The mayor of Magna has engaged in “a sustained pattern of unprofessional conduct” that included yelling, profanity, xenophobic and homophobic comments, and an encounter that left two city employees crying, a third-party investigation found.

The 85-page report, given to City Council members on Aug. 19 and obtained Wednesday by The Salt Lake Tribune through an open records request, also accused Mayor Mick Sudbury of exercising his authority improperly, threatening to fire an employee who reported his conduct, and going to active crime scenes and creating “safety, privacy and operational concerns.”

Sudbury, in a statement issued Sept. 4 by his attorney, said he is “carefully evaluating the contents of the report alongside legal counsel.” Sudbury said he “will reserve detailed comments” until that review is done.

“My focus remains squarely on working for the people of Magna and ensuring our city’s progress continues uninterrupted,” Sudbury said in his statement. “My devotion to Magna and my passion for serving our residents have always guided my commitment to this community. Serving as mayor comes with a continuous responsibility to listen, learn and work collaboratively within our municipal government structure.”

Sudbury’s attorney on Friday said the mayor had no further comment.

Magna City hired attorney Jayme Blakesley, from the law firm Hayes Godfrey Bell in Holladay, to investigate Sudbury after the city received a complaint against the mayor in July. The city said in a news release posted on its Facebook account that the attorney was given “complete autonomy to investigate the complaint.”

Blakesley delivered his findings to the City Council, the release said, and the city “has referred certain allegations” to the Utah Attorney General’s Office and its Political Subdivision Ethics Commission.

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said Wednesday that the office does not typically “confirm, deny or comment on the existence or receipt of complaints.”

Allegations against Sudbury

Blakesley interviewed 13 witnesses in his investigation, including all four current City Council members, and Sudbury himself. The names of the other nine people interviewed were redacted from the report before its release to The Tribune.

The report identifies those nine people as city employees, law enforcement personnel, and current and former employees of the Greater Salt Lake Municipal Services District, which provides government services to several Salt Lake County cities, including Magna.

The most serious allegations, Blakesley said in the report, involve Sudbury’s dealings with law enforcement, particularly members of the Unified Police Department, the countywide agency that includes Magna in its jurisdiction.

The report says the evidence points to Sudbury trying “to influence the exercise of discretion in individual law enforcement matters and, when officers did not provide the result he sought, threatened or invoked consequences concerning their continued employment or assignment.”

One witness told the investigator that Sudbury was upset over home security footage that showed an officer at his front door — this person was later identified as a neighbor who was a Taylorsville police officer.

According to the witness, the mayor called the officer while he was driving, and on the same drive came upon police vehicles leaving a call and started “tailgating” the vehicles onto Magna’s Main Street. The witness said Sudbury also made calls to people whose names were redacted, complaining about the Taylorsville officer’s police work.

The report says the officer left a note at Sudbury’s door but does not say why he went to the mayor’s home.

Blakesley also interviewed a Unified Police Department official who expressed concerns about Sudbury showing up at active police scenes, which the official said was a safety and privacy issue.

In one case during a house fire, the UPD official said that Sudbury was speaking to an officer when another officer radioed in saying he was “physically struggling” with a man on the scene. According to the official, Sudbury kept talking to the first officer, even as the officer was trying to end the conversation so he could help his colleague.

In another case last month, the official said, Sudbury arrived at a traffic stop where officers were busy detaining four people. The official told Blakesley that Sudbury demanded the police take time away from detaining the four people to speak to someone over the phone about “an unrelated, non-emergency complaint.”

A spokesperson for the Unified Police Department declined to comment, referring questions to the Magna City Council.

One witness described “recurring episodes of yelling or anger followed by periods in which Sudbury apologized or behaved as though the conflict had not occurred,” the report said. This witness described the working relationship “as intimidating and controlling,” and the person reported that Sudbury threatened their job.

Another witness recalled a meeting between Sudbury and a former Magna mayor. When the former mayor tried to leave, Sudbury said “get back here,” followed by a homophobic slur, “or I’m going to kick your ass.” Megan Olsen, a Magna City Council member, corroborated the threat, though she did not recall the slur being used.

One witness recounted a time when Sudbury encountered a group of Hispanic students. “Sudbury pointed to the students and stated, in substance, that if they did not like it here, they should ‘go back to where they came from,’” Blakesley’s report said.

The report also details a confrontation between Sudbury and two city employees before a May 12 City Council meeting. Sudbury, the report said, got angry with one of them and “accused [the employee] of exceeding [their] authority.” When the employee “became visibly upset,” the second employee stepped in to defend their colleague, and Sudbury accused both employees “of attacking or ‘ganging up’ on him, and continued the confrontation for an extended period,” the report said. “Both employees cried.”

Olsen told the investigator that she didn’t see that exchange, but did see the employees afterward “crying and visibly distressed,” the report said.

How the City Council is reacting

One thing the report makes clear is that Sudbury is an elected official, and the City Council “should not purport to exercise disciplinary or removal authority it does not possess.”

According to state law, the only offense that can get a municipal officer removed from their job is to “wilfully omit to perform any duty, or wilfully and corruptly be guilty of oppression, malconduct, misfeasance, or malfeasance in office.”

Blakesley’s report ends with a list of recommendations, urging the City Council to “establish immediate boundaries for interactions with law enforcement,” protect employees who reported Sudbury’s behavior from retaliation, and go through state code to clarify allocation of authority among the mayor, the council and the acting city manager.

The city in its release said the City Council and its legal counsel are “in the process” of reviewing and possibly implementing the investigator’s recommendations, which also include administrative changes and training sessions for city staff.

The report on Sudbury’s conduct wasn’t on the agenda of the Magna City Council at its meeting Tuesday evening, though several residents voiced support for the mayor during the public comment period.

Olsen also spoke about the report at Tuesday’s meeting, saying she has known Sudbury “for most of my life,” but that personal history “cannot take precedence over my duty to the residents I serve. … I know many people here tonight have questions and strong feelings, and I want to acknowledge them [and] acknowledge the weight of this moment.”

The Magna City Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. An agenda will be posted closer to the meeting date.

Sudbury has been mayor of Magna since January. The role was expanded after the Utah Legislature made Magna a city in 2024. Sudbury, a lifelong Magna resident, previously served on the City Council.

Magna City, in its news release, noted that the investigation into Sudbury’s behavior is unrelated to another investigation the city conducted around the residency status of Audrey Pierce, who resigned from the City Council before both investigations were completed. The City Council voted Tuesday to install Jeff Larson, a retired general contractor and a member of the Magna planning commission, in Pierce’s former seat.

Note to readers • Tribune accountability editor Jessica Schreifels contributed to this report.