Council won't let Gillam use credit card

A councilman is looking at taking legal action against his fellow members.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council canceled the city-owned credit card of one of its members because he failed to notify them before he used it at a legislative conference.
Councilman Mark Memmer, D-7th and chairman of the legislative body's finance committee, said Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, can no longer use the card.
The decision to cancel Gillam's credit card came during an executive session held toward the end of a Feb. 7 council meeting.
During the executive session, Memmer said council instructed city Finance Director David Bozanich to call Gillam on his cellular telephone and tell him the card was being canceled, Memmer said Monday. At the time of the call, Gillam was in Washington, D.C., for the annual conference of the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials. Gillam is on the caucus's executive committee.
"We're not trying to stop him from traveling, but we need to approve it before he goes," Memmer said. "... At this point, we don't know if he'll get [the card] back."
Gillam said he informed council's clerk that he was attending the conference before leaving.
"It's a personal thing," he said of having the credit card canceled.
Gillam served as finance chairman from January to November 2006. That changed at council's Nov. 15, 2006, meeting. Gillam was ousted from power with Memmer named the new chairman of the finance committee, considered the council's most powerful committee.
What Gillam said
Gillam acknowledges he violated one council rule: He held on to his city credit card rather than have it stored in a safe in the finance department's office at city hall. Other than that, Gillam said he did nothing wrong and didn't violate council rules. He is consulting with his attorney to see if any legal action can be taken.
Councilwoman Carol Rimedio-Righetti, D-4th, said council rules approved in 2004 require members to inform the finance committee of impending use of city credit cards.
"I don't believe there would have been a problem if [Gillam] had come forward first," she said.
No one has suggested that the charges from Gillam's trip would violate city policy.
Gillam submitted his bills for his trip -- paid with his own credit card -- to the city clerk's office Friday.
Gillam said he didn't recall how much the trip cost him. He added that he doesn't think council members should be issued city credit cards.
Memmer and Rimedio-Righetti agree.
About two years ago, there were about 4,000 worth of questionable charges on Rimedio-Righetti's city credit card. She said the transactions happened when the card was in the finance department's locked safe and the city was the victim of credit card fraud. She canceled he city credit card shortly afterward.
Council adjourned into executive session Feb. 7 with Councilman Rufus Hudson, D-2nd, who called the closed-door meeting saying it was for a "personnel" issue.
What happened
When told by a Vindicator reporter that state law requires more of an explanation for an executive session, Hudson and council President Charles Sammarone disagreed. But Law Director Iris Torres Guglucello agreed with the reporter, and after a brief conversation with the law director, Hudson said it was for the potential discipline of a city employee or council member. No action was taken after the executive session except to end the council meeting.
Council members wouldn't talk about the executive session publicly until Monday. Memmer insisted no votes were taken in the private meeting and the members informally agreed to take away Gillam's card.
There have been problems with council members who used city credit cards for personal use.
The most notable case occurred in 1997 when then-Councilman Herman Hill of the 3rd Ward used a phony receipt to cover up his use of a city card to buy a 2,400 computer for personal use. His record was sealed in December 2005.
skolnick@vindy.com