Coun. Robert Dumanowski says the sanctions placed on Mayor Linnsie Clark was not a 'personal vendetta'. Kevin Kyle/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat councillor says city manager’s elimination of mayor-created role was ‘tipping point’

Aug 22, 2024 | 7:07 PM

City Manager Ann Mitchell’s removal of a public relations role closely associated with Mayor Linnsie Clark during a city hall shakeup was a “tipping point” in the pair’s relationship, a longtime Medicine Hat councillor said Thursday, adding it was only then that Clark started to question the validity of Mitchell’s corporate reorganization.

“I believe that the elimination of the public relations advisor may have acted as the tipping point for disagreement with the city manager,” Coun. Robert Dumanowski said in a statement released to several news organizations, including CHAT News.

Clark was the first mayor that Dumanowski, the longest-serving member of council, can remember that established such a role.

“It was when this position was cut, that a challenge with the reorganization issue began, with claims that it was not being conducted democratically or in a transparent fashion,” said Dumanowski, who has served on council since 2001.

READ: Robert Dumanowski’s full statement

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He described the tense exchange that took place between Clark and Mitchell at an Aug. 21, 2023, council meeting as a “public interrogation of a senior bureaucrat” that he found “profoundly distressing for me to witness.”

“Simplistically speaking, while there may have been grounds for a healthy procedural debate, the fact is, that council was thoroughly informed of the changes that were taking place, well in advance — weeks, if not months, before that open meeting,” Dumanowski said.

“In my view, this public spectacle was an attempt to humiliate the city manager, the individual responsible for making difficult decisions on behalf of the majority of city council, such as the elimination of the public relations role among others.”

Three councillors — Shila Sharps, Cassi Hider and Andy McGrogan — spoke out last week following a judicial review hearing in a Calgary courtroom, saying there were several attempts at mediation with the mayor.

Municipal affairs minister Ric McIver was present to one of those attempts that occurred just two weeks before the hearing took place, according to council sources who spoke to CHAT News and later confirmed by the minister’s office.

Dumanowski on Thursday revealed another attempt occurred with municipal policy expert George Cuff “to facilitate a resolution” without success. Cuff visited Medicine Hat in May and addressed council in a public meeting.

Cuff during the meeting that council is elected to govern not to manage. He was challenged by Clark, who 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.

Dumanowski, echoing some of his colleagues, said Clark had no interest in finding resolution with council and staff.

“At no point during these mediation attempts was there any indication of agreement or respect for constructive dialogue from the mayor,” Dumanowski said.

“It is highly concerning that instead there seemed to be a desire to engage in public political conflict in the form of a judicial review rather than seeking resolution behind the scenes.”

‘Not a personal vendetta’

Coun. Dumanowski was among seven councillors who voted to sanction Mayor Clark after accepting the the third-party Kingsgate Legal report that found “sufficient evidence” the mayor broke the provincially-mandated council code of conduct.

Sharps — who filed the complaint that led to council hiring the Kingsgate Legal investigator — and Clark were the only council members not in the chamber during the March 21 vote to strip the mayor of most of her powers and cut her salary in half.

Dumanowski said he was “obligated to let the facts speak for themselves.”

“This was not a personal vendetta, as has been shamefully suggested, but rather the outcome of one person’s words and actions beyond my control,” he said.

“What I find most troubling about this entire situation is that a simple and contrite public apology could have entirely mitigated and prevented this public discord, and the necessity for a judicial review in the first place.”