CLEVELAND, Ohio – City Councilman Ken Johnson said he drove 625 miles in his East Side ward in December to inspect abandoned houses and vacant properties on behalf of taxpayers.

So, he asked council to reimburse him for $341 for his driving. He also asked to be reimbursed for an additional $439 worth of gas he said he used traveling in his ward.

This is all contained in Johnson’s most recent expense reports, which I reviewed as part of my series on the ways the councilman has succeeded in getting council to reimburse him for the $1,200 maximum each month for more than a decade.

But this time, I was pleased to discover that council staffers have begun to question Johnson about some of his expenses.

Va’Kedia Stiggers, council’s chief financial officer, flagged numerous problems with his December expense report and asked in multiple emails for documentation to back up his claims. For instance, she said that Johnson could not claim mileage reimbursement and gas reimbursement for the same trips. (You can read the emails and Johnson’s expense reports below.)

Stiggers also noted that the vehicle odometer readings Johnson submitted didn’t follow those submitted for the previous month. So, she asked him to identify the vehicles used in December and who drove them. In addition, she asked him for a mileage log because the one Johnson submitted didn’t detail the locations visited and the specific purpose of each visit.

Johnson submitted a list of abandoned and vacant properties in his ward as his log. He also said a total of three vehicles were used for the month and they were driven by himself and two others -- his council assistant, Garnell Jamison, and city recreation department employee Darian Johnson. (Darian once lived with Johnson. And years ago, Johnson helped Darian change his legal surname to match his.) It’s unclear from the December expense records released by council who visited what properties and when, or if Johnson ever provided such detail. And left unanswered: Did Johnson produce a report based on all the time and expense he dedicated to the effort to review homes?

Johnson was not happy about all the questions from council.

“I talked to the council president last night and it is perfectly permissible for me to submit mileage and gas receipts for three different vehicles,” he wrote to Stiggers. “I explained that to you twice before. I’ll be down later this morning to explain it to you again.”

Johnson should hold his contempt. He’s earned every bit of scrutiny with his ever evolving attempts to wring from taxpayers the $1,200 maximum monthly reimbursement allowed by council. Note to Johnson: The expense allotment is not an entitlement.

For more than a decade, Johnson was reimbursed $1,200 every month for undefined “ward services” performed by Robert Fitzpatrick, a city worker who also once lived with Johnson. Council told Johnson last fall that the expense is no longer reimbursable because the payments to Fitzpatrick run counter to an Ohio Ethics Commission ruling that says public employee can’t typically receive a second paycheck from the same public employer.

After that, Johnson started submitting reimbursement requests for hundreds of miles he said he drove for ward business. For instance, he reported in November that he drove 700 miles within ward. (He provided little detail and yet council reimbursed him.) He also starting submitting receipts for gas he said was used in equipment needed to cut grass for seniors in his ward and to clear vacant lots. And he started turning in receipts for home-office expenses.

Johnson has largely continued receiving the maximum $1,200 reimbursement every month. Other council member do not, according to a recent review of all council member expenses.

After the back-and-forth with Johnson over his December report, the city reimbursed him $1,036 for the month, $164 less than the maximum allowed.

In his January expense report, Johnson again changed things up. He asked the city to give $800 a month from of his expense allotment to Jamison as a salary supplement. It’s a legal arrangement some other council members employ and one that the city’s payroll department manages. Johnson also claimed $265 in business expenses for the month, including the cost of his phones and the $58 the city charges Johnson each month to use the recreation center named after him as his ward office. (The city only started charging him rent after I pointed out that other council members did not have such access to recreation centers.)

I tried asking Jamison about his new pay raise. He hung up on me -- after declaring that he will never talk to me and that I should never call him again.

With Johnson’s blessing, Jamison used to moonlight full time at the Buckeye Shaker Square Development Corporation, a neighborhood group that works in the ward. For years, Johnson supported the organization with federal grant money that he controlled. But the city of Cleveland cut off the organization last summer for failing to provide an independent audit of its finances. As a result, the group was forced to lay off Jamison and others.

Johnson did not respond to a call or email seeking his input on his latest expenses. He’s been avoiding me for months.

I’d love to hear from him. Until then, I’ll let his preposterous expense reports do the talking for him.