Less than two weeks after a jury acquitted Hawaii island’s mayor on charges of using a government-issued credit card for questionable purchases, Billy Kenoi is admitting there is probable cause that he violated the county’s ethics code by using a purchasing card, or pCard, for personal purchases.

That acknowledgement in a Wednesday stipulated agreement with the Hawaii County Board of Ethics heads off an investigative hearing and closes the matter.

Among other things, Kenoi had used the card to buy a surfboard, a bicycle and to cover a bill of nearly $900 at a Honolulu hostess bar in 2013. Those items did not surface in Kenoi’s felony theft trial because the county’s loose oversight of its pCard program allowed the mayor to make personal purchases as long as reimbursement was prompt.

Colliding with that is the county’s ethics code, which prohibits the use of public property for anything other than a public purpose. Here’s hoping the ethics board will guide a sorely needed move to tighten up spending practices in the interest of better serving taxpayers.