WATERLOO REGION - Regional Coun. Mitchell acknowledged her timing was unfortunate to request council permission for a $4,000 conference trip to Rome.

The same week former Woolwich mayor Todd Cowan was on trial for alleged fraudulent expenses, Mitchell asked for council permission so she could attend the International Making Cities Livable Conference.

Council voted unanimously to allow the trip in June 2016.

"This one looks really good and of course if it's outside of North America we have to have permission from council . and I'm pretty sure I can get the price down," Mitchell said.

At the Region of Waterloo politicians can attend up to three conferences per year of two or more days in duration. Trips outside of North America require a special vote.

Mitchell said she is foregoing two popular conferences - the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and Federation of Canadian Municipalities - to make the Rome trip.

"The cost of the conference itself is pretty equivalent to FCM or other conferences that I've been to," she said.

The conference is themed "Caring for our common home: sustainable, just cities and settlements" and runs from June 13 to 17. Mitchell is hoping she can get a paper accepted and speak at the event.

Also the current chair of the Grand River Conservation Area board, Mitchell would like to speak on watershed issues.

"That's my main reason for going . to spread the word that working together we can have really good watersheds (some of which) have gone from an open sewer to fly fishing and clean drinking water," Mitchell said.

"And also we can protect our aquifers as well."

She said few jurisdictions have conservation authorities and dedicated environmentally sensitive landscapes, so she wants to spread the word.

Mitchell attended the conference once before, several years ago, when it was held in Portland, Ore.

It was prior to the region's decision on light rail transit and she said attending helped with her consideration of the issue.

"They were able to give me the good, the bad and the ugly on LRT so that really helped me make up my mind," she said.

The take-away for the region, Mitchell hopes, will be some input into how other municipalities encourage and support arts and culture.

The region and local municipalities are expected to decide in coming weeks whether to continuing putting taxpayer money behind the Creative Enterprise Initiative.

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"I'm pretty concerned right now about arts and culture and how we're going to go forward on that so that's one of the things . how other places do their arts and how that affects the community," she said. "There are also some things on social housing which I'm always interested in."

Mitchell said she will write about what she has learned on her blog once she returns.

According to council conference expense reporting, Mitchell spent $4,849 between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31 this year.