The Englewood Board of Education denied a $140 mileage reimbursement request for board member Davon Williams in a 4-1 vote at a special meeting on March 26.
Board President Katie Wilberding Cross and members Julie Hoag, Duane Tucker and Anna Whistler voted against making the payment to Williams. Williams voted in favor of the request.
“Historically we haven’t had any request for mileage reimbursement and haven’t really utilized that in this role,” Hoag said.
Williams submitted a reimbursement request in March for mileage he incurred after attending various events in January.
“I am asking for reimbursement of my mileage because one of the events I was in was with the governor, the attorney general, and the board chair of the state board of (education) that I was actually interacting with,” Williams said during the meeting.
He said he had requested reimbursement for seven events, but has attended about 29 since he joined the board.
“I feel pretty well in my position and that’s why I am asking for my reimbursement,” Williams said.
Many board members said at the meeting that at this time the board doesn’t have any funds in its budget for mileage reimbursements due to overall budget cuts and overspending on mileage with already allocated funds.
“This is money that we didn’t budget to spend this year and if we are going to pay this reimbursement, it’s going to come out of something else and I won’t support that,” Tucker said.
Tucker said historically board members attend events without requesting reimbursements, with the exception of a few pre-approved conferences.
Under the district’s Board Policy DKC, “district employees and board members who incur expenses in carrying out their authorized duties shall be reimbursed by the district upon submission of a properly completed and approved expense form and accompanying receipts. Such expenses shall be approved and incurred in line with budgetary allocations for the specific type of expenses, board policy and applicable law.”
Williams referenced the district’s DKC policy and said that the “shall” in parts of the policy “created an obligation” for the board members to utilize this policy.
The DKC policy includes travel costs such as transportation, lodging, meals and related items. The policy states: “When district-related travel by an employee’s or board member’s personally owned vehicle has been authorized, mileage reimbursement shall be made at the rate approved by the board or superintendent. Such mileage reimbursement shall not exceed the mileage rate established by the Internal Revenue Service.”
“That’s why I think this personally should not even be voted on because the policy itself under DKC specifically defines district travel as ‘attendance at conferences, seminars, meetings or other events related to district business or that promote or benefit this district,”’ Williams said.
Williams was willing to compromise on some of the mileage in his request but not all of them.
Several other board members referenced another policy pertaining to reimbursements, which is Board Policy BID/BIE.
Under this policy, after submitting correct documentation for a reimbursement pertaining to board related expenses, “board members may be reimbursed from district funds in accordance with the board’s policy on expense authorization and reimbursement and in amounts approved by a majority vote of the board in a public meeting.”
“Such expenses may include the cost of attendance at conferences of school board associations and other professional meetings/visitations when such attendance and expense payment has had board approval,” the policy reads.
After submitting his reimbursement, Williams was notified that the board would need to vote on the request in a meeting per policy.
Williams expressed his frustration with the process in a series of tweets on X on March 8. In his tweets, Williams used strong language and referenced DKC.
“We only want to talk about ‘fiscal responsibility’ and ‘transparency’ when it comes to me, even though the DKC policy has been in place since 1977 and changed last year,” Williams posted in a tweet on March 8.
Records obtained by the Englewood Herald in a Colorado Open Records Act request show Williams is the only board member to submit a reimbursement request since Dec. 5 of 2023, the day Williams was sworn in as a member of the board.
In the March 26 meeting, Williams said board members received a DKC reimbursement in December for an event they attended.
Superintendent Joanna Polzin stated at the meeting that that reimbursement was a mistake on her part, as in previous years the board budgeted for that event, but decided not to this year. Polzin said she notified the board of the mistake.
Various board members including Tucker, Hoag, and Wilberding Cross stated in the March 26 meeting that they either returned or donated those reimbursements to the district.
Williams said when he tried to return it, he was told there would be a processing fee, but after gaining more clarification in the March 26 meeting he said he would return those funds.
The reimbursement request denial comes weeks after the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office found no crime had been committed by Englewood City Attorney Tamara Niles and City Manager Shawn Lewis, despite a criminal complaint that Williams filed against the two officials in February. Williams claimed Niles and Lewis had violated the state law that prohibits retaliation against an elected official.
Williams ran unopposed for the Englewood School Board in November. His candidacy and membership on the board became controversial after the Englewood Herald revealed in October that Williams had two previous felony convictions, a finding of bad faith in a civil lawsuit, an outstanding arrest warrant and an ongoing felony car theft case.
His next court appearance in that car theft case is April 9.