OCEANSIDE -- Councilwoman Shari Mackin charged more than $10,200 to her city-issued credit card during her first year in office, significantly more than any other council member and nearly double her budget for travel, office, telephone and business expenses, according to financial records obtained by the North County Times.

The items charged by Mackin include eight meals she had at city restaurants with staff or other government officials -- expenses described this week by all four of her council colleagues as inappropriate.

There is no clear Oceanside policy on using a city-issued credit card for meals, but City Attorney John Mullen said he would advise the entire council not to use the credit cards for local meals because they aren't necessary to fulfill council duties.

No one has said or suggested Mackin broke any law.

Mackin said this week that she was unaware of the city's $5,210 annual limit on council accounts and was unclear on what expenses she could charge to the credit card, which is paid for by the city. The councilwoman added that she plans to reimburse the city for the local meals.

To prevent future questionable expenses, Mackin said, she's going to ask the council in September to adopt her proposal to create a training session for all new council members that covers such issues as expense accounts.

"I don't have anything to hide, and I didn't know I was doing anything wrong," Mackin said Thursday. "All of this was with the best intentions for the public good."

Mackin's spending

A detailed look at the financial records shows that from July 1, 2005 to June 31, 2006, Mayor Jim Wood spent $3,500, Councilwoman Esther Sanchez spent $1,575, Councilman Rocky Chavez spent $3,800, Councilman Jack Feller spent $5,300 -- about $100 over the limit -- while Mackin spent $10,200.

Mackin spent about $1,500 on office supplies, $1,600 for her cell phone and nearly $6,500 on travel.

She said over the course of several interviews this week that the office supplies included chairs and file cabinets for her and her aide, as well as business cards and copies of informational fliers for community workshops.

The $6,500 in travel included a $1,220 plane ticket to Japan for a visit with Oceanside's sister city, Fuji City, that will be refunded to the city because Mackin had to cancel for health reasons; that would reduce her credit charges to roughly $9,000.

The travel charges also include trips to a California League of Cities conferences in San Francisco, and an American Beaches and Preservation conference in Washington, D.C.

"(Former City Manager Steve Jepsen) encouraged me to take every opportunity I could to meet people and learn about government," Mackin said. "I took a year leave from my job to make sure I could be the best council member I could."

Mackin said she brought back information from the conferences that benefited all Oceanside residents.

She said, for example, that during the conference in San Francisco, she learned from other elected officials that the best way to get the Army Corps of Engineers to clear overgrown vegetation in the San Luis Rey River would be to declare a city emergency.

Mackin said the city took this advice upon her recommendation, which triggered the Corps' decision to clear the area last year.

"These are reasonable expenses and the public benefits from each and every one," Mackin said. "I was not given a budget when I came onto the City Council and the city manager told me to go to as many conferences and workshops as I could."

Mackin said either the city manager or another council member had to sign off on all the expenses and that no one ever said anything to her about the spending.

Last year's city budget stated that each council member had $5,210 to spend, and the policy for the city credit card states that: "Purchasing cardholders must ensure that sufficient funds are available in their budget line item prior to making any purchases."

The city won't have to make any significant budget adjustments to cover Mackin's over-the-limit purchases because Wood, Sanchez and Chavez spent significantly less than their allowed $5,200, said Nita McKay the finance director. The money they didn't use will make up for Mackin's account and the $85 that Councilman Jack Feller overspent his budget.

Several council members said $5,210 was plenty of money to spend.

"I don't want to waste taxpayers' money," Sanchez said. "We all have an understanding not to overspend and to only spend on legitimate purposes."

Meal charges

Wood, Sanchez, Feller and Chavez all questioned Mackin's decision to charge the city for eight meals she had with city staffers or officials from the North County Transit District at local restaurants such as Beach Break Cafe, Azafran Cuban Cuisine and the Flying Bridge Restaurant.

When first asked Tuesday about those meals, totaling more than $450, Mackin said they were justified because she was doing city business with Oceanside staff members or other government officials.

For example, Mackin said she paid for a $140 lunch at the Flying Bridge Restaurant for staff members and volunteers who helped her with an Earth Day project designed to teach middle school students the importance of recycling.

"The public benefit of the project far surpassed the amount spent," Mackin said.

Former two-time Oceanside Councilwoman Melba Bishop, a Mackin supporter, said she believes Mackin paid for the lunches because she handles her council duties the same way she deals with her private life.

"She is very generous with people who do things for her and her friends," Bishop said. "She likes to thank people, and she will learn to just write more notes."

Her council colleagues said the meal charges aren't justified.

"She can't take people out to lunch on the expense of the city to make her look good," Feller said.

Feller and other council members said that if Mackin wanted to take out volunteers or discuss city business with government officials, she should have paid for it with her own money.

City Attorney John Mullen said he would advise council members against paying for lunches when not traveling because, under state law, council members are only supposed to be reimbursed for "actual and necessary expenses occurring in the performance of their official duties."

Mullen cited a 2002 opinion issued by the California attorney general stating that city officials shouldn't be reimbursed for "their expenses in purchasing meals for third parties, such as constituents, legislators and private business owners, at a meeting held to discuss legislation or other matters of benefit to the city."

Mullen presented this information to Mackin during a meeting she requested with him after her interview with the North County Times on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Mackin said she instructed city staffers to create a comprehensive policy on reimbursements and provide more training for new council members.

"It's important for the citizens that new council members have an (orientation) with the city manager and city attorney with regard to things like this," Mackin said Thursday.

Late Thursday night, Mackin sent out a news release on the credit card issue, declaring that the Oceanside Pilots Association first drew attention to her spending because it doesn't want her re-elected in November.

The president of the pilots association, Ben Meyer said Friday he hadn't seen Mackin's expense accounts and that he was not aware that any of the group's members had requested the information on her credit card expenses.

The North County Times received the expense accounts for all the council members through a Freedom of Information Act requested on July 31.

Following the issues raised with Mackin's spending, Oceanside officials said they will make some changes.

Interim City Manager Barry Martin said that the city manager's office needs to do a better job of working with council members and keeping track of the accounts.

"The rules probably weren't as tight as they should have been and the information and training probably wasn't as good as it should have been," Martin said. "We are going to focus on those things in the future."

- Contact staff writer David Sterrett at (760) 901-4067 or dsterrett@nctimes.com.