The Day After The Medicine Hat Shitshow Showdown - The Way I See It
The August 21 2023 Shitshow Showdown seems to have been a crisis point in the rumoured bickering behind the scenes at City Hall for most of the last year.
Reminder - before Mayor Clark ran for office, she took a leave of absence from her job - a lawyer who worked for the City of Medicine Hat.
Mayor Linnsie Clark questioned City Manager (CM) Ann Mitchell about the reorganization that had already happened without Council passing a resolution or a bylaw. The CM admitted to missing a process even though CM’s are expected to know the Municipal Government Act (MGA) inside and out; the City’s Administrative Organization Bylaw 4662 has only 8 pages.
Clark was concerned about the effect on the employees about yet another reorganization since the last one in April 2021. Reorganization Fatigue is a real thing that can affect employee morale, job performance, recruitment and retention. Every new CM may want to make their mark but at what cost?
I’ve watched the recording of the August 21 meeting numerous times and I didn’t see anything on the mayor’s part that seemed rude. Clark never raised her voice; she was calm and collected the whole time. The City manager might not have liked being questioned about how she missed a very basic bylaw but that is how accountability works. Councillor Sharps, on the other hand, was not as cool and collected.
You don’t have to believe me, watch it for yourself. It starts at about the 1:52:00 mark. Notice how many views it’s had, over 10,000. Most council meetings are lucky if they have 600 views.
So What Happened the Day After?
A few things jumped out at me in the Kingsgate Report.
1 Councillor Sharps said that in February the CM moved the City Clerk to report directly to the CM instead of to the City Solicitor and within days realized that a mistake had been made. Sharps had said that nobody on council spoke up including the Mayor when the CM apologized. No date is given for the apology. (pg 11)
Council members are not experts on the bylaws or the MGA, the CM is expected to be.
When I hear an apology from someone, I expect that they will remedy the situation ASAP. CM Ann Mitchell waited six months. People had already lost their jobs; the reorganization was done. All Council had to do was to rubber stamp the changes.
2 Sharps said she went to the Mayor the very next day (Aug 22) and asked “How do we fix this?”
3 Sharps said that after watching council videos she realized that she herself had spoken inappropriately to a Managing Director (unknown date). Sharps says she apologized to the Managing Director in person and then publicly at the next council meeting. Pg 12
Nobody filed a Code of Conduct complaint against her as far as we know.
4 Sharps said that Council gave CM Ann Mitchell their approval for the reorganization behind closed doors. She said that Council never met to discuss issues with the AO bylaw and how the CM was handling the reorganization. Pg 12-13
At the August 21 Council meeting Sharps said this is exactly how it had been done before.
Sharps is wrong. Once again, I bring the receipts.
Timeline of Previous Major Reorganization (Divisional Realignment)
December 7 2020 the Administrative Committee prepared a Briefing Note about the prospective realignment and presented it at the City Council meeting – pg 156
April 19 2021 Administrative Organization Bylaw 4662 to replace Bylaw 4311 was brought to Council. - pg 113
April 19 2021 Bylaw 4662 is passed and signed on April 20 2021.
Here’s the updated version.
5 Sharps said that the Mayor never brought her concerns to Council in advance. Pg 13
The Mayor is part of council. Nothing in the MGA says that council members need to give the rest of Council any advance notice of their concerns about anything.
Section 153(a) of the MGA says Councillors Have the Duty
“to consider the welfare and interests of the municipality as a whole and to bring to council’s attention anything that would promote the welfare or interests of the municipality.”
6 Sharps said the next day (Aug 22) people on social media were asking how council could be so deceptive. Pg 13
She appeared to take offense to that as she said “I don’t lie” and her credibility and integrity was “key”.
7 Sharps filed the Code of Conduct complaint August 22 2023, the “day after”. Pg 3
We don’t know if the complaint was filed before or after she saw the criticism on social media.
The Bylaw was passed; the argument was over. Why the complaint? Was it because of the social media backlash, that the council members who thought it was okay to bypass bylaws behind closed doors were publicly embarrassed?
In My Opinion
Asking questions about why something went wrong is not bullying. Section 205(5) of the MGA states
“Council must ensure that the chief administrative officer appropriately performs the duties and functions and exercises the powers assigned to the chief administrative officer by this or any other enactment or by council.”
CM Ann Mitchell tried to make excuses and even evaded answering the mayor’s question as evidenced by the excerpt from the transcript. Pg 14-15
Respondent: Ok. So, my concern obviously is that this is a Council decision, and it says in our AO Bylaw that Council shall determine by resolution the departments and business units and energy and infrastructure division, all of the divisions and, in addition, the departments and business units reporting directly to the City Manager. And our Procedure Bylaw outlines that the City Clerk is appointed by the City Solicitor and the appointment is revoked by the City Solicitor so that’s a significant period of time where you had done things that were not consistent with our Bylaws. So, I’m just wondering how that happened?
City Manager: That happened because I missed a process and if anything, that’s my fault. I did advise Council and Council was aware of what was happening. This AO Bylaw also says there should be 5 divisions and that hasn’t been the case for quite some time so that was missed previously as well too. Not excusing me, just saying it got missed before.
( AO Bylaw 4662 said the City Manger may appoint up to 5 Managing Directors, not that 5 must be appointed.)
Mayor What are those consequences (of making these changes without proper authority)?
CM The consequences are that Council was advised and that this is how it happened previously under other City Managers as well.
(WTH? I already brought the receipts, it was not done that way before at all.)
I’ve found that usually the only people who object to being held accountable are the ones who are trying to hide something or avoid consequences.
Such severe sanctions imposed with no time limits on the Mayor for asking questions is a chilling development and an abuse of power. It has the effect of silencing those who would ask legitimate questions. I’ve heard from people who say they are too scared to say anything. That is not a good look for a City that wants to grow.
Speaking For Myself
If I’m angry about something I don’t immediately file a formal complaint unless there is an immediate need; I try to remedy the situation first. Sometimes I agree to disagree.
When there is bickering between two other adults I might offer to mediate but I don’t step in unless there’s an urgent need. Instead, I encourage them to solve their own problems. I’ve already raised my children. If two adults cannot play nice together it’s not my problem. If their bickering affects others then I will ask someone else to mediate.
Like most voters in the last civic election, I voted for change.
I wanted transparency.
I wanted accountability
I wanted things to be done in a proper and legal manner.
I voted for some of the current council members; I am very disappointed in 8/9. It appears the Old Guard is still very much present with some new public faces.
When one person has the ultimate power over all employees
When Council members are sanctioned for the apparent crime of lèse-majesté because they dared to question the City Manager
It is no longer a democracy - it is a monarchy
I’ll be watching very carefully during the next election campaign.
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