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Council names deputy mayors, makes committee appointments

Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altman and Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer selected as deputy mayors as new city council fleshes out the various municipal committees
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Tom Davies Square.

The first meeting of the new Greater Sudbury city council saw councillors appointed and elected to the various panels and committees, as well as the selection of the two deputy mayors.

All but one councillor attended in person, with Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh attending the Nov. 29 meeting virtually.

After quickly moving through the usual business, positions to the panels and committees of Greater Sudbury were filled. Each councillor could nominate themselves or another council member for available positions, and when the number of councillors who accept the nomination exceeded the available position, a vote was held. The votes were on paper ballots, collected and then read by the clerk into the record.

The new appointments were then added to a motion, and that motion was voted on. 

All but two of the final selections carried with a unanimous vote. The Police Services Board appointment motion and the Greater Sudbury Utilities board appointment motion were both opposed by Ward 2 Coun. Vagnini. 

At the beginning of the meeting, Vagnini asked questions of City Clerk Eric Labelle regarding whether or not a councillor could “run” for a position, that is to say make their desire to hold a position known to other council members. 

He also asked, while adding several times that it was “not leading to something” but simply to find out the answers, if councillors could promise each other votes for appointments, describing a sort of quid pro quo. 

“Is it compliant within the code, where I can say to a councillor ‘I’ll vote for you for sweeping roads, if you vote for me for picking up the pumpkins on the side of the road’,” he asked. “Is that kosher?”

Labelle stated that it is not against compliance as it would not be considered a meeting. 

“There is a definition for a meeting under the municipal act, and that definition includes a quorum of members and the business of the council is being materially advanced,” he said.  “It would not be my view that members sharing with each other what positions they might be interested in would constitute having a meeting under the Municipal Act, because any decisions and nominations are being made in this room here today.”

Ahead of the nomination period on the agenda, Ward 6 Coun. Lapierre proposed a change in structure to one of the committees. Prior to June 2016, matters related to emergency services like fire and paramedic services, were under the auspices of the Community Services Committee. After that, emergency services became its own committee, and as part of his motion, Lapierre wished to bring the two committees together once again. He detailed that after speaking with the leaders of departments under the two committees, they felt that they could work better together as there were common elements to their work. 

Both Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier asked for further clarification on those commonalities.

“There's a lot of services that we offer that touch on the same issues. Opioids, for example,” said Lapierre.  

“EMS responds to a lot of calls related to opioids. But yet social services under Steve Jacques, touches with homelessness and social services, that touch on opioids as well. So by having it together, there is no overlap; they both do different things, but for the same subject. If we have the conversation wholesome, at one committee, with both departments there, we might be able to get other information that we never gathered together in the past.”

Vagnini suggested that the committees not be merged until after the city is in receipt of the emergency services modernization report that is forthcoming at the Dec. 13 meeting. He said he hoped that council would have a more fulsome debate on the report at that time, and discuss the merged committees after that. 

“We really had nothing in the past to work on, and so now we have all this meat coming in, and we're going to chop it up into little pieces of ham as it comes through and just blend it in with the community services,” Vagnini said. “I think until we see this report that we've been referring to, may I suggest to my colleagues that we stay the way we are. It gives us some breathing room to decide if that's the right choice.”

The motion as put forward by Lapierre was to be determined in the negative, as Mayor Paul Lefevbre would ask if there were any opposing votes, and if so, then proceed with a full vote. Vagnini was the only opposing vote. 

The meeting then continued with appointments to the various panels and committees, as well as the selection of the two deputy mayors, Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altman and Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer. 

Newly elected Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin was nominated and appointed to almost every committee, including the audit, hearing, operations and planning committee. 

Coun. Sizer was appointed to the Greater Sudbury Police Services board. There are two positions available, but one is automatically held for the mayor, should they wish to fill it. Lefevbre indicated his desire to do so, and will also be filling the mayoral position on the Greater Sudbury Community Development Corporation board. 

There were three nominees, including Sizer, Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent and Vagnini. Vagnini was nominated by Montpellier, but after agreeing to stand for the position, he removed himself from consideration as “just checking my notes here Mr. Mayor, and I was removed from the Police Board for my lack of knowledge.”

He said he would stand down from the police board and “I will pass all my votes in the room, if you’re voting for me, over to Mr. Parent.”

At this, Sizer called a point of order, describing Vagnini’s statement as unprofessional. Labelle stated the comment was not out of order, but perhaps, “A bit unusual.” Vagnini was later the lone opposing vote to the motion to pass the appointments of Lefevbre and Sizer to the Police Services Board. 

The mayor could also accept the automatic position on the Greater Sudbury Utilities board, but declined to do so. There were four nominees for the two positions available: Montpellier, Lapierre, Ward 1 Coun. Signoretti and Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée. Signoretti, Labbée and Lapierre were the successful candidates. 

Though all councillors were asked to write three names, Vagnini only wrote Montpelliers’ and was the lone opposition to the motion to appoint the three to the board. 

The Municipal Heritages panel’s appointments were deferred to council's special meeting on Nov. 30, where the museum revitalization plan will be discussed. 

A full list of appointments can be found below. 

  • Audit Committee: Lapierre, McIntosh, Cormier, Signoretti, Fortin
  • Community and Emergency Services (newly merged): Lapierre, Parent, Labbée, Vagnini, Sizer, MacIntosh, Fortin
  • Hearing: Vagnini, Cormier, Leduc, Signoretti, Fortin
  • Operations: Signoretti, Parent, Landry-Altman, Leduc, Sizer, Fortin
  • Planning: Lapierre, Landry-Altman, Leduc, Cormier, Fortin
  • Deputy Mayor: Sizer, Landry-Altman
  • Police Services Board: Lefevbre, Sizer
  • Public Library Board: Signoretti, Cormier, Sizer
  • Conservation Sudbury: Landry-Altman, Leduc, Cormier, Labbée, Fortin
  • Board of Public Health Sudbury and Districts: Lapierre, Parent, Signoretti, Leduc, Sizer
  • Greater Sudbury Utilities board: Montpellier, Lapierre, Labbée
  • Greater Sudbury Airport board: Parent, Vagnini
  • Community Development Corporation Board: Lefevbre, Labbée, Signoretti, Leduc
  • Board of Place des arts: Lapierre
  • Downtown BIA board of managers: Cormier, Labbée
  • Flour Mill BIA: Landry-Altman
  • Accessibility Advisory Panel: Leduc, Landry-Altman
  • Bell Park Advisory Panel: Cormier
  • Community Safety and Well-being: Sizer
  • Lively Recreation advisory panel: Vagnini
  • Solid waste advisory panel: McIntosh, Sizer, Fortin
  • Older Adults Advisory Panel (formerly Seniors’ Advisory): Labbée, Leduc

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter at Sudbury.com.


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Jenny Lamothe

About the Author: Jenny Lamothe

Jenny Lamothe is a reporter with Sudbury.com. She covers the diverse communities of Sudbury, especially the vulnerable or marginalized.
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