Council to Address Court-Ordered Sanction review
Council during the Jan. 6, 2025 meeting at city hall.
By Alex McCuaig
A remaining sanction against Mayor Linnsie Clark and sent back to council by a King’s Bench Justice to amend will be up for discussion at the next meeting following a notice of motion Monday.
“Our community has become frustrated with our inaction,” stated Coun. Shila Sharps in delivering her notice of motion to revisit the sanction which has locked the mayor out of much of city hall. “There was no ill intention by anybody around this horseshoe but it has gotten away from us.”
The motion came during the shortest city council meeting since the one which leveled the sanctions back in March 2024. Those sanctions had mostly been reversed following a judicial review decision released in August, save for an apology to the city manager and sending back for reconsideration the sanction which restricted the mayor’s access to parts of city hall.
While Sharps noted there are councillors who still don’t agree with the judicial decision, “it is our responsibility to address this matter.”
Clark apologized to city manager Ann Mitchell at the first meeting following the judicial decision but council left the issue hanging regarding the reconsideration of locking the mayor out of administrative portions of the building.
That motion to reconsider that motion will come forward via an open agenda item at the next council meeting, Clark stated at the end of the meeting.
Clark expressed frustration regarding being locked out of parts of city hall, especially when she discovered that her access pass had been deactivated during an interview with Community TV in December. She indicated she hadn’t even tried to access parts of the building restricted to her by sanctions. That sanction was placed against her to prevent any interaction with city staff.
Five of the six sanctions were found to be unreasonable in the judicial decision. The justice noted restrictions of interactions between Mitchell and Clark was reasonable but there was no reason for that to include the entire city administration. The sole untouched sanction was the apology requested for the interaction between the mayor and Mitchell during a August 2023 council meeting.
“The way things are going now, I feel like kind of a second-class citizen,” Clark told reporter Kelly Allard during a Dec. 5 interview. “Like, I’m going to be punished forever.”
More public access to information on budget transfers
Despite fears by Coun. Robert Dumanowski that clarity surrounding reporting budget transfers more might not be understood by Hatters, council voted unanimously in support of the measure.
“I just feel that it’s intended purpose, in the shorter term, might confuse the public,” stated Dumanowski regarding a motion to include budget transfers in the city’s tri-annual financial report. “I hope that’s not the case.”
Coun. Darren Hirsch shared then concern, stating Dumanowski, “made an excellent point in saying, ‘I don’t want to add any confusion in this.’”
Hirsch went on to explain that confusion could be sparked by Hatters not understanding money from reserve funds are used while awaiting grants from other levels of government.
Final decision on downtown bathroom
Following three years of council debate, reports and surveys involving several dozen Hatters, council voted to put a final nail in the coffin in deciding against building a public bathroom in Towne Square.
Council approved more than a half-million dollars in its 2022-2023 budget to build a downtown bathroom but failed to follow through.
City police indicated the bathroom would be a den of undesirable activity while service organizations supporting vulnerable Hatters were in favour for evening and overnight use during the multi-year debate.
Three surveys between July 2023 and November 2024 resulted in 212 responses from Hatters. However, it’s unclear how many residents had overlapping submissions in the surveys which ranged from a low of 29 responses to a high of 136.
City officials have, in the meantime, opened up the bathroom operating hours at the city transit terminal.
Additional 24-hour security at the bus terminal bathrooms costs more than $250,000 annually.
Unfinished business
City councillors are continuing to evaluate bids to become the city’s first integrity commissioner.
Debate regarding how to handle code of conduct complaints against councillors has been swirling since the fall two years ago.
Council asked staff in 2023 to develop an internal mechanism for handling public complaints against councillors before rejecting the recommendation in the spring of 2024.
In June, council agreed to explore the idea of a third-party integrity commissioner with that decision finalized and in effect as of September.
A list of those who submitted bids on the position can be found through Community TV’s article, “Familiar name bidding for city integrity commissioner.”