Metropolitan King County Council member Pete von Reichbauer has missed one of every four council meetings over the past 2 ½ years, saying he better serves his district by spending that time meeting with constituents.

Two of his colleagues, Jane Hague and Julia Patterson, have missed one out of five meetings since January 2004. They say they often have other meetings that conflict and that aides monitor the sessions they don't attend.

"The reality is I make as many as I can," said von Reichbauer, R-Federal Way, "and when there is a conflict with a community meeting with an individual, group, local official, that takes preference and always has since I've been on the County Council."

In all, von Reichbauer has missed 108 meetings since January 2004 — 36 percent of committee meetings and 7 percent of full council meetings. He has served on the council since 1994.

There are no official rules on how many meetings council members must attend. If they miss a full council meeting, usually held on Mondays, or the various committee meetings or work sessions held throughout the week, they do not need to provide an excuse.

A Seattle Times review of council attendance records from January 2004 through this month — and confirmed by the council — shows absences at meetings ranged from 9 to 28 percent for each member.

Council Chairman Larry Phillips, D-Seattle, said absences can slow legislation moving toward a vote but added, "People are extremely busy. We keep adding regional responsibilities, and we have more work at the courthouse, and we have larger districts of more constituents."

The council shrank from 13 to nine members at the end of 2005, which added 60,000 constituents to each district.

Phillips, who has missed 9 percent of meetings and has one of the highest attendance rates on the council, said he's "swamped."

Council spokesman Frank Abe said absences "absolutely do not" affect council productivity and called attendance a "simplistic measure of job performance. Council members are always on the clock."

Each member will earn $113,500 this year. Members serve four-year terms.

Like von Reichbauer, Hague said she would rather meet with constituents than attend committee meetings if the agenda is light.

"Frequently we have committee meetings in-house that conflict with outside committees or issues in our district," said Hague, R-Bellevue. "I always give my constituents priority unless it's an extremely important vote."

Hague said some of her absences last year were the result of five trips to Ohio to take care of her sick parents. She also missed a total of six meetings in February this year. She said she was on vacation in Italy that month.

When she's here, Hague said, her official schedule stretches from 7:30 a.m. breakfasts to evening and weekend meetings with constituents.

There are no rules about how much vacation time council members can take. The council takes a recess for two weeks in August and two weeks in December.

Patterson, D-SeaTac, was unavailable to comment on her attendance record because she was visiting colleges with her daughter on the East Coast on Thursday.

Her chief of staff, Jon Scholes, called attendance an "inaccurate portrayal of her workload."

She sits on 16 regional boards, and those meetings frequently conflict with council meetings, he said.

"If you look at the major policy issues that the county is facing, she is at the center of nearly every one of those," Scholes said, citing elections reform, the transportation proposal and oversight of the sheriff's department.

The council posted a statement on its Web site Thursday explaining that attending regional governing-board meetings is a significant part of a council member's job.

Earlier this year, the council notified County Executive Ron Sims' office that members would take a week longer than in past years to move legislation from committee to full council. Council spokesman Abe said members wanted more time to review proposed laws.

Sims, a former council member who was criticized for not attending enough meetings during a 1994 bid for the U.S. Senate, said he was satisfied with council productivity.

"From the executive point of view, we want things to move forward," he said. "Our stuff moves forward pretty quickly."

He said the importance of attending meetings is "overstated."

Dean Logan, who resigned this month as elections director, expressed frustration with council members coming in and out of a briefing he gave in May on all-mail voting at a committee-of-the-whole meeting. Hague did not attend the meeting and said she had to take her father, who now lives here, to the doctor.

When the vote-by-mail issue came up for a vote at the full council three weeks later, Logan had gone out of town to interview for another job.

Afterward, "There was the impression given that ... they couldn't get their questions answered," even though he had spent more than an hour discussing the plan with them at the May briefing, Logan said.

The council will not meet Tuesday since it is the July 4 holiday and county offices will be closed. Although county offices will be open Monday, the council has canceled all its meetings that day.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com

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