Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The district ponies up more than $3,000 for John Williams' six nights at hotels in Palm Springs & Tampa

Yesterday, I noted two or three interesting items agendized for Friday afternoon’s meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees (See agenda--a large pdf file). Item 6.6 is the Chancellor’s recommendation that the trustees’ monthly stipend be nearly doubled, from $400 to $750 a month.

Tsk, tsk.

Item 7.4 is a report of trustee expenses. As I explained yesterday, trustee John Williams stands out among trustees with regard to expenses. Whereas trustees Fuentes, Padberg, Wagner, Lang, and Jay spent nothing on conferences (transportation, lodging, etc.) and trustee Milchiker spent $4,523.00, trustee Williams spent $15,555.00.


The details of Williams’ conference expenses are occasionally interesting. Williams attended 9 “conferences." The interesting stuff is in red.

1. CCL CONVENTION. In November of 2007, Williams attended the Community College League’s annual convention in San Jose. His lodging (at the Fairmont) cost $540.20. It was a three-day convention.

2. CCFA CONFERENCE. Williams next attended January’s 4-day Community Colleges Futures Assembly conference in Orlando, FL. His stay there cost the district $956.20, which makes sense, I suppose, if he stayed for the entire conference. I have no idea. (I'm told that Williams has a brother in Florida.)

His car rental cost the district $327.87.

3. DINNER MEETING. In February, Williams attended some sort of dinner meeting in Irvine, which cost the district nothing beyond registration.

4. CHRONICLE TECHO FORUM. Late in February, Williams attended the Chronicle Technology Forum, a three day conference (Feb. 24-26, 2008) at the Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay (in Tampa, FL).

This cost the district $1,540.00 for lodging.

How do you spend $1,540.00 on three nights at the Grand Hyatt, where rooms (per the event) go for $215/night?

His car rental cost the district $573.01.

5. EDUCAUSE. Williams next attended Educause’s Fifth Annual Western Regional Conference, March 31–April 2, 2008 (InterContinental Mark Hopkins, San Francisco). It is hard to read, but the chart seems to say that Williams’ stay cost the district $885.32. As far as I can tell, the rooms cost $225/day. That’s $675 for three days. Add $94 for tax, and you’ve got $769.50. Hmmm.

6. CCLC CAPITOL DAY #1. In April, Williams attended CCLC’s Capitol Day in Sacramento, which is described as a “one-day” event. Somehow, “lodging” cost the district $782.75.

How do you spend $782.75 on one night at a hotel in freakin' Sacramento?

7. CCLC TRUSTEES CONFERENCE. Next, in May, Williams headed for Palm Springs for the CCLC’s Annual Trustees Conference, a three-day event. Lodging was at the Hotel Zoso, where rates seem to run from $165-249/night.

Nevertheless, Williams cost the district $1,531.70 for “lodging.” How is that possible?

8. DINNER MEETING. Next (May 7), Williams went to another low-cost local event.

9. CCL CAPITAL DAY #2. Then it was back to another “one-day” CCL “Capitol Day” event. This time, lodging was $605.56.

Seems mighty steep for one night.

District data:
See board agenda; large pdf file

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe Williams could take Padberg with him to his hotel room to smooth over things with her. Stranger things have happened in this district.

Anonymous said...

Isn't education supposed to be priceless? Call them "junkets" if you will but who cares what the cost is when the fellow is being educated in our ever changing education field? This way he can make better, more informed decisions. Doesn't the community demand more educated trustees anyway? They reelected the guy so he must be doing the right things.

If yours truly was a trustee, he'd no doubt be doing the same things as Williams. Do you think $400/mo. is adaquate compensation for the folks who are charged with making all the big decisions? While it's a good thing to have watchdogs, I think people can see yours truly tends to dissent just for the the sake of dissenting. Nothing more.

Anonymous said...

Williams paid extra for one of those special beds with the magic fingers.

He has a lot of tension.

Anonymous said...

Williams must have ordered those special movies that you can watch in your room.

Anonymous said...

I think Williams' use of the mini-bar drives up the costs.

Anonymous said...

When we go to conferences (I haven't been to one in years) how much of the expenses does the district cover? Registration? Mileage? Meals?

I mean, how much can a faculty member spend for lodging at a conference?

Anonymous said...

Dopey comment of the day:

"They reelected the guy so he must be doing the right things."

Hard to know where to begin with that one.

Anonymous said...

Well, at the Hotel Zoso in Palm Springs, Willaims could have padded his lodging expenses by buying some of the following services that they offer:

Rose Petal Welcome: $40.00

Cabana Rental: $150.oo per day

In-room or poolside massage: $120.00 per hour

fresh flowers in the powder room: $35.00

fresh flowers at bedside: $65.00

You can see how quickly it can all add up!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Williams oversee people's estates in his day job?

What does a Public administrator DO exactly?

Anonymous said...

For details concerning Williams' expenses (meals, etc.), click on the graphic! It's all there.

Anonymous said...

Hey, dopey at 9:06: "yours truly" refers to the WRITER.

Good lord; please go away--preferably to a course in English composition, as well as one in Ethics.

Anonymous said...

Learn about Williams' job here. Back in 2002, Williams was endorsed by--who else?
Sheriff Mikey Carona.

Anonymous said...

If he gets the "happy ending" the massages can get pricey.

Anonymous said...

I think Williams got the fancy vibrating bed, the closed circuit boxing matches from Vegas, drank the entire contents of the mini-bar AND ordered bedside flowers PLUS a massage poolside in his private cabana.

Anonymous said...

hmm, that one day Sacto hotel bill IS a puzzle Chunk!

Even if Williams stayed a night at the Le Rivage on the river in their most expensive suite he would only spend $489.00!

Maybe he's a big tipper!

Anonymous said...

Look, John's a fiscally conservative Republican, and those types do not take advantage of the public trough.

No sirree.

Anonymous said...

Rumor has it that Nancy has magic fingers.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...