Councillors Caterina, Dziadyk did not break council rules: Integrity commissioner

Caterina, Dziadyk didn’t break rules Complaints were issued against two councillors, but IC found they did not break rules. CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson reports.

The city’s integrity commissioner concluded two councillors did not break rules after two formal complaints were filed against them in February.

The complaints were made against Ward 7 Councillor Tony Caterina and Ward 3 Councillor Jon Dziadyk by Thomas Deak. He accused Caterina of nepotism for employing his son as his executive assistant and accused Dziadyk of acting unethically after using taxpayers’ money to pay for his MBA.

“This has been going on for years, but it’s wrong,” Deak said. “It’s basically unethical.”

In confidential reports released to council and Deak and obtained by CTV News, Jamie Pytel, the City of Edmonton’s integrity commissioner, found that neither councillor broke council policies.

Rocco Caterina has worked for his father since 2007. The Council Code of Conduct, published in June 2018, requires councillors to act impartially, but it did not address nepotism.

“I don’t believe that there’s any conflict, or has been a conflict in 12 years,” Caterina said. “This is the first time that this has come forward.”

In the report Pytel said that while Caterina did not break the rules, “the IC is of the view that hiring family members violates the spirit and intent of the Code and the requirements for impartiality.”

On April 29, Council Services Committee approved Pytel’s recommendation that prohibits councillors from hiring relatives in the future, but Rocco Caterina was grandfathered in.

Dziadyk planned to use $44,000 from his ward budget to pay for part of his MBA at the University of Alberta. After he was criticized by his constituents, the councillor decided to reimburse the city the $11,687 he had received up to February.

The report found Dziadyk did not violate the Councillors’ Expenses Policy.

“He didn’t act unethically, just without good judgment,” Pytel wrote.

On Feb. 7, Dziadyk said, “I did not have the best judgment on this, and I get that.”

She recommended councillors put a limit on what councillors may expense in a year on professional development or training.

With files from CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson