2 top Greater Sudbury Transit managers leave city suddenly

The exodus of senior managers continues at Sudbury city hall.

This time it's the two people at the top of the city transit department that have left suddenly.

Transit director Roger Sauve and manager of transit operations Robert Gauthier are no longer employed at the City of Greater Sudbury.

And that's all that the city will say about it.

Sauve and Gauthier ran Greater Sudbury Transit for a good part of the last decade.

They hadtheir run-ins with Mayor Brian Bigger.

Back when he was the city's auditor general, Bigger frequently targeted the transit department, most notably over the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in ticket revenue.

City mum on cost to taxpayer

Sauve and Gauthier are now on a list of about 10 city managers who have left on their own or otherwise since Bigger and the new council took office a year and a half ago.

Some might be entitled to a severance payment, which would be based on their salary, most of which are well into the six figures.

But if there has been a cost to taxpayers from these staffing decisions, that information hasn't been made public.

Mayor Bigger isn't commenting on these latest departures,nor has he said anything about any of the exitsdirectly.

But his office did release this statement:

"I am not able to speak to specific HR matters at this time. There are a number of vacancies at the senior level which have occurred for a range of reasons, including secondment, retirement, and new career opportunities. The organization has demonstrated flexibility in adapting to those vacancies, either through reorganization or through interim appointments. It is anticipated that, once a new CAO is in place, those vacancies will be reviewed and permanent recruitment processes will bestarted."