by P.D. Lesko
In response to tips from Ypsilanti city employees, The Ann Arbor Independent submitted multiple Freedom of Information Act requests about the credit card usage of former Ypsilanti City Manager Frances McMullan. A Sept. 12 email from the Ypsilanti City Attorney John M. Barr in response to the newspaper’s requests for public records stated that on Sept. 11, 2023 the City Attorney “confirmed” former Ypsilanti City Manager Frances McMullan is currently under investigation by the Michigan State Police for alleged abuse of her city-provided credit card. Barr’s email below stated that a police investigation is ongoing.
It has been confirmed that there is a police investigation of the McMullan credit card matter. In order to not compromise that investigation I request that all further comment on the matter be directed to this office and city staff refer any questions to this office. Thank you.
Good afternoon,
John M. Barr, Ypsilanti City Attorney
The Devil Made Her Do It
In response to multiple emails and allegations of financial impropriety on the part of McMullan made by her own employees, The Ann Arbor Independent used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain McMullan’s City of Ypsilanti credit card statements from between 2019 and 2023. The newspaper was initially told that the City’s Finance Dept. did not have copies of McMullan’s credit card statements.
City of Ypsilanti Finance Dir. Rheagan Basabica was promoted by McMullan to head the City’s Finance Dept. in May 2019, shortly after McMullan was hired into the position of City Manager. Detecting and reporting McMullan’s alleged abuse of her city-issued credit card would have been the purview of the Finance Dept. Why Finance Dir. Rheagan Basabica did not keep copies of any of McMullan’s credit card statements has not been explained.
In order to provide the public records, the City’s FOIA coordinator, Jennifer A. Merritt, an employee of Barr, Anhut & Associates, P.C., had to contact Bank of Ann Arbor repeatedly to ask for copies of the credit card bills paid by Ypsilanti on behalf of McMullan. This law firm provides its services as the Ypsilanti City Attorney.
In a Sept. 9 email, Jennifer Merritt provided McMullan’s 2019 and 2020 credit card statements. Merritt explained the missing public records: “Thank you for your patience with this matter. Please find complete credit card statements for 2019. The issuing of credit cards to the Clerk and Manager began in April 2019. Prior to that all purchases were made by Finance so no statements exist prior to that for City Manager or Clerk. We have yet to receive complete records for 2021 or 2022. I am not sure why this is so complicated for the bank. I emailed and spoke with the bank manager [Bank of Ann Arbor] again yesterday to ask to either reorder / obtain Jan 2021 – Dec 2022.”
The Apr.-Dec. 2019 credit card statements show that during eight months in 2019, she took thousands of dollars in cash advances, and charged clothing, shoes, prescriptions and groceries, among other items, to her city-provided credit card.
One of the first charges McMullan made after getting her City of Ypsilanti credit card was $896.37 to Delta Vacations.
Frances McMullan was the City Manager for the City of Ypsilanti from early-2019 to Aug. 2023. During the dozen years prior to 2019, McMullan held a variety of posts within Ypsilanti City government. McMullan also worked for the City of Ann Arbor for 15 years.
McMullan also self-identifies as the “First Lady” of the Restoration Family Worship Center. Her husband, Tracey McMullan, is the pastor at the Worship Center. In 2014, McMullan and her husband registered Restoration Family Worship Center with the State of Michigan as a 501(c)3.
The IRS has no record of the McMullans’ 501(c)3 entity. It’s unclear whether the non-profit has ever filed federal income tax disclosures, as required.
In April 2019, shortly after McMullan was promoted to the position of City Manager, the City of Ypsilanti (for the first time) issued credit cards to its City Manager and City Clerk.
McMullan, who was paid $105,000 per year, reportedly explained her use of the business credit card to pay for over $14,500 in personal expenses within an eight month period by saying she had been “unclear” on the rules concerning the use of her city-provided credit card. She also said she’d reimbursed Ypsilanti for all of the purchases unrelated to city business, and that she had no intention of stealing from her employer.
If an employee uses a business credit card for personal use, regardless of whether amounts for personal purchases are reimbursed, an employer may request law enforcement officials file theft or embezzlement charges.
Shopping Online on City Time and the Taxpayer’s Dime
Ypsilanti Twp. Trustee Ryan Hunter was hired to work as the Asst. to the Ypsilanti City Manager in June 2019. Hunter characterized his working relationship with McMullan as difficult.
“She was vindictive and retaliatory in her interactions with me,” said Hunter. He added, “I never saw her pay for anything with her city credit card, but I can’t tell you how many times I came into her office during work hours and she was online shopping. She shopped online pretty much every day.”
While she she was the Ypsilanti City Manager, credit card statements obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show McMullan used the City’s credit card almost daily to pay for items such as artwork, shoes, beauty supplies, prescriptions and designer clothing. McMullan paid to pull Equifax credit reports. She also paid $4,054 to a banquet hall in Livonia, MI.
McMullan took hundreds of dollars in cash advances monthly, according to the credit card statements. In June 2019, for example, the City Manager took almost $600 in three separate cash advances. There are no records that verify the cash advances were related to city business.
Ypsilanti City Council members and Beth Bashert, the Mayor in 2019, said Rheagan Basabica’s Finance Dept. did not apprise them of McMullan’s inappropriate use of her city-provided credit card.
It’s unknown if Basabica is also being investigated by the Michigan State Police.
Leaving to “Spend More Time With My Family”
When interviewed by the media about her departure from her job as City Manager, on Aug. 4, 2023 McMullan was quoted as saying, “I’d like to go on and do some other things and spend some time with my family. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I want to do something different.”
Staff members who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation said McMullan’s tenure as the City Manager was rocky.
In Feb. 2023, Frances McMullan filed a formal complaint against Mayor Pro-Tem Steve Wilcoxen. In an open meeting, Wilcoxen said that he had given the City Manager a poor review on her last evaluation. After McMullan filed her complaint, Wilcoxen said in a statement: “My only reference was to the evaluation document of the city manager, which is a public document open to the Freedom of Information Act.”
However, City Council allowed McMullan to retire early, and provided her with an exit package that included a guaranteed positive work reference. She will collect two pensions, one from the City of Ann Arbor and one from the City of Ypsilanti.
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