A confidential briefing note suggests Winnipeg's chief administrative officer and a city councillor may have known about a controversial road project as early as November 2016.

Homeowners south of Wilkes Avenue in Charleswood were shown three options to extend Sterling Lyon Parkway. In October they were shocked to learn about a fourth option that could impact 92 properties. City CAO Doug McNeil and Coun. Marty Morantz (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Whyte Ridge) said they were unaware of the so called rogue option.

However, a new memo that has come to light may show otherwise.

The note from the former public works director in November 2016 to McNeil explained the department wanted to show the alignment to property owners as soon as possible.

"Delaying further can bring sentiment /mistrust with the public that we are hiding something by not presenting the final solution to public/impacted property owners,” the document said.

In light of the memo, some councillors said they're losing faith in McNeil

"How do I know that he'll be telling me the truth?" asked Coun. Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert).

Meanwhile, McNeil stands by his earlier statements.

“I'm getting frustrated because my integrity is now being, is now being called," he said.

While McNeil said he saw the memo, he didn't read the hundreds of pages attached to it that contained the relevant information about the new route.

"I've tried to impress upon all the department heads that if there's an issue that needs my attention, you need to put it right up front in the briefing note. There was nothing in that briefing note that alerted me,” he said.

The briefing note also said made mention of Morantz.

"Councillor Morantz has been kept in the loop throughout the project by the project manager," it read.

Morantz told CTV News the only thing he was kept in the loop on was the three original options, and was never advised on the fourth one. Morantz is calling for an internal audit of the file, given all the questions.

Meanwhile, Mayor Brian Bowman said he believes Morantz and McNeil. Still he agrees a further probe is necessary, including a full council seminar, behind closed doors with McNeil.

"I'm going to continue to ask questions. I'm going to raise them in the council seminar. I want to see the internal audit that Councillor Morantz has called for,” Bowman said.

Councillor Russ Wyatt (Transcona) said that’s not good enough. He said the CAO should be suspended with pay and investigated, or a public council meeting should be held..

"The CAO we have today might not be up to the task, may not be competent for the job at hand,” Wyatt said.

The council seminar is set for Monday. Morantz said he will bring forward a motion at the next Executive Policy Committee meeting for the audit.