Credit card OK’d for council purchases

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The city’s board of control passed a request for a city credit card by Clerk of Council Valencia Marrow that would cover allowable travel expenses for city council members.

The Platinum Plus for Business MasterCard issued by Huntington Bank will have a credit limit of $20,000.

To date, council members have been paying for individual travel expenses and then would be reimbursed for their expenses.

The allowable travel expenses would include any conference or seminar trip and any city council business outside of the city.

Hotel and flight costs would be covered by the budget set aside for travel, said Jamael Tito Brown, 3rd Ward councilman.

City council has a specific budget around the credit-card limit for the needed travel expenses. Brown said, to his knowledge, previous council members had individual credit cards. Current council members opted for a single card to be used by one person so spending could be easily monitored.