A newly appointed Ouray city councilor who has attended just half of the city council’s meetings in person so far this year has asked the council to relax an attendance policy and allow him to govern remotely more frequently.

The council will decide whether to change its policy about attending meetings virtually to accommodate Councilor Dave Doherty, who has expressed concerns about being able to attend the majority of meetings in person.

Doherty told councilors during a Feb. 17 regular meeting that he wasn’t aware of a post-pandemic attendance policy setting a maximum number of meetings councilors can attend remotely when he applied to be on the council.

The town’s charter did not specify the method of attendance but just required that councilors attend, he said. The town’s charter says a council seat must be vacated if a councilor has three consecutive unexcused absences from regular meetings.

Doherty said he would have to be “clairvoyant” to know the separate attendance policy existed.

“We have this hidden set of rules that we’re going to pull out after these people make an informed decision,” Doherty said.

The current attendance policy caps councilors’ online attendance at meetings and work sessions to six times per year. It also says that no more than two councilors may attend remotely at once. At a future meeting, the council is expected to discuss a proposal that would change the cap and rules for notifying of those absences.

Doherty said his job keeps him out of town often, causing him to attend three of the council’s six meetings and work sessions online since he was appointed on Jan. 5.

“I felt like whether or not my opinion was valued, I was present, I was listening, I was prepared, and I commented and I made myself knowledgeable in the subject matter,” Doherty said of the meetings he attended remotely.

He urged the council to act quickly on the issue because he has few virtual meetings remaining, according to the policy. He was present in person at the Feb. 17 meeting.

“If you really, actually don’t like my style, you can use this as a way to push me out the door,” Doherty said.

Councilors Jenny Hart and Kevin Schiffer said they were in favor of finding ways to support remote attendance.

“David, I support your appointment to council and that I understand that you work somewhere else, and I would like to support your participation,” Hart said.

“I think (the policy) was designed to prevent someone from shirking their duty,” she said.

Hart also said there should be a minimum number of councilors attending in person.

Public Works Director Joe Coleman said he was the only official in attendance at the Feb. 17 meeting who was present when the 2022 rules were created. He said they were designed to bring officials back to meetings after the pandemic. Coleman said if the council is considering changing the rules, they should reconsider how meetings are run.

“If we’re going with remote participation, let’s just do remote participation. We don’t need a dais, we don’t need to be here. I’m going to do it from my couch at home and be comfortable so I don’t have to drive home,” Coleman said.

Mayor Michael Underwood said he enjoys attending council meetings and was not prepared to act on the issue last week.

“I do like being able to sit here, and face the music here,” Underwood said.

“I certainly love coming to city council meetings. I don’t want to miss one,” he said.

Underwood also said he was aware of the attendance requirements before running for council.

“I checked on the ordinances before I became a city council member … it wasn’t just the qualifications, but I did the background work to find out that you had to be here X amount of times,” he said.

He said he wanted to consult with the city’s legal team to identify how remote attendance would mesh with having a quorum for meetings.

Doherty asked his fellow councilors their opinions on a numerical cap for his remote attendance. They asked him if he knows his work schedule for the rest of the year. He said he’s committed to his job on the council and could pledge to attend 12 meetings in person per year, but wasn’t sure if he could make the same promise for work sessions. The council typically has 24 regular meetings per year, as it meets twice a month, but special meetings and work sessions are also held occasionally.

Director of Finance and Administration Kara Rhoades said a proposal to change the number of meetings councilors can attend remotely and the rules for noticing remote attendance will come before council for consideration at a future meeting.

Lia Salvatierra is a journalist with Report for America, a service program that helps boost underserved areas with more reporting resources.