Medicine Hat mayor to receive small portion of legal fee ask

Those costs were related to legal fees the mayor incurred for legal opinions regarding the authority of the city manager to carry out the reorganization unilaterally.

The largest total still to be resolved was the $59,675.68 in costs to the mayor for legal fees incurred for the judicial review.

An amendment was made by councillor Robert Dumanowski to cover 50 per cent of this cost, which was voted on and defeated with only councillor Allison Knodel also supporting.

This returned council to focus on the original ask of the full amount.

That vote had councillors Andy McGrogan, Alison Van Dyke, and Sharps in favour with Cassie Hider, Dumanowksi, and Knodel opposed.

The split vote had defeated the funding being returned to the mayor.

Councillor Ramona Robins who could have been a deciding vote for this was not present for the meeting after losing her internet connection while initially attending virtually.

Councillor Darren Hirsch who also could have factored into the decision was not present for the meeting.

After discussion by councillors Sharps and McGrogan, a motion was then made by McGrogan.

That motions was for council to direct administration to seek external legal counsel regarding the mayors indemnity in relation to the alleged misconduct to determine if it is, in fact, covered under the indemnification policy and other policies related to city expense.

“We should have known this ahead of time, in my view, but this will clear it up one way or another,” McGrogan said.

This is a developing story and will have additional context added.

by Jesse Gill

Medicine Hat mayor to receive small portion of legal fee ask

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