Kodiak Island Borough Assembly tightens absence rule in 6-1 vote

A Kodiak Island Borough Assembly member who misses a quarter of the year's meetings will now forfeit the seat, a stricter standard than the half-of-meetings threshold it replaces. The Assembly adopted Ordinance No. FY2027-06 on a 6-1 vote at its Aug. 20 regular meeting. It takes effect Nov. 1, 2026, and for the first time counts work sessions toward the total. Excused absences do not count against a member.

The old rule vacated a seat when a member missed one-half of the meetings held in a year, measured from Nov. 1 to Oct. 31. The new one keeps that measurement year and lowers the threshold to 25 percent, and the companion change to the assembly's general rules brings work sessions into the count alongside regular and special meetings.

The borough describes a work session as an informal public meeting where no formal action is taken, held so the mayor and assembly can review what will come before them at the next regular meeting. Assembly members said that is where much of the work happens.

The ordinance also writes down what counts as excused, which the code had left largely to the assembly's judgment. An absence qualifies only for medical needs of the member or an immediate family member, a death in the family, or assembly-approved borough travel or business. The member must notify the borough clerk in writing, the mayor announces the absence at roll call or at the start of a work session, and the clerk records it in the minutes or in the attendance log kept for work sessions. Two meetings held on the same calendar day count as a single absence.

The other grounds for declaring a seat vacant are unchanged, including missing three consecutive regular meetings without an excuse, and being physically absent from the borough for 90 consecutive days.

Assembly member Bo Whiteside originated the ordinance, according to the borough's staff report, and is listed as its sponsor.

Assembly member Caroline Roberts said the two changes stack. “It was 50% of regular meetings to 25% of total meetings. So essentially, we have made that two layers of difficulty higher for people,” she said, adding that her concern was not for herself but “the others who come later.”

Assembly member Scott Smiley said members who miss meetings lose the thread of the discussion and take up time at the next one catching up. “If you look at the amount of time we spend in work sessions compared to regular meetings. It's 2 or 3 times as long, and there's much more going on in a work session,” he said, calling 25 percent “a good number.”

Assembly member Jeffery A. Woods cast the lone no vote. Woods, Roberts and Whiteside had separately asked, in a July 9 agenda item request, to loosen the borough's rules on electronic participation, which currently cap a member at four regular meetings a year attended remotely. The assembly reviewed that proposal at its Aug. 13 work session. No ordinance on it has been introduced; the attendance rule is now law.