Judge hears Medicine Hat mayor was ‘inappropriate’, top staffer ‘a liar’

The judicial review case — filed by Clark — is likely to result in Nation siding in favour of or against the sanctions placed on the mayor by council, or a mix of both, according to an administrative law professor and political experts who spoke to CHAT News.

The hearing featured an occasionally spirited back-and-forth between Grant Stapon — representing Clark — and the city’s lawyers Daina Young and Michael Swanberg.

Stapon described City Manager Ann Mitchell as “a liar” and said Clark was “wrongfully tied to a whipping post” by council’s sanctions.

For the city, Young described Clark’s actions as “wholly inappropriate”.

The city’s lawyers argued throughout the hearing that it’s up to a council to determine infractions and punitive measures related to the provincially-mandated council code of conduct.

At the Aug. 21, 2023, meeting that triggered the code of conduct complaint, Clark was questioning City Manager Ann Mitchell over her reorganization of city hall.

Clark was concerned that Mitchell did not follow proper procedure by not getting formal council approval.

The mayor raised her concerns in several private meetings over the course of spring 2023 but was told Mitchell received a legal opinion from city solicitor Ben Bullock.

Under that assumption, her lawyer said, Clark pushed Mitchell over the legality of her city hall restructuring. During that 2023 exchange, Mitchell at one point acknowledged a mistake by saying, “it’s on me, not anyone else.”

“That happened because I missed a process and if anything, that’s on my fault. I did advise council and council was aware of what was happening,” Mitchell said at the time.

Clark asked for the legal opinion as she prepared her submission to the third-party investigator in the fall of 2023. Bullock said he had no record of the request.

“One might be inclined to ask who should be disciplined in that regard,” Stapon said.

“That’s a senior administrator with the city lying to the mayor,” he argued. He later repeated his claim that Mitchell is “a liar.”

Justice Nation was active in asking questions of both sides, but most of her queries were directed at the city’s lawyers, who was charged with the burden of defending the validity of council’s sanctions.

She questioned the connections between the mayor’s apparent misconduct and the sanctions.

For example, Nation asked how council removing Clark as the city’s spokesperson related to the tense exchange she had with the city manager.

She questioned why was Clark stripped of her ability to chair meetings when she was doing so without issue for the seven months between the August 2023 meeting and when the sanctions were imposed in March.

The justice compared Clark’s 50 per cent salary cut to a fine and questioned the city’s lawyers over whether a fine to that amount would be fair.

Nation was alone in the courtroom as lawyers from both sides called in by video conferencing.

She listened intently during the hearing, which lasted from 10 a.m. to about 4 p.m., with an hour break for lunch.

After both sides made their case and Clark’s lawyer had the chance for a rebuttal, Justice Nation reserved her decision, citing the complicated and technical nature of the case.

She said her written decision would come by Sept. 30.

by Eli J. Ridder

Judge hears Medicine Hat mayor was ‘inappropriate’, top staffer ‘a liar’

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