NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Some members of Newport News City Council will have to pay money back to the city. This after documents obtained by News 3 show there was a misuse of city credit cards.
EDITOR'S NOTES: An earlier version of this story named three council-members accused of using city funds to pay for a dinner meeting. It was later revealed after this article was published that the alleged dinner meeting did not happen.
A letter from Newport News City Attorney Collins Owens to City Manager Cindy Rohlf and Director of Finance Susan Goodwin states some city council members used the credit cards to spend more than $2,000.
The memo reveals several city credit cards were flagged, including $1,100 in meal purchases. There were also charged for air travel, hotel reservations, a personal LinkedIn subscription and other expenses that are unrelated to their positions on councils.
News 3 reporter Kelsey Jones spoke to Newport News Mayor Phillip Jones about the cards at an event Friday night. He did not want to show his face on camera but allowed News 3 to record a brief interview with him.
"When the city manager and city attorney made me aware, the first that we said was that we need to repay the funds," the mayor said.
He did not got into details about how exactly it all happened.
City leaders said 'P-Cards' or purchasing cards, will be more restricted on what they can used for, and there's a time delay for authorization.
Six council members had city-issued credit cards, but following this incident, Mayor Jones will be the only member who can keep a card. That's because of his frequent travel.
Mayor Jones said he believes there was a miscommunication of policies about city-issued credit cards.
"All council members that been on for years and those are new will be required to do training," Mayor Jones told News 3.
Jones told News 3 all of the money was "paid back immediately."
Owens' letter stated there could be "possible criminal punishment" had the members not paid back the charges.
"To my knowledge, all of the councilmembers have paid it back," he said.
Mayor Jones said these credit card charges were not a factor when the council voted to sever ties with City Manager Cindy Rolhf earlier this week.
