Council has put a cap on how much the city will spend on the city manager’s defamation lawsuit.
While the lawsuit against a St. Albert resident was discontinued a few weeks ago, council still had an outstanding motion to debate capping how much money the city will spend on city manager Patrick Draper’s lawsuit.
Council decided that the $28,511.66 already spent on the lawsuit will be paid for from city coffers, as well as any additional sums required to be paid in relation to the suit up to a maximum of $11,000.
Any further funding required will be paid for by the city manager.
Council authorized Draper to launch a defamation lawsuit against an anonymous blog in July 2014.
Since then, residents Richard Stringham and Gord Hennigar were named as defendants, and Mayor Nolan Crouse was named as a third-party defendant.
Stringham was dropped from the suit relatively quickly, while Hennigar received notice that the lawsuit against him was being discontinued in March. He said at that point that he was still negotiating what costs he was entitled to.
Since Crouse was named in the suit and also in the original motion, he recused himself from the debate and voting on Monday.
“The intent here is to wrap things up,” said Coun. Tim Osborne. Draper had let council know his intent was to discontinue the action, Osborne said.
The motions in front of council were crafted with legal advice, councillors noted throughout debate. In addition to the sums spent to support the city manager’s lawsuit, council had also opted to spend up to $15,000 to get independent legal advice.
Coun. Cam Mackay had originally made the funding cap motion in the fall, and had wanted to limit any further funds to $3,000.
“Our city manager is now the wealthiest legal aid client in Alberta,” MacKay said, adding that taxpayers “have been very generous” to pay for the suit.
The votes came after council held a couple of discussions behind closed doors.
During the final public debate, councillors noted there was a difference of opinion amongst them about how council had come to support Draper’s lawsuit both in principle and financially.
MacKay said public officials can expect a certain level of criticism in a free society and noted that municipal corporations aren’t allowed to sue their citizens. He said a judge would have seen this was an attempt to do so indirectly.
Hughes asserted that she’s heard from many residents who are now afraid to speak up “for fear of retaliation.”
Others said the decision was made to support city staff.
“This lawsuit was supported to defend a city staff member and protect his credibility, which is essential to do his job,” Osborne said.
Coun. Cathy Heron noted that the anonymous blog, which she said was “full of lies and misinterpretations” had targeted other staff members as well.
“If city council doesn’t defend its employee, who does?” asked Coun. Wes Brodhead, noting the motions, suggested by council’s lawyer, should bring an end to the matter.
Council also rescinded the original motion where a majority of council opted to fund Draper’s lawsuit.
Coun. Bob Russell was not on council when the lawsuit was authorized, but highlighted the possibility of some kind of countersuit being filed. Draper said he hadn’t been advised of any such suit at this point.
