Mayor Linnsie Clark listens on during a staff presentation at the Medicine Hat city council meeting on April 8, 2024. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

Supporters of Medicine Hat mayor show out to council as it confirms rotating chair

Apr 8, 2024 | 6:51 PM

Mayor Linnsie Clark entered Medicine Hat’s council chambers to applause from the public gallery ahead of a meeting that lasted late into Monday night.

Coun. Allison Knodel, who was chairing the meeting in place of the sanctioned Mayor Clark, called for decorum from residents in the chamber as council business got underway.

Signs were also put up in the chambers stating that applause, speaking out or disruptive acts were not allowed.

Those same boards were in place during council meetings last summer when residents turned out to council in frustration over skyrocketing utility rates.

That’s as pressure builds on a council that’s received a mixture of criticism and support for its decisions to remove Clark’s powers and cut her salary by 50 per cent.

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Clark supporter Kym Porter was gathering signatures for a petition calling on council to reverse its sanctions on the mayor ahead of Monday’s meeting.

Supporters of Mayor Linnsie Clark signed a petition demanding council undo its sanctions on Clark. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

“I didn’t vote for city council to be the mayor, I voted for Linnsie Clark to be the mayor,” Porter told CHAT News from outside the front doors of city hall.

Porter’s goal is to gather 7,000 signatures and was at about 150 before Monday’s meeting started.

Coun. Shila Sharps, who has not appeared at a council meeting in-person since before the mayoral sanctions were put in place last month, appeared on Monday.

Coun. Shila Sharps listens to a staff report during Monday’s council meeting. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

Sharps was the councillor who filed a code of conduct complaint against Clark during a tense exchange over procedure between the mayor and City Manager Ann Mitchell at an August 2023 public meeting.

That complaint led to an investigation by Kingsgate Legal and a subsequent report that found evidence Clark broke the code of conduct.

A group of seven councillors used the report as basis to take away Clark’s powers.

Sharps told CHAT News she could see a day when Clark is able to regain her lost powers.

Rotating chair

Mayor Clark raised opposition to terminology used in a staff report received for information at Monday’s meeting.

The report from City Clerk Larry Randle was an update to council on its approach to having a rotating chair and representative, as per the city’s procedural bylaw.

The deputy mayor — a position that shifts every 45 days between councillors — or acting mayor will take on the mantle of chair and representative that Clark can no longer due to the sanctions.

The mayor did oppose language used by clerk Randle in the report to council where he wrote the mayor was “unable” to perform her duties as chair.

Clark said she disagreed with that language and wanted to her objection noted.

“I object to the recommendation saying I’m unable to perform my duties, as I am able to perform my duties,” Clark said.

Randle apologized for his terminology and suggested a change could be made.

Clark requests expense numbers

A written request for information from Mayor Clark was pushed back at the end of Monday’s meeting.

In the request, Clark lists different pieces of information related to expenditures and living expenses.

For 2020-2023, Clark asked for the number of city employees paid or reimbursed for living expenses and the basic terms of all severance agreements, including precise sums.

In the request, the mayor asks for a detailed accounting of all funds reallocated by the city manager in 2023 and the top staffer’s itemized expense and “P-Card” statements.

Clark also requests itemized expenses and “P-Card” statements from each managing director, the staff in charge of the city’s different divisions.

The mayor is seeking the staff turnover statistics from 2020 to 2023, by month, as well.

In the written statement, Clark does not outline why she is asking for the information but she has consistently called for more transparency

She also criticized the procedure used by City Manager Ann Mitchell in a reorganization of city hall last year, a tense exchange that led to an investigation and Clark’s powers being stripped away.

The statement is dated Feb. 20 and asks for it to be included in the March 4 meeting. CHAT News has reached out for comment from the city for more information on why the statement’s inclusion at a council meeting was delayed until April 8.

As the nearly five-hour meeting came to a close, Clark’s request for disclosure of financial expenditures from the city manager and other top staff members was pushed back to the next meeting.

Sharps said she was too tired to consider another motion and others said they needed Clark to explain why she needed the numbers.