Council Members Ignoring Questions, Playing Favourites With Media
From City of Medicine Hat Website
After the Judicial Review Decision, I sent e-mails to the 9 Council Members. The only one I received a response from was Mayor Clark. Other Council Members have spoken with other news outlets but not Community TV/ The Trash Panda. I also sent an e-mail to Councillor McGrogan asking for a statement about his most recent comments about his proposed motion for a Municipal Inspection. Once again, crickets.
Here are the questions I asked.
To All of Council Sent Monday August 26 at 18:41
The Mayor’s Response
No Responses Received From
Robert Dumanoswki
Cassi Hider
Darren Hirsch
Allison Knodel
Andy McGrogan
Ramona Robins
Shila Sharps
Alison Van Dyke
Greetings;
Justice Nation removed most of the sanctions, upheld one and sent one back to Council for review.
Question What are your feelings about this decision?
Question When will Council review Sanction #4?
The public has been told for months that the sanctions were based solely on the Kingsgate report which was based solely on the interaction between City Manager Ann Mitchell and Mayor Linnsie Clark on August 21 2023. Councillor Dumanowski said in his August 22 2024 letter to the media
"While the mayor’s legal counsel portrayed the defence in the judicial review as simple and straightforward, it is evident that there was a deeper layer of truth understood by city council that was not fully disclosed to the public."
Many members of the public take this to mean that the sanctions were based on more than just the Kingsgate report; they felt misled.
Question Will Council apologize to the public for misleading them about the reason for the sanctions, for apparently allowing their personal feelings to outweigh their good judgement?
Question Will the Council members who spoke out recently apologize for the drama they caused?
Question Given Justice Nation's Decision, how can the public be expected to trust Council to make the right decisions going forward?
Question How much did the Residents of Medicine Hat pay in legal fees for the Judicial Review?
Question Will Council apologize to the Residents of Medicine Hat for spending all that money on legal fees when it could have been avoided had they imposed a reasonable sanction in March 2024?
Question Are any of you embarrassed for your part in all of this?
Justice Nation said
"Remitting the matter back in this case would mean sending the issue of sanctions for the conduct back to Council, whose members appear to have no sense of proportionality in crafting sanctions and have imposed sanctions that have no rational connection with the breach of the Code."
Question What is your response to that statement?
Sent To Councillor McGrogan August 28 at 06:48 - McGrogan Has Not Responded to This Inquiry.
Greetings;
You sent a statement to Chat News on Tuesday August 27.
The statement said
“As it has been over a year since the mayor has had opportunity to apologize in order to more effectively serve our community and no attempts have been made, it is my intention to bring a notice of motion forward requesting the Alberta Government conduct a Municipal inspection of the Administration, the Mayor and Council and look forward to Council’s debate.”
Some Medicine Hat Residents have been calling for a provincial inspection for nearly a year.
Question Why are you requesting the provincial inspection now? What has changed since last fall?
Question What do you think the province will find?
Question How much will this inspection cost the City?
Question Who are you going to request to perform the inspection?
People have said that you are not looking for humility from the mayor but humiliation.
Question What do you say to that statement?
Question Are you running for mayor in the next election?
You keep citing “the apology” as the main issue.
Question What would that apology look like? What would the mayor have to say to make this all go away? If the mayor apologizes, are you still going to ask for an inspection or is it too late to stop that?
