cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
The city has retained an Edmonton law firm to act “as needed” as an investigator if elected officials are accused of breaching council’s code of conduct, but there’s no official statement if such a complaint has been filed.
On Tuesday, council agreed to retain Kingsgate Law, a business law practice based in Edmonton that also specializes in “workplace investigations and culture assessments,” according to its website.
That was a late addition to the agenda and approved 9-0 after it was discussed at a 90-minute closed meeting of council’s administrative and legislative review committee on Aug. 28.
The issue arises three weeks after several members of council told the News they were concerned by an interaction between Mayor Linnsie Clark and city manager Ann Mitchell on Aug. 21.
Clark took issue with Mitchell’s process for finalizing and announcing the results of a corporate reorganization before council passed a bylaw to that effect. Mitchell said she kept council informed of the changes during the process, and other councillors agreed.
“Upon reflection I feel like I ran on transparency and accountability and the need for council to do its job,” Clark told the News on Aug. 28 at a special council meeting on recreation priorities the evening after the morning closed meeting.
She declined further comment.
Mitchell is away on a long-planned vacation, according to city hall sources.
Discussions at the in-camera meeting are kept from the public under exemptions in the Freedom of Information and Personal Privacy legislation, according to minutes that state “confidential evaluations” of candidates were discussed.
The publicly available minutes also show most attendees left the meeting five minutes after it started, including Mayor Clark and two members of her staff, city manager Anne Mitchell and three other council members.
That left only committee chair, Coun. Andy McGrogan, and committee members Allison Knodel and Ramona Robins, along with city clerk Larry Randle and another administrator.
Under Medicine Hat’s code of conduct, elected officials are required to abide by confidentiality and conflict of interest rules, follow expense rules and also act in a respectful manner to each other and respect the roles and job descriptions of administrators.
Potential penalties range from a letter of reprimand or need for a public apology to removal from committees, but not office, or a reduction in pay.
Costs for investigations are paid out of council’s contingency fund, if needed.
