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Vagnini explains why he claimed 26,076 kms for council work in 2021

Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini claimed $13,820 in mileage in 2021, which is approximately $10,000 more than the next-closest city councillor and greater than half of the total claimed by all 12 members of council
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Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini. (File)

During his time on city council and the decades he has spent in the finance industry, Michael Vagnini said he has learned the importance of meeting with people in person.

“People love to see the white of your eyes and they love to see the fact that you actually take the concern to be going over to see them because of the fact that you’re face to face,” the city councillor for Ward 2 told Sudbury.com.

“With my constituents, I can tell you a good large amount of them know what I look like and I know what they look like.”

Vagnini came under fire during Tuesday’s finance and administration committee meeting for claiming $13,820 in mileage last year, which the councillor was combative in addressing and stopped short of explaining how he recorded approximately 26,076 kilometres of city business. 

Sudbury.com reached out to Vagnini by phone on Wednesday to help fill this gap in understanding, during which the councillor highlighted his approach to dealing with people.

This approach, he explained, necessitates he travel throughout the 797.6-square-kilometre ward he represents on a regular basis.

“I’m going to constituents wherever they call, I’m going to their places and I’m addressing the situations,” he said, describing these meetings as covering “any issues a constituent might have.” The example he provided is of someone’s basement flooding. 

“When the pandemic occurred I never sat at home, I was still out seven days a week pretty much,” he said. 

“When everybody was concerned about the pandemic I thought that was the best time that I could have the opportunity to go out and do my thing. … It’s just helping the people.”

Although Vagnini said he travelled many kilometres to take part in volunteer work in downtown Greater Sudbury, including for the No One Eats Alone effort, he doesn’t believe he claimed this mileage as an expense, though he would “have to go back in my log books and look.”

In addition, he said that he drove a total of between 50,000 and 60,000 kilometres last year in his four vehicles, including some kilometres for city business he did not claim. 

Although Vagnini’s mileage claim is approximately $10,000 greater than the next-closest city councillor and more than half of the total claimed by all 12 members of council, he said that he is also contending with the municipality’s second-largest ward, and the one with the greatest number of road kilometres.

During Tuesday’s meeting, Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan explained his own $3,554 mileage expense as being the result of driving around his ward “to see what’s going on,” with “no specific visits to any particular person, but just so I can see how playgrounds and roads and everything else was going.”

Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier didn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting so was unavailable to defend his $3,629 mileage expense, however, the rural councillor has been driving to the city to attend meetings in-person throughout the pandemic. 

The mileage question came up during a discussion about city council remuneration and expenses highlighted in a report for information purposes only, with all expenses having already cleared the city’s Travel and Expense Policy.

“Councillors are entitled to claim compensation … for travel to Council meetings or Local Board meetings or for any other City related travel within the City, such as site inspections or meetings with residents,” according to the policy’s associated bylaw.

“The Person must keep a record (log) of the kilometres driven and produce the record (log) on request to support the claim,” according to the policy. A city spokesperson clarified to Sudbury.com that there is no established limit to how much mileage a member of council can claim.

Vagnini told Sudbury.com that he complies with the city’s requirements and is prepared to have his books audited if he is asked.

The ambiguity of what might qualify as claimed mileage drew the attention of some city councillors during Tuesday’s meeting, with Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland questioning, “Should we just be allowed to drive around because we think that would be a good thing?”

“Not comfortable” with all of the expenses that were claimed, Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh introduced a successful motion to have the city’s travel and expense policy reviewed by administration during the first quarter of 2023.

Coming out of Tuesday’s meeting, Vagnini said that he couldn’t help but wonder what the next accusation or point of contention against him might be.

“What’s amazing is the fact that they’ve gone from one issue with me to the next issue and the next issue,” he said.

The first few months of 2022 have grabbed a lot of headlines for the councillor, beginning with accusations he was spreading misinformation on social media for producing a YouTube video featuring numerous claims about the city’s homelessness crisis that city staff refuted. 

Then, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc brought a motion forward to remove Vagnini from the police board, in part because he did not phone 911 when he witnessed a woman who “ran for her life” from two people at Memorial Park. This motion ended up passing with a vote of 9-2

On the evening of Jan. 25, the same night of the city council meeting Leduc tabled his motion to remove Vagnini from the police board, Leduc claimed that Vagnini threatened him over the phone. North Bay Police Service later determined there were “insufficient grounds” to proceed with charges.

While the potential for charges was pending, Vagnini spent the March 8 city council meeting abstaining from all votes due to “personal and legal reasons.” Vagnini clarified to Sudbury.com earlier this week that he did not attend the March 22 city council meeting for these same reasons. Now that North Bay Police Service is not proceeding with charges, he said he would begin participating again and answering the media’s interview requests. 

Despite saying he’s eager to get back to city council work and that he has a preference for meeting with people in person, Vagnini is still not attending meetings in person, and took part in Tuesday’s meeting virtually.

“It’s a lot easier to do the Zoom, and if there’s only three people in the room, why would I attend?” he asked. “When my colleagues are back I will be there as well.”

Tuesday’s meeting saw Ward 7 Coun. Mike Jakubo, Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre, Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer and McCausland attend in person alongside several members of city administration.

These meetings are very different from the ones with constituents Vagnini prefers to hold in-person, the councillor explained. 

“I don’t answer to council, I don’t answer to the mayor, I answer to my bosses who are the constituents.”

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com. 


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Tyler Clarke

About the Author: Tyler Clarke

Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
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