TORONTO – Mayor Rob Ford is denying claims madein the city ombudsman’s latest report that his office directed city staffers to bar advertisements for civic appointments from being placed in the Toronto Star, and to remove any mention the city is seeking “diverse” applicants for the positions.

City council is tasked with appointing members to the boards of some 120 agencies that deliver city services after each election. These services account for approximately 33 per cent of operating and capital expenditure, employ 48 per cent of city staff, and account for $15 billion in assets.

The ombudsman’s office began receiving complaints about the way candidates were recruited for these positions in late 2011.

When the process for recruiting board members began in April 2011, the mayor’s staff wrote to the city manager’s office claiming the “proposed schedule was too long and directed staff to speed up the process by approximately two months,” according to the report.

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This accelerated schedule, according to a note written by staff to the city manager and referenced in the report, would be detrimental to the process and make it difficult to find and review candidates.

Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, Ford responded to the ombudsman report, saying since his inauguration as mayor, the civic appointment process has been a “clean, above board, transparent process.”

According to the report, the mayor’s office also encouraged advertisements not be placed in the Toronto Star.

“Staff were directed by the mayor’s office to place the ad in the National Post and the Toronto Sun, but not the newspaper with the largest circulation, the Toronto Star,” reads the ombudsman report, released by watchdog Fiona Crean.

“The CMO [City Manager’s Office] informed my investigator that when they raised this with the mayor’s staff, they were told that ‘we do not like the Star.’”

Related link: Breaking down the battle between Mayor Rob Ford and The Toronto Star.

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The city manager’s staff “did not feel in a position to challenge or refuse” the request from the mayor’s office, according to the ombudsman’s report.

The advertisements were eventually placed in the Toronto Sun, the National Post, and Metro as well as a Chinese community newspaper because the city manager’s office “identified the East Asian community as one that was under-represented,” according to the ombudsman report.

Staff of the city manager did refuse a different request from the mayor’s office regarding who should be encouraged to apply to the positions.

“CMO staff informed my investigator that they were asked by the mayor’s office to remove the statement in the advertisement that encouraged applicants from the city’s diverse population to apply. Staff refused to do so,” the report reads.

The mayor flatly denied his staff made the request, saying, “No, that’s never happened.”

Generally, ad placements for agency positions are left to the discretion of the city manager’s office and the city clerk’s office.

The level of interference from the mayor’s office concerned many staff members of both the city manager’s office and the city clerk’s office, according to the report.

“The CCO [City Clerk’s Office] informed my investigator that in their experience, they had not received instructions from the mayor’s office before on the costing and placement of advertisements,” the report reads.

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“The city clerk said she was not aware of the detailed level of communications from the mayor’s office. Had she known, she would have informed the mayor’s staff that the direction on ad placement did not comply with the Policy and was unacceptable.”

Councillor Giorgio Mammolitisays the concerns raised by city staff are simply attempts to deflect their own mistakes.

“Let’s start by the crux of the report that clearly specifies that staff at the city of Toronto have made errors and they weren’t doing their job properly. That’s the part of the report that I think speaks fairly to what happened,” Mammoliti said. “She has clearly listened to staff that want to deflect their mistakes and make it political.”

Further, city staff are using these concerns as a another stage in an ongoing battle with the mayor and his allies’ quest to cut “the fat” from city hall.

“No, I think this has everything to do with the mayor making comments about going after middle managers and saving money,” Mammoliti said. “This is nothing but an attempt by the middle managers and management of the city of Toronto to come after the politicians that want to trim the fat in middle management.”

