Know your role, advisor tells Medicine Hat city council

“They elect a council — the mayor and councillors — to govern the community, to make all of the major decisions of the community,” Cuff told CHAT News after the meeting.

“They don’t elect councillors to manage the community,” he continued.

Medicine Hat Mayor Linnsie Clark watches on during a presentation to city council on May 29, 2024. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

Cuff, in his wide-ranging presentation, said city hall should adhere to the “one employee” model of governance where staff report to the city manager, who in turn is accountable to council.

While Cuff declined to comment if role clarity was the driving force behind council’s current divisions, he said many of the points he covered during the public meeting he would reiterate later during a private workshop with council that night.

Council has been at odds since sanctioning Mayor Linnsie Clark in March after finding she broke its code of conduct during a tense exchange in August 2023 with City Manager Ann Mitchell over procedure and council oversight.

Council said Clark failed to treat the city manager with courtesy, dignity and respect during the exchange.

Clark in May filed for a judicial review in an attempt to undo the sanctions. That case is expected to come to court this summer.

Meanwhile, council and the mayor have insisted they can still continue to work together and find common ground on initiatives.

There’s still an opportunity for council to work effectively on behalf of the city despite the tensions that exist around the horseshoe, Cuff said.

“There’s a lot of councils that have become partially dysfunctional, or really dysfunctional, that have still managed to regroup and get things done in the community,” he said.

Councillors listen on during George Cuff’s presentation on May 29, 2024. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

“Does that mean they’re always harmonious? No, I’m not particularly a strong proponent of being buddies on council,” added Cuff, a former mayor.

“I’m a proponent of being respectful. The fact that other people have a different view than I do, I don’t care. In fact I expect them to, it adds value to the overall tapestry of council.”

Cuff will also meet with senior city staff Thursday morning to wrap up his visit to Medicine Hat.

Cuff and Clark had an exchange discussing the dynamic between staff and council during a question period at the end of the presentation.

Clark has repeatedly raised concerns about Alberta municipalities shifting to a form of governance that hands more power over to administrative staff.

She challenged Cuff’s assertion that council should remain concerned only with the “what” of an idea while leaving staff to figure out the “how”, arguing there is often a blurred line between the responsibilities.

“There needs to be a balance,” Clark later told CHAT News.

“It’s never good for one person to have too much power and its never good for one person to have all the authority and another person to have all the accountability,” she said.

Despite some differences between Cuff’s advice and Clark’s opinion, they were also able to find some common ground in the area of transparency.

Both agreed city business should be conducted as much as possible in public meetings instead of through email — the means by which the city manager proposed Cuff speak to council, the mayor said — or by backroom talks.

Clark also agreed with Cuff’s take that not all council decisions need to be unanimous.

“A healthy democracy is not unanimity, we are allowed to disagree, we are allowed to debate,” the mayor said.

Many if not all of the councillors supported Cuff’s advice on municipal governance during his Wednesday presentation.

Cuff said once municipal leaders and employees are able to figure out how to work well within their roles, everything becomes a lot easier, advice he has given for decades.

“It just gets back to this whole issue of who does what in the community.”

by Eli J. Ridder

Know your role, advisor tells Medicine Hat city council

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