City council announced a decision Monday to terminate Ana Mitchell from her role as city manager. She has been on temporary leave since late July. It was a long night in council chambers for councillors as they publicly reviewed and adopted - or not - 53 municipal inspection recommendations issued by the Minister of Municipal Affairs in July.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
During a closed session Monday evening, city councillors voted in favour of terminating city manager Ann Mitchell, who had been on temporary paid leave since the end of July.
Councillors voted to send Mitchell an official letter of notice of her termination, though she will remain on a leave of absence with pay for now.
“Just for clarity this is the process outlined in the Municipal Government Act,” said Mayor Linnsie Clark.
Additionally, council voted 8-1 to authorize the mayor, deputy mayor and acting mayor to retain and instruct an investigator to provide a report to council.
The announcement follows a pair of closed session meetings last week to discuss a personnel matter. In July, council held a closed special meeting to discuss a personnel matter before Mitchell was placed on leave.
A dispute between Mayor Linnsie Clark and Mitchell began in August 2023 and led to a council decision to sanction Clark from her duties, prompting her to request a judicial review. Those sanctions were dropped following a judge’s decision, but the breach of code of conduct by the mayor was upheld.
Mitchell started her role as city manager at the beginning of 2023 and had previously worked as the chief administrative officer of Lethbridge County since 2018.
Councillors also unanimously voted to fund legal advice sought from the matter from the city manager’s operational reserve budget in 2026.
Councillors also attended to a long list of recommendations that were made in a municipal inspection report conducted on the management, administration and operations of the city as one of three directives issued by the Minister of Municipal Affairs in July.
Monday evening councillors formally considered 53 of a total of 68 recommendations made in a 207-page multiple inspection report that outlined five core issues investigated, highlighting patterns of dysfunction, strained relationships, procedural breakdown and leadership issues.
In the report 68 key recommendations were made which all city councillors had to address within a public meeting by Oct. 1, deciding whether to adopt or dismiss each recommendation.
However, councillors did not even begin addressing the 53 recommendations within the first two hours of Monday’s meeting, scheduled earlier this month when it became obvious the required tasks would not be completed in time.
Along with the list of recommendations, councillors also heard a presentation and adopted a new Parks Bylaw, which required council to break into closed session for a brief period of time.
Councillors also debated the implementation of the rate classification and grace period plan for small business owners, which required yet another pause for a closed meeting.
At time of publication, councillors had just begun discussing the list of 53 recommendations. The other 15 recommendations were covered by council on Sept. 15.
Included within the recommendations are improvements to adhering to meeting procedures, a safeguard for privileged information until it is approved for public release, the restoration of regular meetings between city manager and mayor and a revision of council orientation process to align with changes to the Municipal Government Act, including creating a new strategic planning process for the next set of councillors.
Monday evening councillors reviewed a recommendation to include a two-day government training session for new councillors and include procedures to handle respected, privileged and confidential information.
“This section includes a bunch of things that I do not believe are accurate,” said Clark. “Including allegations of leaks with no evidence or analysis in the report.”
Clark said councillors need to be able to speak about important issues with the community, and confidential city matters should be identified by the Access to Information Act.
Coun. Shila Sharps said during her time at city hall she has been privy to confidential information and recognized other councillors and city staff could also be privy to this same information before it is discussed at council.
“So I just wanted to support your statement,” said Sharps.
The report also includes more than 30 recommendations across governance, administration and finance and focuses on role clarity, updating documentation, reinforcing trust, respect and accountability.
The News will follow up this week with further details on discussion around the rest of the recommendations.
