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Several city employees have lost their jobs following the discovery of a “fishy” deal for concrete-crushing services, city administrators said Thursday while vowing better management of how contracts with private companies are written and enforced.

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson characterized the problematic, sole-sourced agreement as resembling “something out of a Scorsese movie,” referring to the Hollywood director famous for his films about gangsters.

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“There’s something fishy about it. That’s just a gut feeling,” he said

The mayor provided no details when asked if the matter had been, or should have been, referred to police.

“It’s a human resource matter,” he said. “I can tell you this was very thoroughly investigated.”

However, Iveson and acting city manager Linda Cochrane both noted the city had parted ways with a number of employees connected to the issue. The names of the employees were not disclosed and it’s unclear how many were involved.