Credit card statements for an account specified for use by Visit Elizabeth City — the area’s official tourism marketing group — show several out-of-state expenses, including hotel stays in Virginia and at a seafood restaurant in Florida.
The Visa credit card bears the names of two account holders: former Visit EC Executive Director Nosakhere Kamau and Visit Elizabeth City, according to the statements. The card has a $30,000 credit limit and was issued by United Bank, which has a branch located across Water Street from Visit EC’s office in the WaterWorks building.
Citing concerns about his personal health, Kamau submitted his resignation as executive director early last week.
The Visit EC credit card statements cover the billing cycles ending April 1, May 1 and June 2, and each statement is stamped “e-Statement,” suggesting they were printed from an account set up for online billing. The June 2 statement shows the balance at the time was $6,026.26, including a past-due amount of $3,315.15. The payment due date was June 26.
Most of the expenses listed on the statements appear to be purchases made as part Visit EC’s job to market the Elizabeth City-area as a tourists destination. Examples include monthly subscription fees for Spectrum and other services, office supplies, small item purchases at local stores and one charge of $63.09 at Panera Bread in mid-April. A handwritten note to the side of the statement indicates the Panera Bread expense occurred while Visit EC officials were hosting a visit by the African American Experience Trail Board.
The card also lists purchases at hotels and restaurants in Virginia.
In April, the card was used to spend $118.04 at the Norfolk Hilton The Main, located in downtown Norfolk near the city’s Waterside District, according to the statements. Also in April, the card was used to spend $512.55 at the Moxy Virginia Beach Oceanfront, which according to the hotel’s website is located in the 1200 block of Atlantic Avenue.
In May, the card was charged twice at Intown Suites in Chesapeake. The first charge was for $491.52 and the second charge was $481.94. The transaction dates for those charges were May 16 and May 24, respectively. The extended stay hotel did credit $50 back to the card.
Neither of the Hampton Roads hotel expenses include notes explaining the reasons for the charges.
In April, the card also was used on two consecutive transaction dates at restaurants in Virginia Beach. The first transaction, April 7, was for $70.87 at Scotty Quixx Sports Bar and Grill, according to the statement for April expenses. The second transaction of $127.56 was April 8 at Ocean Eddie’s Seafood Restaurant.
Neither of those expenses include notes explaining the reasons for the charges.
Later in April there were five purchases made in the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida area, including one for $172.73 at Fresco’s Waterfront Bistro. There’s also a charge of $93.15 at Lee’s Grocery, in Tampa, which, according to Google Maps, is actually a neighborhood pizza restaurant.
Additional charges include $24.39 at Publix grocery store No. 144 in Tarpon Springs, Florida; $10.46 at Dunkin Donuts store No. 340468 in Holiday, Florida; and $75.86 at Mr. Souvlaki, a Greek restaurant also located in Tarpon Springs. The transaction dates for the Florida purchases are April 21-22.
None of the Florida expenses include notes explaining the reasons for the out-of-state charges.
The credit card statements were made available after a public records request to Pasquotank County Attorney Mike Cox, who is also the attorney for the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Tourism Development Authority.
Included with the request were five months of statements for another Visa credit card that was still assigned to Corrina Ruffieux, Visit EC’s former executive director before Kamau. Ruffieux resigned in March 2023 to accept the position as head of the Haywood County Tourism Development Authority in western North Carolina.
The statements include the billing periods between Jan. 1 and May 1.
The card was also issued by United Bank to accountholders Ruffieux and Visit Elizabeth City. It has a credit limit of $5,000 and as of the May 1 billing cycle it had been paid in full, with no minimum payment due. The statement doesn’t indicate whether that account has been closed.
The search for Ruffieux’s successor took nearly a year when in February the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank TDA announced Kamau had been hired as new director. His first day as director was Feb. 26.
Kamau had lived the previous 11 years in Tampa, Florida, where he worked as a managing partner of his business Mali Venture Partners and contributed to the local community through cultural and entrepreneurial efforts, according to a TDA news release in February. He partnered with the Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency to start the Jazz Reborn Festival and launched one of Tampa’s first African American-owned cigar companies.
Kamau’s birth name is Eric Walton, but he legally changed it to Nosakhere Kamau in 2000 “to honor his cultural heritage,” according to the February news release. Kamau is also the son of Johnnie Walton, a 4th Ward city councilman and board member of the TDA.
Kamau submitted his notice of resignation to attorney John Leidy, an employment law expert with the Hornthal Riley Ellis & Maland firm. In an email to Leidy, Kamau addresses members of the TDA and cites health concerns as the reason for his resignation.
“Due to ongoing medical issues, I find myself unable to fulfill my responsibilities at the level of commitment that the role deserves,” Kamau’s email states. “After careful consideration and consultation with my healthcare provider, I have come to the conclusion that prioritizing my health is necessary at this time.”
The email’s subject line reads “Resignation” and the timestamp is 10:45 p.m., July 7.
Asked about the out-of-state expenses for hotels and restaurants such as the $512 at Moxy Hotel in Virginia Beach and $172 at Fresco’s Waterrfront Bistro in St. Petersburg, Florida, Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Tourism Authority Chair Holly Audette said she understood they were “for the purposes of promoting tourism.”
“From information provided before his resignation, I understand that these 2 expenses arose from contacts he was making on behalf of Visit Elizabeth City for purposes of promoting tourism,” she said in an email. “Mr. Kamau could provide you more details regarding this.”
Kamau could not be reached for this story.
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