City integrity commissioner David Boghosian has confirmed that he is investigating Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée’s open letter in which she suggested the city’s CAO should resign.
Boghosian reported that he has received “multiple complaints” regarding Labbée’s letter.
Sudbury.com learned about the investigation through emailed correspondence from Boghosian, who requested copies of leaked documents we received from “Honest City Employees.” Anonymous tips are treated with confidentiality, so will not be provided by Sudbury.com.
Boghosian’s scope as integrity commissioner is limited to investigating potential breaches of the city’s Code of Conduct and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act.
Although there’s no indication Labbée has breached the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, the city’s internal Code of Conduct leaves room for interpretation.
Section 14(3) states, “No Member shall maliciously, falsely, negligently, recklessly, or otherwise improperly, injure the professional or ethical reputation, or the prospects or practice, of any one or more City employees.”
In her lengthy open letter, Labbée wrote that if she were in city CAO Ed Archer’s position, she would have resigned. In response to such questions as “Why does the CAO still have a job?” Labbée wrote in her letter, “If my board of directors went public and said they didn't trust me with making important decisions on my own, clearly demonstrating their lack of faith in me, I would probably resign, because it would be the right thing to do and clearly we are going in different directions.”
This is in reference to city council unanimously withdrawing the delegated authority which Archer used to increase salaries last year.
Her letter also indicates it’s time for the CAO “to be fully transparent with us,” and rejects the notion of city council being responsible for last year’s wage increases. She places the blame solely on Archer.
Although it was approved by Archer, last year’s additional pay boost of six to eight per cent to some city managers was OK’d using the delegated authority a unanimous city council voted to give the city CAO a couple of months prior (following council-approved parameters).
Labbée also calls to question the actions of Mayor Paul Lefebvre in her letter, writing, “If I had Strong Mayor powers, I know what I would have done a long time ago.” This assertion appeared directly after the line about how Archer should resign.
Under “Respect for Decision-Making Process,” the Code of Conduct notes, “Every Member should refrain from making statements known to be false or with the intent to mislead Council or the Local Board as the case may be, or the public.”
In her letter, Labbée wrote that the annual $520,000 cost associated with hiking non-union city managers’ salaries approved last year was “NEVER DISCLOSED” to city council “prior to or during budget discussions, nor was it disclosed to us in any closed documents until it was leaked to Sudbury.com, and I will die on my sword over this FACT!!!!”
The documents were leaked to Sudbury.com in March 2024.
Labbée’s assertion that she did not receive this information prior to March 2024 has been called into question by at least two members of city council and two city staff members.
During a city council meeting on May 14, city Corporate Services General Manager Kevin Fowke said that the wage-change information was provided to the city’s elected officials during a closed-session meeting in December 2023. In internal emails leaked to Sudbury.com, City Solicitor and Clerk Eric Labelle wrote that Fowke presented a slide presentation during the Dec. 12, 2023, closed-session meeting regarding contract cost changes and approved salary adjustments “with an amount of $520,067 for 2024 and $481,098 for 2025,” and that Fowke had clarified to city council that the amounts were attributable to an increase for pay groups 15-18.
Sudbury.com has filed a freedom of information request seeking this document. Labbée has since claimed that the slide presentation in question was not shown to city council on Dec. 12.
Members of the public, including media, are not privy to the goings on of these closed-session meetings.
It remains to be seen when Boghosian’s investigation will conclude, but the city’s Code of Conduct requires that a report be tabled publicly with city council regardless of its outcome.
Though each investigation’s timeline will be different, Boghosian’s most recently released investigation, into Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc’s cellphone expenses, responded to a complaint filed on April 22. Boghosian’s report was filed on April 30, and released publicly for the May 28 city council meeting.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
