Council on Monday will vote on several items related to the

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Medicine Hat council to vote on refreshed code of conduct bylaw

Apr 6, 2024 | 2:44 PM

A refreshed code of conduct that allows for the City of Medicine Hat’s administrative staff and members of the public to file complaints against those who sit on council will come forward for final approval Monday.

Currently, only those elected to council are able to file a complaint against their colleagues.

Alberta’s Municipal Government Act requires every council to establish a code of conduct bylaw and review it every four years as part of standard procedure.

A public spotlight has been on the code of conduct since council voted unanimously that Mayor Linnsie Clark broke the code when she criticized the city manager over a procedural issue during an August 2023 meeting.

Clark’s colleagues then voted to strip most of her mayoral powers away and cut her salary in half in a decision that has received a mixture of backlash and praise from the community and municipal policy experts.

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The code of conduct’s last major update was in June 2018 by the previous term of council, with some minor amendments made in February 2022 by the current council.

The Administrative and Legislative Review Committee in November 2022 asked staff to consider options to revamp the code of conduct bylaw in regards to provisions related to pecuniary interest, conflict of interest, the complaints process, bias and social media.

Council at a November 2023 meeting added the next code update needed to include a process for administration and any member of the public to file complaints against those on council.

These changes to the Council Code of Conduct Bylaw No. 4492 were identified and made, staff said.

In addition, administration took this update as an opportunity to update the language of the bylaw to provide additional clarity where needed and to align the bylaw with best practices, staff wrote in a background document.

Monday’s regular council meeting agenda also includes a proposal to establish a rotating chair, a procedural change made necessary after council took away Mayor Clark’s chair abilities as part of the imposed sanctions.