Coun. Andy McGrogan and Mayor Linnsie Clark listen Monday during city council's regular meeting at city hall.--NEWS PHOTO COLLIN GALLANT
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The City of Medicine Hat will hire an integrity commissioner who technically started the job yesterday.
Coming one year after city council began dealing with a controversial code of conduct complaint against Mayor Linnsie Clark, council heard an updated bylaw Monday that would move such complaints to an independent evaluation process.
A unanimous call in the spring for an alternate, third party to take over initial handling of complaints against council members by colleagues or residents was approved by an 8-1 vote and took effect immediately.
Complaints received between Monday and the actual hiring will be held in abeyance until the office is operating.
Debate on Monday surrounded points by Clark that would further remove administrators, and potentially make the mayor the point of contact for the outside commissioner, rather than a committee head.
Those failed when they didn’t obtain a mover or seconder – Clark cannot make motions as chair – and some discussion about sending the document back to staff to evaluate changes were also not acted on.
“It would help prevent disruption or negative feelings,” said Clark, adding for the top administrator to in any way handle complaints and potentially sensitive information about council members. “To take it completely out of administration reduces that friction.”
As is, a complainant could request help from the city manager for certain aspects of a complaint, and still handle some complaints that involved staff members or in areas where the Municipal Government Act supersedes local conduct bylaws.
Clark questioned why staff would be involved at all, and suggested having the mayor as the chief go-between with the outside commissioner and council. The bylaw has that duty falling to the chair of the admin and legislative review committee.
Current chair, Coun. Andy McGrogan, suggested his committee take another look at it.
“There are some interesting points, and I hate to amend things on the fly,” he said, though other councillors pressed forward.
“I hear what she’s saying,” said Coun. Robins. “There are small segments of the previous bylaw that need minor tweaks.”
Coun. Shila Sharps supported passing the proposal as written.
It would provide guidance to councillors’ general interaction with the public, create a process to handle complaints, set down timelines and incorporate measures in the provincially mandated requirements for elected officials.
“We’re into minutiae that admin should be dealing with,” said Sharps.
Coun. Cassi Hider said she was “completely satisfied” with the changes as written.
Council is coming out of a year long controversy where Clark filed for judicial review of a code of conduct decision against her.
Under that process, Sharps filed a complaint to the ALR committee. It forwarded the complaint to an outside law firm for an investigation. That report made a finding for full council to consider when voting to receive the report, potentially endorsing it and developing sanctions, if applicable.
Last spring, council members agreed unanimously to rewriting a draft to include an integrity commissioner model, where an independent office would evaluate complaints and choose to investigate further if deemed warranted.
Councillors had expressed concern that the system may not be able to implement until late winter of 2025.
Staff had said a few months would be needed to advertise the position and select a candidate, potentially a law firm, to take on the work on a retainer basis, or determining a single contractor or staff position would be better.
The version passed Monday took effect after council voted, and any complaints received before a hire is made will be held in abeyance until a commissioner is in place.
Council also directed staff to launch a request for proposals tendering process to find a short list of candidates.
“There will be money set as aide in the budget for the next two-year cycle,” said city solicitor Ben Bullock.
