Sudbury fires its Integrity commissioner

A divided city council voted Tuesday to fire the person hired to hold them accountable.

During a city council meeting, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc tabled the successful motion to have city integrity commissioner David Boghosian fired. A vote of 7-6 directed staff to provide Boghosian with 180 days' written notice for the termination of his services.

Per provincial legislation, municipalities are required to appoint an integrity commission, whose duties primarily involve evaluating complaints that elected officials have broken the city’s Code of Conduct and recommending penalties in cases where he concludes it has been breached.

Leduc has frequently taken exception to Boghosoian’s reports.

An integrity commissioner report tabled for themeeting evaluated an accusation that Bill Leduc violated the Code of Conduct for making misogynistic social media posts, including one which Boghosian considered transphobic and “beneath the dignity of a sitting councillor, or anyone for that matter.”

(This post read: “My generation had WONDER WOMAN … y’all generation is WONDERING if that’s a WOMAN.” Leduc denied posting this message, and said his account was hacked.)

Boghosian’s report concluded that evaluating Leduc’s posts for Code of Conduct breaches was outside his jurisdiction because they were made on Leduc’s personal Facebook page, not an account linked to his role as a city councillor. The integrity commissioner filed a report anyway, which is up to his discretion, and opined, “It does not mean that Greater Sudbury residents do not have any recourse. This is a matter that can be addressed at the ballot box.”

In making statements such as this, Leduc said Boghosian stepped outside his role as integrity commissioner.

Ward 10 Coun. Fern Cormier later echoed this sentiment when he said Boghosian was hired as a “finder of facts” and that his reports were “exceptionally commentarial.”

Taking it a step further, Leduc dismissed Boghosian’s reports as “a complete waste of taxpayers’ money,” and that they “have been a distraction for council and to the public.”

Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée, who has been the target of two recent reports by Boghosian in response to public comments she made criticizing city staff (including a report at tonight's meeting), was the first to support Leduc’s motion.

In addition to echoing Leduc’s sentiment that Boghosian’s reports are bunk, Labbée said they’ve been stressful to deal with, and have “unfairly contributed to compromising the public opinion of us as elected officials and our level of competency and integrity as a result.”

Boghosian’s reports on Labbée’s alleged Code of Conduct breaches narrowed in on her public criticism of city staff which he considered unfair. Tonight’s report focused on Labbée’s public comments regarding a $5 landfill gate fee the city introduced in the 2024 budget, which she claimed ignorance of despite evidence that city council members were told about it at budget time.

(In the same report, Boghosian also clarifies that there “is certainly blame to be placed on staff for not flagging the landfill gate fee more clearly.”)

In response to the gate fee, Labbée posted on social media that she has “no trust” in city staff and that the gate fee was an example of staff “forgetting to inform council.”

Ward 5 Coun. Mike Parent similarly posted online that staff had “slipped” the gate fee into the budget. Although Parent was also part of Boghosian’s investigation and report, the integrity commissioner concluded that Parent’s comments weren’t as egregious as Labbée’s.

Boghosian recommended that Labbée face a five-day pay suspension for her Code of Conduct breach, but a 10-2 vote of city council struck it down. Ward 9 Coun. Deb McIntosh and Ward 8 Coun. Al Sizer voted in favour of the suspension, Labbée didn’t vote due to a conflict of interest and the balance of city council voted no.

In September, city council similarly voted against financial penalties for Labbée and Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann, despite Boghosian flagging Code of Conduct breaches.

City council members keep voting against Boghosian’s recommendations “because we don’t have a lot of confidence in some of the items being reported to us,” Parent said during tonight’s meeting, clarifying that he’s making certain assumptions about members’ motivations.

Not everyone was on the same page during the meeting, as evidenced by the split vote.

“If we don’t want to be in front of the firing squad, then try to do your best not to put your name forward on certain social media platforms,” Ward 1 Coun. Mark Signoretti said.

Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre offered that rather than fire the integrity commissioner, city council should better redefine the role and “put a little more meat on the bone.”

It’s a legislative requirement of the province for the city to maintain an integrity commissioner, meaning they’ll need to find a replacement willing to step in when Boghosian’s final 180 days are up.

City solicitor and clerk Eric Labelle clarified that the city would launch a request for proposals to find a candidate, as they’ve done in the past.

Also during the meeting, Cormier introduced a successful motion for the integrity commissioner to publicly report their total costs on a quarterly basis. The integrity commissioner is a contract position paid by the hour. Cost will be divided into four categories