Rebuilding Trust: Medicine Hat Needs Accountable Governance
- allardkg
- Sep 22, 2025
- 4 min read
I am Kelly Allard. I’m asking for your vote to serve on Medicine Hat’s City Council. You may recognize me from the 2021 election. My original decision to run was based on how previous council seemed to be unable to make a decision about a critical issue facing the public. During that campaign I became very concerned about how unethically our city was being run. Though that campaign ended, my commitment to holding our city’s governance to account did not.
I have attended nearly every single City Council and committee meeting for nearly five years. I kept watching, learning, and writing about the decisions being made, so much so that I was approached and hired by the Medicine Hat Owl (formerly Community TV)—a role I did not apply for, but was offered based on my deep dive into civic affairs. What was once my interest became my career.
This journey has given me a front-row seat to a period of significant turmoil, including the recent suspension of our City Manager and the provincial inspection that found our city was being run in an "improper, irregular, and improvident manner." I’ve seen the consequences of a breakdown in accountability firsthand. This did not happen overnight, the problems have been festering for years under the surface, long before current Council was elected.
It is only with this council that the rot was exposed and of course there was a crisis. That's what happens when the Old Guard senses a shift in power, they fight back.
Hands-Off on Operations, Hands-On on Oversight
The Municipal Government Act is clear: Council governs through policy and is responsible for hiring—and if necessary, firing—one person: the City Manager. We are not to direct staff. This principle is sound; we hire experts to run the city's day-to-day operations.
However, "hands-off" cannot mean "hands-tied." Trust in our administration is not a default setting; it must be built and constantly verified. Council’s most critical job is to provide rigorous oversight of its one employee, the City Manager, to ensure they are leading the administration effectively, ethically, and in line with the direction set by Council.
The recent findings of the Municipal Inspection prove this oversight failed. This did not occur in a vacuum, this culture preceded the current council. The pre-2021 council failed to ensure that administration acted in an ethical manner, a culture which carried over to this council’s term.
In 2018 under Ted Clugton’s leadership (Brian Varga and Robert Dumanowski were also on council at the time), Council (re)hired City Manager Bob Nicolay, a man with a number of failed businesses (one bankruptcy involved tens of millions of dollars), a man who was paid nearly $2 million by Enmax to go away.
Council put Nicolay in charge of a nearly half billion dollar budget.
2019 - 2020, Nicolay spent $830k on Invest Medicine Hat offices in a building the City did not even own and which IMH eventually moved out of. The money was spent over 2 years to stay under the CAO Contingency Fund Limit.
The CAO Contingency Fund has no oversight, no RFPs, no bids required to be issued; they can hire who they want and spend the money as they wish. The money was listed as a "loan" in the paperwork, but hundreds of thousands of dollars was “written off” and never repaid.
Council apparently saw nothing wrong with the City Manager altering the conflict of interest clause for an RFP with a TEN YEAR term, they even spent $75,000 on an outside consultant to try to justify their decision to allow the RFP to go forward.
I Wrote the Following 4 Years Ago
Of COURSE this council was going to be a dumpster fire - the fire was lit years ago.
And don't forget about the whole Aurora failure to attract good paying jobs to our city and a lucrative Pay or Play power contract. At the time, administration recommended AGAINST the nearly $6 million in subsidies given to Aurora, Council went with it anyway. The Pay or Play contract was nullified and all we have to show for the $6 million is minimum wage jobs and yet another greenhouse. I'm betting no other Medicine Hat greenhouses got such a deal when they built.
My Unwavering Independence: No Conflicts, Only Community
In this environment, a conflict-free councillor is essential.
I own no business.
I have no investments or revenue properties.
My family is self-sufficient.
I owe my loyalty to nobody except the residents of Medicine Hat. There will be no conflicts of interest.My only agenda is to ask the tough questions, demand transparent answers, and ensure our tax dollars are managed with competence and integrity.
Prepared to Restore Accountability on Day One
I am not coming in to learn how council works. I have witnessed its failures and its challenges for well over four years. I understand the budget, the procedures, and the history that led us to this point. I am ready on day one to contribute to hiring a new City Manager (if necessary) and to install the robust reporting mechanisms and performance metrics needed to hold that position accountable. We must also address the low employee morale that has festered for years, because a respected workforce is essential for a healthy city.
Informed, Ethical, and Decisive Leadership
The core of the job is making difficult decisions with a clear eye on the future. The next council won’t just be making policy; it will be rebuilding a broken foundation. This requires councillors with the courage to make tough calls, the ethics to ensure the process is clean, and the empathy to understand the impact on residents and city employees.
Medicine Hat doesn’t need a council that micromanages. But we desperately need a council that oversees. We need councillors who understand that their primary duty is to hold the administration accountable to you, the public.
I have prepared for this moment. I have the knowledge, the independence, and the resolve to help lead this rebuilding effort. I ask for your vote to put my experience and dedicated focus to work for you.
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