'Irrational' and 'grossly disproportionate': Calgary judge quashes sanctions against 3 Rocky View councillors

A Calgary judge has set aside all sanctions against three Rocky View councillors — sanctions imposed by their fellow council members after the trio allegedly breached the county's code of conduct in 2019.

Justice Jim Eamon called the sanctions "irrational" and "grossly disproportionate" to the councillors' actions and that the trio was treated unfairly.

The sanctions included being kicked off council committees, having their travel restricted and pay cut by 30 per cent, as well as being unable to communicate directly with administrative staff unless at council meetings. They were vacated by Eamon in a written order released July 16.

"We got what we were looking for through this process — we were vindicated," said Coun. Kevin Hanson.

Hanson says the trio's next steps will be seeking reimbursement on more than $100,000 in legal costs plus lost salaries.

The three councillors were sanctioned in June 2019 for allegedly breaching the county's code of conduct when they shared confidential information with their lawyer and wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper. Rocky View County council felt the letter was disrespectful to other members.

The letter in question, published in the May 7, 2019 edition of the Rocky View Weekly, questioned the process that led to the hiring of chief administrative officer (CAO) Al Hoggan, calling it an "unprecedented hijacking."

In addition, one of the three, Coun. Crystal Kissel, was required to apologize — which she did — for leaving a phone message for the deputy Reeve in which she called Hogan "infantile."

Mixed messages

Reeve Greg Boehlke says he believes the judge's decision contained mixed messages because on the one hand Eamon says he understood the rationality behind the types of sanctions imposed — but ultimately he quashed them.

"So the fact that they got set aside doesn't vindicate anyone. It just says that maybe you've had enough and he didn't like the fact that we left it open-ended," said Boehlke.

No reasonable body would have imposed such harsh sanctions for disclosing a lawfully obtained legal opinion to another lawyer- Justice Jim Eamon

Eamon set aside the sanctions for two reasons.

First, the judge said the trio was treated unfairly in the process because the county did not do enough to alleviate the councillors' concerns about who the county hired to investigate their actions.

The county used a law firm that had done some work with the county in the past as opposed to a third party investigator.

But Eamon then said, if he hadn't determined the unfair treatment, he also had issues with some of the sanctions and the length of time they were imposed. The three councillors were removed from all council committees with a resulting 30 per cent pay cut until October, or at council's discretion for sharing confidential information with their lawyer.

And it's the latter "at councils' discretion " that the judge noted in his decision.

"The discretionary terms of these sanctions are grossly disproportionate to the misconduct and thus overwhelming. No reasonable body would have imposed such harsh sanctions for disclosing a lawfully obtained legal opinion to another lawyer," wrote Eamon.

Eamon also criticized the permanent ban on communication with administrative staff outside of council that were imposed on Wright and Hanson for writing the letter to the editor stating, "not only was this sanction irrational because it had no connection with the misconduct, it is also grossly disproportionate to the misconduct."

The only sanctions Eamon said he would have agreed with, had the trio not been unfairly treated, were the travel and pay sanctions imposed against Kissel, which were lifted in June, and the need for Kissel to apologize, for her phone message which council considered insulting.

Outstanding Costs

The county has 30 days to appeal the judge's decision.

Boehlke says he has no plans to launch an appeal.

"I'm hoping that we don't need to prolong this. We can just move it ahead and away we go."

Hanson says he and the two other councillors also want to find a path forward to work together, possibly with the help of a mediator, but first the trio plan to ask council to consider covering their legal costs, which collectively he says is more than $100, 000, and reimburse them for the pay they've lost — 30 per cent of their salary for roughly a year.

"In the code of conduct it also talks about if in your defence you've incurred costs and you are found not guilty, the council has the option in the code of conduct to actually cover your costs," said Hanson.

That's the big thing — you kind of have to follow the rules.- Coun. Kevin Hanson

In addition, supporters of the trio have launched an online fundraiser to support their legal fight. So far they've raised about $21,000.

Hanson says if taxpayers foot the bill for their legal fees — these donors would be reimbursed.

The judge didn't make a ruling on who was responsible for outstanding costs and left it up to the parties to resolve.

Boehlke says he's not convinced council should be on the hook for any of their legal costs or lost pay.

"And frankly you know that would be one way of burying the hatchet and putting this thing to bed," said Beohlke.

The reeve believes this could have been avoided had they apologized for the letter to the editor last June.

But Hanson says they felt bullied and fairly confident they were being treated unfairly so they pursued legal action.

"That's the big thing — you kind of have to follow the rules. Folks get a little excited when you aren't giving your procedural fairness that is due," said Hanson.

"We just want to move forward [and] start working properly for the taxpayers."