Regina Mayor Pat Fiacco says it was a "mistake" for his city-funded adviser to work at his campaign launch.

Fiacco's senior adviser, Mark Rathwell, has now been told to stay away from election events during working hours.

Fiacco said Rathwell is free to work on his re-election, but it has to be done on his own time.

On Friday, Fiacco initially defended his use of Rathwell on his campaign, saying there was no rule against it and the practice was followed in other cities.

On Monday, however, Fiacco said Rathwell's involvement at his first campaign event last week was wrong.

"We're not here to take advantage of taxpayers' dollars," Fiacco said.

"My record has never gone that way, and I don't ever intend on doing that. On Thursday, when Mark Rathwell, my adviser, was at the launch, that was a mistake. We immediately removed him on Friday."

Fiacco said his campaign budget is also paying for a separate cellphone for the adviser to use, instead of a city-paid phone.

One of Fiacco's challengers, Jim Holmes, said that if he were mayor, any city staff who wanted to do election work would have to take unpaid leave from their regular jobs.

Three candidates are challenging Fiacco for the mayor's chair in the Oct. 25 election.