Sudbury businesses, city officials meet after construction site fatal

In the wake of a fatal construction site incident last week, several Sudbury business owners in the area met with city staff to discuss their concerns.

The owner of the downtown shop Stage and Street said the city is trying to point the finger at the contractor for safety issues on the site.

"We tried to say, 'the buck stops here. You hired them. You fix it'," Evelyn Davie said.

"I don't know if that was really understood. We went around several times on the treadmill today with nothing concrete said, other than, 'let's see what we can implement to go forward'."

Mayor Brian Bigger told CBC News the city is "continually working and improving its processes throughout the entire organization," and the meeting was "a positive response on behalf of the city to listen to the residents and listen any challenges or concerns."

He also confirmed the city is "committed to working with the residents towards the safe completion of the project."

Downtown Business Improvement Association head Jeff MacIntyre said he thought the meeting "went extremely well."

"The city was very receptive. They sound like they want to work with the businesses."

MacIntyre added that business owners had notified the city of their concerns before the construction site fatality happened.

At that time they specifically questioned how seniors and people with disabilities would navigate the gravel surrounding the construction site, he said.

"That's been kind of boiling for a few months. In the last two weeks I guess it kind of hit a fever-pitch," he said.

"And then we had a tragic accident that put an exclamation on some of those needs."

Memorial held

The Elgin Street construction site came to a standstill Wednesday to honour the 58-year-old woman who was run over and killed by a construction grader. Work stopped for 10 minutes, at the exact time she died one week ago.

The memorial was organized by her friends and members of Christ the King Centre.