City council held a closed-door meeting for more than an hour Tuesday – in the midst of their public meeting — to decide how to deal with a motion related to the investigation of two city councillors.
At issue was the investigation of Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier, who are accused of harassing former fire chief Trevor Bain during the fire optimization process in late winter/early spring last year.
The Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association, the union representing full-time firefighters in the city, lodged the complaint under Ontario's workplace harassment legislation in March 2017.
Montpellier and Vagnini had a motion on the floor Tuesday calling for the investigation into the allegations to be held in public.
That's when things got confusing.
Vagnini moved that councillors go into a closed-door session, to allow them to discuss matters that involved personnel – ironically moving behind closed doors to discuss a motion calling for a public inquiry.
When they returned about 75 minutes later, councillors had to vote whether to allow city clerk Eric Labelle to reveal publicly some of the things discussed during the closed-door meeting.
When that motion passed, Labelle was permitted to say that Vagnini and Montpellier's motion was actually a reconsideration of a decision made by council Nov. 22 during a closed-door meeting.
At that meeting, councillors agreed to hire an outside firm to investigate the allegations, following the direction given to them from the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
By moving to make the investigation public, Labelle said it was a motion of reconsideration of the Nov. 22 decision. Under meeting rules, to reconsider a motion, you need to have the support of two councillors who originally voted in favour of the motion. You also need the support of two-thirds of council for the motion to pass, unlike regular motions, which only require a simple majority.
In any event, the motion was defeated by a vote of 7-6.
The meeting broke up quickly after that, with Vagnini adviser Tom Price shouting from the public gallery at Mayor Brian Bigger.
“Thanks for the kangaroo court!” Price said as councillors exited the chamber.
Vagnini and Montpellier are scheduled to be interviewed by the investigator Jan. 15. Both have said they won't submit to a closed-door interview, but Vagnini said he'll be in a public room at Tom Davies Square if anyone wants to talk with him, while Montpellier said he'll take his seat at the council table that day.
