City officials in Harrisonburg are looking at a new ordinance amendment that would prohibit employees and other citizens from cashing personal checks in the Treasurer's office. It's one of several changes council will consider Tuesday.

This move follows a guilty plea by former Harrisonburg Treasurer Rebecca Neal for misusing public funds in May. Officials say they want to avoid people using the office as a personal bank.

"I'm told it's not an uncommon practice in treasurer's offices throughout Virginia," says City Manager Kurt Hodgen. "But, given the circumstances downstairs, we felt it would be appropriate to completely eliminate that as an activity."

The council will also consider formally shifting the responsibilty of investment of city funds to teh director of finance. The treasurer is an elected position, while the director of finance reports to the city manager.

Hodgen says, "That puts that duty under the overall administration of the city and gives council a little more control, direct control over that."

The council will also look into instituting a fee for people writing any so-called bad checks. If it passes, Harrisonburg residents would have to pay $35 for writing bad checks to the city.

The meeting will be Tuesday at 7 p.m.