Coun. Shila Sharps discusses a proposal to update a code of conduct complaint process during Monday night's meeting. A new integrity commissioner could handle initial complaints if the bylaw is adopted next fall.--News Photo Collin Gallant
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Medicine Hat will rewrite the process of how complaints against city council members are dealt with following controversy this spring, but could also work on a national effort to counter an upswing of “harassment of elected officials.”
Coun. Shila Sharps called for the initial research into how council handles public complaints in late 2023, potentially adding an avenue for them to be dealt with after public anger rose at meetings and online last summer over power prices.
On Monday, all councillors endorsed a further move to create an “integrity commissioner” model to handle initial evaluations, rather than a council committee.
Council would still make the final determination on any findings or recommendations, but the change would add some separation, say supporters, when council members evaluate their colleagues’ actions.
That process sparked debate in Medicine Hat this spring after a complaint from Sharps led to steep conditions for Mayor Linnsie Clark in March.
Clark is set to appeal the findings, decision and penalties in a Court of King’s Bench on Aug. 13.
She attended Monday’s meeting on video conference due to illness and was not available for comment afterward.
Both asked several technical questions of legal staff, mainly about timelines, before the 9-0 vote was recorded. Second reading is expected when the bylaw is presented in the fall.
Sharps opened the meeting with a report from the recent Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting in Calgary, where delegates called on all levels of government to address harassment of office holders.
“The abuse that elected officials have taken, there’s been a mentality that ‘that’s their job,’ – it’s not,” said Sharps, who sees the two issues as separate but related.
“I’m eager to open this (formal complaints) up to the public, because it holds us accountable to the public, but an integrity commissioner will decide if it’s vexatious or frivolous.”
“It’s a common way to be heard in the community … versus hearsay and social media.”
This month the province of Quebec adopted a new law that could see citizens who disrupt meetings or acts to intimidate government officials fined $1,500.
Elected officials could also apply for court injunctions, but critics have vowed to challenge the legislation on a Charter Rights issue.
In Alberta, former Alberta environment minister Shannon Phillips said she will leave politics this summer after social media haranguing and a decision not to prosecute Lethbridge police officers who attempted to intimidate her, despite a recommendation to do so by ASIRT.
After limited debate on Monday, the main local code of conduct changes include the ability of councillors to contact the commissioner for advice, while that office would have a 90-day deadline to complete investigations unless in special circumstances, and the ability to determine if further action is needed.
An eventual bylaw should include a requirement that public complainants be either a resident of Medicine Hat, own a business or land in the city, or be employed by a city-based company.
Findings, if guilt is confirmed or penalties are levelled, would be made public.
During committee, staff said March 1, 2025 would be reasonable to rewrite the bylaw, create a budget, hire an external person or law firm on retainer after a search.
Last September, the City of Red Deer approved a bylaw that forms much of the changes in Medicine Hat, and the model was operational in February.
“They’ll make every effort to get it in place, but that’s the date that’s been set (as a target),” said Coun. Andy McGrogan, the administrative and legislative committee chair, adding time has elapsed, but it has led to a better bylaw. “The prudent step of investigating the model was worthwhile.”
