July 5th, 2011 to June 26th, 2012 represents an idealized "fiscal budget year of Chattanooga."
City Council met a total of 50 times over this period.
After reviewing City Council Minutes by date, I have compiled a record of attendance of our elected representatives serving on the Chattanooga City Council. You can review my work on a Google Excel sheet (just email me and I will send you a copy: chactivist@gmail.com). Wanna know who your City Councilor is? Click HERE.
Here are the highlights:
District One Councilor Deborah Scott was the only City Councilor with an uncontested perfect attendance record, with not a single recorded instance of absence or tardiness. This is the second year in a row that Councilor Scott has achieved a perfect attendance record! (don't assume that means she was absent in the 2009/2010 fiscal year, this is only the second year I have been keeping track of attendance. Knowing Deborah Scott, it is probable that she has never missed a day of City Council in her tenure)
District Three Councilor Pam Ladd had one absence, but this was because she took a trip to Chattanooga's Sister City, Wolfsburg, Germany, so I think we should let her slide and giver her a de facto perfect attendance record, with one absence for international travel and no recorded instances of tardies.
Both District Four Councilor Jack Benson and District Five Councilor Russell Gilbert had no recorded instances of absence, but were both tardy on one occasion. If not for this tardiness, both Benson and Gilbert would also have enjoyed perfect attendance records. Last year both these Councilors, alongside Councilor Scott, enjoyed perfect attendance records.
The worst attendance records were those of District Two Councilor Sally Robinson and District Nine Councilor Peter Murphy, both of whom have three recorded instances of absence in the public record. This is the second year in a row (or that I have been counting) that Sally Robinson has made it into the worst two attendance records, last year she missed six City Council meetings!
The following is the 2011/2012 fiscal year attendance break down for all the City Council Representatives:
District 1 Deborah Scott: Perfect Attendance
District 2 Sally Robinson: 3 Absences
District 3 Pam Ladd: 1 Absence
District 4 Jack Benson: 1 Tardy
District 5 Russell Gilbert: 1 Tardy
District 6 Carol Berz: 2 Absences
District 7 Manuel Rico: 1 Absence
District 8 Andrae McGary: 2 Absences, 2 Tardies
District 9 Peter Murphy: 3 Absences
Please feel free to share, spread or even challenge this information as you see fit. Discussion strongly encouraged.