The state’s budget troubles haven’t prevented the N.C. State Ports Authority Board of Directors from hosting several lavish dinners in the past year. The board’s latest dinner was held last month at Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Charlotte, on the night before the board’s meeting in the Queen City. The Ports Authority spent more than $1,900 on that 15-person meal, attended by board members from around the state, along with state Transportation Secretary Gene Conti and his wife, DOT Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives Roberto Canales, Interim Statewide Logistics Coordinator Tom Bradshaw and two Ports Authority staffers. Conti is also a member of the Ports Authority board., which recently moved under his department’s control.
Among the entrees ordered were a petite filet mignon with three scallops for $62.85, a $50.90 oscar-style filet mignon and a $47.50 bone-in ribeye, according to the restaurant receipt provided by the Ports Authority. Shannon Moody, Ports Authority spokeswoman, said the meals don’t come out of taxpayers’ pockets, but instead out of port revenues. The ports operate primarily on revenue from operations but also receive occasional government funding for capital projects and equipment. The authority has reported net losses in each of the past few years, including $3.5 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30 and $6 million the year before. “At a time when government officials at all levels are preaching belt-tightening, this event seems over the top,” said Joe Sinsheimer, a government watchdog and former Democratic political consultant.
Ted Vaden, DOT deputy secretary for internal and external affairs, said Friday that the DOT would work with the Ports Authority to devise policies consistent with state Board of Transportation policies regarding meals and expenses for board members. DOT board members pay for meals associated with board meetings, he wrote in an email. “They receive a per diem for attending board meetings, but they are responsible for any differential between the per diem and the full cost of meals,” Vaden wrote. Vaden added that the Ports Authority’s previous practice of hosting board meetings was consistent with state laws governing the ports. Vaden said Conti, Canales and Bradshaw would pay for their meals from the Fleming’s dinner, but they will receive the standard per diem that DOT board members and employees receive.
Since February 2011, the Ports Authority has spent nearly $3,600 on four board dinners, according to restaurant receipts. The authority board rotates meetings around the state and holds some via conference call to save money, Moody said. Board dinners are held the nights before board meetings, when members from across the state arrive in the host city. A call Friday to Carl Stewart Jr., chairman of the board of directors, wasn’t returned.
(Patrick Gannon, WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS, 2/11/12).
