BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
Los Altos Councilwoman Lynette Lee Eng has made a second request to take a city-funded trip, testing out a policy that her colleagues put in place after she went to a conference without telling them first.
Lee Eng is asking to go to Burbank on March 21 for a League of California Cities committee meeting.
The trip would cost the city $269, Lee Eng said in a request form. She plans to fly out in the morning and back in the evening for $200, and to get reimbursed for breakfast, lunch and a taxi while she’s there.
Council will consider Lee Eng’s request on Tuesday (Feb. 27).
Council denied Lee Eng’s first request on Jan. 23 to go to a Congressional City Conference in Washington, D.C., from March 11 to March 13.
Council members said the events were more about advocacy than education, and they didn’t see the direct benefit to the city for the $3,000 cost.
“I’m having a hard time justifying sending you,” Mayor Jonathan Weinberg said.
Council’s travel policy became an issue in March last year after Lee Eng attended a council meeting virtually from a hotel in Washington D.C.
Lee Eng said she was going to tell her colleagues about the trip the week before, but a council meeting was canceled because of a power outage.
Lee Eng has been the only sitting council member to get reimbursed for out-of-state travel, spending $8,737 on three conferences since the start of 2022, City Manager Gabriel Engeland said in a report to council.
“My jaw dropped to the ground,” Weinberg said at a July 11 meeting.
Lee Eng has defended her trips as educational experiences that help her become a better representative. She was following the existing policy, which was only a couple sentences. It said her trips didn’t require council approval.
“Everything that I’ve done was in compliance,” she said. “If I’m doing my best interest on behalf of the people, I shouldn’t be accused of abusing this policy.”
Council approved a six-page travel policy at another touchy meeting on Aug. 23 that automatically allows council members to get reimbursed for a League of California Cities annual conference and a leaders summit. Other trips require council approval.
Lee Eng is asking to go to a meeting of the Community Services Policy Committee, which she was appointed to in December.
The committee reviews issues related to childcare, parks, libraries, disaster preparation and cultural arts.
Lee Eng is one of 62 committee members, according to a membership list.
Other meetings have been virtual, but the March meeting is in-person at the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel.