The City of Greater Sudbury is losing a respected member of its administration, with Steve Facey departing within the next few weeks after landing a similar role in Sault Ste. Marie.
“We’ve looked at opportunities to potentially go home, and this one came up and it’s a very bittersweet decision,” the city financial planning and budgeting manager told Sudbury.com following Tuesday’s finance and administration committee meeting. “It’s a very heavy decision.”
Having grown up in Sault Ste. Marie and having an extended family continue to call the city home, he said it has always been a goal to one day return to his home community alongside his wife and seven-year-old daughter.
Facey has been an employee of the City of Greater Sudbury for almost six years, during which he has moved up the ranks from a financial analyst to his current role, which includes the very public responsibility of updating city council on various financial matters during meetings.
“I’ve taken some pride in learning how everything, whether it’s the small gear, the big gear of the city, really learning how all those pieces of the city move,” he said, adding that he plans on bringing this “student at heart” mentality to his new role with the City of Sault Ste. Marie.
Ward 7 Coun. Mike Jakubo, who also chairs the city’s finance and administration committee, capped Tuesday’s meeting by thanking Facey for his work with the city, eliciting applause from those elected officials and staff members attending the meeting in-person.
“We’ve had the real pleasure of having Mr. Facey be the man behind so many of the amazing answers that we’ve got through successive budget processes, learning his craft from Ed Stankiewicz and doing a really fantastic job in the finance department,” he said.
Jakubo also credited Facey for his straightforward demeanor with city council and for always sharing concise, factual answers, which he said he’s certain will also be appreciated by Sault Ste. Marie’s city council.
Stankiewicz served as city director of Finance Assets and Fleet when he retired earlier this year, capping off a 40-year career with both the City of Greater Sudbury and prior pre-amalgamated municipalities.
Although Tuesday marked Facey’s final finance and administration committee meeting with the city, he still has a couple of weeks left with the City of Greater Sudbury, including next week’s city council meeting.
The city is currently in the recruitment process to fill Facey’s soon-to-be vacated role.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
