Public records detail agency’s pricey travel
Boutique and upscale hotels were often the lodging of choice for the Mass Cultural Council when staffers hit the road, a Herald analysis of $17,500 in taxpayer-paid credit card bills for rooms shows.
The council dropped more than $1,000 last summer at the Porches Inn in North Adams — where rooms go for up to $499 a night, records show.
The inn is listed as one of the Historic Hotels of America, a clerk said yesterday. It’s also near the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts (MASS MoCA) and a Holiday Inn is also nearby, where rooms top out at $220.
The council crew also frequented the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, state-issued credit card records show, where rooms go for up to $320 a night.
While staying at the inn — called one of the “most quintessential Berkshires hotels” — council staff dined out at Once Upon a Table in Stockbridge and at Nudel and Alta Resturant and Wine Bar, both in nearby Lenox.
It’s all part of expenditures made in a 12-month period from May 2017 to this past May.
Council spokesman Greg Liakos, whose pay was recently hiked to $107,000 a year, has refused to answer any questions from the Herald.
“The Mass Cultural Council has no further comment on the public records that we have provided to the Boston Herald. We will gladly provide additional public records if requested,” Liakos said in an email.
Those records show the council also stayed at hotels in Portland, Ore.; Tucson, Ariz.; Memphis, Tenn.; the San Francisco area; Austin, Texas; and Provincetown, when closer to home.
Restaurant bills on the stateissued “P-card” show stops at the Coors Silver Bullet Bar in Colorado, the Go Bistro Asian Fusion Bar & Grill at the San Francisco airport and Vino Volo at Lambert Airport in St. Louis.
The dining out details come after the Herald first reported the Cultural Council spent a total of $3,700 in meals off the upscale Davio’s “To Go” menu on the taxpayers’ dime.
The council ran up the bills at the pricey outlet in 35 separate charges ranging widely from $2.41 to $247, according to records analyzed by the Herald. The Davio’s To Go shop is located in the St. James Avenue office building where the council rents space.
Details of those take-out breakfasts and lunches, trips and hotel stays were obtained by the Herald following a series of public records requests.
“Misc Food” items, the most expensive individual charges listed for $25 to $50 each, have yet to be identified.