TORONTO

Mayor Rob Ford’s magnet scandal won’t stick to him.

City officials confirmed Friday that they’ve dropped a complaint into Ford slapping Mayor Rob Ford magnets on cars at an Etobicoke development meeting earlier this week.

Richard Mucha, the city’s acting director of licensing, released a statement announcing “the investigation is now closed.”

“Municipal licensing and standards staff has reviewed the applicable provisions of the licensing bylaw ... as well as the evidence provided regarding Mayor Ford placing magnets on cars parked at Church on the Queensway on Tuesday, May 14,” Mucha stated. “ML&S has concluded that the complainant’s interpretation of (the bylaw) incorrect. Mayor Ford did not commit a breach of the bylaw, as he is not in the business of being a bill distributor within the meaning of the licensing bylaw.”

When news broke that the city was investigating Ford for putting the magnets on cars at the Humbertown development meeting on Tuesday, the mayor’s office dismissed the notion he had broken a city bylaw.

The mayor’s office did not respond to a media inquiry Friday afternoon about the end of the magnet investigation.

“There is no law prohibiting the mayor from handing out magnets or providing residents with a number to contact him,” Ford’s press secretary, George Christopoulos, said earlier in the week.

“As part of a long-standing practice, the mayor hands out business cards and magnets with his home phone number to just about everybody he meets,” Christopoulos said at the time. “The mayor believes that he should be accessible to the public, as part of his mandate to provide excellent customer service.”