Council meets for a regular public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday. File Photo/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat council to consider code of conduct changes

Jun 17, 2024 | 12:45 PM

Medicine Hat city council has a light agenda for Monday’s public meeting with only a few decisions coming to the horseshoe.

In what is one of the top issues on the agenda, council is likely to approve an overhaul of its code of conduct that will establish a third-party integrity commissioner and allow residents to file complaints.

A report from the city solicitor’s office outlining how the city could get an integrity commissioner to deal with formal complaints came before the administrative and legislative review committee on Tuesday.

Council interrupted its process to update the code of conduct bylaw — rules at the core of an ongoing leadership crisis at city hall — in April to ask staff to look into the possibility of an integrity commissioner.

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The way it’s currently organized, conduct complaints are filtered by the committee, an approach that could expose council members to a conflict of interest.

The amount of time suggested by staff to get the policy implemented, open an application process and, finally, get an integrity commissioner in place seemed too long to the councillors sitting on the committee.

There will also be a presentation on what the city is doing for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

A city reception is planned for Friday and a four-hour Indigenizing Towne Square event is taking place on Saturday.

The full council agenda can be read at MedicineHat.ca. The public meeting gets underway at 6:30 p.m. and can be viewed in-person at City Hall or online on the city’s YouTube channel.