City’s Financial Oversight & Audit Committee raising questions about travel approval and purchasing card spending
UPDATE - The City of El Paso's Financial Oversight and Audit Committee (FOAC) raised questions about the findings of an audit, specifically referring to Travel Request Approvals. FOAC had specific questions about a trip taken by Former City Rep. for District 1, Peter Svarzbein.
The Chairman of the FOAC, Representative Brian Kennedy, asked what qualifications a trip must be to be approved.
"It has to be city business?" Kennedy asked.
"Yes, sir," the City's Chief Internal Auditor, Edmundo Calderon, responded.
"Can I see the request for the travel to Israel and of city reps last month and how that was a city purpose?," said Kennedy.
The trip took place from December 5th - 9th.
ABC-7 reached out to Former Rep. Svarzbein who pointed us toward a presentation he gave city council after he returned from Israel, where he broke down why this trip qualified as city business.
He says he was invited to be part of a panel at 'Muniworld', an expo of innovation and technology, and he looked into potential collaborations between Israel and UTEP.
Svarzbein said he met with the mayor of Hadera, a sister city to El Paso.
At the conclusion of that presentation, which took place on December 13th, Mayor Oscar Leeser thanked the former representative for representing the city.
ABC-7 reached out to the Mayor's office on if the mayor knew about the trip before Rep. Svarzbein left, and a spokesperson informed ABC-7 that "Mayor Leeser that he had no prior knowledge of the trip you are referencing, nor did he ask former Representative Svarzbein to represent him."
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Financial Oversight and Audit Committee raised questions about the city audit into purchasing and fuel cards, as well as travel requests by members of the city government.
The FOAC asked about a trip taken by Former City Representative from District 1, Peter Svarzbein, to Israel. The trip took place from December 5th to December 9th, according to Svarzbein.
The City of El Paso's Chief Internal Auditor presented the data to the FOAC on Thursday, May 4th, and to the full city council on May 11th.
The former representative for District 1 told ABC-7 he took the trip Hadera, Israel after being invited to sit on a panel.
Hadera is El Paso's sister city in Israel.
Former City Rep. Svarzbein wrote a statement to ABC-7 that said in part, "I pride myself on being a transparent and honest person. I took my role as councilman very seriously and made sure to never burden the taxpayer with misuse of any funds. To not burden the city, the city business flight was the only thing paid for by the city. All other expenses for transportation or accommodations was paid by the state of Israel. To be honest, I wasn’t too keen on taking the trip so close to my wedding but I did it for the mayor and the city. It was an important trip that, as you’ll see in the presentation, resulted in building better connections and opportunities for El Paso regional initiatives and economic opportunities for our citizens. "
