In a surprise move, city council voted to remove Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini from the Greater Sudbury Police Services Board.
A long and winding road led toward tonight’s decision.
Although the motion by Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc was on tonight’s city council meeting agenda, he’d previously indicated his intention to withdraw it out of fear for his and his family’s safety.
Leduc first tabled the motion during the Jan. 25 city council meeting, after which he alleges that Vagnini threatened him during a phone conversation. With the incident currently under investigation by North Bay Police Service, Leduc declined further comment aside from clarifying the threat was “very serious.”
Vagnini has since categorically denied that he committed any criminal offence and pledged to co-operate with any investigation.
After the motion passed during tonight’s meeting, Leduc clarified to Sudbury.com that he had a change of heart following his initial decision to withdraw the motion.
“We have to have proper representation on the board,” he said, adding that they need to be knowledgeable about the protocols in place and must “be able to recognize a dangerous situation” and respond appropriately.
The main pillar holding up Leduc’s objection to Vagnini being on the police board consists of comments made during the Jan. 18 finance and administration committee meeting.
At the time, Vagnini relayed a story about something he witnessed downtown, saying: “There’s one big large tent where I was (at Memorial Park) on Saturday night, and 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 other two people from the shelter tried to get her to come back into the shelter and she just kept running.”
Leduc feels that Vagnini should have phoned 911, while Vagnini claimed that the incident had been overblown and that the woman in question wasn’t in any genuine danger.
Also troubling, Leduc said, was Vagnini’s mistaken belief that he was not allowed to phone 911 due to his being on the police board.
Although this incident was outlined within the preamble to Leduc’s motion, it wasn’t the only reason behind his belief that Vagnini should be removed from the police board.
Vagnini’s story about Memorial Park came up while defending himself in the wake of accusations he had been 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 has been taking place downtown.
In the video, it’s claimed that two frozen bodies had been pulled out of downtown tents within a few weeks leading up to the video’s posting, that a woman froze to death outside of Tom Davies Square the previous Thursday and that there had been a recent double stabbing at a shelter in the city. It was also claimed that the city had been evicting people from their tents and that there was $300 million “sitting there” in a city bank ready to be used to assist in the city’s homelessness crisis.
Taking umbrage with the video, Leduc questioned city administration about these claims during the Jan. 18 finance and administration committee meeting, during which every one of them was refuted.
Vagnini subsequently defended himself during an interview with Sudbury.com, likening himself to Christopher Columbus declaring the world is round. As of tonight, the original video was still online and had racked up 2,816 views.
“He came straight out, and in my opinion and my opinion only, he called everybody a liar,” Leduc said during tonight’s meeting. “We have to unfortunately remove Coun. Vagnini at this point in time.”
Vagnini declared a pecuniary interest during tonight’s meeting so did not vote or weigh in on the discussion surrounding Leduc’s motion. Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer, who serves as chair of the police board, also declared a conflict so did not vote or weigh in on the matter.
Of the balance of city council, only Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier voted against removing Vagnini from the police board. Both city councillors cited the ongoing police investigation as the key reason for their decision and that city council should wait for the outcome before making a decision.
The motion to remove Vagnini from the police board predates Leduc’s allegation that Vagnini threatened him, which the police investigation is about.
“The councillor’s motion does stand on its own,” Mayor Brian Bigger clarified.
After voting to remove Vagnini from the police board, those city council members who did not declare a conflict voted unanimously to have Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyn Landry-Altmann step in to fill the vacancy.
Sudbury.com reached out to Vagnini for comment after tonight’s meeting wrapped up but was not immediately able to connect with him.
Also during tonight’s meeting, neither of the two motions opposing the Kingsway Entertainment District were passed by city council.
The city’s elected officials voted against allowing a motion by Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier to come forward, which called for an Oct. 24 referendum question that asks, “Are you in favour of spending $113,000,000 on a new arena?”
Vagnini’s motion seeking a reconsideration of the Project Now proposal, a rejected downtown alternative to the KED, was pulled by Vagnini without explanation.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
