THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay city councillor Albert Aiello has responded to a ruling from the city’s integrity commissioner finding he had been in a conflict of interest in a budget vote earlier this year.
At Monday’s council meeting, the McIntyre ward councillor said he accepted the report from Jeffrey Abrams of Principles Integrity, the city’s interim commissioner, but seemed to dispute its core finding he had been in conflict.
“My interpretation of the report – I do agree with it, first and foremost – [but] on a personal note, I think it’s very much a stretch as far as being in conflict,” he told his colleagues.
Aiello argued the facts of the case had been spun by local media to make the situation appear worse than it was.
“We live in Thunder Bay, it’s a small town,” he said. “The media doesn’t always get all the information, and I’d like to clarify things… because the way it was advertised in the public, it was basically, ‘councillor Aiello was trying to line his pockets’ or the pockets of the people I work with, and that’s just not the case.”
Aiello should have recused himself from a vote to remove $50,000 from the Thunder Bay Public Library in the city's 2020 budget, in order to add it to the city’s Community, Youth & Cultural Fund, the integrity commissioner found.
That’s because Aiello serves as executive director for the local Boys & Girls Club, one of the non-profit organizations that stands to benefit from increases to the fund over the long term.
There was no immediate benefit to his organization from the decision, however: the $50,000 was to be directed toward the Lakehead Social Planning Council and Evergreen: A United Neighbourhood. Aiello has previously recused himself from decisions on allocating money from the fund.
The commissioner noted Aiello’s pecuniary interest in the decision was indirect and said the councillor had been “well intentioned” in his actions, recommending no sanction for the offence.
Abrams said the incident was an opportunity for councillors to educate themselves on conflict of interest rules. Councillors were set to undergo an information session with Abrams on the subject on Tuesday.
