Police probe former Ypsilanti city manager's credit card use
Police are investigating questions surrounding a now-former Ypsilanti city manager’s use of a city credit card, Ypsilanti’s city attorney has said. Just last week, the former city manager told the Detroit Free Press she might not have followed city policy with personal purchases, but she paid the city back years ago.
Frances McMullan served as the Ypsilanti city manager from spring 2019 until this past August, when she stepped down in what she says was an effort to spend more time with family and pursue other opportunities.
But earlier this year, an Ypsilanti department head filed a complaint against McMullan, saying among his concerns that she had misused her city credit card. And after that complaint was closed, months before McMullan’s departure, a city council member filed a request to get copies of her credit card records for himself and the rest of the council.
Ypsilanti City Attorney John Barr dismissed the complaint on all fronts in March, stating that the key credit card issue had been spotted by auditors years ago. McMullan also told the Free Press last week that personal charges visible on city credit card statements obtained through the Freedom of Information Act were paid back before the audit, not due to any malice, and are only being discussed as a result of retaliation by the disgruntled complainant.
Michigan State Police began an investigation into “a former Ypsilanti city employee for alleged misuse of a credit card” on Sept. 8, said MSP First District Lt. Rene Gonzalez in an email. He wouldn't specify who.
It was the same day the Free Press reached out to the city’s mayor, city council and the city finance director on the subject.
City attorney Barr in an email Monday asked that all questions be directed to his office in order to not compromise a confirmed police investigation into “the McMullan credit card matter.”
Cash advances and complaints
In 2019, McMullan pulled out more than $1,500 in cash advances on the credit card and made numerous purchases, including from consignment stores, fashion outlets, what appears to be a church directory service – McMullan runs a church − and a Foot Locker, according to credit card statements from 2019 through 2020 obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. The city attorney’s office said it was seeking statements from the bank for more recent years; it also noted it received incomplete records from the finance department.
Some indications of reimbursements were available in other documents obtained, like a copy of a check she wrote to the city for $6,275.57 in July 2019. The Free Press has requested documentation of all reimbursements.
A portion of an auditor’s report for fiscal year 2019 shows auditors from the Rehmann Robson firm said: “The City's credit card policy states that any credit card that the City issues to an employee must be used for business purposes only, not personal purchases. We tested a credit card bill noting multiple purchases for non-business related use that were subsequently reimbursed by the employee. We recommend the City adhere to its policy.”
Barr said he pointed to this when the issue was raised in the 2023 complaint.
“I talked to the finance people, and also the auditors − saw the audit report, saw that they had flagged it and they said it had been taken care of,” he said.
A city official using a city credit card for personal reasons but then reimbursing it is “never a good practice, in general,” said Eric Scorsone, an associate professor and director of the Michigan State University Extension Center for Local Government Finance and Policy, on Tuesday.
The practice of allowing it “is done, it’s probably not ideal and some places really don’t allow it at all,” he said.
The issue is that it violates purchasing policy and breaks the law as government funds aren’t supposed to be used for any personal matters, he said.
Barr said the matter is in police hands now. McMullan could not be reached for further comment Tuesday.
McMullan's response
Speaking on Thursday, before the police investigation was initiated, McMullan said the cash advances didn’t sound right, as she didn’t pull out much each time and when she did, it was for things like gas and parking.
But she said all personal charges were paid in any case.
“There were things that I knew that were mine and I circled them, and I said ‘OK, these I need to pay,’ because I had seen it done before, too, where a person used their card and circled it” to note personal charges versus work expenses, she said.
She said one charge for $4,054.32 in August 2019 for the Laurel Manor Banquet and Conference Center in Livonia was a mistake that she identified right away and hurriedly remedied with the city.
She said some charges to places like fashion and consignment stores could have been for office needs and office décor. She noted that in some cases she reimbursed the city for things that were probably for the office or if she didn’t have proper receipts, just to make sure things were settled. She also noted other people had access to the card, and she never questioned reimbursements, just made them.
“I felt bad for anything to be unpaid on me,” she said. “So I just (was) like – ‘Whatever you don't have, I’ll pay, because I probably have not really kept a good track of this card.’”
She also noted there were times when she charged things to the card, for things like city get-togethers, but learned it wasn’t an allowed city expense and paid it back.
A $300 PayPal payment to a “CeCe Nash” in September 2019 came around the time of McMullan’s son’s wedding, and a month later a CeCe Nash Events business out of Canton posted on social media about making stationery for the event. McMullan, when asked about the CeCe Nash charge and told of the timing with the social media post, noted if it was for the wedding, it was a mistake.
“It was paid, and it was remedied,” she said of the situation overall. “I don't owe the city any money. I never tried to cheat the city … Was it against the policy? Yes, probably. But the finance director was to make a decision, the decisions were made to accept the payment.”
McMullan said she learned to stop carrying the card, saying it also looked too much like her own.
McMullan said repeatedly that the matter was being raised now as retribution from the original complainant.
The complainant, Joe Meyers, who headed economic development at the time, originally logged concerns with his treatment by the city manager, the removal of a department from his oversight and concerns about potentially losing a stipend. He has since resigned and declined to comment.
The city’s credit card policy, adopted under the tenure of the last full-time city manager in early 2019, notes a policy violation is subject to disciplinary action up to termination.
It also notes, “Unauthorized credit card activity may also be subject to criminal prosecution.”
McMullan was city clerk at the time, tasked with certifying the policy.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Police probe former Ypsilanti city manager's credit card use
