Mayor Linnsie Clark speaks during council meeting in chambers at city hall Monday. City council is going to broadly review what an integrity commissioner's role would look like.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
All of city council agrees – they want the options to have code of conduct complaints sent to an independent city officer rather than having them flow to a council committee to deal with.
They were split however, on what a new review should include.
Long-planned updates to how council deals with code of conduct complaints arrived back at council Monday, two weeks after Mayor Linnsie Clark was hit will strong sanctions after a breach was determined by council.
About 60 of her supporters watched from the gallery as proposals to amend the code of conduct bylaw – called for in 2022 – were presented to council, and eventually sent back by 8-0 vote to examine an “integrity commissioner” model in the future.
The current venue is council’s administration and legislative review committee, and chair Coun. Andy McGrogan first expressed doubt that changes, which still route potentially controversial complaints against councillors to a committee made up of councillors, are problematic.
Considering the current controversy, he said he would support shelving any changes until most information on costs or potential provincial government review can be obtained.
“I agree with most of the big blocks – people having a right to make a complaint,” he told council. “But we can all go into the trenches and get lawyers and fight, but what’s that cost to the City of Medicine Hat?
“What’s the cost benefit analysis? I’d like to hear what others think.”
Changes were outlined at committee meeting in February where Clark outlined her interest in an potential integrity commissioner – as exists in some municipalities – to act independent of council.
“I want something to come back with an integrity commissioner,” Clark said in limited debate before her motion to study certain aspects of a commissioner role, which failed on a 4-4 council vote.
Afterwards, council approved a wider review including a survey of how other cities handle the issue and potential structure of the office.
“The intention is absolutely to go back to (committee) and there’s a good indication that we’re looking for an integrity commission,” said Coun. Darren Hirsch. “I want as much latitude as possible … I’m in favour of a review for all the reasons we’ve said. But, I want the discussion at committee.”
“I think everyone agrees with Mayor Clark’s suggestions … but I think there’s more on the table,” said Coun. Shila Sharps.
Clark and Sharps were principals in a complaint where third-party investigator Kingsgate Legal determined Clark did violate the code of conduct in dealings with the city manager at an August 2023 meeting. That left it to council members not involved in the complaint to determine punishments, which can legally range from no action or a required apology, to losing committee assignment and salary reductions. Council chose a variety of higher-end penalties, though Clark has requested a judicial review, calling them disproportionate.
Proposed changes as presented Monday would require public reports be made public when guilt has been determined. (A redacted version of the Kingsgate Legal report has been criticized in the public, though Clark released a redacted version of her submissions not released by the city.)
The city solicitor’s office began looking into changes at council’s direction in 2022, then expanded the review to examine public participation in late 2023.
“Much of it remains substantially the same, though there are some changes,” said city solicitor Ben Bullock.
It would open complaint process to the general public and staff members to file complaints about council members, add suggestions for social media behaviour and add discrimination and harassment as grounds for a potential complaint.
It stresses dispute resolution or mediation but “does not make it compulsory,” according to Rex Osivwemu, of the city solicitor’s office.
Having a code of conduct is a requirement under provincial regulations. Medicine Hat has had one since 2018, and it underwent minor amendments in 2022.
Clark was invited to discuss the potential amendments when they returned to committee in February and appeared to generally support the proposals, but questioned whether a whistleblower policy should be developed concurrently.
