Council discuss various matters in chambers at city hall Monday during the first meeting of October.--NEWS PHOTO BRENDAN MILLER
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Council voted to approve the reimbursement of legal fees accumulated by city manager Ann Mitchell in the amount of $6,520.50 for the judicial review of the decision made by council to impose a sanction on Mayor Linnsie Clark.
The motion was brought forth by Coun. Andy McGrogan who stated the reimbursement amount was discussed within a closed meeting and was passed with 6-2 vote.
Clark offered the only public discussion on the motion saying she would not be supporting it for “obvious reasons.”
As well, council voted to approve a 3 per cent increase to city manager compensation retroactively to February. The increase aligns with other senior leadership roles.
Purchase of real estate
Council approved that administrators sell approximately 22 acres of a land parcel from Hut 8’s local bitcoin mining operation for a total purchase price of $600,000
The sale includes two separate plots described as a “subdivision portion” that are 10.92 and 10.4 acres, with the latter plot of land used by cryptocurrency mining company located at 5254 Box Springs Rd.
Hut 8 has been developing the land, leasing a portion since 2018 to support its operations.
Council heard the sale will not conflict with the expansion of the electric generation site next to Hut 8.
Wrap-up
During its three-hour meeting Monday night council approved amendments to the city’s Financial Reserves Policy and approved amendments to the Heritage Resources Policy.
The Heritage Resources Committee Bylaw was given its first reading as well as a bylaw to amend land-use rezoning at 29 Second St. SW to medium density residential.
Council passed a new Public Code of Conduct Policy and its corresponding procedures that will provide city staff and residents a framework for boundaries and expectations of acceptable behaviour that will be tolerated at city-run facilities.
At a later date council will return to a motion intended to formalize the process of recognizing or commemorating the memory of people, places, events and ideas throughout city facilities in a fair, consistent and transparent manner.
(Editors Note — this version of the article clarifies that the City of Medicine Hat is the seller of a parcel of land in the city’s northwest to the buyer, Hut 8 Dataprocessing.)
