A push to enact a City Council attendance policy is on hold, facing criticism of government overreach and white privilege.
The move to hold the legislation followed a contentious meeting Tuesday evening in which members took aim at both the proposal and its author, City Councilmember Mitch Gruber.
“This feels intentional,” said Councilmember Chiara Smith. “That you, the only white male in this space, introduce legislation that overwhelmingly impacts Black and brown individuals, in a predominantly all female caucus, and you did not ... ask any of us our opinion about this.”
The arguments that unfolded over more than an hour of debate raised issues of accountability and transparency, while underscoring the divisions on City Council.
Smith, who took office in January, later added: “I don’t want no white man getting in no room, making no decisions about me and my future without me being there.”
Gruber countered that he had consulted with colleagues, but not her.
His legislation stems from the Council’s monthly meeting this past July, when four of the nine councilmembers were absent. Lacking quorum, 10 items up for vote had to be held, including financing for street maintenance equipment and lead pipe replacement.
Gruber’s proposal was to change Council policy and dock member’s a month of pay for every missed meeting after two unexcused absences.
“This is an attempt to make sure that we have proper notification so that we can make a quorum so we don't have to not vote on things in the future,” Gruber said. “But perhaps most importantly for me, this legislation is very simply about making sure that we hold ourselves to the same standards that we hold any city employee to, and that, frankly, all of our constituents are probably held to in their day-to-day jobs.”
There is precedent for Council attendance policies leading to pay docking. Utica’s Common Council, for example, has a policy of sanctioning members who miss four out of six consecutive meetings. If a member is sanctioned, they can face a fine of 1/22nd of their salary for each missed meeting.
Council Vice President LaShay Harris, however, argued that the legislation goes too far, and supersedes the already established rules of accountability for Council.
“This is absolute government overreach,” Harris said. “It is not my job to police my colleagues. We are all elected by the people and as such, if you have a problem with anything any one of us have done, it is not our job to do anything about it other than contact the governing body that oversees what we do, and that's the Attorney General.”
In the past year, Council has logged 113 absences from members across all public hearings and meetings. The two most prolific absentees, Councilmembers Kim Smith and Willie Lightfoot, did not seek re-election and left office at the end of last year.
Councilmember Mary Lupien had the highest rate of absences and was among the members who were absent at the July meeting. She argued that the legislation seemed designed to punish specific councilmembers, and failed to provide alternative solutions, like Zoom meetings.
“Since COVID, I have been asking and begging for Zoom capability,” Lupien said. “First, it was the Open Meetings Law, and that is not an issue. The school district has Zoom attendance. The Monroe County Legislature has Zoom attendance. And we should have Zoom attendance for the public so they can have more access to our meetings.”
WXXI News reported on individual members’ attendance last week, based on city-provided records. Release of that data also drew criticism Tuesday. Councilmember Stanley Martin said any further release of data related to City Council should first be vetted by councilmembers before it is released to the public.
“I do take issue with communicating on behalf of Council without including Council, and I do think that is a process that needs to be adjusted,” Martin said. “I'm all for transparency and openness, but when you communicate information that many of us are like, ‘This isn't accurate,’ but you just boldly go out there and communicate on our behalf, it is deeply, deeply problematic.”
The data provided to WXXI News was amended twice by Council staffers after publication, reflecting two instances in which a councilmember was marked absent but had shown up late and missed rollcall.
Lupien also argued that the Council fails to make accommodations for certain members, stating that meetings have been moved in the past when Council President Miguel Meléndez had a conflict with a vacation. Meléndez said in that instance, he had given prior notice to Council, while Lupien did not.
A second piece of legislation from Gruber, which stood to create an independent body to determine Council pay increases, also was held Tuesday night.
