Hamilton Deputy Mayor Donal Smith wanted to be in charge of the city, but was forced to step aside because of his business interests, it has been claimed.

The revelation came during a discussion among councillors at a Corporation of Hamilton board meeting earlier this week.

During a debate on potential conflicts of interest of elected officials, councillor Larry Scott claimed that the deputy mayor had repeatedly failed to understand the issue.

And Mr Scott reminded colleagues that they “begged” Mr Smith not to run for Mayor after the Team Hamilton administration was elected in May, 2012.

At the time Mr Smith was reported to be the executive vice-president of a company selected to develop a hotel in the capital.

Addressing meeting chairman Mayor Graeme Outerbridge, Mr Scott said: “When we were Team Hamilton as you recall he [Donal Smith] was running around saying that he was going to build a hotel because the then-administration caused him to lose $800,000, and when he gets to be mayor of this city he will have his opportunity to build his hotel.

“We begged him to understand the issue of conflict of interest — that Mr Deputy, or Mr team member as he then was, if we should get elected as Team Hamilton you should know that if the Par-la-Ville hotel was ever discussed at the table you would have to leave the room.

“He didn’t understand it and then suddenly his colleagues prevailed upon him to understand that issue. He finally got it I think and you will recall that when we chose a mayor the reason why you [Mayor Outerbridge] were chosen as mayor was because he was so hellishly conflicted with the Par-la-Ville development.

“Otherwise the man who created Team Hamilton would have been mayor. But you became mayor because we insisted that he must remove himself in that regard. He didn’t understand it then and he doesn’t seem to understand it now.”

Neither Ms Smith or Mr Outerbridge responded to Mr Scott’s assessment.

Last year Mr Smith was criticised for his links to the Par-la-Ville hotel development project, but insisted he had “nothing to hide”.

In April, 2013 he told The Royal Gazette that he had stepped down from Par-la-Ville Hotel & Residences — the company he founded — before being elected to the Corporation.