Tri-Cities councils have few rules for councilmembers absences and remote attendance. The lack of transparency leaves residents wondering what the rules are and why a member is not at city hall, particularly when it seems to be a habit.
There are consequences in state and local laws if a councilmember has unexcused absences for three regular meetings in a row. According to the Richland City Charter, 2.03 Removal or Forfeiture of Office, a failure to attend three consecutive regular meetings of the Council without being excused by the Council can result in removal. State law RCW 35A.12.060, which applies to Kennewick and Pasco, provides for a similar penalty.
The statutes don’t give direction in deciding what is excused and what is unexcused.
In Richland, where the councilmembers had more total absences from the 24 regular meetings in 2023 than either Kennewick or Pasco, no councilmember responded to email questions about their process for excusing an absence which has seemed to be haphazard at times.
State law allows remote attendance at meetings but local jurisdictions can apply restrictions. Pasco and Kennewick have ordinances that address technical issues like what happens if there are connectivity problems (It counts as an absence.). Richland has nothing.
When councilmembers don’t answer emails and don’t attend meetings at city hall, at least one resident has questioned their accountability,
Accountability
On June 20, Richland resident Tim Taylor, complained to the city council during the public comment period that none of the six councilmembers he emailed about a grant opportunity through the American Rescue Act responded.
Eventually Taylor talked to City Manager Jon Amundson. and he told the council, “The city manager shouldn’t have to cover for you.”
In a telephone interview with the Observer, Taylor noted that a resident should have the opportunity to talk to a councilmember at a city council meeting if they won’t respond to an email, and absences and remote attendance could preclude that option.
Richland Councilmember Sandra Kent had the most absences.
Sandra Kent had the most absences from regular meetings of any Tri-Cities councilmember in 2023 – eight.
Kent did not respond to several emails asking about her attendance record.
Kent missed three 2023 regular meetings in a row – July 6, July 18, and Aug. 2. Videos of the council meetings, available on Richland City View, show that the vote to excuse her varied each time.
Councilmember Shayne VanDyke offered the motion to excuse Kent in the first instance. At the second meeting, the roll was called, and the Pledge of Allegiance was repeated when Councilmember Jhoanna Jones prompted Mayor Terry Christensen to move to excuse Kent. The third time, Christensen offered a motion to excuse her.
When Kent missed the September 5 meeting, the pledge had been repeated and the agenda approved before Councilmember Ryan Lukson prompted Christensen to move to excuse Kent.
No Richland City Councilmember responded to the Observer’s email asking about the process for receiving an excused absence. The Richland Councilmembers had the most total absences at 17.
Pasco City Councilmember Zahra Roach, who did not run for re-election, had the second highest number of absences with four.
Kennewick has the only unexcused absence.
Kennewick City Councilmember Brad Beauchamp has the distinction of being the only Tri-Cities councilmember with an unexcused absence when he missed the council’s April 4 regular meeting.
Beauchamp did not respond to an email inquiring about the absence.
Mayor Gret’l Crawford asked Kennewick City Clerk Krystal Townsend to respond to the Observer about the Kennewick City Council’s process for considering absences.
Townsend wrote, “The typical practice is that when a Councilmember gives advance notice they will be unable to attend a meeting (either to the City Clerk or City Manager), they request the Council excuse their absence.”
Townsend noted, “When Councilmembers do not give advance notice, no action is taken and the minutes will reflect the absence as unexcused.”
She added that she had seen excused absences for illnesses, vacations and hospitalizations as well as remote attendance connectivity issues.
Kennewick councilmembers had a total of 10 absences and Crawford had more than anyone else, three.
Pasco council doesn’t vote to excuse absences
The four Pasco councilmembers, David Milne, Leo Perales, Peter Harpster, and Pete Serrano, who responded to the Observer, described contacting the mayor and/or the city manager about a planned absence.
In Kennewick and Richland the council votes to excuse a member and the minutes reflect it. In Pasco the member is listed in the minutes as “absent” but no vote is taken. On the Pasco meeting videos, you can sometimes hear the city clerk say after the roll call that a member “was excused.”
Pasco councilmembers had a total of 9 absences in 2023.
In 2023 Councilmembers began using the remote option more frequently for attending city council meetings
State law allows councilmembers a remote attendance option for a “hybrid meeting” which offers both a physical location for the meeting and a video and audio option. Richland councilmembers used the option a total of 17 times. One member, Shayne VanDyke accounted for nine of those. Kennewick members attended remotely 13 times and Pasco 10.
While Kennewick and Richland reported in their minutes which councilmembers were attending remotely, Pasco did not.
Pasco’s municipal code 2.05.070(2) directs that “During any meeting a Councilmember is in remote attendance, the Mayor or presiding officer shall state for the record that a particular Councilmember is attending with remote attendance.”
Pasco City Clerk Debby Barham wrote the Observer in an email that the program that the city used in 2023 for the council minutes, “did not provide an option for ‘remote’ attendance.”
Barham reviewed the meetings and gave the Observer the number.
Richland Councilmember Shayne VanDyke had the most remote attendance
Richland Councilmember Shayne VanDyke attended remotely more than any other Tri-Cities Councilmember, nine times. Along with his three absences, VanDyke did go to Richland City Hall for the regular council meeting about once a month.
VanDyke did not respond to the Observer’s email request for comment about his remote attendance.
If the public can listen to the meeting live at no cost, by state law, all city councilmembers could attend a meeting remotely. During 2023, the most councilmembers attending remotely at the same time occurred on Oct. 3, when four members of the Kennewick City Council attended remotely.
Newly-elected City Councilmember Kurt Maier emailed the Observer on Jan. 19, “I don’t know that remote participation can be called equivalent to in-person participation, and I’m confident that such an assertion will still be debated long after I’m out of the picture, but I do think that remote participation is a valid path.”
Restrictions can apply
According to the Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) which provides legal and policy guidance to Washington’s local governments, restrictions can be applied to remote attendance.
For instance, the MRSC points to the rule for remote attendance adopted by the Sequim City Council which states that remote “attendance will be equal to being physically present in the Council chamber if approved by a majority of the Council,” but also adds, “attendance from remote locations is intended to be an infrequently-used alternate method for participation by members of the Council and staff.”
Ellensburg allows “both Councilmembers (under limited conditions) and commission/board members to attend meetings remotely.”
Remote attendance policies
Both Kennewick and Pasco have remote attendance policies in their municipal codes that are practically identical. The policies primarily address the technology used which must allow the councilmembers to be seen and heard.
Richland currently has no policy on remote attendance. On January 16 City Attorney Heather Kintzley emailed the Observer, “
“I understand that Council spoke about this issue at their retreat last Friday. I wasn’t in attendance, but I hear that they want to move in the direction of remote attendance for board, commission and committee members. In light of that information, a policy on that topic will be forthcoming.”
Maier wrote the Observer in a Jan. 19 email, “I disagree with the current situation, where Council can participate remotely but boards and commissions are required to hold in-person meetings. Opening those up for remote participation would enable citizens whose schedules forbid joining, or who experience mobility issues that make in-person meetings difficult, to have more opportunities to get involved with our city.”
Richardson took no position in her Jan. 21 response to the Observer, “As you know, I’m only one member of the 7-seat council. If there was an interest in changing policy it would need to be presented to determine if there was an interest to discuss the matter further.”
So far, no changes have been proposed in Richland.
Can we propose Richland amend their policy as follows?
“If a council member does not appear in person for a meeting, excused or otherwise, their seat shall be filled with a cat who will vote on their behalf during their absence.”
We might get better outcomes, too.
Hi ASM, I appreciate your comment. Since the council generally has all items on a consent calendar that receives one vote, your cat wouldn’t be very challenged. Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy