Mar 25

Mar 25 Timeline of a Coup

Feb 7 2023 Ann Mitchell begins her employment as City Manager of Medicine Hat.

Shila Sharps was on the search committee for a new City Manager. Sharps has experience in Human Resources (HR) so it was a reasonable choice.

May 23 2023 HR starts to report to the City Manager (CM) rather than to Corporate Services.

June 2023 City Clerk quits. August 2022 this City Clerk relocated from Grande Prairie; Glenn Feltham was City Manager at that time.

A search begins for a new City Clerk.

This is important, wait until you see who was hired.

June 19 2023 This is the date that CM Mitchell says she sent a memo to Council re the reorganization.

At the August 21 2023 Shitshow Showdown she said the memo went out July 19 2023 and the reorganization was done by July 10 2023; I am assuming she meant to say June.

July 4 2023 Procedure Bylaw 4725 is added at the last minute to the agenda. The public does not get to see it beforehand; it is added later. This procedure bylaw removes much of the mayor’s powers. They have first reading; discussion only happens after 2nd reading.

July 10 2023 The reorganization is complete in advance of amending the appropriate bylaw/ resolution.

When an action is taken before the passing of the appropriate bylaw or resolution, the action typically becomes null and void.

During the reorganization, Queen Ann seized the last bit of power not under her purview by giving herself the power to hire and fire the City Clerk. That was previously the purview of the City Solicitor.

Again, this is important!

July 18 2023 Procedure Bylaw 4725 2nd and 3rd reading to strip most of the mayoral powers when the mayor is absent.

One very disturbing removal is the Mayor's ex-officio status.

August 21 2023 Ann Mitchell introduces new City Clerk Larry Randle who she worked with at the County of Lethbridge. Mr Randle appears to be well qualified.

Didn't I say this was important?

Mitchell admits she did not follow the correct procedure when doing the reorganization. She effectively bypassed a bylaw/resolution thereby putting the city at risk for lawsuits for job losses. The only person to object to this was the Mayor. The Mayor worked as a lawyer for the City before she ran for mayor; she literally wrote bylaws. Sharps actually states that council gave the Mitchell the thumbs up behind closed doors (she actually thinks this was okay).

The Shitshow commences at about 1:52:00 on the tape when Mitchell refuses to answer the Mayor's questions and Sharps backs up the CM, appearing to be quite rude to the Mayor in the process.

Nov 2023 The Chief of Staff Position is gone. This position reported to the Mayor, not the CM. The position for a Public Relations Advisor to the Mayor and Council was approved by council in 2022, they were to report to the Chief of Staff. The PR Advisor started in June 2022, the Chief of Staff started in Oct 2022.

Later on the PR Advisor would be gone too.

March 4 2024 City Council Meeting - Sharps wanted to bring a motion forward to create an Agenda Committee instead of “waiting two weeks just to wait two weeks”.

Normally they have a Notice of Motion so the appropriate wording can be drafted ahead of time.

Hider seconded the motion before she even knew what was in the motion. Because Sharps had forgotten to bring the correct laptop, they had to draft the motion on the fly.

Seriously?

They had 1st reading of the Code of Conduct Bylaw 4805 which would allow the public to file complaints against council members

March 18 2024 Code of Conduct Bylaw 4805 is NOT on the agenda for second and third reading.

Signing authorization was changed allowing the City Manager to sign cheques instead of the mayor; it also allows the CM to delegate cheque signing.

Mayor Clark expressed her concern about NOT having a Whistleblower policy in place which has been on the to-do list for about 2 years already.

March 20 2024 7:00 pm The City posts about a Special Meeting for the next day at noon, violating the bylaw that says the public is to get 24 hrs notice.

Acting Mayor McGrogan said the next day that they "followed procedure" and a "technical hiccup" was responsible for the lack of notice.

March 21 2024 Black Thursday - 7 members of council invoke the most severe penalties possible on Mayor Clark for "disrespecting" Queen Ann. The public is stunned, many are outraged and feel the council has overstepped.

Acting Mayor McGrogan refused to answer questions.

Medicine Hat has nobody at the helm.