City of Lansing appears to lie about travel expense reports

April 22, 2026

The Lansing City Attorney's Office is telling me that the expense reports for several trips to conferences in 2025 do not exist. The trips are by members and staff of the two retirement boards, the boards of the Police & Fire Retirement System and the Employees Retirement System. Board travel policy encourages the trips for educational purposes. Board travel policy also requires that each attendee submit an expense report so they can be reimbursed. It is called the City of Lansing Retirement Board Expense & Reimbursement Form. Here is an example:

In response to my Freedom of Information Act request, I've been provided 11 of the reports, but I know there are at least 10 more. I know this because I have the registration forms for these conferences. However, when I asked for the other 10 expense reports, the City Attorney's Office told me:

 

The remainder of your request is denied pursuant to MCL 15.235(5)(b), as no responsive records were located. This letter serves as a certificate that the requested documents do not exist under the name provided by you or another name reasonably known to the City of Lansing.

The City Attorney's Office handles all FOIA requests, but they depend on other departments to come up with the documents. In this case, it would be the Retirement Office, which is in the Department of Human Resources. 

I have summarized below the information from the 11 expense forms I did receive. Click on the attendee name to see the form.

MAPERS spring conference, Motor City Hotel/Casino, Detroit, May 18-20:
 

Thomas Lindemann Mileage Meals TOTAL:

140.00  24.00 164.00

Terri Taylor Mileage Lodging Meals TOTAL:

140.00 548.55 165.62 854.17

Eric Wohlfert Meals TOTAL:

72.00 80.00

NCPERS annual conference, Denver, May 18-20:
 

Matthew Kreft Parking and tolls Other ground transportation Airfare Lodging Meals TOTAL:

96.00 44.46 486.96 726.92 108.00 1,462.34

Justin Moore Parking and tolls Other ground transportation Airfare Lodging Meals TOTAL:

128.00 109.64 486.96 864.66 144.00 1,733.26

MAPERS fall conference, Amway Grand Hotel, Grand Rapids, September 13-16:
 

Matthew Bahr Mileage Meals TOTAL:

119.00 36.00 155.00

Matthew Kreft Meals TOTAL:

108.00 108.00

Justin Moore Lodging Meals TOTAL:

764.84 40.00 797.84

Thomas Lindemann Mileage Meals TOTAL:

87.50 27.00 122.50

Eric Wohlfert Mileage Meals TOTAL:

84.00 56.00 140.00

NCPERS fall conference, Fort Lauderdale, October 26-29:

 I've listed below the conference attendees whose expense reports the City Attorney's Office says do not exist.

• MAPERS Spring Conference -Motor City Hotel, Detroit, May 17-20:
  Jeremy Garza
  Dennis Parker
  Christopher Wilcox
   

• NCPERS Annual Conference - Denver, CO, May 18-21:

• Scott Dedic
  Chrystal Thomas
   

• MAPERS Fall Conference -Amway Grand Hotel, Grand Rapids, September 13-16:
  Scott Dedic
  Larry Ebright
  Darren Kalis
  Christopher Wilcox
   

• International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans - Honolulu, Hawaii, November 9-12:
  Scott Dedic

Remember, the expense forms are required by Board travel policy. Unless these people registered for the conferences and then did not attend, the statement that the documents do not exist is very hard to believe. And there may have been 2025 trips whose registration forms I do not have.

It is also Board policy that conference attendee provide an oral report at the next board meeting. This is from the minutes of the June 2025 ERS board meeting:

Parker's and Thomas' expense reports are among the missing.

This is from the minutes of the June 2025 P&F board meeting:

Thomas' report is one of the missing.

This is from the minutes of the November 2025 joint ERS and P&F board meeting:

Dedic's report is one of the missing, and it is the one I'd really like to see, since the conference took place in Honolulu, Hawaii.

If the 10 expense reports are really missing, we need an explanation. If they are not really missing, someone needs to lose their job.

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