St. Clair’s Board of Aldermen decided last month to put on hold a resolution that would have approved a written fuel purchasing policy for city employees and vehicles.
Currently, the city does not have a specific written policy in place, City Clerk Chris Fawe said, adding that the practice always has been for workers to turn in gasoline receipts to department heads.
“This is a policy requested by our auditor,” City Administrator Rick Childers told aldermen on Nov. 19. “It’s pretty straightforward.”
However, when the matter was discussed, a couple of questions were raised, leading the board to seek additional thought and information before the policy may be approved.
One of the questions raised was including language that would terminate an employee for misuse of a city gasoline card.
“I think that should be included,” City Attorney Kurt Voss said. “I think it should be in there that the misuse of the card leads to immediate dismissal. ... I know that has happened in other municipalities.”
There also was a little confusion surrounding the St. Clair Police Department’s practice of having a fuel card for each vehicle instead of each officer possessing a card.
“If we have it that every officer would have a card, we’d have to issue a lot more cards,” Chief Bill Hammack said.
The city uses Fuelman cards to purchase gasoline from area stations. Other than the police department, each employee has one.
The policy states that all fuel purchases will be made with the Fuelman card, and an accurate odometer reading is to be entered with every fuel purchase. It also states that department heads are required to sign off on the monthly statements of fuel purchases.
As far as use of the city-issued fuel cards, policy language states they are to be used for city purchases only and “no person other than the fuel cardholder is authorized to use the card.”
Childers said to accommodate the police department, that requirement could be changed to “no person or vehicle other than the fuel cardholder” is authorized to use it.
Ward 2 Alderman Travis Dierker, who served as mayor pro tem during the meeting because Mayor Ron Blum was out of town, suggested that the aldermen think about the policy and bring back suggestions later.
The issue was tabled until a later meeting.
The item was not on the Dec. 3 agenda. The aldermen’s next meeting will be Dec. 17.
