tuesday, but he got the message. Supervisor McNamara said Clerk Wright has asked for his request for reimbursement for his passport to be removed from the voucher list.
Wright is set to attend an international clerks’ meeting in Montreal on May 21. His airfare to the event is yet to appear on a voucher list, but is expected to be around $400. He reportedly estimated driving to the event would cost $634.
Prepaid mileage for some of Wright’s other conferences totaled $417.30: to the Michigan Association of Municipal Clerks Institute, March 12-17, the MAMC Clerk’s Academy, March 20-23, both in Mt. Pleasant, and the MMRMA conference in Lansing March 2-3.
Wright will reimburse VBT for the passport and the board will discuss international travel and prepaid mileage at an upcoming work session and at budget time.