Wake sends 12 employees to Hollywood for $30K

The county sent 12 for a software conference tied to a budget and HR system

RALEIGH -- As the global economic crisis strained Wake County's finances last month, a dozen local government officials flew to Hollywood for a computer software conference at a luxury hotel. The five-day trip cost taxpayers $29,825.

County Manager David Cooke said he approved the travel expenditures.

The group, which included Deputy County Manager Johnna Rogers, was in California the same day Cooke told Wake commissioners he was instituting a hiring freeze and curtailing travel because of a projected $17 million budget shortfall.

Cooke said he green-lighted the trip because the knowledge the staffers gained is essential to effectively operating and maintaining a new $10 million computer software system called eWake, which is to be used by the county for finance, budget, payroll and human resources functions.

"The eWake project is critical to the organization," he said. "We've got a big team working on it."

Cooke added that those who went to Hollywood were sensitive that they were traveling during hard economic times -- especially in light of the scandal that erupted over the summer when two managers in the county's solid waste department were fired after employees used government credit cards to take about 50 trips, including a whale-watching cruise off the coast of Maine and hiking excursions in several state and national parks.

"Everybody has a very heightened sense of, 'My god, we're going to read about this in the newspaper," Cooke said. "But people needed to be at that conference. We made the judgment the right people are there to benefit from that training for the implementation of the eWake project. It's important to get it right."

The Wake contingent stayed four nights at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa. Its Web site describes it as the "premier luxury property in the movie-making capital of the world." Amenities include a roof-top pool and an eclectic collection of modern art.

As part of the conference, the government employees received discounted single rooms for $227 a night -- cheaper than similar accommodations in the newly opened Raleigh Marriott City Center.

Round-trip airfare ran about $500 per person, and registration fees for the conference were $1,095. The employees were given $65 a day for meals.

The same software users conference was held in 2007 in the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. The county sent 15 employees that year, including some of the same people who went to Hollywood in October. The total cost was $22,731.

Several Wake commissioners said Monday that they didn't have a problem with the purpose of the travel or the number of people who went, though some expressed frustration such conferences always seem to be held in resort hotels in warm, sunny places.

"Why is the training always in Hollywood or somewhere like that?" Commissioner Tony Gurley said. "I'd like to see what it would have cost to get the computer company to send a trainer here to teach our people, rather than sending them across the country."