Coun. Shila Sharps says she could see Mayor Linnsie Clark's powers being restored at some point. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

‘None of us wanted to be mayor’: Medicine Hat councillor says the door remains open for sanctions to be dropped

Apr 9, 2024 | 2:50 AM

The Medicine Hat city councillor who filed a code of conduct complaint that led to sanctions on Mayor Linnsie Clark said Monday the possibility exists for Clark to regain her powers and have council return to how it usually operates.

Coun. Shila Sharps said she would “100 per cent support getting back to normal” if the mayor followed requirements set by the sanctions and said the current situation at city hall is not where council wanted to end up.

“None of us wanted to be mayor, none of us still want to be mayor. We wanted her to be mayor,” Sharps told CHAT News after the public meeting.

“I’m actually one of her biggest supporters, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t stand up when you find something wrong. One has nothing to do with the other.”

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The third-party investigation Sharps triggered by her complaint found “substantive” evidence Clark broke the provincially-mandated Medicine Hat council code of conduct.

During a March 21 meeting that Sharps recused herself from due to being the complainant, the other seven councillors voted unanimously to strip Mayor Clark of her powers and cut her pay by 50 per cent.

Clark, who has hailed council’s actions as disproportionate, filed for a judicial review in an effort to undo the sanctions.

Over 50 of Clark’s supporters showed up in the council gallery on Monday night and many residents have voiced their opposition to the limitations place on the mayor.

“The community needs to respect the decision,” Sharps said, pointing to the layers of review by council and the investigator to eventually come to the conclusion of misconduct in Clark’s exchange with City Manager Ann Mitchell in August 2023.

Over 50 supporters of Mayor Linnsie Clark filed into the public gallery during Monday’s council meeting. (Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News)

Sharps also criticized discourse that was taking place on social media about her and the other councillors.

Coun. Sharps said she even experienced racial slurs and hate online in recent weeks.

“If you don’t like what we do, that’s okay, write us an email. But you don’t get to do this because you actually don’t know what happened down here, only those seven people did,” Sharps said.

Sharps and several other councillors found themselves in agreement with Mayor Clark during Monday’s meeting during a discussion about the very code of conduct they said Clark broke.

Clark suggested staff focus on investigating how an independent integrity commissioner could come into force as part of the code complaint process.

While there was significant support for that motion, it wasn’t enough to get passed and a broader request of staff to look into a variety of options for the complaint procedure passed with unanimous support — including Clark — instead.

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 regular council meeting.

Sharps said she was too exhausted to consider another motion and other councillors said they needed Clark to explain further why she had requested the numbers.

A motion by Clark to extend the meeting past the required end time of 11 p.m., after she moved up other items so city staff could present and leave, do not receive any support from the rest of council.

“I am losing the will to live,” Sharps said in response to the mayor’s appeal to have her item heard late on Monday.

The next regular council meeting is scheduled for April 22.