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6. Public expenditures for appropriate community and customer outreach and similar <br /> activities serve a public purpose when those expenditures are necessary for Elk River to <br /> ensure the efficient operation of its programs/services,promote the availability and use of <br /> city resources, and promote coordinated, cooperative planning activities among and <br /> between the public and the private sectors. <br /> Specific Programs and Expenditures <br /> Every City of Elk River expenditure must be valid based upon the public purpose for which it is <br /> expended. These line-items are approved annually by the City Council as a part of the overall <br /> budget approval process which includes a public hearing on the proposed budget. <br /> The following items are deemed to meet the Council definition of public purpose expenditures. <br /> Meetings: Food/Meals/Refreshments <br /> The City Council recognizes that situations in which city business needs to be discussed can and <br /> do occur during meal hours (i.e. luncheon meetings). In addition, there are public and employee <br /> meetings and events in which reasonable refreshments may add to the success of the meeting <br /> and/or event and create a more productive workforce. Meals are allowed at training or meetings <br /> only when they are part of a meeting or training involving official city business and when it is the <br /> only practical time to meet. <br /> The following items are deemed to meet the Council's definition of public purpose expenditures <br /> in regards to food/meals/refreshments. <br /> a. Allowed at city meetings and events that have the purpose of discussing city issues. <br /> These meetings would normally have a pre-planned agenda and would involve <br /> predominately non-city employees. <br /> b. Allowed when they are part of the structured agenda for an offsite conference, <br /> workshop, seminar, training session, or meeting in which the City Administrator or a <br /> department director has authorized the employee to attend for training and development <br /> purposes. This does not include routine staff meetings. <br /> c. Allowed when they are part of a breakfast/lunch/dinner meeting for official city <br /> business when it is the only practical time to meet and when it involves non-city <br /> employee participants (i.e.business developers or business representatives). Payment <br /> for fees relating to a special event, such as a Chamber of Commerce event,may also be <br /> allowed when approved by the City Administrator and when attendance is deemed to <br /> meet the public purpose guidelines for community or customer outreach and marketing <br /> of the city. <br /> d. Allowed during non-routine, official meetings of the City Council, council committees, <br /> advisory boards/commissions, and taskforces. <br /> e. Allowed where employees or volunteers are participating in a City Council <br /> sponsored or authorized special event or in an outside event as an official <br /> representative of the city. <br /> f. Allowed for department sponsored meetings, conferences or workshops where <br /> the majority of invited participants are not city employees. <br /> g. Cookies and coffee allowed for city employees'monthly safety meetings <br /> sponsored by the Safety Committee. <br /> Financial Management Policies Page 21 <br />