Travel policy amended as Washtenaw County’s racial equity officer remains on leave

WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI – Washtenaw County’s employee travel policy has been amended, after it was revealed an official had spent thousands of dollars on travel using her county-issued credit card.

The county’s Board of Commissioners approved the policy changes at its Wednesday, Aug. 7 meeting. The changes are designed to improve transparency in spending by county employees, while placing limits on how much travel employees can take and how much money they can use for those functions.

County Racial Equity Officer Alize Asberry Payne, the official who sparked the policy changes, remains on unpaid leave.

Related story: Equity officer booked trip to Europe, 80+ days of travel with Washtenaw County credit card

Records received by MLive/The Ann Arbor News through a Freedom of Information Act request show Asberry Payne requested the leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act and that leave was approved starting on May 3.

Eleven days after requesting leave, MLive/The Ann Arbor News reported Asberry Payne had spent at least 80 days traveling to conferences and events in 2022 and 2023. Records showed that among those trips were visits to Germany and multiple four- and five-star hotel stays exceeding $600 a night.

Now, with the new policy, all travel expenses, including receipts, invoices and reimbursement forms, must be maintained by the employee and turned in within 60 days of travel. That travel will then be reported through the Open Book portion of the county website.

Open Book is a free and publicly accessible database on the Washtenaw County website that allows visitors to access county finance data, including salaries for public officials, credit card charges and the spending of members of the Board of Commissioners.

Information included in the Open Book travel reports now will include, at a minimum, “dates of travel; vendor or event; reason for travel, including purpose and benefit to the county; and cost,” according to the new policy.

The county administrator will also develop procedures for overnight travel so trips can be reported regularly and accurately.

County employees also are now limited to 24 travel days per year for conferences, and may not spend more than $5,000 a year to attend those conferences. Any spending above $5,000, or for more than 24 days of travel, must be approved by the Board of Commissioners.

County employees may not approve their own travel, and all department heads within the county must have their travel approved by the county administrator.

Prior to voting on the amended policy, commissioners Annie Somerville, Yousef Rabhi and Andy LaBarre thanked county staff for working on and pulling together the new policy.

“I’m very comfortable with this. Some of the highlights that I’m really excited about that are that we’ve created a system basically by which travel is going to be reported on Open Book, which I think is really important,” Rabhi said.

As for Asberry Payne’s status with the county, she was granted 450 hours of leave as part of her FMLA request, based on her standard working week of 37.5 hours. While FMLA covers 12 weeks of missed time, county policy for non-union employees extends the leave by up to six months of unpaid time, according to documents obtained by MLive/The Ann Arbor News through FOIA.

Although her FMLA leave is unpaid by the county, Asberry Payne was able to cash in 404 hours of paid time off and sick time and has continued to be paid by the county while on leave, the records show. Paystubs obtained through FOIA show Asberry Payne was paid for 37.5 hours a week at her hourly pay rate of $75.50 until those hours ran out.

While her request listed an anticipated return to work date of July 29, County Administrator Gregory Dill confirmed that Asberry Payne has not returned to her position as of Aug. 8.

Personnel documents obtained through FOIA also show Asberry Payne’s pay was increased in November 2023 to an annual salary of $147,255. Dill said the raise was approved as part of an annual anniversary salary increase available to all non-union county employees and that Asberry Payne’s salary remains within the salary range established for her role.

The raise was not based on merit or performance, Dill said.

When she was hired in 2019, Asberry Payne’s starting salary was $105,000, meaning her salary has increased by roughly 40% during the last five years. The starting range for the position was listed between $69,568 and $122,689 when the job was posted in 2018.

Related story: Nearing 4 years on the job, what is Washtenaw County’s racial equity officer up to?

While Asberry Payne has been on leave, Dill said the responsibilities of the Racial Equity Office have been divided among other county employees, including himself. It is unknown when Asberry Payne plans to return to work, he said.

The commissioners first proposed updates to the travel policy in June, shortly after the MLive/Ann Arbor News story was published. That discussion was postponed until the July meeting and then postponed again until Wednesday when the updated policy was approved.

Want more Ann Arbor-area news? Bookmark the local Ann Arbor news page, the Ypsilanti-area news page or sign up for the free “3@3 Ann Arbor” daily newsletter.