public domain photoDuring a February trip to Washington DC,  Lauderdale County officials visited Sen. Roger Wicker's office in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

A February trip by an 11-member contingent from Lauderdale County to Washington D.C. trip cost county taxpayers more than $15,500, with a large chunk of reimbursements processed by Barry, Thaggard, May & Bailey, LLP, the law firm that represents the board of supervisors.

The firm billed the county $14,101.73, which covered the air travel, hotel and other costs associated with the trip for most of those attending. 

Invoices related to the trip, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Meridian Star, show a charge of $1,740 for each invoice for “professional services,” no matter how many hours (which are undisclosed) worked.

Presumably, this sum is a monthly retainer for the firm.

County Administrator Chris Lafferty and board attorney Lee Thaggard did not respond to requests for clarification. 

Without the presumed retainer, which covers two months of work, trip-related charges were $10,621.73.

Airfare totaled $5,299.95 for supervisors Wayman Newell, Josh Todd and Jonathan Wells, Lafferty, East Mississippi Development Corporation President and CEO Bill Hannah and board attorney Rick Barry, or $883.32 each.

Lafferty wouldn’t answer questions about why District 4 Supervisor Joe Norwood’s airfare wasn’t listed and Norwood,  couldn’t be reached Friday to discuss the discrepancy.

The Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill hotel bill totaled $4,290.47 for Barry, Newell, Norwood, Lafferty, Wells and Todd, or $715.08 each. Supervisors clarified that each man got his own room and no one shared rooms.

The itemized bill also includes $810.55 for meals at The Palm, a popular steakhouse, and mileage for Barry, who represents the board, to travel from Meridian to the Jackson airport for the trip, or $103.55 for the 87-mile trip.

This trip is calculated from Barry’s office in downtown Meridian to the Jackson airport. The federal mileage rate is $0.545 cents per mile for business travel, or $47.42 for the 87-mile trip. 

Thaggard, who also represents the board, clarified after the June 18 board meeting that his travel was covered by the board’s retainer to the law firm.

Thaggard also said that $43.25 in meals for him should not have been included on the firm’s invoice since his travel is covered by the retainer.

It is unclear why the $1,740 per month retainer to the law firm doesn’t also cover Barry’s travel. Attempts to clarify the discrepencies were unanswered.

A second stand-alone invoice, which doesn’t have an accompanying monthly bill, totaled $1,813.96, or $73.96 without the presumed monthly retainer.

It included $81.04 in refunds from American Airlines for Wells, Todd, Barry and Newell but questions asking for clarification on trip costs weren’t answered.

The firm charged the county $113 for “cabs, tips and miscellaneous items” and $42 for Barry to park at the Jackson airport for the duration of the trip.

This $113 charged by the firm for cabs, etc. comes in addition to the $229.64 spent on a county credit card, covering $75 in checked baggage for Lafferty, Todd and Wells and $154.64 in Uber charges for nine separate trips.

All five of the trips on Monday, Feb. 5, except for an SUV trip from the airport after landing, transported one to four passengers in an UberX.

Using the UberX wouldn’t fit all of the supervisors, Lafferty or board attorneys but no other transportation was charged on the county credit card.

Supervisors arrived at their hotel around 7 p.m. that Monday, according to Uber receipts, went to two meetings, dinner and returned to the hotel by 11 p.m. The Monday trips covered 14.39 miles and cost $74.86, with the airport to hotel trip comprising $38.67 of that day’s totals.

On Tuesday, supervisors started traveling around 1 p.m., going to another meeting and returning to the hotel after 3 p.m., using an UberSUV, which transports up to six people, according to Uber’s website, for the trip to and from the meeting. Supervisors then went to dinner around 5 p.m., using a four-person vehicle, returning to the hotel just before 9 p.m. in a six-person vehicle. The $79.78 in trips covered 8.89 miles.

The receipts, emails from Uber to Lafferty, have poorly printed maps and so the locations couldn’t be compared to the offices of representatives to align the trips with meetings or other locations, such as The Palm, for dinner.

Yates Construction, represented by Justin McDonald on the trip, charged the county $2,110.15 for “travel expenses” on March 22, breaking down expenses in a separate invoice.

This includes two payments, totaling $666.16, to “American” on Jan. 14.

Yates charged the county for a few meals and transportation costs, including $331.77 for a hotel room at the Hyatt Regency.

Of that $2,110.15, $1,190.73 was spent in D.C., the additional $919.42 included three other costs dating from August and December of 2017.

Costs to supervisors from LPK Architects were unclear from the documents provided.

Lafferty, the county administrator, didn’t respond to emails asking for clarification about the trip, specifically when supervisors returned, a trip itinerary or travel clarification.

Via text, he said The Meridian Star had all the answers in the requested documents and that an ethics complaint, filed by The Star against the county, took priority.

After receiving the requested public documents about the trip, The Star filed a complaint with The Mississippi Ethics Commission, citing excessive fees and a lengthy response. The Star’s first Freedom of Information request was filed on April 3 and documents were provided on May 18. The Star was billed $309.30 for 42 pages of public records.

County officials justified this cost by saying an attorney, Thaggard, had to review the documents by hand.