Sudbury city council votes to oust Vagnini from police board

There will soon be a new face on Sudbury's police services board after city council voted Tuesday to remove Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini from the post.

Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc put forward the motion in response to comments Vagnini made during a committee meeting Jan. 18. Vagnini said he saw a woman in distress in Memorial Park, but said he didn't call police.

During the finance committee meeting, Vagnini was trying to defend a video he made in which a homeless man named 'Roger' said there were people dying from the cold in Memorial Park.

Leduc questioned staff and the city's medical services, both of which denied the claims, telling councillors no one died recently inside the park. That's when Vagnini made the comments.

"OK, so let me word this another way," he said Jan. 18.

"There is one big large tent where I was there on Saturday night. There was about eight gentlemen in the tent and they were yelling at an individual woman and she got out of the tent and ran for her life when two other people from the shelter tried to get her to come back into the shelter and she just kept running. Are we aware of those things that are happening?"

At that point, the meeting was interrupted by Mayor Brian Bigger, who asked Vagnini if he had called the police.

"That's a great question, through you Mr. Chair, I have a meeting tomorrow morning with the police board and that is going to be the first question I ask so thank you very much for that Mr. Mayor," said Vagnini.

Leduc's motion Tuesday night said it was alarming that a member of the Greater Sudbury Police Services Board for several years did not recognize the event as a crisis and call 911.

The first vote to reconsider the appointment was carried with very little comment from anyone. Nine councillors voted in favour of having Vagnini removed with only Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier voting no. Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer and Vagnini both declared conflicts of interest.

"Anyone can call 911 when they see a crisis," said Leduc. "We all saw Coun. Vagnini's own words in this motion. He did not recognize a crisis and I believe as a councillor and a part of the board you have to be able to make that call."

"He also, when the facts were presented to all of us on Jan. 18, Coun. Vagnini said 'no I don't believe you,' to our staff, to our EMS, to our firefighters, to our Greater Sudbury Police Services," Leduc continued.

"He came straight out, in my opinion only, and called everyone a liar, even us councillors. And for this reason, we have to, unfortunately, remove Coun. Vagnini at this point in time."

Signoretti said with the ongoing police investigation, the motion was premature. North Bay Police are investigating allegations Vagnini threatened Leduc last month when Leduc first introduced the motion to remove him from the board.

"This motion being brought forward does little to convince the public that we are a functional council," Signoretti said.

"This motion to me is a waste of our time. I would like to suggest this motion be pulled, these issues should be solved between the two parties, or we should wait for the police and courts to solve it for them."

The entire situation reflects poorly on all of them, he said.

"It's very embarrassing to see two colleagues around the table can't have a wholesome discussion about an issue," Signoretti said. "So to me, I won't support this and I don't think it's appropriate until the police investigation is resolved."

"This is a little bit on the ridiculous side to move ahead of a police investigation," said Montpellier.

The final vote was carried by a vote of 9 to 2. Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann was later chosen to replace the open seat on the board.

CTV News has reached out to Vagnini for comment.

Meanwhile, Montpellier's motion to hold a referendum on building a new arena in the city Tuesday night also failed to gain any traction.

After a ruling from Bigger, Montpellier needed one councillor in favour of the Kingsway Entertainment District reconsider their previous vote, but none of the eight opted to move his motion forward.