Absenteeism was a matter of concern discussed at Tuesday night’s Knox City Council meeting. During council items, Councilman Jeff Berg addressed the extended absence of the council member elected to represent District 4.
Berg spoke to the council, “…I am entrusted to inform that Tim Manns, an elected Knox Council member, was physically absent for 20 of the 24 meetings of 2017 and absent all three meetings so far in 2018.”
He also told members that the last meeting where the councilman was in attendance was on July 11th, 2017.
Former Council President Don Kring mentioned that he called the councilman back in the fall to find out why he stopped attending the meetings and Manns told him he was busy with work and family obligations.
Current Council President Ron Parker reported that he called for an update on Wednesday and Manns sited the same kind of scheduling conflicts. Parker added that Manns indicated that he plans to return to council meetings soon.
Councilman Berg asked the mayor if any Indiana legislative code exists that deals with meeting absenteeism such as this.
Mayor Dennis Estok said right now they would have no way to mandate that he must attend or stop his pay since Manns is an elected official.
Estok added that there is a state statute that provides a procedure which ultimately leaves the responsibility up to the council members.
He referenced an Indiana Code (IC-36-4-6-6) which states any legislative body can expel any member for violation of an official duty, declare the seat of any member vacant if they are unable to perform the duties of their office and adopt its own rules to govern proceedings under this section. Additionally, it says a two-thirds vote is required to expel a member or vacate a seat.
However, the “official duty” of a Knox city council member is not technically defined at this time. Mayor Estok explained that in order to enforce the Indiana Code, an ordinance would have to be drawn up that could include things such as meeting attendance and constituent representation in the official definition of council member responsibilities.
Estok mentioned that absenteeism was also discussed at a mayor’s roundtable meeting he attented, so other municipalities must be having similar issues. He also said the statute hasn’t been tried very often in the state of Indiana.
A similar concern regarding the multiple absences of Councilman David Beggs was presented by a citizen at a Culver Town Council meeting Tuesday night. The council provided no comment at the time.
No official actions were taken at either meeting but the concerns will be reflected in the meeting minutes and will continue to be under council consideration.
