Harvey residents allowed to use credit cards to make municipal payments

Harvey is now accepting credit card payments from major companies. 

The City Council approved an ordinance authorizing the move, bringing Harvey into a more advanced technological age.

“People aren’t paying with checks as much as they used to. They’re now trying to use debit and credit cards instead,” Clark said during a hearing prior to the regular meeting on Jan. 27. 

“This ordinance allows us to provide payers with the flexibility to use their preferred payment method—whether it’s a check, cash, debit card, or credit card. It gives us the ability to offer that convenience,” Clark said.

The measure received near-unanimous approval. Ald. Tracy Key (4th) cast the lone dissenting vote. Ald. Tyrone Rogers (6th) was absent.

Smith’s statements

Ald. Colby Chapman (2nd), Key, and Clark clashed over approving previous meetings’ minutes. Clark verbally removed a section of comments made by Ald.Telanee Smith (3rd) at the November 25, 2024, council meeting. 

During that meeting, Smith criticized Chapman for filing a federal extortion lawsuit against Harvey, where she is named a co-defendant. Smith also took aim at Chapman for allegedly filing a false police report. Charges were dismissed Dec. 23, 2024.

Chapman dismissed Smith’s comment as a “false statement.” Key and Chapman objected, urging the council to table the amendment until the next meeting when alderpeople could review it in writing.

Clark called for a vote to accept the amendments as stated. The motion passed with three votes in favor. Chapman and Key opposed.

Bills list

Introducing the bill’s list led to several council members distrusting the motion. Shortly before reviewing the Jan. 13 bills list, Chapman questioned whether the finance committee had posted its notice in accordance with state law. According to the Open Meetings Act, public meetings must be shared with the public at least 48 hours prior.

“We are not going to, once again, question the veracity of the members of this body regarding [what] they are saying about the meeting,” Clark told Chapman. “If there is a question about whether and when a meeting was held, you can always take the matter up with the Attorney General’s office if you [inaudible] to do so.”

Comptroller Louis Williams’ credit card expenditures

Chapman was unsure about approving the Jan. 13 bills list because of activity from the finance department’s top official. Comptroller Louis Williams uses his personal credit card to make purchases for Harvey. He’s then reimbursed, through invoices, but does not make charges for the city, Williams said during a finance committee meeting last year. 

The city was creating another account so he would no longer use his personal card, Williams later said. That has not occurred, however; the charges on his card remain.  

There was a $2,750 reimbursement for Wayfair expenses, an online home goods retailer, Chapman said, and other charges for Adobe and Microsoft expenses, placed on Williams’ personal card. “The comptroller, I believe, should not be using his personal credit card to make purchases for the city of Harvey,” Chapman said. “I think we would have a separate department, bucket, or expenditure.” 

The council approved the Jan. 13 bills lists and meeting minutes for December 2024 and Jan. 13.

Public comment

Before the meeting, Chapman distributed stickers reading “DENIED MY RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH,” similar to Glynis James-Watson’s sweatshirt she wore two weeks prior.

James-Watson evoked civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.’s words to highlight what she believes is Harvey denying her free speech. She held her phone to the microphone and played Dr. King’s “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. 

Last year, Clark and police banned laughing, clapping, and other forms of nonverbal expression. They have unilaterally leveraged state law to remove residents, like James-Watson, for whispering. In January, James-Watson was found liable for disorderly conduct and ordered to pay a $500 fine. 

“Fifty-seven years later, I stand before you fighting for my civil rights to free speech,” James-Watson said. “I am so dismayed that it is at the hands of a Black man that my rights are being denied.”

“There’s a lot that we don’t know,” Ryan Sinwelski said regarding Harvey’s finances. Police removed him and James-Watson from Smith’s regular ward meeting at City Hall days prior, he said.

Jerlene Harris, who Clark appointed to the city’s civil service commission last fall, commended Clark on the progress she has witnessed in Harvey and his administration’s leadership. 

Zahara Sharif similarly thanked the Clark administration. “I thank all of you for what you’re doing to stick together and make this town great,” Sharif said. “When they say, ‘Make America Great Again,’ no, ‘Make Harvey Great Again.’”

Mayoral comments

Clark closed the meeting by directing residents concerned about his administration’s transparency to reference “Harvey Pulse,” the city’s digital and print publication. “While we’re trying to be as transparent as possible, I’m sorry, I can’t take everybody in the room with me when I go into meetings,” Clark said, “and I can’t take everybody to the meetings I have with other people.”

He continued: “I wish I could, but that’s one of the reasons why we elect people. At this particular point in time, I’m that guy, so I can’t necessarily take you into those meetings with me.”