Days after the mayor of Port Moody was charged with a single count of sexual assault, two Metro Vancouver elected officials are describing a different concerning incident involving a young woman.

Vancouver city councillor Melissa De Genova and Coquitlam city councillor Dennis Marsden say they remember an “altercation” between Rob Vagramov and another attendee at an evening session of the 2016 Union of B.C. Municipalities conference.

Vagramov, who was then a 26-year-old city councillor, made “rude and inflammatory remarks” to the woman, De Genova said.

The Vancouver councillor said the woman was upset and he “put her hands on her” despite the woman telling him to go away but Vagramov proceeded to follow her outside.

De Genova said she recruited Marsden to try and separate the pair, as Vagramov followed the woman for two blocks.

“Vagramov again placed his hands on the woman’s arms and shoulders. At this point I put myself between Vagramov and the woman in order to get him to remove his hands from her arms and shoulders. Vagramov said he would only leave if he was able to speak to the woman,” De Genova said in a statement, responding to the questions from CTV News.

“I found the behaviour of Mayor Vagramov that evening to be extremely disturbing and inappropriate. It remains one of the most disconcerting situations which I have personally experienced in my eight years as an elected official,” De Genova said.

Councillor Marsden agreed with De Genova’s recollection that the two of them tried to separate Vagramov and the young woman as the mayor followed her outside the conference venue.

“It was someone who was visibly upset and wanted to disengage from him. But he persisted, which is why in my role, I discouraged him. I said, ‘Back off, she doesn’t want to talk to you. Go away.’ He decided not to heed that advice and persisted,” Marsden said.

The pair remembered that Vagramov said he would leave the woman alone if he was able to speak to her. De Genova recalled the woman was in tears after the pair spoke.

CTV News has reached out to the woman involved, as well as two other elected officials who we are told witnessed this incident, but they did not respond to messages.

Vagramov didn’t respond to emails and phone calls with questions about the UBCM incident.

On Thursday, Vagramov denied the sexual assault charge, which relates to an alleged incident in Coquitlam in 2015. He said he would take a leave of absence from the mayor’s chair while he defended himself in court.

“The allegation is false… the tale grew as it was being told and I want to be absolutely clear. This allegation is false. I intend on fighting it every step of the way including filing a suit of defamation for the continued attack on my character,” he said on Thursday.

He was asked by CTV News if there were any other incidents or allegations that would require him to defend himself.

“No sir,” he responded at the time.

A spokesperson for the Union of B.C. Municipalities said there was no complaint filed that matched behavior described by the two councillors.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.