As Council Term Ends, Senior Admin. Turnover Continues

To say it’s been a revolving door for senior administrators at Medicine Hat City Hall over the past four years would be an understatement.

On Friday, city manager Ann Mitchell was terminated following an incredibly turbulent more than two-and-a-half-year employment run as top administrator. The municipality’s second top manager, Jilian Campbell, is gone without even an official acknowledgement to position of chief financial officer is now vacant.

During a mayoral candidate profile interview with the Owl on Friday, Linnsie Clark demurred from getting into the details of the latest two departures of senior administrators.

Clark was asked if she could talk about the reasons of the two latest departures from city hall or if there were others no longer working at the municipality.

Ann Mitchell, former city manager. (Courtesy CMH)

“Because it’s a personnel issue, not much, just out of respect for everyone involved. It’s not something we’d like to comment on,” said Clark.

In an Oct. 5 mayoral candidate profile interview with the Owl, Andy McGrogan forecast the events of last week when asked to clarify the employment status of Mitchell.

“We’re coming to a very abrupt conclusion over the next week or so and it’ll be a lot more public then,” McGrogan told Owl publisher Tom Fougere. “But it’s a personnel matter and at this time, it still has to stay more or less private.”

But as has been the case over this council’s term and, arguably, the previous ones, the definition of “more public” appears at odds with the understanding of the sentiment by Hatters.

No reasons for the termination of Mitchell were given outside breaching the city’s Respectful Workplace Policy following an early Friday morning closed meeting.

That policy runs the gambit of commonly considered disrespectful behaviours from simple harassment to sexual harassment as well as workplace violence.

As of Oct. 12, no mention of the position of the city’s chief financial officer being vacated has been presented aside from the removal of Campbell from the city’s website along with Mitchell’s.

Like Mitchell, who was suspended in late July pending an investigation of an unknown nature, Campbell has been absent since that time from committee and council meetings but in less public fashion.

Mitchell was responsible for hiring Campbell who had only begun as the city’s chief financial officer at the end of March.

Jilian Campbell, former city CFO. (Courtesy CMH)

She replaced long-serving CFO Dennis Egert whose departure also came without public notice or comment with Hatters learning about the departure through leaks to media outlets.

Previous senior administrators such as former city manager Bob Nicolay, public services managing director Brian Mastel as well as the head of the city’s energy division, Brad Maynes, all came with official statements thanking them for their service.

The last managing director of Invest Medicine Hat, which served as the municipality’s economic development arm, also received public recognition for his service to the community.

Of the eight senior administrators who attended the first city council meeting of the current term, the only ones present at the last were city solicitor Ben Bullock and then director of strategy management Rochelle Pancoast.

The turnover of senior administrators hasn’t been confined to city hall over this term.

Former city police chief Mike Worden also resigned while embroiled in allegations of inappropriate sexual activities while senior inspector Brent Secondiak departed the service. Worden is currently suing the city for $1.8 million with Secondiak along with Const. Noel Darr also named in the lawsuit.

Darr is also facing criminal allegations connected to the internal investigations into that matter.

Former MHPS Insp. Brent Secondiak and former Chief Mike Worden. (Tom Fougere)

While Clark wouldn’t go into detail regarding the senior administration staffing situation, she did make general comments regarding the next council’s need to find a new city manager.

One of the aspects of training for a new council should include human resources to better understand the dynamics of nine elected officials managing a single city manager.

“It’s not your normal boss, employee relationship,” she said. “Not everybody comes in with the knowledge of how to manage an employee, what to do in terms of performance evaluations and making sure if you are off track, you catch it early.”

Clark stated a city manager who is required to report to nine elected officials is not easy, “but also, being nine people trying to employ one person is tricky.”

The municipal election will be held on Oct. 20.

The first meeting of the next term is scheduled for Nov. 17.