Familiar name bidding for city integrity commissioner
By Alex McCuaig
The city has received four bids to become the municipality’s first integrity commissioner, including one from the author of the Kingsgate report that led to sanctions against the mayor.
Micheal Solowan submitted the bid on behalf of Joseph Rosselli Professional Corp. whose company namesake is also listed as being employed by Kingsgate Legal.
Mayor Linnsie Clark addresses supporters during her announcing her legal challenge against city councillors earlier this year.
Kingsgate’s Solowan found Mayor Linnsie Clark breached the city’s code of conduct bylaw following his investigation completed and submitted to council earlier this year.
Solowan concluded;
“There is sufficient evidence to establish that the Respondent violated the Code by failing to treat the City Manager with courtesy, dignity and respect and maliciously injuring the professional or ethical reputation of the City Manager during their exchange at the August 21, 2023 Council meeting. “
A heavily redacted Kingsgate report was released by the city with Community TV publishing the unredacted version earlier this year. The full Kingsgate report can be found starting at page 97 of that court filing.
That filing was part of a judicial review filed by the mayor regarding the reasonableness of city council’s sanctions.
While those sanctions were imposed following completion of Solowan’s investigation and based on its findings, the report made no recommendations as to appropriate actions to address the code of conduct breach.
An Alberta Court of King’s Bench found nearly all of the sanctions placed on the mayor were unreasonable.
Rounding out the bids for the city’s next integrity commissioner are Lethbridge-based ARCON Investigative Consulting, Edmonton’s Veritas Solutions and Toronto firm Kushneryk Morgan.
Former Medicine Hat general manager for Parks & Rec. and current director of The Municipal Services Group, Todd Sharpe, is also listed as expressing interest in the tender along with Stantec.
Final rankings of potential candidates are scheduled to tentatively take place on Dec. 16 with contract negotiations completed before Christmas and integrity commissioner in place by Jan. 20, according to bid documents.
As far as billing for costs, the city’s tender document states, “an all-inclusive hourly rate for services rendered without a guaranteed monthly fee is preferred.”
The appointment of a municipal integrity commissioner has been part of a debate at council over the last two years about how to handle complaints against the municipality.
A proposal by city staff in April that would have seen complaints by citizens against the city handled internally was rejected by council.
In its place, council sought options regarding hiring of an independent integrity commissioner. That option became a reality in September with council passing an amendment to its code of conduct bylaw establishing the position effective immediately.
City staff had initially indicated the integrity commissioner would be in place no later than March 2025.
The entirety of the documents filed as part of the judicial review by lawyers for city council and the mayor can be found on Community TV’s website.