City Manager Ann Mitchell listens during a Medicine Hat city council meeting on March 25, 2024.

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Medicine Hat top staffer sent ‘cease and desist’ letter to mayor, arguing two counts of defamation

Mar 27, 2024 | 4:04 PM

Mayor Linnsie Clark was sent a letter from City Manager Ann Mitchell’s lawyer demanding the mayor to “cease and desist” from further defaming Mitchell in November of last year.

The letter, included amid 47 pages of documents released by Clark on Wednesday, outlined two occasions when Clark defamed Mitchell.

The first was in an email to “numerous individuals” on Aug. 15, in which Clark alleged nine statements that Mitchell’s lawyers called malicious, all of which were redacted.

Clark’s allegation at an August 2023 public meeting that Mitchell carried out a reorganization of city hall without authority to do so independently of council approval was listed as a second count of defamation.

The statements were not protected by “qualified privilege” since they were made maliciously, considering Clark knew council had approved the changes, according to the lawyer.

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A part of the letter from City Manager Ann Mitchell’s lawyers posted by Mayor Linnsie Clark. (Mayor Linnsie Clark)

“We hereby demand on behalf of our client that you apologize for your defamatory behaviour,” Floden and Company lawyer Craig Floden wrote.

“We further demand that you cease and desist from any further defamation of our client, failing to do so we will seek instructions to sue on this matter,” the letter concluded.

The letter was sent to Clark on Nov. 21, 2023.

A city spokesperson said Mitchell will not be responding to request for comment from CHAT News. The spokesperson also confirmed there is no litigation underway related to the “cease and desist” letter.

The letter was posted as part of a trove of documents Clark published soon after addressing the media and Medicine Hat residents from in front of city hall Wednesday.

CHAT News is continuing to analyse the documents for more details regarding the investigation, the sanctions and the apparent rife at city hall.

The mayor revealed she filed for a judicial review in an effort to reverse the sanctions placed on her by council last week.

“That process will take several months and I will stand by that decision,” Clark said, adding the case will arrive in court this summer as part of an expedited process.