The Oakland Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners will meet Monday evening and may vote on a new budget (attachment) that includes a cap on commissioner travel spending to $5,000 a year.
Earlier this year, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit exposed some commissioners double-dipping and others taking unexplained trips with little documentation.
Since then, OHA has begun an internal audit of the commissioners’ travel and Executive Director, Eric Johnson, has implemented significant changes to the way travel is approved. Now, commissioners must fill out more detailed paperwork and
In a memo to the board[pdf], Johnson outlined the commissioners’ travel spending over the last fiscal year and it showed all commissioners already under the new $5,000 limit (which does not include conference registration fees) except for Moses Mayne, who spent $14,596 this past fiscal year in travel.
Mayne interviewed with the Investigative Unit back in February and insisted that the Investigative Unit’s records from OHA were incorrect and his personal records would reflect his correct spending. He then said in an email following our report, “I am awaiting the results from the internal audit and will then review my notes and calendar. Once I know specifically what trips are in question and why, I can review the relevant OHA records, and will be willing to discuss it further at that time.”
That audit should be completed sometime this summer.
