Councilmember Turner and his use of city ProCard, Part 5, final

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council

On January 16, 2025, I submitted a Public Records Request to the City of Glendale for all records pertaining to Councilmember Bart Turner’s travel expenses and the use of his city ProCard. That request was completed and given to me on March 12, 2025. It included over 500 pages of documentation. In the past four months, I have reviewed them over and over again.

All of the information I have provided on this 5-part series on Councilmember Turner and his use of his city credit card, the ProCard, have been taken from the city provided documentation. They are facts.

What have we learned?

• Councilmembers Malnar and Tolmachoff have been transparent and accountable for their use of their ProCards. On the city Follow Your Money site they have listed all trips from 2018 to the present. Councilmember Turner has listed only 3 trips in 2019. Nothing is presented for his numerous trips through 2024. Turner throws out the buzz words, ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ whenever he can. He portray himself to be a watchdog of taxpayer dollars. Yet when it comes to spending your money on his numerous trips, it becomes a situation of ‘Rules for thee but not for me’. So much for practicing what he preaches. I did not compare with Councilmembers Baldenegro, Guzman or Conchas as they are new and have no history to date.
• Staff repeatedly gave Turner all policies related to expenditures and travel and made numerous requests for back up documentation and/or receipts. He was minimally responsive. Consequently, staff put together a chart showing his lack of response and back up. That chart reflects over $22,000 in travel expenses without the proper information required to back up his expenses. Turner needs to come out of the closet, take responsibility, and repay you, the taxpayer, for his poor judgement.
• Turner’s Renaissance Weekend trips totaling over $8,300 are clearly self-enrichment trips and are not related to city business. These trips show a clear lack of judgement and awareness. How he could possibly charge these trips to the city demonstrates his lack of ethical judgement. It appears to be an abuse of city policy.
• His Vertical farming trips are questionable as well. The city does not engage in farming, vertical or otherwise. They are not related to city business.
• City policy dictates that airfare upgrades, additional baggage fees, seat upgrades and tipping above 20% are not allowed. Turner violated all of these policies on multiple occasions.
• Turner’s Pro Card was deactivated in December of 2024. When I received the city provided public documents in March of 2025, there was nothing to indicate it had been reactivated. If it has, it occurred after March of this year.

This 5-part series is Bart Turner’s “Sammy Chavira moment.” For those of you who may not recall, Sammy Chavira took a trip to NYC on your dime to see the Pope. Unfortunately for Sammy, the closest he got to the Pope was to watch him on TV. Sammy abused you, the taxpayer, and your dollars and demonstrated his lack of ethics and judgement. In doing so, he lost his bid for reelection as councilmember.

Bart Turner has done exactly as Sammy Chavira did. He has abused you, the taxpayer and your dollars. As he berates everyone for not being fiscally responsible, he displays an arrogance toward taxpayers by refusing to acknowledge his trips publicly or to provide the necessary justification for the use of his ProCard as a business-related trip with proper documentation.

Councilmember Turner will undoubtedly run for reelection next year, 2026. All of the material, based on factual documentation in this 5-part series, should be taken into consideration when the time comes to vote on a Barrel district councilmember. His lack of financial disclosure and lack of ethics disqualify him for another term as the Barrel district councilmember. I suspect when the time comes there will be better choices for the Barrel voters.

Councilmember Bart Turner of the Barrell district has shown through his actions and his judgment his disdain for Glendale taxpayers. His public pronouncements are not the same as his actions when it comes to travel expenditures paid with taxpayer dollars. He does not deserve a single vote from Barrell district voters.

If the media or any potential Turner-opposed candidates would like to view the requested public information I am happy to share. Please email clarkjv@aol.com or text me at 602-320-3422.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2025}   

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Councilmember Turner and his use of ProCard, Part 4

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

In Part 1, I explained the use of a city ProCard and how seriously it is taken. In Part 2, I showed what travel expenditures Councilmember Turner has publicly posted as well as all of the trips he has not posted publicly. In Part 3, the public information request I made includes any and all emails between city staff and Councilmember Turner.

In Part 4 we see what trips Councilmember Turner put on his ProCard and whether they reflected a city business interest. As part of my public information request, I received a staff generated chart that reflects all Turner trips where documentation in the form of agendas, itineraries or receipts were NOT supplied by Councilmember Turner.

THE TOTAL PAID BY THE CITY FOR WHICH DOCUMENTATION AND/OR PROOF OF A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP TO THE CITY WAS NOT PROVIDED TOTALS $22,555.61.

• AG Tech Summit $3,201.99
• Sister Cities, Germany $872.68
• August 2023 League Conference $858.04
• Renaissance Weekend October 2023 $3,706.71
• Airfare to DC October 2023 $803.22
• League of Cities Summit November 2023 $1,934.50
• Colorado Water Users December 2023 $1,885.00
• Renaissance Weekend December 2023 $4,661.51
• League of Cities March 2024 $4,631.93

(* I’ve left one trip out and I can’t figure out which one)

As stated previously, trips are required to have documentation for expenses and a stated business purpose. Although Turner did not provide all the documentation required for the League trips, they do qualify as a business purpose.

However, some trips (excluding League trips) are questionable. The AG Tech Summit. This conference was held by The Center of Excellence for Indoor Agriculture. Its key themes from its website state:

• Finding New Sources of Funding in a Changing Economic Landscape
• Alleviating the Impact of the Energy Crisis through Efficiencies and Alternatives
• Accelerating Automation to Improve Crop Care and Reduce Operational Costs
• Balancing Biology and Technology for Crop Growth and Profitability
• Unlocking the Potential of Plant Genetics to Sow the Seeds of Growth
• Growing Margins Through New Product Innovation from Crop to Shelf
• Exploring the Global Potential of Indoor Farming and the Next Regional Hotspots
• Promoting CEA as a Critical Piece of the Food Security Puzzle
• Creating Industry Standards to Build Confidence and Communicate the Benefits of CEA

The site describes the conference as: “From multi-acre scale facility design to seed optimization for vertical growing, and from multi-million-dollar funding rounds to the fine margins of running profitable farms, an international speaking faculty will discuss the critical success factors for CEA in today’s economic environment.”

How this conference and his attendance benefitted the city is unknown. The city does not engage in vertical farming, nor is it looking for investors for such a project.

In part of the Sister Cities trip to Germany, Turner took a Vertical farming tour. Again, the city does not engage in farming or vertical farming.

The most egregious use of your taxpayer dollars was for two Renaissance Weekend trips totaling over $8,300.00. Please go to their website, https://www.renaissanceweekend.org/

These trips were purely personal enrichment trips with no city business to be derived from them. It’s a rather secretive organization with no agendas of any kind to be found on its website. I did find the following description: “Renaissance Weekend’s primary purpose is to create an environment free of partisanship and commercialism, where substantive conversations can thrive. It is described as more than a conference, emphasizing a casual, welcoming culture where all participants are heard, and all opinions are welcome. The gatherings are inter-disciplinary, inter-generational, and family-friendly, with provisions for children, including Camp Renaissance programs for younger attendees accompanied by adults. The organization’s mission is to discuss urgent questions of today and essential issues of human experience, fostering bridges among thought-leaders, trend-setters, authorities, and rising stars.

Activities at these weekends include seminars, discussions, informal lectures, and performances, with attendees designing their own schedules from available talks and sessions. Events are held several times a year, with the largest gathering traditionally around New Year’s and smaller weekends throughout the year. Locations are often chosen for their scenic beauty, such as sun-drenched beaches with panoramic Pacific views, snow-capped Rockies, or dramatic coastal areas like “Steinbeck country” near Monterey, California. Specific venues mentioned include Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Rimrock Resort & Spa, and the Monterey Plaza Hotel, offering amenities like hiking trails, golf, spas, and proximity to cultural attractions like wineries and aquariums.”

The Colorado Water Users trips may or may not have been related to city business. However, Turner did not provide the necessary information to justify these trips.

Since Turner did not comply and provide the necessary information to justify these trips after repeated requests to do so, I believe he has been asked to reimburse the city. To my knowledge, as of the end of June, 2025, he has not done so. It is logical to assume that since he will be running for reelection to his Barrel district city council seat, he will reimburse. If he does not do so, it will be used by any candidate that opposes him. Reimbursement, should it occur, does not excuse the abuse of his city credit card for what can be viewed as personal enrichment activities.

In the final Part 5, comments and conclusions regarding Councilmember Turner’s use of his ProCard will be offered.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2025}   

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Councilmember Turner and use of ProCard, Part 3

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

To date in Part 1, I explained the use of a city ProCard and how seriously it is taken. In Part 2, I showed what travel expenditures Councilmember Turner has publicly posted as well as all of the trips he has not posted publicly.

In this Part 3, the public information request I made includes any and all emails between city staff and Councilmember Turner:

• February 15, 2022, Councilmember Turner is sent an email with an attachment that specifies his councilmember responsibilities with regard to travel as well as other items.
• March 7, 2022, Councilmember Turner is sent an email with the city’s Travel and Reimbursement Policies.
• February 1, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a ProCard audit of his ProCard use.

             February 2, 2024, Councilmember Turner’s ProCard limit is increased to $7500; there are

             also requests for receipts covering April 7, 2023; September 12, 2023; October 24, 2023

             and February 2, 2024.

• March 18, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a request for various receipts.
• March 25, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a request for various documentation.
• April 17, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent the City Travel Policy.
• April 24, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a request for documentation of travel
• April 24, 2024, Councilmember Turner is notified that his ProCard is suspended.
• April 24, 2024, Councilmember Turner is notified that his ProCard limits are set to zero and his card is inactivated.
• June 25, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a request for receipts.
• June 28, 2024, Councilmember Turner is sent a request for receipts.
• December 20, 2024. Councilmember Turner is notified that his ProCard is deactivated.

Please note that I received no emails reflecting Councilmember Turner’s responses to repeated staff requests for receipts and documentation. He may have responded verbally and that would not be within the scope of my public information request. However, verbal responses are not sufficient according to city policy. All documentation and receipts are to be in writing.

There is no problem with elected officials attending the National League of Cities and Towns (NLC) meetings. It is a good way to learn by attending workshops and lectures. There is also the opportunity to network with other elected officials from throughout the country.

Typically, elected officials will attend the annual state and national NLC Conferences and in March will go to Washington, D. C. to meet with Congress members to lobby for projects that benefit their communities.

It was at one of these NLC conferences that Mayor Weiers learned about veterans’ housing. He brought the concept back to Glendale where it was then implemented.

Councilmember Turner seems to have no problem spending money – your taxpayer dollars – when traveling. For example, he, Councilmembers Malnar and Tolmachoff and the Mayor attended the National League of Cities Summit in Kansas City, MO from November 16-19, 2022. Mayor Weiers’ total for the trip was $1,968.23. Councilmember Malnar spent $2,269.60. Councilmember Tolmachoff spent $2,296.29. Councilmember Turner spent $3,285.79. Turner spent 67% more than Mayor Weiers; 45% more than Councilmember Malnar and 43% more than Councilmember Tolmachoff.

Here’s another example. Mayor Weiers and Councilmembers Malnar, Tolmachoff and Turner attended the National League of Cities Conference in Washington, D. C. from March 9 to March 13, 2024. Mayor Weiers’ total was $4,038.66; Councilmember Malnar’s total was $3,844.89; Councilmember Tolmachoff’s total was $2,973.60 (may have used airline miles to reduce the cost of her airfare); and Councilmember Turner’s total was $4,631.96. Turner spent 13.47% more than the mayor. He spent 20.47% more than Councilmember Malnar and 55.77% more than Councilmember Tolmachoff.

It was also on these two trips that Councilmember Turner received seat upgrades. On his Kansas City NLC trip an additional $96.59 was spent on seat upgrades and on his Washington, D. C. he spent $143.00 on seat upgrades. This is contrary to city policy which states the ProCard cannot be used to pay for seat upgrades.

He also tends to overtip (more than 20%) Uber drivers. Again, city policy caps tips at 20%.

As is documented under my public information request, Turner was asked repeatedly for receipts and documentation for various trips which apparently, he did not provide. This lead to the termination of his ProCard in December of 2024.

He tends to spend more than any other Glendale official on these trips. It appears that he certainly doesn’t have you, the Glendale taxpayer, in mind. It may be that he forgets exactly whose money is being spent.

In Part 4 and last of this series, we’ll look at some problematical trips Councilmember Turner has taken and then draw some final conclusions about his travel expenditures.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2025}   

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^{This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.}

Councilmember Bart Turner and his use of a City Procurement Card, Part 2

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

In Part 1 of this series, I explained the use of the city’s credit card and how seriously travel expenditures using the ProCard are viewed. It is taxpayer-funded, and the expenditure is expected to benefit you, the taxpayer, by attending conferences or meetings that will improve an employee’s productivity. The city requires accountability in the form of receipts and transparency by publicly posting.

There is a lot of information that had to be organized and simplified. It was no easy feat. That is why it is taking so long to share this information with you. Special thanks goes to “anonymous” who helped me to break down the over 500 pages of documents I received through my public information request.

One way that anyone can view travel expenses for city councilmembers is to go to the city’s Follow Your Money page. Here is the link: https://www.glendaleaz.com/your_government/city_council/council_expenditure_reports

Since we are reviewing Councilmember Turner’s expenditures, for purposes of comparison I also looked at Councilmembers Malnar’s and Tolmachoff’s expenditures. I did not compare the Mayor’s travel expenditures as they would be quite different to those of a councilmember. I also did not compare with Councilmembers Guzman, Baldenegro or Conchas as they are new and have no previous years of expenditures. Here is what is publicly available regarding Councilmembers Malnar, Turner and Tolmachoff:

Councilmember Bart Turner and his use of a City Procurement Card, Part 1

Disclaimer: The comments in this blog are my personal opinion and may or may not reflect an adopted position of the city of Glendale and its city council.

On January 16, 2025, I made the following Public Information Request of the Glendale City Clerk: “All available information held by the city relating to Councilmember Bart Turner and his travel and any requests for reimbursement as a result of the use of his ProCard for his travel from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2024. That includes, but is not limited to, correspondence, emails, charts, and memoranda between the Councilmember and any member of the City of Glendale staff.”

On March 12, 2025, I received the public records I had requested.

I had heard from various sources that Councilmember Bart Turner’s Procurement Card (also referred to as ProCard or pcard) had been terminated. This is highly unusual. That is why I made the Public Information Request. It was to verify that his ProCard had indeed been terminated and why.

All of the information used is a public record and can be obtained by making the same request to the City Clerk for information that I did.

If anyone from the media wishes to confirm this public information or do further reporting, I will make the public records I received available.

First, it is important for you, the reader, to know some background information. A ProCard is, in essence, the city’s credit card. Certain levels of department personnel and elected officials have a ProCard issued to them. Routinely it is used for educational courses, office supplies, event supplies and travel. With the exception of travel, the charges are usually small.

The city takes the use of a ProCard very seriously. It must be used exclusively for small purchases or city business that will benefit an employee’s (including elected officials) productivity by learning new methods or procedures related to one’s job or by networking with others in the same field or by gaining instruction on new or amended federal or state laws that can impact the city. There are miscellaneous reasons, such as grant procurement, for use of the ProCard but they must be related to and in some way bring a benefit to the city. Under no circumstances may a ProCard be used for any personal reason or to purchase alcohol.

Here is the city policy regarding employee reimbursement from SimpliCity Employee Expense Reimbursement (EER) dated 4/14/2020:

“An employee expense claim can take the form of a travel expense per Financial Administrative Policy (FAP) #7, education expense, or other expenses such as vest/supplies/professional development/miscellaneous expense.”

Many years ago, the Glendale City Council adopted a policy that it, too, would be subject to the very same employee policies related to reimbursement for travel or any other legitimate expenditures.

The city’s Travel and Expense Reimbursement Policy dated 12/15/20 and last revised on 4/01/2022 states,

Purpose: “It is the duty of all travelers to carefully weigh any expenditure of public funds. Travel expenditures should only be incurred when there is a clear business need that benefits the city. It is the responsibility of the traveler to maintain correct and proper records to report only authorized city business related expenses when reporting expenses for travel. In addition, it is the employee responsibility when requesting reimbursement for expenses to make sure the expenditures reflect allowable City business, are documented and receive proper authorization.”

Application: “This policy is applicable to all City of Glendale employees, contract employees, temporary employees, agents, volunteers, and contractors unless otherwise specified. To the extent that elected officials resolve to follow this policy, certain exceptions may apply.”

Now that I have shared the responsibilities and requirements for the use of a city issued ProCard, in Part 2, we will take a deeper dive into Councilmember Turner’s use of his ProCard. Look for Part 2 to be posted sometime next week.

^{© Joyce Clark, 2025}   

^{FAIR USE NOTICE}

^{This site contains copyrighted material the use of which is in accordance with Title 17 U.S. C., Section 107. The ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law and who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such material. For more information go to http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use,’ you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.}

Since some of you are having difficulty with the link I am posting all four pages here.