LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Metro council members were back in the chambers Wednesday for another day of the ethics trial to decide whether or not to remove Anthony Piagentini from his council seat.
More witnesses took the stand, including Deputy Mayor David James.
Former Councilmember Bill Hollander was the first witness to take to the stand. He also testified on Tuesday.
Councilmember Shameka Parrish-Wright asked Hollander to expand on his "surprised and concerned" reaction to learning of Piagentini's new role, to which he replied "I thought, potentially, it reflected poorly on the process and the council.”
James was called to be questioned next. He served as the previous Metro Council President before joining Mayor Craig Greenberg's administration.
James also presided over the 2022 council meeting where Piagentini abstained from voting on an ordinance he co-sponsored that allocated $40 million in federal grant money to the same group he accepted a job from.
James said he did not know of the councilman's interest in a CEO Council (CEOc) role, and said it was important information to have because "it could have been a conflict of interest."
One of Piagentini's attorneys asked James if there were any requirements on how to abstain. He said council members wanting to abstain should say so on the council floor or send an email to the clerk.
The former Metro Council president said no councilmembers objected or disputed to the abstention at the time, saying Piagentini removing himself from the vote in December 2022 was also consistent with the abstention rules at that time.
However, James added it was unusual for councilmembers to not give a reason for abstaining from a vote.
James said that during his 13 years on Metro Council, if he had a conflict of interest, he stayed out of all discussions on the topic.
"If it's something that I had a conflict with or was to abstain from I would not participate in any conversation about it at any time with anybody," he said.
James said he himself did not question Piagentini's abstention at the time because he assumed it was due to his work history in the healthcare sector.
Aly Burress was the second new witness of the day. Burress is a project manager for the Louisville Accelerator Team, and was one of the project managers for the CEOc project.
She said she was taken off the project shortly after meeting with the work group, including Piagentini, because ARP funds were above her level of understanding at the time.
The last witness of the night was Jim Griffin, the private investigator hired by the ethics commission to lead the ethics investigation on Piagentini.
Griffin read aloud excerpts from his private interviews with both Piagentini and Tammy York Day. He is expected to be cross-examined by Piagentini's attorneys on Friday.
The trial resumes Friday at 4 p.m.
Background
In October 2023, the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission found Councilman Anthony Piagentini guilty of six of the seven ethics code violations he was accused of. They recommended he be removed from the council.
Piagentini's charges stemmed from allegations he leveraged his power as a local lawmaker to get a new job.
In 2022, he co-sponsored a proposal to allocate $40 million from the American Rescue Plan to the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition. While he abstained from the final vote, he took a consulting job with the group leading that coalition, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, around the same time of the vote.
He appealed the decision in November, claiming the Commission violated his due process rights, arbitrarily exercised their authority by deviating from procedural requirements, and said their findings were not supported by evidence.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg terminated a $40 million contract with the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council in the wake of Piagentini's ethics trial.
In a previous statement to WHAS11 News, the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council said it was the grant administrator on behalf of the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition.
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