NYC Council Members with Most Absences in FY 2017

 

By Conor Skelding, Brendan Cheney and Gloria Pazmino

Five current or former members of the New York City Council missed more than 25 percent of their required meetings during fiscal year 2017, according to records obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request released on Wednesday.

The current Council members are Andy King, Annabel Palma, Darlene Mealy and Julissa Ferreras-Copeland. The list also includes a former member, Ruben Wills, who was ejected from the Council after his criminal conviction earlier this year.

Records show that King, of the Bronx, missed 30 percent of his scheduled meetings, or 22 of 74, plus one medical absence.

King said that a member’s attendance isn’t a measure of whether he or she is doing the job.

“I’m OK with it,” he said in a phone interview. “As Council members, we are at three places at one time, all the time. So, between committee meetings bumping heads and being at meetings in your district and moving all around, it happens ... no one can tell me I’m not working.”

Council members are paid an annual salary of $148,500. 

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Source: Politico (via The Empire Report)