A newly appointed Ouray city councilor who has attended just half of the board’s meetings in person this year has asked fellow councilors to relax rules requiring councilors to attend meetings in person so he can continue serving on the council.

Dave Doherty works out of town and has already attended three of the six meetings he’s allowed to participate in via Zoom per year, according to city rules.

Now, the council will decide whether to allow him to govern remotely, without limits.

Tonight’s meeting has a proposed resolution on the agenda, designed to allow councilors to “attend meetings remotely as often as needed,” with no limit on the number of meetings they’re required to attend in person.

The resolution language is vague, stating “councilors may participate remotely when circumstances prevent in-person attendance.” This applies to regular meetings and executive sessions. It’s not clear what those circumstances are, exactly. The only limitation is that only two councilors can participate remotely in the same meeting.

This is a departure from the current rules – which started as a way to bring councilors back to in-person meetings after the pandemic.

Those rules have been in place since 2022. And for the past four years, they’ve worked. Councilors have attended remotely when they needed to be elsewhere. The technology has worked and we understand why it’s useful to participate virtually on occasion – it allows the council to do business and have a quorum.

But remote participation should be the exception, not the rule.

We fear allowing elected officials blanket permission to attend meetings remotely will not only diminish accountability and gnaw at the public’s trust, but also set a bad example and double standard for city employees. The people who work for the council are expected to attend meetings in person, to face the community as they perform their jobs.

As Public Works Director Joe Coleman pointed out at the Feb. 17 meeting, “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.”

Who wouldn’t love to just sit at home, eating Cheetos in the recliner with the dog while listening in? Plus, you have the added benefit of not having to actually face the people who aren’t happy with your decisions.

Doherty’s claim that he didn’t know about the rule and wouldn’t know about it unless he was “clairvoyant” – is no excuse.

He’s a former city employee. He knows about ordinances and rules more than most councilors who have only served for a few months. Imagine if someone had built a home without a permit, back when Doherty was the city building inspector. It’s unlikely he would have accepted ignorance as a defense.

Doherty has attempted to make this personal, saying if his fellow councilors “don’t like my style, you can use this as a way to push me out the door.”

But at its root, this is not a decision about whether one councilor can continue to serve.

It’s about setting a precedent for allowing elected officials to govern remotely, without guardrails.

Giving councilors carte blanche authority to attend meetings via Zoom threatens to erode accountability.

Think about it – wouldn’t it be nice to not have to face constituents who aren’t thrilled with your unpopular opinion, or the decisions you have to vote on that affect them? It’s a lot easier to mute your computer and just stare at a screen than it is to ignore the people standing right in front of you.

There’s a bigger question at hand here. Those year-round residents of Ouray are acutely aware of the part-time population. The 2020 Census estimated more than 40% of the homes in Ouray were vacant, including not only vacation rentals but those who make the city their home for just a few months a year.

Allowing this kind of remote governance could also crack open the door to those who own property within the city to influence the decisions that affect those who live in the city year-round. The requirements for potential city councilors includes one year of residency, according to the city charter, but no one is checking to see how many nights they actually spend at home.

If you’ve ever been to a public meeting, you know being there in person gives you the ability to see more, to look around at the faces of those in the audience. To hear the muttered comments, see people’s body language and get a sense of the participants’ reactions.

Ouray’s elected officials should be able to read a room.

The question is: How do you read a room if you’re not even in it?