Utility Commissioners Concerned Over Credit Card Use

ROGERS — Water utility commissioners are reviewing credit card charges made by Craig Noble, former general manager, who resigned earlier last month.

“We are analyzing the credit card charges he made from October of last year to the time he resigned,” Don Kendall, commission chairman, said on Friday.

Commissioners are concerned some of the $15,165 Noble charged from Oct. 10, 2012, through May 23 may not have been business related. The credit card bill for June was not available.

By The Numbers

Credit Card Charges

A comparison of credit card charges for six month between Rogers Water Utilities general managers Craig Noble in 2013 and Tom McAlister for 2011, his last full year as manager.

Manager*OctoberNovemberDecemberJanuaryFebruaryMarchTotal

McAlister*$47$1,835$58$2,051$0$37$4,028

Noble*$594$3,826$2,338$1,469$1,097$1,345$10,669

Source: Staff Report

“The commissioners will make a determination what our next step should be after we have all the facts,” Kendall said.

Noble used the credit card to purchase gasoline, meals, rental cars, candy bars, doughnuts, hotels rooms, flowers and soft drinks, according to credit card receipts obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

The commission did not a have a written policy on credit card use, said Travis Greene, a commissioner and former chairman.

“We gave him the credit card with the basic understanding it was for business purposes only, but we didn’t spell it out; we just thought it would be a common sense issue,” Greene said.

“There are Internal Revenue Service and state laws that outline how business credit card charges must be documented,” Kendall said.

The IRS requires dated receipts that note whether the expense was for business. An explanation is to be included with the receipt, Kendall said.

“Craig didn’t always turn in his receipts in a timely manner and didn’t always make notes on the receipt what it was for or who was with him at lunch or dinner,” Kendall said.

“I think a lot of this is a misunderstanding,” Noble said Friday. “I honestly thought I was doing the job the commissioners expected until I found out we were using different song books.”

Noble agreed with Kendall and Greene about lack of a credit card policy.

“They are correct, there wasn’t a policy. I only charged items on the utility card I thought were business related,” Noble said.

As part of his negotiated compensation package, commissioners gave Noble a car allowance of $7,200 per year, Greene said.

“That money was to be used for wear and tear and maintenance on his personal vehicle. It was the same amount he was getting in Russellville. He was told he could charge gasoline on the card when it was for business,” Greene said.

Tom McAlister, general manager of the utility for more than 27 years and who retired last year, did not have a separate car allowance, according to utility officials.

“Several years ago Tom asked that his car allowance just be rolled into his salary,” said Joyce Johnson, utility finance director. “Until Mr. Noble was hired, nobody had gotten a separate car allowance in years.”

During a review of the credit card charges, commissioners discovered Noble also was renting cars in Fayetteville, Russellville and Conway.

“We had no idea he was renting cars,” Kendall said.

“It came as complete surprise when we found he had been renting cars,” Greene said. “Renting cars was not something we expected.”

The review listed $2,861 in rental car expenses from October through December, then no rental expense until May 2 when Noble spent $486 on a rental car in Fayetteville.

As far as the rental cars are concerned, Noble said he rented cars to save money.

“I did travel a lot out of the region. I used rental cars to save wear and tear on my car. I believed it would be less expensive for the utility in the long run,” Noble said.

The $7,200 allowance he received was not all for use of his car, Noble said.

“Only $4,800 was a car allowance. The rest was a technology allowance,” he said. “Technology” refers not to computers, but to licensing and certification.

When commissioners became concerned about the use of the credit card, they requested Casey Wilhelm, the city finance director, to conduct a review.

The utility is a separate entity from the city. There are only three things the commission has to bring to the City Council for approval: a request for a rate increase; extension of water or sewer lines outside the city limits; or a bond issue, according to city ordinances.

Wilhelm, a former auditor, said Friday she reviewed the credit card receipts, but didn’t make assumptions regarding the charges.

“If there was a notation with the receipt, I listed the charge as business. If there wasn’t a notation, I didn’t make an assumption on whether it was a business or personal charge. That will be up to the commissioners,” Wilhelm said.

Gasoline receipts indicate Noble traveled a lot. During his tenure he purchased gasoline in more than 28 cities in eight months. Purchases were made in New Orleans, Kansas City, Dallas, Texas, Tulsa, Little Rock and Brookhaven, Miss. He purchased gasoline, on average, every other day.

On Nov. 10, 2012, Noble purchased $77 of gasoline from Sam’s Club in Little Rock at 10:56 a.m. and $42 of gasoline at 9:55 p.m. from another service station in Little Rock. He charged a total of $5,328 on gasoline in the eight months he worked for the utility, according to receipts.

Food was another large expenditure. He charged $2,974 at restaurants, doughnut shops, service stations, drive-ins, fast food shops and bakeries. Locally some of his favorite restaurants, based on the number of receipts, were McAlister’s, Ron’s Hamburgers, Smokin Joe’s Ribhouse in both Rogers and Bentonville, and Panera Bread.

The day Noble resigned he gave Johnson a $2,392 check with the notation it was a refund on credit card charges for the months February through June. Commissioners didn’t ask for the check or set the amount. Noble based the check on what he thought was the correct refund amount, Johnson said.

“I know it looks like an admission of guilt to refund money on the credit card, but I felt it was the right thing to do under the circumstances. This was a very unfortunate situation for everybody,” Noble said.

Noble was hired in September after a four-month national search for a replacement for McAlister.

Noble came highly recommended from the Russellville water and sewer utility where he had worked several years.

“We really thought we had the right man for the job. He had a great track record and credentials,” Greene said.

Noble’s resignation followed an executive session of the commission.

“We have some people working on a credit card policy for the next general manager,” Kendall said. “At the next meeting, if we have all the facts, we might discuss what our next step should be, but I don’t want to speculate on what the commission will want to do. I just want the public to know that we have had our annual outside audits and they have been blemish-free for years.”

The next meeting of the Rogers Water and Sewer Commission is scheduled for July 22.

Web Watch

Credit Card Review

To see the credit card review go to www.nwaonline.com/noblecharges

Upcoming Events