LA PUENTE : Councilwoman, Treasurer Clash Over Expense Receipts

La Puente Councilwoman Sally Holguin-Fallon presented a gift to city Treasurer Ted Abo at the Monday night council meeting: a large, gaily wrapped box containing almost $800 worth of expense receipts she has refused to turn for several months.

Abo, however, did not accept the receipts, saying the councilwoman must submit them during normal business hours.

The same night, the City Council considered a resolution that would limit the time council members have to turn in receipts and impose penalties for late submissions.

The controversy over the missing receipts has become the latest skirmish in the contentious relationship between Holguin-Fallon and her fellow council members.

The first-term councilwomanmaintains that she is the object of discrimination because she is the first woman elected to the La Puente City Council. The four councilmen say she is an upstart who flouts established city procedure.

The disputed receipts were required to verify travel expenditures by Holguin-Fallon, including spending at a September conference of the California League of Cities that she attended in San Diego.

Holguin-Fallon said she withheld the receipts to protest what she called harassment on the part of Abo. She said the treasurer burst in unannounced on a meeting between her and a resident at City Hall several days after the conference and insisted she give him the receipts immediately. She said he then called her repeatedly, demanding the receipts.

Abo said, however, that he entered the room without realizing that she was in the midst of a meeting and merely requested that she come by his office.

City Manager Bob Gutierrez said Abo later requested the receipts on 17 occasions, on her answering machine, over the phone and in person.

“I didn’t want to be bullied that way and embarrassed in front of residents,” Holguin-Fallon said. “I’m the only woman on (the council). They don’t do that to the men.”

Gutierrez said that Holguin-Fallon’s gender had nothing to do with it.

“I believe the staff was doing nothing more than the staff was required to do, in advising her that this documentation needs to be turned in,” he said.

Gutierrez said that there is no established policy for when council members must turn in expense receipts, but that they have traditionally submitted them as soon as possible after an event.

But Holguin-Fallon said her expenses are scrutinized more closely than those of other council members. She cited receipts showing that other council members purchased drinks at a pool bar on their credit cards and ordered room service, and that Mayor Joe Alderete once bought a $142 dinner while on city business in Palm Springs.

By contrast, she said, the city manager refused to authorize her purchase of a Thomas Bros. street guide she bought to find her way around Los Angeles for city business matters. Holguin-Fallon said she bought the guide to replace her own outdated copy of the map book.

Alderete said, though, that the dinner in Palm Springs was not only for himself but also for other La Puente City Council members who attended the conference, and that he never made room service purchases on his city credit card. However, several room service calls were listed on his credit card statement, city documents show.

Gutierrez said that though there is no city policy delineating what council members may buy with city money, the city traditionally pays for beverages during their business travel. The guide book, though, was an inappropriate purchase.

“It was considered improper to replace a personal item on a city credit card,” he said.

Holguin-Fallon’s expense vouchers for two three-day trips showed expenditures of $177.63 during the San Diego conference: on meals, telephone charges, mileage, tips and shuttle charges. During an October trip to Long Beach, she spent $211.90 on mileage, phone charges, tips, a video (a guide to oral presentation called “Delivering Effective Testimony”) and a book, “Discovering Common Ground.” She also provided a copy of a hotel bill for $374.49.

On Monday night, the council directed staff to draw up an ordinance that would require council members to submit receipts for cash expenses or credit card purchases within two weeks of the event attended. Any council member who fails to comply within a month would have his or her credit card canceled and lose the privilege of receiving cash advances.