Board Debates Hiring Lawyer in Ely Dispute : Expenses: The attorney would review the college trustee’s travel expenses.

Trustees of the Ventura County Community College District debated late Tuesday night whether to hire a private attorney to determine if fellow Trustee Tom Ely and his wife, Ingrid, have violated the district’s travel policies.

Members of the board of trustees discussed the possibility of hiring an independent attorney to examine an audit of Tom Ely’s expense records, which show that he charged the district $8,422 in questionable travel expenses over the last three years.

The trustees said the attorney would also review a separate report that Ingrid Ely, president of the Moorpark College Alumni Assn., charged the association $866 for travel expenses that her husband had already charged to the district.

The Elys’ financial records are the subject of a criminal investigation by the district attorney’s office involving the possible misappropriation of several thousand dollars in college district funds.

“The board needs to really exert some leadership . . . and take some steps to resolve the financial matters involving Mr. Ely,” Board President Greg Kampf said before the meeting. He said the board should have hired an independent attorney last week when it met to discuss the audit.

Instead, the board asked Tom Ely to meet with the district’s staff to go over the audit line by line to determine whether any violations had occurred.

Tom Ely agreed to meet with staff on the matter but has said that the audit is flawed because it does not accurately reflect district travel policies. Since last week, he has threatened to sue the district if it does not censure his fellow trustee, Timothy Hirschberg, for making public comments about Ingrid Ely’s travel expenses.

Over the last two years, Ingrid Ely charged the Moorpark College Alumni Assn. more than $3,100 for trips she took with her husband to conventions, according to district financial records.

Records show that $866 of her travel expenses matched those that her husband had charged to the community college district.

Although Tom Ely said he has reimbursed the district for the expenses, district officials said there is no record that the money has been repaid.

Hirschberg told reporters last week that the alumni association, which Ingrid Ely helped found, is a “sham and that it had only one purpose--to fund travel for a trustee’s wife.”

Before Tuesday’s meeting, the board met in closed session with Moorpark College President Stanley Bowers to discuss Ingrid Ely’s travel expenses. The board commissioned an audit of Tom Ely’s expense records in March after learning that he had incurred large gambling debts and that he used his office telephone to call casinos in Nevada.