Medicine Hat city council will consider Mayor Linnsie Clark's request Monday. (CHAT News)

By Eli J. Ridder | @EliRidder

WHAT TO KNOW

The list of financial expenses Medicine Hat’s mayor will ask for this Monday

May 3, 2024 | 1:09 PM

Medicine Hat city council is expected to consider Mayor Linnsie Clark’s request for a series of employee financial statements at its Monday public meeting.

That comes after deliberation on her written inquiry was postponed during the last two council meetings.

When Clark’s request first appeared before public council on April 8, the meeting ran long and no discussion on the item took place. However, councillors asked the mayor to submit a document explaining the reasoning behind her ask by the next meeting.

Clark sent the explanation to councillors’ inboxes just minutes before the April 22 meeting. Councillors voted unanimously to push back Clark’s item to the next regular meeting, against Clark’s wishes.

The next meeting takes place Monday.

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The mayor has maintained she should be able to request access to the financial numbers in her role as an elected official.

“I have a duty to enquire and obtain information about the operation and administration of the city from the city manager,” Clark told reporters on Thursday.

“That entitles me to receive the information,” she said, adding that any member of the public could submit a freedom of information and privacy request for the same data.

However, Clark said she does not expect the information she asked for to come before council on Monday but hopes her colleagues around the horseshoe see the value in the information coming forward in public.

Here’s a summary of the six requests by the mayor:

• the number of city employees paid or reimbursed for living expenses and the basic terms of all severance agreements, including precise sums, for 2020-23.
• basic terms of all severance agreements, including precise sums, the date of the severance agreements and the positions that were severed, from 2020-23.
• A detailed accounting of all funds reallocated by the city manager in 2023 and the top staffer’s itemized expense and statements of her “P-Card” — otherwise known as purchasing card.
• staff turnover statistics for 2020-23, by month.
• the city manager’s 2023 itemized expenses and purchasing card statements.
• each managing director’s 2023 itemized expenses and purchasing card statements.

Monday’s council meeting gets underway at 6:30 at city hall. The meeting can be viewed in-person or live on the city’s YouTube channel.