This was a rough year at times for Greater Sudbury city council.
Near the start of 2024, city council members Michael Vagnini and Gerry Montpellier died.
In March, Sudbury.com received leaked documents which revealed that city CAO Ed Archer approved wage hikes of six- to eight-per-cent to city managers the previous year — news which had not been made public.
Some members of city council butted heads with integrity commissioner David Boghosian, which led to a divided city council voting to fire the person hired to hold them accountable.
During a closed session of city council, Archer was fired.
Meanwhile, while these tragedies and controversies took place, the gears of municipal operations kept churning.
Earlier this month, city council members pared down the 2025 tax levy increase from its initial 7.3 per cent to 4.8 per cent, and the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square and downtown arena/events centre projects have kept inching forward alongside the city’s emergency services revitalization plan.
The following are some of the top news items to come out of Sudbury.com’s city council coverage in 2024.
The deaths of Michael Vagnini and Gerry Montpellier
Early 2024 saw tragedy strike council chambers with the deaths of Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier.
Vagnini’s death came first and followed a search for him which lasted more than two weeks.
He was reported missing during the evening of Jan. 27, and Greater Sudbury Police issued a media release announcing him as a missing person the following day. After meeting with Freedom Convoy members outside of Bell Park, Vagnini was last seen driving westbound in his truck.
This sparked a search of the area, which included the use of a police drone, police introducing a tip line seeking information regarding his whereabouts and an extensive ground search. A couple of his friends even enlisted the help of a psychic, whose claim that he was hiding in a barn or vacant garage space proved false.
Vagnini’s body was found on Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation on Feb. 13, down a private driveway a short distance from his truck.
A city council meeting that evening was cancelled following brief remarks by Mayor Paul Lefebvre.
"He was a very generous man, whose passion for his community was visible in everything that he did,” the mayor said that evening.
Although his cause of death was not released publicly, foul play was ruled out.
A funeral service was held on March 2.
Municipal flags were flown at half-mast alongside a flood of tributes from the community.
A unanimous city council voted to rename a hall with the T.M. Davies Community Centre and Arena as the Michael Vagnini Community Hall, the Elgin Street Mission kitchen was renamed to honour Michael Vagnini, and the No One Eats Alone Dinner was slated to continue in his memory.
Montpellier's death was announced at the start of the Feb. 21 finance and administration committee meeting of city council, which was quickly cancelled.
“It is heartbreaking and unfathomable that we find ourselves mourning Gerry even as we continue to grieve the late councillor Michael Vagnini,” Lefebvre said at the time.
“Gerry was a devoted champion for his community and a loyal proponent of his constituents. He was a supportive presence at many events across the city, particularly those with his beloved classic cars. Gerry touched the lives of so many of us in Greater Sudbury, and we will miss him.”
Municipal flags continued to be flown at half mast, as they had already been since the previous week’s news of Vagnini’s death.
Montpellier had been having health issues in recent months, and attended the Jan. 16 city council meeting virtually from his hospital bed.
During that meeting, he advocated for the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square library/art gallery project to be made accessible.
“At best — God willing — at best, I will be returning (to council chambers) with a wide wheelchair,” he said during the meeting, offering his “strong support” for enhanced accessibility.
Sudbury.com last connected with Montpellier on Oct. 31, 2023, for a story about his low attendance at recent city council meetings, which he attributed to health reasons.
“I’m doing every inch, other than sitting there at council,” he said, adding that he was still dedicated to the job and colleagues were keeping him abreast of what was going on.
A funeral service was held on Feb. 24, and a unanimous city council voted to rename the Whitson River Trail the Gerry Montpellier Trail.
After some discussion as to how city council should fill the two vacancies, the city’s elected officials ultimately decided to appoint Eric Benoit to Ward 2 and Michel Guy Brabant to Ward 3.
The two ran in their respective wards during the 2022 civic election, when Benoit committed to fostering a co-operative environment at city hall and Brabant pledged to improve upon teamwork at city hall, as well as to work with all 12 wards’ interests in mind.
Leaked documents reveal hidden wage increases
In March, Sudbury.com received a brown envelope with leaked documents consisting of internal city correspondence and closed-session reports of city council.
The package was submitted anonymously and signed, “Honest City Employees.”
It revealed that city CAO Ed Archer approved wage hikes of between six- and eight-per-cent for city managers in pay groups 15-18. This was in addition to their regularly scheduled three-per-cent boost, with the extra jump costing approximately $520,000 annually and bringing wages back up to city council-approved levels compared to a list of approved municipalities.
A CUPE spokesperson called the wage hikes “reprehensible.” Sudbury.com tracked other pay increases to find all municipal pay groups trended similarly since at least 2010.
The pay hike revelation spurred city council members to review the city’s salary policy and later withdraw the CAO’s delegated authority to increase non-union wages. This came several months after a unanimous city council had voted to grant Archer the delegated authority to increase wages within city council-approved parameters, which he did.
Per a motion by Lefebvre, third-party reports regarding salaries will now be delivered to newly elected city councils during the first year of each term.
Despite evidence that they were told about the wage hikes, some members of city council claimed to have been in the dark and blamed Archer alone for the decision.
This most notably included Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée, who penned an open letter Sudbury.com published in May in which she said that if she were CAO, she would have resigned over the wage hike issue.
(More on this below, under “Council behaving badly, allegedly.”)
In October, the city’s elected officials left a closed session of city council having decided to end Archer’s employment effective immediately, with Lefebvre telling local media after the fact that it was time “for new leadership.”
The city’s elected officials have not publicly shared why Archer was fired, but Archer told Sudbury.com a day after his dismissal, “If you monitor the municipal sector, you know CAOs serve at the pleasure of council, and in this case serve at the pleasure of a Strong Mayor, so that’s the circumstance.”
Like hockey coaches, top municipal managers tend to move around a lot in their careers.
“We’ll close out the relationship and move on wishing each other well, I suspect,” Archer said.
“We had good results, the organization is in a better place than it was when I got here, and I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.”
Council behaving badly, allegedly
As has become an annual tradition for Sudbury.com’s city council years in review, there was plenty to draw from in 2024 when it came to city council members behaving badly.
Allegedly.
The most public of these alleged wrongdoings was Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée’s open letter in which she said if she were CAO, she would have resigned over the wage hike issue.
The letter sparked multiple complaints and an investigation by city integrity commissioner David Boghosian.
By disparaging Archer, Labbée sought “to distance herself” from last year’s wage hike “in order to salvage her own political fortunes,” Boghosian concluded in his final report.
In the letter and public remarks, Labbée knowingly misled people, Boghosian said, most notably in claiming she was “blindsided” when she first learned about the wage increases when Sudbury.com broke the story in March 2024.
City council members unanimously granted Archer the delegated authority to increase wages and were told about the wage hike, including its $520,067 cost, during a Dec. 12, 2023, closed session of city council. During this meeting, city staff explained that the figure was attributable to an increase for pay groups 15-18, according to internal correspondence leaked to Sudbury.com.
A Feb. 21 closed-session report to city council also told city council members that Archer “used his “delegated authority in 2023 to adjust salaries by eight per cent for director-level positions and by six per cent for senior manager-level positions,” according to Boghosian’s report.
Despite this, Labbée, bolstered by a small group of supporters who wore purple in her honour, called herself “brave and strong” and said, “I stand by all of it.”
Although Boghosian recommended that Labbée face a 20-day suspension of pay, city council members voted against a financial penalty.
Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann also faced an integrity commissioner investigation this year, for her actions during an April 8 Flour Mill Community Action Network meeting.
During the meeting, Landry-Altmann exhibited “a prime example of a councillor supporting NIMBYism in its most offensive and vitriolic form,” according to Boghosian’s report, which recommended that she face a 20-day suspension of pay.
The April 8 meeting was held to address concerns from area residents regarding the Sudbury Centre for Transitional Care (SCTC), which at the time was providing services to people who are homeless from a temporary location on Notre Dame Avenue.
Landry-Altmann kicked Sudbury.com journalist Jenny Lamothe out of the meeting. In an audio recording provided to Boghosian, Landry-Altmann can be heard saying, “We don’t need the slant of a media person who wasn’t invited here.”
Community Action Network rules dictate that these meetings are to be “open and transparent to the public.”
During the Sept. 3 city council meeting at which Boghosian’s report on her conduct was discussed, Landry-Altmann falsely claimed that “no one was turned away” from the meeting, and dismissed various parts of Boghosian’s report using such words as “false,” “utter nonsense,” “invalid,” “prejudicial” and “categorically false.”
“Far from showing any contrition, Coun. Landry-Altmann has steadfastly refused to admit any wrongdoing,” Boghosian said at the time, adding that he has grown even more certain after filing his report that she should face a financial penalty, referring to her conduct in trying to bury his report as “shameful.”
The city’s elected officials ultimately voted against suspending Landry-Altmann’s pay.
Another integrity commissioner report filed this year addressed Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent and Labbée’s criticism of city staff regarding a $5 gate fee at city landfill sites.
Similar to the 2023 wage hike issue, both members claimed to have not known about the $5 gate fee despite evidence that city council members were informed. In this case, however, Boghosian said the way the gate fee was introduced by city staff was “inappropriate.”
Although both members were deemed to have publicly maligned city staff, Labbée’s criticisms were considered more egregious, and Boghosian recommended she face a five-day suspension of pay, which city council members voted against.
Boghosian found himself in city council members’ crosshairs beginning in May, when Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc tabled a motion for him to be fired. This came in response to a report regarding Leduc’s cellphone expenses in which Boghosian found no wrongdoing.
Leduc withdrew his motion at the time, but tabled a similar one in November also calling for Boghosian’s firing, which a 7-6 vote of city council members supported.
Their main complaint was that Boghosian criticized city council members beyond the scope of whether they violated the city’s Code of Conduct.
Accompanying Boghosian’s November firing (with 180 days’ notice) was an integrity commissioner report on Leduc’s social media posts, which Boghosian considered transphobic and “beneath the dignity of a sitting councillor, or anyone for that matter.”
Around this time, the city’s elected officials also voted to limit anonymous complaints against them, allowing them only in “extenuating circumstances,” which Boghosian said was already the case. This is a watered-down version of the original motion, which would have prohibited anonymous complaints.
Also this year, the city’s Election Compliance Audit Committee determined that Leduc should go to court for apparent Elections Act breaches, which included his use of a Sept. 11, 2022, Grandparents’ Day event as a campaign function, which Leduc has steadfastly denied.
Leduc, in turn, sued the city and the private resident who filed a complaint with the Election Compliance Audit Committee, for $450,000. The city’s lawyer contends the lawsuit should be thrown out, concluding, “If Mr. Leduc suffered any at all, which is expressly denied, they are remote, exaggerated, excessive, or otherwise not recoverable at law.” The private resident’s lawyer dismissed the lawsuit as “a means of limiting expression on matters of public interest.”
In a separate lawsuit, Leduc is suing the city for $29,500 in response to a 2023 city council decision to dock him 30 days’ pay for alleged Code of Conduct violations, which he disagrees with and considers unfair in light of recent city council decisions against proceeding with penalties in cases against other members.
Leduc also lodged an allegation of wrongdoing against some of his colleagues. After the Elm Place mall received city council’s OK to house a warehouse in August, Leduc accused his colleagues, including the mayor, of trading their integrity for campaign donations.
Major projects move forward and other initiatives
Tragedy and controversies aside, Greater Sudbury city council inched forward on various projects throughout the year, most notably the $225-million downtown arena/events centre and the $65-million Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square projects.
At the latest update, the Cultural Hub at Tom Davies Square library/art gallery and municipal relocation project saw architects in the “design development” stage, working with consultants, structural and mechanical engineers to add layers of technical design to work done thus far.
During 2025 budget deliberations earlier this month, the city’s elected officials added some complementary projects to the Cultural Hub, including digitizing paper records at Tom Davies Square to help free up space in their shift from 200 Brady St. to 199 Larch St. to make way for the library.
They also approved $4.8 million in work to the Tom Davies Square exterior facing Paris Street, which includes accessibility components such as ramps.
Project design concepts by Teeple Architects, Two Row Architect and Yallowega Architecture, and renderings by redknot Studio/Guido Chiarito were released in September.
On Nov. 28, a request for prequalification opened for the project’s construction management services, which is scheduled to close on Jan. 8.
As for the arena/events centre, at the latest update earlier this month, two companies from the United States had prequalified to manage the facility.
Prior to that, Toronto-based BBB Architects was selected to design the centre, which is slated to open by May 2028.
“We’re still at early stages of the process,” city Growth and Infrastructure manager Tony Cecutti told Sudbury.com earlier this month. “We’re pulling all the pieces together.”
A specific site within the south district of downtown Sudbury will be selected early in the new year, and Wacky Wings is expected to vacate their expropriated property by the end of March 2025. Throughout 2024, downtown buildings continued to come down to make room for the project.
Meanwhile, the city’s $164.4-million emergency services revitalization project is inching forward, with the city hiring the Barrie-based Salter Pilon Architecture Inc. to tackle its first phase.
Other highlights from 2024
It might take looking at the full breadth of stories in one sitting to realize it, but a lot of municipal news took place in 2024.
In addition to the stories listed above, the following is a more exhaustive (but not entirely) list of municipal stories Sudbury.com reported on this year.
- The city cancelled the sale of the old Skead volunteer fire rescue boat at the behest of Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée.
- A three-year draft plan for a Minnow Lake housing project with 192 units was OK’d.
- With the Valley East Twin Pad Multipurpose Sports Complex failing to receive funding from senior levels of government, the city is now seeking alternative plans.
- Sudbury.com reported that statistics culled from voluntary poll data, which the city frequently uses to help inform city council decisions, is statistically irrelevant.
- The City of Greater Sudbury is currently not on track to reach its net-zero goal by 2050.
- Automated speed enforcement cameras became active on March 22, and have since proven effective at slowing traffic.
- Freedom Convoy protesters disrupted an open house at Tom Davies Square in March, when they conflated municipal efforts with the 15-minute city conspiracy.
- A proposed clear garbage bag mandate dominated every city council discussion regarding a Solid Waste Management Master Plan, despite such a mandate proving effective elsewhere. They struck the recommendation from the plan, but it will come up again as a topic of discussion in 2026.
- Short-term rentals will need to be registered with the city.
- Going against a recommendation by city staff, who cautioned that it would unduly slow traffic, the city’s elected officials added a left-turn signal on Lasalle Boulevard.
- Neighbours opposed a nine-storey Sunrise Ridge Estates development northeast of Downtown Sudbury, which has yet to receive final approval by city council.
- Smart water meters are 98.5-per-cent installed, with the balance expected to be completed by 2025.
- City council pumped the brakes on upgrades to the Lively Ski Hill. After a petition with hundreds of signatures was signed urging the city to keep it open, city council ultimately decided to give them at least one more winter season of operations.
- With Montée Principale originally slated for rehabilitation in 2027, Ward 4 Coun. Pauline Fortin introduced a successful motion to have it fast-tracked by a year or two
- The Future-Ready Development Services Ad-Hoc Committee of city council yielded 54 calls for action intended to help spur economic development in Greater Sudbury.
- A unanimous city council OK’d working toward the conservation of approximately 109,000 hectares of land by 2030 as part of a broader national initiative
- A resident appealed the six-story Algonquin Road retirement complex, but provincial legislation ultimately threw the appeal out, allowing the project to continue.
- City council voted to put a moratorium on some residential development charges and freeze others, which will carry a revenue loss of between $8 million to $11 million. This, despite any evidence shared which proves it will spur economic development. It was enacted on July 1.
- Vicious dogs are being banned from dog parks/off leash areas
- City council unanimously backed a $350-million plan to end homelessness.
- There still aren’t any electric buses at GOVA Transit, but they’re working on their plan to convert its fleet of diesel buses to electric by 2035. A report is expected in early 2025.
- City investment income hit $37.9 million in 2023 thanks to an average rate of return of 5.1 per cent.
- The city is divesting of the Vermilion Lake fire station.
- The City of Greater Sudbury’s debt load is on track to peak at $587.3 million by 2028.
- The city’s first-ever electric Zamboni is stationed at the T.M. Davies Community Centre and Arena in Lively and is receiving early positive reviews
- The Beaver Lake fire station closed with three days’ notice in some people's view. City council had given them a year to bring volunteer numbers up, which they did not succeed in doing.
- Expanded GOVA Transit service levels took effect Aug. 24, adding 11,000 annual service hours. A record-setting 6.2 million public transit rides is anticipated this year, far exceeding the previous record of 5.2 million set in 2023.
- Greater Sudbury city council was unanimous in backing Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent’s motion which asks city staff to advocate for senior levels of government to work with them in addressing the homelessness crisis.
- Work on the Sudbury Landfill Site’s scales resulted in months of traffic backlogs.
- City council approved seven rural estate lots east of Sudbury’s South End despite city staff warning that doing so would not represent good planning.
- The city is looking into options for offering free bus passes for high school students.
- The city bought 307 Cedar St. to be used as an emergency shelter and/or transitional housing.
- Life-saving thumpers, also called automatic mechanical CPR devices, were slated to be installed in all city ambulances by the end of the year.
- The city signed an aid agreement with the Township of Nairn and Hyman for fire protection.
- The city’s elected officials asked staff to draft bylaw amendments which aim to add teeth to property standard rules.
- Police board meetings are now held at city hall in an effort to improve transparency.
- The city awarded a $1.7-million grant to help Panoramic Properties renovate the Scotia Tower building in downtown Sudbury, but only if they proceed with tearing down the old hospital building on Paris Street, which they also own. Panoramic Properties will not answer Sudbury.com’s questions on the project.
- The city’s Aquatic Service and Facility Review came in, concluding there’s “no rationale” to continue investing in the Onaping Pool.
- The shuttered Auger Avenue school was approved to house 20 residential units, with another 54 to be constructed as soon as wastewater capacity is ensured.
- The city is conducting a feasibility study for a 25-metre pool at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda.
- Pioneer Manor’s final structural beam was signed and put into place in October, at the site of a 160-room bed redevelopment project.
- A three-storey, 18-unit residential building will take shape at 7 Pine St. in downtown Sudbury, and received a $324,260 grant, plus $400,000 in tax forgiveness.
- Frobisher Street was selected as an ideal location for new police headquarters.
- Garson Arena was officially named the George Armstrong Community Centre and Arena.
- The Spot, Sudbury’s supervised consumption site, closed this year after municipal funding did not come in. City council voted to turn the space into a warming centre, which opened on Nov. 25
- The province pledged $34.9 million toward water/wastewater infrastructure to help spur housing in the Lively/Walden area. The total project is approximately $70 million.
- Mayor Paul Lefebvre signed an open letter alongside other mayors urging the city to use the notwithstanding clause if necessary to help with homeless encampments, and received criticism which he responded to.
- A waste transfer station was OK’d for a portion of the old Kingsway Entertainment District site.
- The city granted $1 million each to both Yes Theatre and Dynamic Earth.
- Five more municipally owned houses are being sold to Raising the Roof, to create 10 affordable housing units (two per house).
- City council greenlit Panoramic Properties’ 530-unit project at the old hospital site on Paris Street.
- The city is looking at ways to speed up development permits for everything, but particularly for simple projects like decks and sheds, using such tools as artificial intelligence. An update will be provided next year.
- City council approved a $25-million College Street underpass project, in principle, to include a roundabout and improved active transportation infrastructure. Funding from senior levels of government is being sought.
- The city has applied for provincial funding to help pay for the operating costs associated with the Lorraine Street transitional housing complex, which is slated to open early in the new year.
- The city was slated to close three fire halls by the end of 2024, including Copper Cliff, Val Caron and Falconbridge. A seniors organization in Falconbridge is working with the city to procure the shuttered Falconbridge for use as a woodworking shop and art studio.
- Mixed electronic/paper ballot voting was OK’d for the 2026 civic election.
- The mayor requested several reports to address environmental goals, which are expected to be tabled at city council meetings in 2025.
- The city is looking at shifting the Capreol library to the Millennium Centre, with a feasibility study expected next year.
- 3rdLine Studio is working on developing a new recreational amenity in Lively to replace Meatbird Lake Park.
- GOVA Transit buses are getting new fare boxes early in the new year, which will be fully functional by the end of 2025.
- Greater Sudbury is up to 149 kilometres of cycling infrastructure, with 9.5 kilometres added in 2024.
- The city OK’d fourth unit per residential lot as-of-right.
- The city is working on a proposed renewal of Kalmo Beach, with a business case expected in late 2025 for consideration during 2026 budget deliberations.
For Sudbury.com’s 2023 city council year in review story, click here. For 2022, click here. For 2021, click here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.