The Windsor Public Library is joining forces with the city to introduce a new policy to prevent any future misuse of corporate credit cards.

The policy change comes two days after Coun. Al Maghnieh was punished by his colleagues for charging personal expenses to a library credit card while he was chairman of the board.

Acting library CEO Chris Woodrow said the new policy is known as the purchasing card program, which provides greater control over how cards are used.

The library will be "piggybacking" on the program the city already has in place.

"It will help us in a number of ways," said Woodrow. "Primarily, it will give the community confidence that we're using the cards appropriately, and it will also give staff at the city the same, that they're confident that funds are being spent in the ways that they were meant to be spent."

The new program will set strict limitations on the types of purchases that can be made, he said.

“The way that it works is that as an administration in conjunction with the city we can determine what kinds of purchases the card can make and where those purchases can be made," said Woodrow. "Since we have a new travel policy in place, they won’t be able to be used for any kind of travel or accommodation or food."

Maghnieh charged thousands of dollars in travel and food expenses to a library card.

The new policy will affect about 10 staff members at the library, but not board members.

Woodrow said it will take a few weeks before the new policy is fully implemented at the library.

The community should rest assured, he said, that another credit card scandal won't happen at the library.

'Numerous safeguards in place'

“There are a number of safeguards in place," said Woodrow. "Initially the monthly statements will go to the city’s finance department. They will have an opportunity to monitor it then those statements are passed to us and we can monitor them also.”

Mayor Eddie Francis (CBC) In April, Mayor Eddie Francis told CBC News that it's against library policy for anyone on the board to be issued a credit card.

"The policy at the library is crystal clear. No one is to have a credit card on the board. For a chair to have a credit card is against policy. We don’t know why a credit card was issued against policy," Francis said. "He should never have had a credit card in the first place."