MWD Board Spent $255,000 on Travel in ’90 : Policy: Some directors and auditors are concerned about the high costs and lax oversight. Agency is to vote today on reforms.

Directors of the Metropolitan Water District collectively spent more than $255,000 on travel last year and at least two of the biggest spenders failed to submit a single expense account, according to MWD records.

One director, who spent nearly $40,000 last year, took one out-of-town trip each week for the first half of 1990, ran open bar tabs at conventions, and on several occasions had the MWD billed hundreds of dollars for meals.

Travel and expense reporting by the MWD’s 51 directors was criticized by independent auditors earlier this year, and a number of directors have become concerned about excessive expenses and lax oversight.

Today, the board of the powerful state-chartered agency will attempt to tighten up their liberal travel guidelines.

“There has been some excess spending that would not have occurred if there had been sufficient documentation,” said director John Killefer, who is pushing for reforms. “Travel is supposed to be on district business. That’s a technicality that sometimes is ignored.”

The MWD has 27 member agencies throughout Southern California. Although the MWD does not pay its directors, nominal compensation is made by some of the member agencies to their representatives on the board, an MWD spokesman said.

The Times found that seven directors accounted for more than half of all travel expenses, and some were lax in justifying their spending.

Director Doyle F. Boen has yet to account for $10,567 in travel expenses from last year, according to MWD records. Boen could not be reached for comment Monday.

The case that brought the issue to a head is that of Mike Nolan, who represents Burbank on the MWD board. Nolan has traveled more than any other director for the past two years and has not filed any expense account reports justifying his expenditures since 1988, according to the records. Last year, Nolan spent $39,792 on travel.

“I’m the most active director on the board,” said Nolan, who has no outside employment. “This is all that I do. . . . (and) I’ve saved this district a lot of money.”

Records show that Nolan has about $75,000 in expenses that have not been accounted for.

Many amounts and locations of expenditures are listed on bills that hotels, airlines and car rental agencies submitted directly to the MWD. Some items--such as a lunch at the Sacramento Hyatt for $360.50 and a dinner in Palm Springs for $428.87--have yet to be explained or justified by Nolan. Some bills, such as one from Smithsons restaurant in Washington D.C., for $84.72, simply read “refreshments.”

“We’re not sure if it’s beverage, food, coffee, tea or milk,” said Karen Dorff, executive secretary to the MWD board. “These things are question marks. We need to know ‘what for’ and ‘with whom.’ ”

Nolan said that “refreshments” are often bar tabs that he opens instead of holding a reception or opening a hospitality suite at water industry meetings.

Dinner bills were sometimes large, he said, because he bought meals for other MWD directors. He said he could not recall who dined with him. “I’ll sign for it, because we’re all from the same agency,” he said.

Nolan said he has not filed expense reports because hotels and airlines have billed MWD directly and he is not seeking compensation for any out-of-pocket expenses, such as gas mileage. “I’m not like these other guys (who are) charging for piddling amounts,” he said. Nolan also maintains that the agency was slow in providing him with copies of bills necessary for completing his expense reports.

MWD Chairwoman Lois Krieger defended the amount of travel taken by directors, saying: “I have no concerns in general and none for Mr. Nolan.”

In addition to travel to conventions, lobbying missions and industry meetings of various kinds, the directors also sponsor tours of MWD facilities on the Colorado River and along the State Water Project. Last year, directors spent $225,663 on these tours that they host for business, civic and political leaders.

MWD General Manager Carl Boronkay said such travel and tours are critically important for the agency, which is supported in part by tax dollars. Directors, Boronkay said, should do all they can to “expound our position and get help. We go all out to do that.”

Indeed, the MWD has been among the largest lobbying forces in Sacramento for the past several years, according to figures compiled by the secretary of state and Fair Political Practices Commission.

Carl Kymla, a director representing the Municipal Water District of Orange County, said Nolan provides an important service to the directors who do not have the time to travel to important industry meetings. “Directors like me appreciate that he goes to all the meetings,” Kymla said.

Krieger must approve all directors’ travel outside the three-state region of California, Arizona and Nevada, but directors do not need approval to travel within the region.

Krieger said she cannot remember turning down any of Nolan’s travel requests. She acknowledged that Nolan travels so much that he is becoming known as the MWD’s “diplomat in blue jeans,” because of his penchant for Western wear.

Krieger said that she has asked the agency’s auditor to examine Nolan’s expenses, but she declined to explain why.

Nolan’s out-of-state travel in the past year includes trips to New Jersey, North Dakota, Montana and Washington D.C. Most of his trips are to Sacramento, where his brother Pat serves in the Assembly as a representative from Glendale.

Nolan’s tardiness in filing accountings of his expenses led in part to an examination of travel policy and the recommended revisions in expense account rules that will come before the board today, said director John Killefer, who represents the Coastal Municipal Water District in Orange County.

Some of the large food and “refreshment” bills of Nolan’s “are dammed unusual for a board member,” said Killefer, who serves as board secretary.

Concerns over expense reporting standards for the directors were raised during a recent management audit performed by the firm of Price Waterhouse, according to Boronkay. “They were concerned about not documenting expenses,” he said.

The board is scheduled to vote on a recommendation that would require directors to justify their expenses as being “incurred for an activity that has a significant and meaningful link to the purposes and interests of the district.”

Under the proposed rule changes, directors would have to “repay the district for disallowed expenses incurred on their behalf.” Directors would be required to provide an “adequate description of the purpose of the meal and names of guests and their affiliations . . . whenever claiming reimbursement for business meals, which include one or more guests.”

One of the biggest changes is the requirement that all expense accounts be submitted within 90 days.

MWD Directors’ Travel Expenses

Metropolitan Water District directors who spent more than $10,000 on travel during 1990: Mike Nolan, City of Burbank: $39,792

Lois Krieger, Western Mun. Water Dist., Riverside County: $26,481

Edward Kussman, Department of Water and Power, Los Angeles: $17,376

Kenneth Witt, Orange County Water Dist.: $13,184

Burton Jones, Upper San Gabriel Valley Water Dist.: $12,547

Harry Griffen, San Diego County Water Authority: $12,187

Doyle Boen, Eastern Municipal Water Dist.: $10,567

SOURCE: MWD