5.2. ERMUSR 11-15-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5. Public expenditures for food and refreshments associated with official Elk River Municipal Utilities functions serve a public purpose when the provision of food or refreshments is an integral part of an official Elk River Municipal Utilities function and the provision of food or refreshment is necessary to ensure meaningful participation by the participants. 6. Public expenditures for appropriate community and customer outreach and similar activities serve a public purpose when those expenditures are necessary for Elk River Municipal Utilities to ensure the efficient operation of its programs/services, promote the availability and use of Utility resources, and promote coordinated, cooperative planning activities among and between the public and the private sectors. SPECIFIC PROGRAMS AND EXPENDITURES Every Elk River Municipal Utilities expenditure; must be valid based upon the public purpose for which it is expended. These line-items are approved annually by the Utility Commission as a part of the overall budget approval process. The following items are deemed to meet the Utility Commission definition of public purpose expenditures. Meetings: Food/Meals/Refreshments The Elk River Municipal Utilities recognizes that situations in which Utility business needs to be discussed can and do occur during meal hours (i.e. luncheon meetings). In addition, there are public and employee meetings and events in which reasonable refreshments may add to the success of the meeting and/or event and create a more productive workforce. Meals are allowed at training or meetings only when they are part of a meeting or training involving official utility business and when it is the only practical time to meet. The following items are deemed to meet the Utility Commission definition of public purpose expenditures in regards to food/meals/refreshments. a. Allowed at Utility meetings and events that have the purpose of discussing Utility issues. These meetings would normally have apre-planned agenda and would involve predominately non-utility employees. b. Allowed when they are part of the structured agenda for an offsite conference, workshop, seminar, training session, or meeting in which the Utilities Director or a department head has authorized the employee to attend for training and development purposes. This does not include routine staff meetings. a Allowed when they are part of a breakfast/lunch/dinner meeting for official utility business when it is the only practical time to meet and when it involves non-utility employee participants (i.e. business developers or business representatives). Payment for fees relating to a special event, such as a Chamber of Commerce event, may also be allowed when approved by the Utilities Director and when attendance is deemed to meet the public purpose guidelines for community or customer outreach and marketing of the Utility.