At least eight people approached Toronto Councillor Paul Ainslie with concerns Mayor Rob Ford was impaired at a military ball.

In an email Tuesday to fellow members of the Garrison Ball organizing committee, Ainslie explained how he took action that ended with Ford being asked to leave the Feb. 23 gala.

Ainslie wrote that he was “approached by at least eight people who were concerned about the Mayor’s state.” Ainslie said he went to speak to the mayor, found him “somewhat incoherent,” and told Ford’s chief of staff, Mark Towhey, “I think it would be a good idea for the Mayor to leave.”

Meanwhile, two other city councillors stepped forward Tuesday to urge Ford to get help for alcohol addiction problems. Sarah Doucette and Joe Mihevc said it is time the mayor sought treatment.

A Star story published Tuesday has made public an open secret at city hall, that those closest to Ford believe he has an alcohol problem. Five sources who have worked closely with the mayor have said they are concerned for the mayor’s health and believe his job is being affected. Those sources — who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, and political retribution — say senior staff have made repeated attempts to persuade the mayor to go to rehab. The mayor has refused and denies he has a problem.

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The email obtained by the Star sheds more light on what happened at the Garrison Ball, a gala dinner for about 800 Canadian armed forces personnel, reservists and Bay Street elite that raised money for the Wounded Warriors charity.

Ainslie, an organizer of the event, sent the email to some of his fellow members on the 13-person committee that put the ball together. Six of those members, led by Toronto Port Authority chair Mark McQueen, the Garrison Ball’s co-chair, put out a statement Tuesday distancing themselves from the decision to ask Ford to leave. McQueen and the other five state that they did not ask Ford to leave.

Ainslie is not one of the six who signed the letter.

His email to the committee members describes how at least eight people were concerned about Ford.

In interviews with the Star, some organizers and guests have described Ford as “intoxicated,” “out of it,” “rambling,” and “incoherent.”

Ainslie said he personally went to see Ford and noted “he seemed somewhat incoherent.” At that point, Ainslie said, he went to chief of staff Towhey and suggested the mayor should leave.

“I think it’s been known around City Hall for quite a while that he may have a drinking problem,” Councillor Doucette said in responding to the Star’s Tuesday report. The well-liked progressive councillor urged the mayor to “stop denying and get help ... in some respects, I wish this had gotten out earlier, because if he needs help, please do it now.”

Councillor Mihevc, a left-winger who is friendly with the mayor and is in a football pool with him, said, “we have witnessed some of that which the Star reported about” and that “the appropriate response is one that encourages such a person to go and get treatment.”

Doucette said she hadn’t personally seen the mayor intoxicated, but “other councillors have reported seeing him at events” appearing to be impaired in some way.

Pressed for specifics, Mihevc pointed to last summer’s Salsa on St. Clair street festival, where he said he witnessed Ford “walking with a little bit of a funny bounce, and slightly slurred speech … intoxicated.”

Mihevc continued: “I don’t want this to be the focus of my comments. My comments, frankly, are: My sympathies go out to the mayor on this one. We have all had colleagues … that have had addiction issues. And the mayor, like anybody else, the appropriate response is one that encourages such a person to go and get treatment.”

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Ford has said the story is an “outright lie.” Ford’s press secretary, George Christopoulos, told media the Star’s report that the mayor was asked to leave the Toronto Garrison Ball was not true.

Ainslie, who told the Star directly that he urged the mayor’s chief of staff to ask Ford to leave, said Tuesday he stands by his comments.