Summer Break, Closed Doors, and a Big Middle Finger to Transparency
File photo - Owl News
Medicine Hat City Council is heading into its summer break. The final regular meeting before the summer recess is scheduled for today, Monday, July 20 at either 2:00 PM or 6:30PM.
The meeting list says one thing, the actual agenda says another.
The entire meeting is closed to the public and it is not even happening in the council chambers - it is in the Ted Grimm Conference Room behind a secure door.
Items Discussed - from the posted agenda
Medicine Hat Public Library (s.19 economic interests of a third party)
City Facilities Update (s.29 advice from officials)
2027-2028 Budget Pathway to Financial Sustainability (s.29 advice from officials)
Updated Sustaining Capital (s.29 advice from officials)
Operating and Capital Strategic Initiatives (s.29 advice from officials)
Shelter Discussion (s.29 advice from officials)
There is no open portion.
The city says it is allowed to go into closed session because some of these items involve "advice from officials" or "economic interests." Sure, okay. There are legitimate reasons for closed meetings - land negotiations, legal advice, labour relations. That is fine.
But an entire meeting?
The final meeting before their annual summer break?
The Municipal Government Act says meetings must be open to the public, with narrow exceptions.
Holding an entire meeting in closed session is not an exception. It is a choice. And it is a choice that screams,
"We don't want to talk to you."
Even if the entire meeting is in closed, Section 197 of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) says they must
start in open
vote to go into closed
come out of closed
give the public time to return
adjourn the meeting.
It might be inconvenient but that pesky MGA takes precedent over council inconvenience especially after the Municipal Inspection determined that
Following a detailed, rigorous, and independent Inspection, the Inspector is of the opinion that the municipality has been managed in an irregular, improper and improvident manner.
The report went into detail about the use of closed meetings with one interviewee saying that with the last council, there had been a remarkable increase in closed meetings. A former city manager opined that
And so, a lot of deliberation occurred, deliberation, discussion and even, I think, decision making occurred in camera most often with no management present at all.
Discussion is supposed to happen in public at the council table.
The tradition continues
Last Thursday the Energy, Land and Environment Committee met in open session for less than one minute - after spending over an hour behind closed doors. This is an important committee and they had nothing to say in public even though it had been 4 weeks since the last meeting.
Less than one minute after not meeting for a month.
Once upon a time, the open committee meetings were held before the closed session (with the exception of the Audit Committee which only met 3 times a year).
Nothing to Talk About?
Now council is holding its final meeting of the summer entirely in the dark. Just a closed-door session and then radio silence until August 17.
And spare us the excuse that there is nothing to talk about in an open session.
Councillors have no shortage of things to say when they want to toot their own horns.
There is plenty they could be discussing in the open.
And before you say they cannot talk about that in public, we are not talking about details. We are talking about general things - council worked X hours on the budget so far, council discussed subjects A, B and C.
Here’s a short list of things they could talk about in Open
TNR
Urban hens
Graffiti bylaw - a city lawyer will be in court for a graffiti trial today - for CHALK
Water safety campaign - newly launched - by the time council is back around the horseshoe, summer is nearly over
Media policy - they just seem to be flying by the seat of their pants without an official policy, trying to tell journalist what kinds of questions they are permitted to ask (we will NOT comply with any directive that violates our Charter Rights )
Progress on a new shelter location - tell us it is moving forward, tell us who you met with. Winter Is Coming.
Transitional housing - between the shelter and traditional housing - is the city planning any?
Hot weather shelters - where and when?
ARCH program - what progress have they made advocating for funds or is this dead in the water?
Councillor accountability - is council willing to follow Calgarys lead?
Town halls - are we ever going to get any?
Update in filling important positions - are they even searching for a new city manager?
The latest Resilient and Inclusive Community Task Force minutes - the last ones we got are from May.
Resilient and Inclusive Community Task Force Annual report - which is months overdue
Update on how the city is complying with the MGA after the Municipal Inspection last year - there are some outstanding issues
Remember how well that worked August 19 2024 when the open meeting was cancelled, ostensibly for a lack of agenda items? That time it was after the summer break.
The September 3 2024 meeting went into overtime - it was a marathon session at just over 5 hours that went until 11:32pm. Nobody makes good decisions that close to midnight.
You might recognize the hat in the screenshot. Note the elapsed time.
The minutes show they also held a closed meeting that day, it went for two hours. So, seven hours total.
Media Scrums Should be Open to the Public
At the July 6 2026 council meeting, security was apparently instructed to usher members of the public out of council chambers after the meeting during the media scrum. The Owl has been told by members of the public they wanted to watch the scrum. At the scrum, we were cut off after 10 minutes. We were told by Colleen Graham, Director of Corporate Communications, that we could only ask questions about agenda items.
City Hall Says You Can’t Ask That
It was not as if it was late at night, this meeting was less than 40 minutes long.
So not only is Council closing the doors, they are kicking people out when they try to stick around. In the past, residents could stick around and talk to councillors who wanted to talk to them. Not anymore, now they get the bums rush.
We do not blame security for this, they have no control over the instructions given to them.
What it looks like
It looks like the city is spending too much time behind closed doors. (Watch for upcoming article)
It looks like they do not want the public to know what they are talking about.
It looks like they want to take their summer break without having to answer any questions.
It looks like residents are being treated like an inconvenience.
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AlexMcCuaig@comtv.ca
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Kelly@comtv.ca
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