Kodiak ordinance would vacate Assembly seat at 25% unexcused absences

Kodiak Island Borough Assembly members would automatically lose their seats after missing a quarter of a year's meetings, down from half, under an ordinance scheduled for introduction at the Assembly's regular meeting Thursday, Aug. 6.

Assembly member Bo Whiteside sponsored the measure, which rewrites the borough code provision that now vacates a seat only when a member misses half the meetings held between Nov. 1 and Oct. 31. The new threshold is 25 percent, and excused absences would not count against it. The ordinance would keep two existing vacancy triggers: automatic vacancy after three consecutive unexcused regular-meeting absences, and vacancy for a member physically absent from the municipality for 90 consecutive days unless the Assembly excuses it. The Assembly is set to vote on whether to advance the ordinance to a public hearing at its next regular meeting. If adopted, it takes effect Nov. 1, 2026.

The ordinance lists the circumstances that qualify as an excused absence: health or medical needs of the member or an immediate family member, the death of a family member, or Assembly-approved borough travel or business. A member would have to submit the dates and reasons in writing to the borough clerk. The mayor would announce the absence during roll call, and the clerk would record it in the minutes or the work-session attendance log.

Multiple meetings held on the same calendar day would count as a single absence. "So we're going to modify that as well to where any number of meetings, no matter the different types, held in one day count as one meeting as far as attendance is concerned," Whiteside told the Assembly's July 30 work session, adding that the change came from other members.

Assembly member Jeremiah Gardner asked for a separate change. "I'd like to see an expansion of allowable virtual attendance," he said at the same work session, describing a friend who fishes six months a year.

For residents and voters, the stake is whether elected officials remain present and able to serve continuously. If a member's seat is vacated over absences, residents in that district may go without full representation until a replacement is appointed or elected.

The seven-member Assembly spent three weeks this summer filling the seat Dave Johnson resigned on June 25, appointing Mark Anthony Vizcocho on July 16 for a three-month term.