Kingsgate Legal will be the company dealing with public complaints against the city as its integrity commissioner, council announced Monday night.

The company produced the March 2024 report on the code of conduct complaint against Mayor Linnsie Clark which was used by council to justify sanctions against the city’s chief elected official.

That report did not provide any recommendations but was cited by the eight councillors as justification in levelling sanctions that resulted in Clark effectively being mayor in name only. The code of conduct complaint stemmed from a minor dispute between the mayor and city manager Ann Mtichell during an August 2023 council meeting.

The Kingsgate investigator concluded the mayor failed, “to treat the City Manager with courtesy, dignity and respect and maliciously injuring the professional or ethical reputation of the city manager,” in that August meeting.

Sanctions included removing the mayor as the city’s official spokesperson, her role in chairing council meetings, slicing her pay in half and disallowing her from accessing staff and much of city hall.

A legal appeal by Clark launched following the sanctions saw nearly all of them removed by a King’s Bench justice except for an apology to city manager Ann Mitchell.

Justice Rosemary Nation found city councillors, “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 (of conduct).”

Kingsgate Legal was one of four bids on the position of integrity commissioner.

Lethbridge-based ARCON Investigative Consulting, Edmonton’s Veritas Solutions and Toronto firm Kushneryk Morgan rounded out the companies who bid.

In announcing the winning bid, Coun. Andy McGrogan said the company will have a contract to perform as the city’s integrity commissioner for the next two years.

McGrogan outlined the process in hiring Kingsgate by council in the 10 weeks since the bidding period closed.

All four of the bidders met the requirements for the position with councillors ranking them following each presenting to council on Jan. 6.

Following the process, city lawyer Ben Bullock, “confirmed that the highest score was Kingsgate Legal,” McGrogan told council.

Monday also saw council remove the sanction disallowing the mayor access to much of city hall, five months after Justice Nation sent it back to council after finding it unreasonable.