LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Friday revoked $40 million in city grants that were at the center of an ethics controversy involving Metro Council member Anthony Piagentini, saying the bulk of those funds should be redirected to Metro parks and libraries projects.

Greenberg's action removes Louisville Healthcare CEO Council, also known as CEOc, from oversight of the funds. The mayor called for some of the original projects funded by the grants, which were to be carried out by other organizations under CEOc's supervision, to be preserved in new agreements.

The Metro Ethics Commission on Thursday said Piagentini, a Republican representing eastern Jefferson County, should be removed from office after he accepted a $240,000 consulting deal with CEOc just before the Metro Council approved the $40 million in grants late last year.

"We will not let the unethical actions of a couple of people get in the way," of Louisville Metro benefitting from the one-time federal funds, Greenberg said in a news conference Friday.

Piagentini told reporters Friday that he vehemently denies the ethics commission's findings and intends to remain in office.

"I would rather die than accept what they have accused me of. I will use every legal means in my power to fight this," he said.

CEOc, a coalition of Louisville's biggest healthcare companies such as Humana, Norton Healthcare and Baptist Health, said in a statement Friday that it supports Greenberg's decision.

The $40 million that Metro Council awarded CEOc and its sub-recipients in late 2022 was meant for a number of healthcare workforce projects.

Greenberg's cancelation of the grants puts the money back in Metro Council's control, but Greenberg called on the council to quickly reallocate the funds.

He said about $16 million should go directly to four organizations for projects that were part of the CEOc-led proposal. Those are Metro United Way, the Louisville Urban League, the University of Louisville and AMPED Louisville.

"There's been no implication of any wrongdoing by any of these organizations," Greenberg said.

Greenberg called on the council to recommit the remaining $24 million to Metro parks and libraries ahead of a deadline to spend the federal funds by the end of 2026.

"That's an incredibly tight timeline for any meaningful project. And that means we need projects that are shovel-ready right now," Greenberg said. "So we're fortunate that we have a new parks plan that's ready to go. And we have the approved renovations and construction for four libraries that only need some final funding to move forward."

WDRB News reported this week that the nonprofit CEOc has a history of spending with a pair of for-profit businesses owned by the sister and ex-husband of CEOc's leader, Tammy York Day.

Metro Council member JeCorey Arthur, an independent whose district spans west Louisville, downtown and Butchertown, said that reporting, combined with the Piagentini allegations, had convinced him that city should pull the plug on the $40 million.

"We have to be stewards of funding of public resources. And it didn't make sense to me that we were using those public resources for an institution that really doesn't have public trust, based on so many findings," Arthur said. "So I was ready to say that those dollars needed to go somewhere else. But I'm glad that the mayor did it first."

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