A Broomfield City Council member apologized Tuesday at a City Council meeting for making more than $2,000 of ineligible charges on his county-issued procurement card.

Ward 1 Councilmember James Marsh-Holschen was brought under scrutiny this week when emails between him, Mayor Guyleen Castriotta, Mayor Pro Tem Devin Shaff and county staff surfaced discussing how he used the procurement card. Ineligible purchases on the card is any amount that goes over the allotted per diem amount.

The card, which pulls from the council’s $76,000 expense budget, is used for training and travel to events that help the elected officials’ professional development. The emails discuss over $2,000 of charges to the card that were made last year over the course of two trips to Tampa, Fla.

News of the emails first broke in the nonprofit group Broomfield Taxpayer Matters’ newsletter after a resident filed an open records request to learn more about council’s expenses.

The emails indicate that the first trip took place in July, and that Marsh-Holschen used the procurement card for $612.46 of room service, hotel bar and restaurant charges that exceeded his allotted per diem amount.

The second trip took place in November, where similar charges were put on the card, an additional $1,621.46 over the per diem amount.

Marsh-Holschen reimbursed the charges in full, and said that the charges were the result of a misunderstanding.

“I misunderstood a communication from our former Finance Director that it was acceptable to use the p-card for amounts above the per diem as long as those additional charges were reimbursed in full,” Marsh-Holschen said in his statement during the council meeting. “On January 8th of this year, the city and county manager reached out to me to make me aware that this procedure was incorrect. This was the first instance of anyone on staff bringing this to my attention.”

“All amounts have been and were always intended to be fully reimbursed to (Broomfield). At no time were public funds used improperly, and there was never an intention to use public funds improperly,” he said. “Each time that I billed hotel restaurant charges to my room, I proactively notified staff of the amounts and reimbursed the amounts in full.”Marsh-Holschen indicated in the council meeting that as a result of the situation, he has chosen to give the p-card back to county staff and will no longer have access to it. His travel arrangements and expenses will be managed by staff going forward.

In addition to Marsh-Holschen’s statement, the council further discussed the issue in Tuesday’s meeting, ultimately deciding that although this is the first mistake of its kind in staff memory, current policies and procedures need to be changed to lessen the likelihood of future mistakes.

“One of the challenges in this situation is that the p-card handbook policy is written for employees,” City and County Attorney Nancy Rodgers said in the meeting. Things like termination of employment in case of severe violations don’t apply to elected officials.

“We’ve talked about creating a council member addendum to the handbook that’s specific about elected officials’ use,” Rodgers said. Other ideas for avenues moving forward included modifying the p-card agreement anyone who receives a card must sign.

Marsh-Holschen addressed questions, explained his side of the story and apologized in Tuesday’s council meeting, but some residents still have concerns.

Rick Fernandez is the founder of Broomfield Taxpayer Matters, which aims to educate voters on policy in the city and county.

“My understanding is that what was outstanding has been paid back by him, but the issue is that the card was used improperly,” Fernandez said. “Why was he not either trained or aware of or responsible for not using the card in those instances in that way?”

Fernandez said that the issue comes down to integrity, and that the misuse of the card shouldn’t be explained away as a mistake or a misstep.

“Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching, this should be a case where you treat it like it’s your own money, your own bank account,” he said. “It’s discouraging and upsetting that we have an elected official who’s responsible for $580 million of a budget not properly managing what should or shouldn’t be charged back to the city and then trying to explain it away as a mistake or a misunderstanding.”