Three Henry County commissioners are packing for a trip this weekend to the nation’s capital – and the county taxpayers are footing the bill.

  Some of those taxpayers are none too happy about it.

  Dozens of local citizens have complained on social media about the upcoming trip to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual legislative conference, saying that they see no benefit to Henry County from this trip. The commissioners themselves have not commented publicly on it or even announced that they are taking the trip, and none of the county documents received by the Times indicate any specific benefit to the county.

  County officials emailed the documents to the Times last Friday, about two weeks after an open records request was filed on the county website. They included information on this specific trip as well as the commissioners’ annual travel budget.

  A standard county employee form titled “Request approval for training/travel” was submitted by commissioners Dee Clemmons, Bruce Holmes and Vivian Thomas. Each form itemized costs for airfare, hotel, meals and other expenses relating to the trip, scheduled for Sept. 12-15. The total amounts were $2,653.72 for Clemmons, $2,567.60 for Thomas and $2,212.12 for Holmes (who did not include airfare on his form).

  The forms were signed Aug. 13 by county budget director Angie Sorrow and Aug. 16 by board chair June Wood as the department head.

  Each form has a line item asking if the event the necessitates the travel expense is part of training required for certification. If the box labeled “no” is checked, the county employee is asked to “please explain how this training will benefit you and/or Henry County.”

  All three of the forms were checked “no” and none of them included any such explanation.

  According to its own website, “The CBCF Annual Legislative Conference (ALC) is the leading policy conference on issues impacting African Americans and the global black community. Thought leaders, legislators and concerned citizens engage on economic development, civil and social justice, public health and education issues. More than 10,000 people attend 100 public policy forums and much more. Join subject experts, industry leaders, elected officials and citizen activists to explore today’s issues from an African-American perspective.”

  Other documents received by the Times show that this year’s county budget includes $8,000 in travel expenses for each commissioner. Wood said a trip like this does not require the board’s approval or anyone else’s. “It is at the discretion of the commissioner,” she said.

  Wood has taken three out-of-state trips as chair on what would be considered county business. Two were in her official capacity as a member of the Atlanta Regional Commission board and only one was paid for by Henry County or any government entity. They were two of the annual LINK (Leadership Involvement Networking Knowledge) trips during which ARC representatives travel to other cities in the United States to learn about how those cities are addressing issues and challenges faced in metro Atlanta.

  As the Henry County Board of Commissioners chair, she is automatically a member of the ARC board. Right now she is on the ARC’s Governance Commit-tee and is vice chair of the ARC’s Transportation & Air Quality Committee.

  Wood went to Washington earlier in her term at the invitation of the White House, and she attended an infrastructure meeting facilitated by White House staff. While in the nation’s capital she took the time to visit the offices of each member of Congress who represents Henry County and share information regarding the county’s efforts to secure a new interchange on I-75.

  The Times reached out through the county’s communications department to Clemmons, Holmes and Thomas for a comment but received no response by press time.