LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Metro Councilman Anthony Piagentini testified Tuesday that he didn’t discuss a job with a healthcare group before a key council vote on a funding package he sponsored for the organization that he later joined as a contractor.

Speaking at his ethics trial, Piagentini acknowledged getting a nondisclosure agreement on November 17, 2022 from the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council. Hours later, the Metro Council’s budget committee voted to approve $40 million in coronavirus relief funds for one of the organization’s top initiatives – a measure Piagentini co-sponsored and vocally supported.

Piagentini said he didn’t recall checking his emails that day. He signed the agreement — which came in an email with no further description — the next morning. He then called the CEO council’s president and CEO, Tammy York Day.

York Day testified that Piagentini told her during that November 18 phone call that he would have to recuse himself from future advocacy on the grant. Piagentini corroborated her testimony. He remained as a sponsor of the ordinance until the final Metro Council vote on December 1, 2022, when he asked to be removed as a sponsor because of a "potential conflict of interest."

Piagentini, a Republican who was first elected in 2019, said under oath before the Louisville Metro Ethics Commission that he did “nothing” to advocate for the ordinance between the committee and the full council vote.

Piagentini took a $240,000-per-year contracting job with the CEO council days after the full Metro Council vote. He is at the center of an ethics compliant filed by Kevin E. Fields Sr., the CEO of Louisville Central Community Centers, which also sought the American Rescue Plan funding appropriated by the Metro Council.

Piagentini faces charges that include failing to disclose a financial or personal interest in a matter before the Metro Council and using his official position to get "unwarranted privileges or advantages." 

Under cross examination from Fields’ attorney, Kent Wicker, Piagentini acknowledged he didn’t remove himself as a co-sponsor between starting job discussions with the CEO council and the December full council vote.

Wicker suggested that Piagentini delayed that move because he didn’t want anyone to discover an “actual” conflict of interest.

“You didn’t want any questions raised about why you’re refusing,” Wicker said.

“No, that’s incorrect,” Piagentini said.

Piagentini said he believed his Metro Council duty was to formally make that announcement at the next public meeting.

York Day’s testimony on Tuesday provided a timeline of her discussions with Piagentini in the months leading to the Metro Council approving the money for her organization, which includes the leaders of 15 large healthcare systems in Louisville. The grant was for one of the council's initiatives called the Healthcare Workforce Innovation Coalition. 

Piagentini and Democratic council member Markus Winkler, who is now the council president, led a working group that in 2022 decided which projects to back for American Rescue Plan funds.

Also during 2022, Piagentini was working on a six-month consulting contract with a North Carolina company that was scheduled to end in November.

York Day said she first met Piagentini in November 2021 when the council member was “networking” in the healthcare industry as he was considering leaving the job he had before the six-month contract began.

Piagentini said he sent his resume to York Day in January 2022, but “she was very clear that there was no opportunity” at the CEO council. That same month, York Day testified, she met with Piagentini, Winkler and former Metro Council President David James – now a deputy mayor for Mayor Craig Greenberg – at the urging of lobbyist Tim Corrigan to get “on the radar of the council.”

At the time, York Day said, she wasn’t sure if the Metro Council could help them with their workforce efforts.

In March, she testified that she connected Piagentini to an official at Delta Dental, a company where she used to work. Piagentini did not get a job there.

Around this time, the CEO council also was responding to the Metro government’s request for applications for federal coronavirus funding meant to help the economy battered by the pandemic.

In April, according to testimony presented Monday, Winkler and Piagentini were shown the ranking of various projects that had applied for a batch of federal funds. The CEO council had ranked 29th out of the 30 projects scored.

Under questioning by Wicker, Piagentini repeatedly denied he was having job discussions with York Day for much of 2022. And York Day also denied that she was trying to help find new employment for Piagentini, although she said she was impressed with him and he would be “perfect” if a position with the CEO council opened.

In his questioning, Wicker raised several issues that he sought to hammer home doubts about.

One involved a healthcare conference at Churchill Downs in September 2022 that Piagentini attended at York Day’s request. (The council member acknowledged not paying for the ticket – valued between $199 and $400 – but insisted it wasn’t a violation of city ethics rules for public officials.)

York Day said she didn’t know Piagentini’s employment status at the time and didn’t have a job available, but told him at a rooftop cocktail reception at the racetrack that, if the CEO council pursued a government affairs position, she wanted to talk with him.

“I said to Anthony, ‘Hey, if we move forward with an initiative, I'm going to want to come talk with you.’”

Wicker asked her to clarify.

“I didn't know his availability. I wanted to get his input and engage with him. And yes, that could be a consulting position. We didn't have a job. So I couldn't talk to him about the job,” York Day said. “But that reference was -- if we move forward with the initiative, I did want to speak with him.”

York Day said Piagentini’s response was, “OK.”

In his testimony, Piagentini said he remembered that he and York Day “bumped into each other” at the conference and spoke about the musical group Linkin Bridge. But he said he didn’t recall York Day mentioning what she testified she told him.

“I don’t remember the conversation,” Piagentini said.

On October 21, according to exhibits introduced at the trial, York Day and Piagentini spoke three times on the phone.  Piagentini said he “very vaguely” remembered those phone calls, but they did “absolutely not” discuss the government affairs position he would ultimately accept.

On October 25, Piagentini and Winkler issued a press release announcing that $40 million in American Rescue Plan funding was being earmarked for the CEO council.

Piagentini and York Day spoke again by phone on November 1, but the council member said they did “absolutely not” discuss the position during that call.

York Day said the CEO council had a board meeting on November 7. At that time, she said, the board approved a government affairs position. That led to the nondisclosure agreement she sent on November 17.

This story will be updated.

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