They will then decide whether to reimburse some or all of the costs incurred by the mayor while he attended the Local Government NZ conference last week.
Morris said it was usual for a mayor to attend the conference and funding was set aside for this.
It was appropriate that arrangements were made with the sensitive expenditure policy in mind as there should be no perceived benefit to any individual, he said.
It was only in July Sir Tim informed the council his travel arrangements would involve flying to Wellington and then travelling by road to Palmerston North, where the conference was held, Morris said in his report.
"In addition, the mayor's arrangements included being away for two days longer than was required for attendance at the conference."
Discussions between Cr Clark and Sir Tim took place before the conference started and they could not reach an agreement — so Cr Clark requested the matter be reported to the council, Morris said.
If the council approved the expenditure, then it was legal to incur the cost, he said.
"The risk here is the matter of council's reputation. Expenditure improperly incurred can affect council's reputation with the public."
Cr Clark said last week there were two issues at stake: first that Sir Tim wanted to add days away and secondly the use of a rental car.
"Council offered him in April the same provisions that have been offered to any other elected member who attended the conference flying from Invercargill to Palmerston North through Christchurch — but he declined," Cr Clark said.
Sir Tim told the council sometime later he had made arrangements to fly to Wellington, he said.
While Sir Tim insisted he did not refuse flights, he advised the council he would attend the conference and asked to wait until his family's flights were booked in order to match them.
He provided the Otago Daily Times with two print screens in relation to the matter — the first was an email from May 2 in which he confirmed his presence at the conference.
"As it is school holidays, I will be travelling with family and will need the same flights as them," he wrote.
He then said this would be confirmed within the next couple of weeks and it was likely to be from Queenstown or Dunedin to save costs.
The other email, dated May 26, was communication between Sir Tim's partner, Asha Dutt, and his personal assistant in which she says they have finally booked their flights for the conference.
"Can you please organise for Tim to match these flights?
"We will need to lock in accom[modation] for Wed 2-Sat 23 July in Palmerston North," she wrote.
Sir Tim said those communications showed he did not ask for any extra day of accommodation.
"It was the council who booked for the extra accommodation on Tuesday and Saturday, probably under the assumption it should just match the flights," he said.
Sir Tim told The New Zealand Herald he spent $523 on the rental car to travel to Palmerston North from Wellington.
