After North Bay Police cited “insufficient grounds to proceed with criminal charges” against Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini, both he and the colleague he’s accused of threatening are moving on.
“You really can’t hold grudges or feel anger about stuff once it’s completed,” Vagnini told Sudbury.com. “It is what it is.”
“It’s just time to get on with business, period,” Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc said. “Show respect to one another as councillors as you would your neighbours and colleagues in the workforce.”
The threat of criminal charges stem from a Jan. 25 phone call between the two councillors in which Leduc alleges that Vagnini threatened him.
Initially describing the threat as “very serious” to Sudbury.com, Leduc clarified this week that it was against his life and that Vagnini had said, “I will kill you.”
“But at the end of the day, it’s behind us. Let’s move on, let’s move on with our city business and move forward,” Leduc said, adding that he understands why police were unable to pursue the matter, since the accusation was his word against Vagnini’s.
For his part, Vagnini clarified that although he did threaten Leduc on the phone, it was about taking legal action and not committing an act of violence.
This is where the story gets a bit more complicated, as the dispute stems from an alleged incident dating back to 2020, when Leduc was accused of phoning Vagnini’s adult daughter on two occasions to inquire about his colleague’s health and ask if he was “on drugs.”
This, according to a signed affidavit by Vagnini’s daughter, which was forwarded to Sudbury.com. Although the conversations were described by Vagnini’s daughter as “inappropriate and franky very disturbing,” the affidavit signed on Jan. 24, 2022, contains no allegations of illegal activity.
The affidavit was signed one day after Sudbury.com reported that Leduc planned on introducing a motion at the Jan. 25 city council meeting to remove Vagnini from the Greater Sudbury Police Services Board. It was the evening of this council meeting that the phone call took place in which Vagnini was accused of threatening Leduc.
Despite this timeline, Vagnini told Sudbury.com that the phone call had nothing to do with the motion and everything to do with Leduc phoning his daughter.
“When I heard about that, I automatically did what a father would do and I called him and said, ‘Coun. Leduc, please stay away from my daughters or I will take legal action,” Vagnini said, clarifying that he’d previously been unaware of the exchange between Leduc and his daughter.
“I never once threatened to kill him, I never once threatened to harm him. I don’t want him calling my daughters.”
In response to this week’s news that North Bay Police are not pursuing criminal charges, Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier sent a letter to city council, which he forwarded to Sudbury.com.
In it, he calls the accusation that Vagnini threatened Leduc “false” and “malicious,” and that “council chose to fast track a motion without any evidence, charges or cause, strictly on questionable hearsay and fabrication.”
The motion in question, he clarified, was to remove Vagnini from the police board, which he “proudly dedicated himself to for seven years.”
Missing from Montpellier’s correspondence is the fact the motion to remove Vagnini from the police board was tabled before the alleged threat took place. The motion resulted in a 9-2 vote on Feb. 8 to remove Vagnini from the board. The main rationale behind their decision was a belief that Vagnini should have phoned 911 when he reported seeing a woman who “ran for her life” from two other people at Memorial Park.
Also troubling, Leduc said at the time, was Vagnini’s mistaken belief that he was not allowed to phone 911 due to his being on the police board.
While these were the central pillars behind Vagnini’s removal from the board, he was also accused of spreading misinformation about the city’s homeless community.
In a video posted to YouTube on Jan. 15, Vagnini joined mayoral candidate Bob Johnston and a homeless man who went by the name “Roger” in making several claims about what had been taking place downtown, all of which were refuted by city staff.
As of Monday night, the video, which includes disputed claims of downtown encampment deaths and a double stabbing at a city shelter, was still online and had received 3,035 views.
“I was just looking for answers and clarity, and it got turned around that I don’t believe staff,” Vagnini told Sudbury.com this week. “I do believe staff, but I just didn’t understand what was going on because of all these rumours and allegations that were being told to me.”
During the Jan. 18 finance and administration meeting in which the video’s allegations were refuted, Vagnini repeatedly called to question city staff’s reporting of what took place downtown, at one point exclaiming, “Are you kidding?” Later on in the meeting, he asked, “Do you want the truth or not?” and said, “I don’t believe the information that I’ve heard from what I’ve seen.”
With the police investigation over, Vagnini said that he will begin participating in city council meetings again. During the March 8 city council meeting, Vagnini abstained from all votes except the one to adjourn. He did not attend the March 22 city council meeting.
Vagnini told Sudbury.com this week that he skipped the March 22 meeting for the same reason he abstained from votes on March 8 – “personal and legal reasons.”
Although he will begin participating again, Vagnini clarified that he’s not out of the woods just yet and still needs to deal with three complaints lodged against him through Robert Swayze, the city’s integrity commissioner. Swayze declined to comment on the nature of these complaints.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
