Mayor calls the expense ‘inappropriate’
The District’s Office of Unified Communications used its government-issued charge card to buy $900 worth of massages for its staff, an expense even Mayor Adrian Fenty deemed inappropriate.
The massages were charged to an OUC purchase card on Oct. 25 and listed under “Spas – Health & Beauty,” according to monthly data provided by the Office of Contracting and Procurement. Sources say about 40 of the OUC’s staff, including 911 call takers, were chosen to receive a massage based on the quality of their work. Nichole Jefferson, a D.C.-based massage therapist, was hired for the job.
“The purchases were part of OUC’s Employee Appreciation and Wellness Program activities that also included heath screenings, aerobics and blood pressure and glucose checks,” Mafara Hobson, Fenty’s spokeswoman, said in a statement. “While the intent of the wellness activities was well intended, some were not an appropriate use of funds and will not ever be included in future activities.”
The massage charge pales in comparison with the $111,036 paid to the Capitol Skyline Hotel over the course of October by the Office of the Tenant Advocate. Twenty-one families, displaced after the District ordered their two slum apartment buildings closed, were housed there starting in late September. Two remained last week but should be out soon, said Johanna Shreve, D.C. chief tenant advocate.
Among October charges
- $2,420: Office of the Chief Technology Officer, for zzounds.com, an online musical instrument retailer
- $365.70: Department of Transportation, for no-show fees from the Hilton Hotel chain
- $19.95: Fire department, for “Passport to Fun,” described as an entertainment savings program
- $488: Various agencies, for travel agent booking fees
- $56: Metropolitan Police Department, for the Palm steakhouse in Denver
“These families were in an extremely bad situation,” Shreve said.
Shreve said she did not know whether the city would seek reimbursement from the owners of 4226 Seventh St. NW and 3330 10th Place SE. The charges come to $3,581 a day — $170 a night per family.
District government employees put $832,950 on their purchase cards in October, $99,512 of which was for travel-related expenses including airfare, hotels, food and taxis. Purchase cards accounted for $13.34 million in taxpayer funds between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, according to the Office of Contracting and Procurement.
Monthly purchase card spending citywide has picked up since April by about 20 percent, according to OCP data. This despite a historic recession and looming billion-dollar budget shortfalls.
