Caption: Richland Councilmembers Ryan Whitten and Jhoanna Jones attend March 4, 2025 general council meeting remotely.
Correction: Pasco Councilmember Leo Perales was remote for one meeting that the Observer listed as absent.
Mayor Theresa Richardson had 100% attendance for 23 general council meetings at Richland City Hall in 2025, online meeting minutes show. She was neither absent from a meeting nor did she attend any remotely.
No other Richland councilmember came close to duplicating her record. At recent city council meetings, she encouraged others to try.
“Everyone’s here. No one to excuse. Thank you, everyone for making this a priority. We have a good track record,” she told the council at their third general meeting of 2026 on Feb. 3.
The “good track record” that Richardson referred to may have been the previous two meetings. On Jan. 6 and Jan. 20 all councilmembers attended at city hall.
At the Jan. 6 meeting Richardson made the same pitch, “We sure have a good record of attendance,” she said after the roll call.
The 2026 record of three council meetings with all members in attendance at Richland city hall is close to breaking their record for 2025 when only six general meetings of the 23 had 100% city hall attendance.
Pasco had 10 and Kennewick had 11 perfect attendance general meetings at their city halls in 2025.
Richland’s councilmembers attended 2025 general meetings remotely as often as Pasco’s and Kennewick’s combined, although one Richland councilmember reduced his 2024 remote attendance by more than half.
While each of the three city councils had about the same number of absences at the general meetings in 2025, Richland councilmembers led the pack with remote attendance. Richland councilmembers attended remotely 13 times while Kennewick councilmembers attended remotely 6 times, and Pasco had 5 instances of remote attendance.
One Richland councilmember cut his 2024 remote attendance by more than half. Councilmember Shayne VanDyke turned in for nine regular city council meetings that year when the whole council tallied 14. VanDyke didn’t go to city hall for any general meetings in April and May 2024.
In 2025, VanDyke reduced that number to four but the rest of the council made up the difference.
Is city hall attendance important?
The Observer reached out to area citizens to ask how important it was to them that a councilmember was physically at the meeting.
Leona Hassing of Pasco said, “Councilmembers need to be accessible and accountable.” She added that council meetings offered one of the few opportunities that some residents have to speak to councilmembers.
Richland resident Debbie Berkowitz noted a double standard between councilmembers and residents. She explained that during Covid, everyone was remote. When the shutdown for Covid ended, councilmembers were allowed to continue to fully participate from a remote location, but residents had to be at city hall if they wanted to comment.
Berkowitz said, “If councilmembers can comment and vote from a remote location, Richland residents should be allowed to comment remotely without signing up in advance.”
Comparing apples to apples
In order to compare apples to apples, the Observer only examined the public records for attendance at the general meetings held twice a month by the three councils. Councilmembers vote on matters before the city at those meetings. Kennewick and Pasco also have two workshop meetings a month to have in-depth discussion of issues without taking votes. Richland only has one workshop meeting.
| Name | Absent | Remote | Total | |
| Theresa Richardson | 0 | 0 | ||
| Kurt Maier | 0 | 2 | ||
| Ryan Lukson | 2 | 1 | ||
| Shayne VanDyke | 1 | 4 | ||
| Jhoanna Jones | 1 | 4 | ||
| Ryan Whitten | 4 | 1 | ||
| Sandra Kent | 6 | 0 | ||
| 14 | 12 | 26 | ||
| Kennewick | ||||
| John Trumbo | 1 | 0 | ||
| Jim Milbauer | 0 | 1 | ||
| Chuck Torelli | 0 | 2 | ||
| Brad Beauchamp | 1 | 1 | ||
| Loren Anderson | 4 | 0 | ||
| Gret’l Crawford | 4 | 0 | ||
| Jason McShane | 2 | 2 | ||
| 12 | 6 | 18 | ||
| Pasco | ||||
| David Milne | 0 | 0 | ||
| Melissa Blasdel | 0 | 0 | ||
| Charles Grimm | 0 | 0 | ||
| Calixto Hernandes * | 0 | 0 | ||
| Joe Cotta ** | 0 | 1 | ||
| Leo Perales | 0 | 2 | ||
| Peter Serrano | 3 | 0 | ||
| Peter Harpster | 6 | 0 | ||
| Blanch Barajas | 4 | 3 | ||
| 14 | 5 | 19 | ||
| * Replaced Blasdel on Nov. 25 | ||||
| ** Replaced Serrano on Sept. 15 | ||||
Washington state law restricts the number of council meeting absences but leaves remote attendance rules to the local jurisdictions.
Washington State law, RCW 35A.12.060 holds that “a council position shall become vacant if the councilmember fails to attend three consecutive regular meetings without being excused.” Richland’s City Charter has similar language.
Washington State law doesn’t prohibit remote attendance but it also doesn’t prohibit a jurisdiction from adopting its own restrictions.
Neither Richland, Kennewick nor Pasco has a policy for remote attendance beyond technical requirements.
Yakima City Councilmembers are limited to video or telephone attendance twice a year and only two members can be remote at one meeting, according to the city council’s “Rules of Procedure of the Yakima City Council.”
Everett policy directs that “Attendance from remote locations is intended to be an alternative and infrequently used method for participation.”
Councilmembers respond.
The Observer reached out to the Mayors of the three cities and Richland councilmembers for their opinion on adopting a policy for remote attendance.
Pasco’s Mayor Charles Grimm noted the remote participation hadn’t been a problem in Pasco so a policy for it wasn’t a pressing priority. He added, “If we do start to notice issues, that would be a good direction to go.”
“Remote attendance is a lawful tool that allows councilmembers to remain engaged and participate in governance when in-person attendance is not feasible,” Richland Councilmember Jhoanna wrote in an email to the Observer.
Richland Councilmember Kurt Maier explained his position, “I personally prefer in-person attendance for council meetings. However, I have participated remotely on a handful of occasions and I believe I was effective as a council member during those times. We’ll have another chance to evaluate this next week, as I’ll be traveling for work and will attend the meeting on the 17th remotely.”