Mayor Dickert files $6,700 in expenses; Committee says spending is 'clean'

Mayor John Dickert's expense reports aren't raising any eyebrows in City Hall.

The Finance and Personnel reviewed the new mayor's spending habits Monday night and gave him a pass.

The only item that jumped out to the committee was a $1,139 hotel bill for a conference in Providence, R.I. Alderman QA Shakoor II questioned the expense, but City Administrator Tom Friedel explained the mayor simply stayed at the hotel where the conference was being held. It was also noted the June conference - the 2009 U.S. Mayor's Conference - was booked before Dickert was ever elected.

Dickert filed expenses for three meals at the four-day conference. He paid for other mayors' meals at the dinners, which is a common practice when doing business between cities. In exchange, other cities' mayors bought Dickert dinners.

Other trips Dickert expensed include:

• the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Quebec, June 16-19;
• the U.S. Mayor's Climate Protection Conference in Seattle, Oct. 1-3;
• lobbying trip to Washington D.C., Oct. 14-18;
• Alliance of Cities Conference in Appleton, Oct. 14-15;
• U.S. Mayor's Conference, Boston, Nov. 18-20;
• Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Chicago, Dec. 10-11;
• U.S. Mayor's Conference, Jan. 20-22.

Dickert's expenditures on the six-month report totaled $6,731.49.

Alderman Jim Spangenberg, chairman of the Finance and Personnel Committee, said Dickert's report was "clean." He added the committee was largely reviewing the mayor's expenditure reports because of some "questionable" spending decisions by former Mayor Gary Becker.

The Finance and Personnel Committee will again review Dickert's expenditures in six months.

You can read a breakdown of the Mayor's expenditures here.

You can read the raw data file here.