Drama Around the Horseshoe
L-R Councillor Shila Sharps, Mayor Linnsie Clark, Allison Knodel at April 7 2025 Council Meeting
Images taken from the COMH Youtube video
The April 7 Council Meeting had a number of agenda items that were sure to cause drama:
The Horseshoe did not disappoint.
The following 2 motions were approved
Sponsor: Councillor McGrogan
BE IT RESOLVED THAT City Council directs Administration to adjust policy to publish, twice per year, in the spring and fall, all Senior Administration expenses including line-item details including without limitation business travel, meals and hosting and employee recognition for the Senior Administration. Senior Management includes the City Manager, Managing Directors and Directors. Council directs Administration to complete this by the end of Q2 2025.
Request for Status Report - Overnight Shelter
Sponsor: Councillor McGrogan
BE IT RESOLVED THAT City Council directs Administration to provide Council with the zoning status report of 737 8 Street SE, including the dates the building was zoned for its present purpose and existing conditions related to its operation. This information is requested for the open portion of the April 7, 2025, Council meeting.
The following motions were postponed until June 2 2025
Sponsor: Councillor Sharps
RECOMMENDATION THAT Administration be directed to provide a line item report on a quarterly basis, coinciding with the audit report, that includes the following information:
A cumulative summary of all severance agreements; and
Details of any bonuses awarded during the reporting period.
Sponsor: Councillor Sharps
RECOMMENDATION THAT Council directs Administration to prepare HR metrics similar to those published by the City of Calgary and other municipalities on our city website under the People Services section. This should include data such as the total number of employees, (onsite and remote) contractors, consultants, voluntary terminations, involuntary terminations, safety stats such as WCB lost time, short term disability and long-term disability statistics. The website amendments should be completed by April 30th, 2025, as these are all currently tracked statistics.
These motions were the subject of much discussion. Timestamps are from this video April 7, 2025 - City of Medicine Hat Council Meeting
1:52:00 Councillor Knodel spoke about “the ever-increasing Notice of Motions” and advocated for City Manager Ann Mitchell. Knodel had concerns about giving our City Manager too many tasks, saying things such as
“Councillors feel this is the way they should be able to move the needle which is fine…”
“City Manager has made it known to us that there are a lot of things that need to improve…”
“It feels like we’re setting our administration up for failure…”
“If we keep piling tasks on them and expect them to report back by the deadline they are doomed to fail.”
“Many people in the community have observed as to why it doesn't function.”
Knodel went so far as equating the highly paid City manager to a student that is still learning. She described the situation as a student who has a test to study for but has to deal with a pop quiz every day.
(Councillor Knodel is a high school teacher; Mitchell has an advanced education in the field of Municipal Management.)
Knodel also said “If we allow a minority of council to dictate priorities it doesn’t feel as though we’re functioning as a collective.”
Sharps clapped back saying “I am not a minority segment, I am an elected official just like everybody at this table.”
15535 Sharps was speaking about why she is using the Notice of Motion to get things on the agenda when she said the following -
“We changed the procedure bylaw, everybody at this table…”
“When we don’t get answers, I have no choice…”
1:58:00 Mayor Clark claps back, gives a lesson on government privilege and responsibility. Here is part of what she said.
“Information is a necessary aspect of democracy. People cannot participate in their democracy if they don't have the requisite information to participate. This is …one of the fundamental criteria of a functioning democracy.
I like democracy.
I want us to have a robust democracy and I think going into working for a public body, a government, that should just be known. You don't have to choose to work for a public body… but one of the things about working for a public body is that we have to report the money that we're spending to the public so that they can keep us accountable and participate in the democratic process.
I struggle a lot with trying to not disclose information that would be disclosable under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act because that is there to protect our democracy and hold us accountable. If we're uncomfortable with that I think that's a bigger question.
I also feel like just disclosing the information prevents a lot of work in the form of multiple people making multiple requests for information. That requires a lot of staff time every time they have to go through each thing to make sure that the right things are redacted and could result in a claim to the commissioner. Simply disclosing the information I think is a way that we can save time for our city clerk's office and all of the departments that are required to provide the information to the city clerk for review.
Again as a public body we do not have a choice about transparency and disclosure that is a minimum bar. I think we have to be happy to meet it and not trying ever to avoid it or skirt around it. We just have to get used to the fact that that as a public body (it) is part of our role, that is part of our function.”
2:01:30 CM declares that they are not being obstructive but she has a mandate from council and has to make sure they have the capacity to do the work.
There was a question as to whether the requested information was FOIPable or not. Sharps said that yes, that (at least some of) the information was FOIPable because residents had FOIPed the information and sent it to her.
The City Manager deemed it reasonable to take until June to come back to Council with the information. A Public Body has 30 days to respond to a FOIPO request (they can tack on another 30 days just because). The City Clerk is the head of the FOIP department and was sitting at the horseshoe as was the City Solicitor, nobody asked them about the FOIP Act or what was FOIPable.
(By June 2, we will only have a report telling us if the requested information is FOIPable. Council will have to do another motion to actually get the requested information.)
The following Motion was postponed until June 16 2025
Sponsor: Councillor Sharps
RECOMMENDATION THAT Council direct Administration to identify alternative suppliers to Amazon and all U.S.-based vendors, and where feasible and consistent with applicable trade agreements, prioritize local suppliers. Additionally, I propose that council direct administration to provide a report back on the increase in local spending.
Councillor Dumanowski pointed out that the City is already doing this, it had recently come up in the Committee meeting.
Notice of Motion
Sponsor: Mayor Clark
Council directs administration to immediately pay and reimburse legal fees incurred by Mayor Clark to date in relation to the Giorno legal opinion, the Reorg, City Manager Mitchell’s defamation allegation, the Code of Conduct, the JR, or otherwise in the course of her duties, in the amount of $76,017.62.
3:28:35 Dumanowski calls out Clark about the Notice of Motion for legal fee reimbursement. Dumanowski asked Clark if she had a pecuniary interest in this Motion. Clark said yes, she does. It is her understanding that she is not allowed to participate in discussion or the vote and would have to leave the room. Dumanowski believed it would be prudent for them to wait until an internal or external legal review was done. Since there was no motion on the table, the meeting was adjourned.
April 9 Interview
Mayor Clark told the Medicine Hat Owl on April 9 that she believes that legal fees are part of the Councillor remuneration package as outlined in Policy #0146. When asked about the City Manager being tasked with too much work, Clark said that Council should be the ones to prioritize what work should be done first.
