Mayor Linnsie Clark was sanctioned by Medicine Hat city council on March 21 for failing to treat the city manager with courtesy, dignity and respect. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

Medicine Hat mayor’s salary restored as most sanctions reversed in judge’s ruling

Aug 26, 2024 | 11:00 PM

Mayor Linnsie Clark’s salary was restored and many of the sanctions placed on her by Medicine Hat’s city council reversed by a Calgary judge, who in a Monday ruling wrote some of the measures were unreasonable — but also agreed Clark broke the code of conduct by mistreating the city manager.

Justice Rosemary Nation, who heard arguments from lawyers from the mayor and city in a hearing this month, said in an 11-page judicial review ruling she decided not to send the issue back to a council unable to match sanctions to the misconduct.

Councillors “appear to have no sense of proportionality in crafting sanctions and have imposed sanctions that have no rational connection with the breach of the code,” Nation wrote, adding it appeared council went down the list to tick off every box found in the code of conduct.

Nation, a justice of the Court of King’s Bench, decided to strike down four of the six sanctions imposed by council on Clark in March, calling them “disproportionate and unreasonable.”

Clark is able to once again preside over council meetings, formally represent city council as its official spokesperson and attend meetings of the administration committee.

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The mayor will also receive her full $144,000 salary after council decided to cut it by 50 per cent. Clark will receive backpay, retroactive to when she was sanctioned on March 21.

READ: The full, 11-page ruling from Justice Nation

Nation upheld council’s first of six sanctions requiring a letter of reprimand and for Mayor Clark to apologize to City Manager Ann Mitchell.

Council found Clark failed to treat with Mitchell with “courtesy, dignity and respect” during an exchange with Mitchell at a public council meeting in August 2023 — a finding that Nation described as a “reasonable decision and logical in light of the evidence.”

It is unclear at this point if the sanctions will be overturned if the mayor chooses not to apologize.

READ: The list of sanctions lifted from Mayor Clark by judicial review judge

Nation sent back a sanction restricting Clark’s contact with staff for council to work out logistics.

That sanction prohibited Clark from entering the administration area of city and banned her from direct contact with other staff.

Nation said a total ban from direct contact with staff not the city manager is disproportionate and unreasonably restricts Clark in her mayoral duties.

The justice wrote council should consider an appropriate restriction that reasonably protects the city manager but does not restrict Clark from performing her duties as mayor.

Clark said in a statement late on Monday she was “very pleased” her powers and salary were restored.

“I am very pleased that our Superior Court restored my powers, duties and salary — finding that these sanctions were overwhelmingly disproportionate to the public questions I raised during our Aug. 21, 2023, meeting,” Clark said in a statement.

“I also want to express my sincere gratitude to all of my supporters through this process,” she added.

Seven councillors voted to strip Clark of her mayoral powers in March after finding she broke council’s code of conduct by failing to treat City Manager Ann Mitchell with courtesy, dignity and respect.

READ: Medicine Hat’s council divide deeper than one-off act of misconduct

Council based its decision on a third-party report from a Kingsgate Legal investigator that found “sufficient evidence” the mayor broke the conduct bylaw during a tense exchange at a public council meeting in August 2023.

Clark revealed she will seek assistance from the court to cover her legal costs in the statement released late on Monday.

She did not confirm if she would abide by council’s sanction to issue an apology to Mitchell.

It was Clark’s refusal to apologize to Mitchell in the days after the August 2023 meeting that led council to place the limits Justice Nation found to be “disproportionate and unreasonable” on her in March.

Councillors have repeatedly said that if Clark had apologized to Mitchell, there would be no need for the code of conduct complaint filed by Coun. Shila Sharps, a resulting investigation and a series of sanctions — a cascade of events that pushed council into a leadership crisis.

“I believe that all parties involved, including myself, have learned valuable lessons from this experience,” Clark said.

For example, in June, council voted unanimously to direct administration to establish an integrity commissioner that would deal with code of conduct complaints and provide members of council with advice in relation to code of conduct compliance,” she added.

“This as a huge step in the right direction.”

Clark also encouraged the Alberta government to establish an independent municipal integrity and ethics commissioner, a desire that has been echoed by other members of council and political observers.

Both Clark and members have council repeatedly said they would stand by the results of a judicial review.

Paul Salvatore, CEO of Municipal Experts Inc., said Monday that Justice Nation’s ruling is a clear acknowledgement that council’s sanctions were “heavy-handed and included a range of disciplinary action that exceeded the code of conduct violation.”

“A disciplinary action should always be applied in a reasonable way.”

Nation’s ruling on Monday will set new precedent for provincially-mandated municipal code of conduct complaints, according to several experts who spoke to CHAT News.