By Kelly Allard

There were 47 pages released so I am going to do this a bit at a time. One of the most interesting documents I found was the fact that City Manager Ann Mitchell threatened to sue Mayor Clark.

Timeline

February 7 2023 Ann MItchell started her job as City Manager

May 23 2023 The new Chief People Officer (aka Human resources Officer), Karla Kochan started her position.

This is the exact same day that Human Resources started reporting to the City Manager instead of Corporate Services. This was in violation of Administrative Organizational (AO) Bylaw 4662.

August 21 2023 Shitshow Showdown

November 21 2023 Queen Ann’s lawyer, Craig Floden, had Mayor Clark served with a Cease and Desist letter at City Hall.

I’m pretty sure they have Clark’s home address and access to her schedule but they saw fit to have it served in a public place. Hmmm. That's an interesting way to lead. Here’s a tip - conflict in the workplace creates a lot of stress for employees, they don’t need to see mom and dad fighting.

The Cease and Desist letter starts off with

“Attention: Linnsie Clark

Dear Madam;”

No title, nothing to indicate that he was addressing the Mayor of Medicine Hat.

It says

“...You have defamed her on at least two occasions. As you know, Ann Mitchell has come to the City of Medicine Hat after building an excellent reputation and having an exemplary career. Your actions, in light of my clients’ accomplishments, have been particularly egregious. You sent an e-mail to numerous individuals on August 15 in which you alleged the following:…”

(There are 9 items listed but they’re redacted.)

The Cease and Desist letter goes on to say

“These statements are not protected by statutory or qualified privilege, because they were not made in good faith and they were made maliciously.

In the August 21, 2023 meeting you publicly made allegations that Ms. Mitchell had acted without authority and hadn’t considered the consequences of doing so, and claimed that your role wasn’t respected in the reorganization, despite council having preliminarily approved those changes previously.

These statements are not protected by qualified privilege since they were statements made maliciously, when you knew council had approved the changes. Council rebuked your statements and voted to pass the changes put forward, with you as the only vote against the motion.”

Nov 21 2023 Cease and Desist Letter To Mayor From CM Lawyers pg 1.png

Nov 21 2023 Cease and Desist Letter pg 2.png

Fact Check - Mitchell did act in violation of AO Bylaw 4662 - see The Shitshow Showdown

Fact Check - Qualified Privilege - According to Oxford Reference, “Qualified Privilege covers statements made fairly in situations in which there is a legal or moral obligation to give the information and the person to whom it is given has a corresponding duty or interest to receive it (Watt v Longsdon [1930] 1 KB 130) and when someone is acting in defence of his own property or reputation.”

There has been no evidence presented to indicate that Mayor Clark acted maliciously. The onus is on Mitchell to prove malicious intent. The letter does not say how Mayor Clark was allegedly malicious which is critical for a judge to make the determination.

According to the Municipal Government Act (MGA),

153 Councillors have the following duties

(a) to consider the welfare and interests of the municipality as a whole and to bring to council’s attention anything that would promote the welfare or interests of the municipality;

…

(d) to obtain information about the operation or administration of the municipality from the chief administrative officer or a person designated by the chief administrative officer;

I Found Something Very Interesting!

Did You Know?

Chief People Officer Karla Kochan and Craig Floden (Ann Mitchell’s lawyer) worked at Agricultural Financial Services Corporation during the same time. I included their Linked In profiles too so you can see the names are not coincidental. (Sunshine List here, just enter the names.)

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Also Something interesting

Never before have so many searches been done for my name on Linked In. 14 searches this week means that the first two categories searched me 4 times, the last two 2 times each. I have no investments, I am too poor.

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Very Interesting

Both Ann Mitchell and Karla Kochan have blocked me on Linked In. I have written NOTHING about Karla Kochan - until now.

I can see the profile of Ann Mitchell where she lists Medicine Hat (she has two profiles) if I am anonymous but not if I sign in.

Kochan has since removed her profile. The profile was there last night and earlier this morning, but it is now gone as are all of her posts. (It’s a good thing I got screenshots before it disappeared - this is why I keep my investigations quiet until I am ready to publish.)