Mayor Takes Another Shot at Legal Fee Reimbursement

Medicine Hat Mayor Linnsie Clark will be seeking once again to be reimbursed her legal fees incurred over the tumultuous last two years of this council’s term.

The request for re-payment of nearly $60,000 came by way of a notice of motion at the end of Monday’s council meeting which will be heard at the next – and likely last – meeting in this council’s term next week.

Clark had been seeking more than $75,000 over the past year with those attempts eventually failing during the Aug. 18 meeting.

The current amount being requested corresponds to Clark’s repayment for legal expenses incurred for a judicial review of council’s sanctions against her imposed in the spring of 2024.

Those sanctions were leveled following a mildly heated exchange in which Clark challenged Mitchell’s actions during a reorganization as usurping the responsibilities of elected officials.

A subsequent ruling released in August 2024 by Justice Rosemary Nation overturn or altered all the sanctions against Clark which left her in the position of being mayor in name only except one seeking an apology to city manager Ann Mitchell.

In her ruling, Nation wrote council had “no sense of proportionality” in how it handled censuring the mayor.

A municipal inspection report released in July upheld that Mitchell did not follow correct process which Clark had challenged the city manager on which led to council calling for an investigation. That investigation led to the sanctions which ended with the judicial review.

Council voted to fire Mitchell on Monday.

The notice of motion will be heard on Oct. 6.