Members of the public watch and listen to a city council meeting in this August 2023 file photo.--News File Photo
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City council is “biased” against Mayor Linnsie Clark, and the city manager is a “liar,” according to the lawyer for Clark, who is asking a judge to review and eliminate sanctions placed on her this spring.
Grant Stapon told a King’s Bench hearing Tuesday hat his client felt “threatened” following an Aug. 21, 2023 meeting that formed the basis of a code of conduct complaint against Clark by Coun. Shila Sharps.
She also felt frustrated after an apparent admission at the meeting by Mitchell that the city procedure bylaw wasn’t properly followed – a point argued by Clark previously in private meetings. Eventually, Clark also determined Mitchell’s explanation that a legal brief on the subject didn’t exist.
City legal representatives said Tuesday that Clark is attempting “another kick at the can” to prove a point that a corporate reorganization was done improperly, while council has “moved forward.”
“It’s not a review of the actions of the city manager,” said Diana Young, of the firm Reynolds Mirth Richards & Farmer, representing the city.
“(The council meeting was a) wholly inappropriate time and place, putting it centre stage in a very public forum.”
The city’s position is that questions or discipline for Mitchell is a personnel matter that would be typically dealt with outside a public meeting.
Stapon argued that Clark was acting in the moment and felt the matter important enough to deal with at open council, but even then is in the right.
“My client was acting in the public interest,” he said. “In connection with a public body it’s important there is public accountability.”
Justice Rosemary Nation, who will issue a ruling late next month, said after watching video of the interaction, the issue is going “go around in a ring, and it’s not long, but there’s finger pointing.”
“It’s not a nothing issue,” however, she said.
Mitchell, hired just six months earlier, was charged with developing the corporate changes as an initial project after a previous “reorganization” failed to deliver budget savings promised in 2021.
Court documents and arguments made Tuesday revealed several one-on-one meetings where Clark raised the issue in spring 2023, but was apparently told a legal opinion from the city department assuaged concerns about the process.
Clark requested the opinion in the fall as she prepared her defence against the code of conduct complaint, but was told the city’s legal department had no record of the request.
“One might be inclined to ask who should be disciplined in that regard,” said Grant Stapon. “That’s a senior administrator with the city lying to the mayor.”
Mitchell was not questioned in the hearing and was not available for interviews.
Court documents referenced alos show that in October 2023, council approved an indemnity clause for Mitchell to sue Mayor Linnsie Clark for defamation, but denied a funding request for Clark’s legal fees be covered.
“It goes to show the deep bias in this process,” said Stapon. “There’s no investigation about the conduct of the city manager, whether you had a report, didn’t have a report – there’s none of that.
“Obviously council is gunning for my client in these circumstances.”
