The state auditor's office raises its eyebrows at a $3,824 trip by the Annapolis Water District Commissioners to gather information regarding sewage treatment systems...

...in Europe.

"We could find no mention in meeting minutes of any discussion on the decision to make the trip."

the state audit report notes. And although the board authorized a couple of staffers to approve payments in the board's absence, "The reason for the absence was not stated."

"Since a quorum (of commissioners) was present, the District should have notified the public that special meetings were going to be held in Germany, Austria, Hungary and France,"

the audit report says, recommending that the commissioners make their decisions in public.

In a written response, the commissioners said it was an "inadvertent violation" of the state's Open Meetings Act, and that "If the Board does travel en masse again, a summary of the trip will be placed in the record to serve the purpose of minutes."

(A green-eyeshade hat tip to Jason Mercier, with the Washington Policy Center.)

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