Medicine Hat Minute: Issue 238

Medicine Hat Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Medicine Hat politics

📅 This Week In Medicine Hat: 📅

• Happy New Year! As 2026 gets underway, Common Sense Medicine Hat is ready to make this the year that common sense takes center stage in our city. Your support and engagement make it possible for us to push for smarter decisions, lower taxes, and greater accountability at City Hall. This year, we’ll continue speaking up for practical solutions that benefit all Hatters and ensure our city’s leaders are focused on the priorities that matter most. Wishing you and your family a happy, healthy, and successful year ahead!
  
  
• Today, at 3:00 pm, there will be a City Council meeting. The meeting will begin with a closed session wherein Council will discuss municipal inspection action items, an economic development conference, copyright policy and media access, an investment opportunity, media scrums, and an update on the south side outdoor pool and Brier Run sports fields.
  
  
• When the Council meeting opens up to the public, at 6:30 pm, there will be a public hearing. The hearing will gather feedback on two rezoning requests, including one in Southlands that has drawn neighbour opposition. A developer is seeking to rezone several low-density residential parcels to allow semi-detached homes with basement suites, while residents have raised concerns about traffic, parking, infrastructure strain, and property values. Council will also consider a separate rezoning in the Harlow neighbourhood to allow new housing options on vacant land.
  
  
• Former Chief Administrator Ann Mitchell has filed two lawsuits following her dismissal by the Medicine Hat in October, seeking more than $1 million in total damages. Mitchell is suing Mayor Linnsie Clark for $897,000, alleging defamation and interference with her employment contract, and is separately suing the City for $465,000 for wrongful dismissal and aggravated damages. The claims stem from a long-running conflict between Mitchell, the Mayor, and Council. Mitchell alleges the Mayor made damaging and malicious statements about her conduct and improperly influenced workplace investigations that ultimately led to her termination. Neither lawsuit has been tested in court. Both the Mayor and the City of Medicine Hat say they intend to dispute the allegations.
  
  
• The Medicine Hat Interpretive Program will mark its 40th anniversary in 2026, celebrating four decades of environmental education rooted at the Nature Centre in Police Point Park. Founded through a long-standing partnership between the Medicine Hat and the Society of Grasslands Naturalists, the program focuses on hands-on learning about the region’s ecosystems. MHIP delivers more than 200 programs each year, including school-based programming, community events, and free public activities that extend well beyond Police Point Park to surrounding communities. Funded primarily through grants and donations, the small team focuses on accessibility, storytelling, and direct outdoor experience to foster environmental stewardship. Program staff say their goal is to help people connect with their local landscape to better understand and value the natural systems around them. 

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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