Chelsea’s eleven city councillors have held 19 council meetings this year for which a roll call is on the record, and between them they have missed 35. That is 35 empty seats out of 209, an attendance rate of 83 percent.
The record comes from the roll call the City Clerk takes at the start of each meeting, as written in the minutes. The October 19 minutes are not out yet, so that meeting comes from the clerk’s roll call on the video. The January 12 minutes have not appeared in any council packet and are not counted.
Who missed the most
Tanairi Garcia of District 4 has missed eight meetings, the most on the council. Six of them came in a row, from August 17 through October 19. Manuel Teshe of District 7 missed seven and arrived late to two more. Deron Hines of District 2 missed five and was late twice. Norieliz DeJesus of District 3 missed four and was late twice.
Giovanni Recupero of District 6 and at-large Councillor Kelly Garcia each missed three. Recupero was late four times, more than anyone else. Calvin Brown of District 8 and Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera each missed two, and at-large Councillor Leo Robinson missed one, the regular meeting on October 5. Todd Taylor of District 1 has missed none and was late once, by two minutes, to the June 22 swearing-in of firefighters.
Lisa Santagate of District 5 is the only councillor who was present and on time at all 19 meetings.
The dates, councillor by councillor
Times are when the minutes record the councillor arriving. Regular meetings start at 7 p.m.
- Tanairi Garcia (District 4). Missed 8: January 5 (special meeting); May 4; August 17 (special meeting); September 14; September 21; October 5 (special meeting); October 5 (regular meeting); October 19. Never late.
- Manuel Teshe (District 7). Missed 7: March 3 (special meeting); March 9; March 23; April 27; June 22 (special meeting); August 17 (special meeting); September 21. Late 2: June 8, 7:35 p.m.; September 14, 7:04 p.m.
- Deron Hines (District 2). Missed 5: January 28; March 9; March 23; October 5 (special meeting); October 19. Late 2: April 27, 7:08 p.m.; October 5 (regular meeting), 7:07 p.m.
- Norieliz DeJesus (District 3). Missed 4: March 9; March 23; June 22 (special meeting); September 14. Late 2: January 28, 7:15 p.m.; March 3 (special meeting), 6:38 p.m.
- Giovanni Recupero (District 6). Missed 3: February 9; August 17 (special meeting); October 5 (special meeting). Late 4: March 2, 7:10 p.m.; March 9, 7:15 p.m.; March 23, 7:15 p.m.; June 22 (special meeting), 6:06 p.m.
- Kelly Garcia (at-large). Missed 3: August 17 (special meeting); October 5 (special meeting); October 5 (regular meeting). Late 1: June 8, 7:22 p.m.
- Calvin Brown (District 8). Missed 2: March 3 (special meeting); May 4. Late 1: June 22 (special meeting), 6:07 p.m.
- Roberto Jimenez-Rivera (at-large). Missed 2: October 5 (special meeting); October 5 (regular meeting). Never late.
- Leo Robinson (at-large). Missed 1: October 5 (regular meeting). Never late.
- Todd Taylor (District 1). Missed none. Late 1: June 22 (special meeting), 6:02 p.m.
- Lisa Santagate (District 5). Missed none. Never late.
What the record does not show
The minutes record who was absent or late and nothing else. They do not record why. On a few occasions a reason was given from the floor: on September 14, Jimenez-Rivera said DeJesus and Tanairi Garcia were out because their children were sick, and on September 21 Kelly Garcia said her sister Tanairi was dealing with a family medical emergency. On October 5, Taylor said Robinson was at a Lewis Latimer Society program. On October 19, Jimenez-Rivera said Tanairi Garcia was out because of family health issues and Hines was out of town for a wedding. No reason was given on the record for most absences.
A late arrival may mean a few minutes. The roll call also does not capture councillors who leave early, such as on September 14, when Kelly Garcia answered the roll and then missed the last ten votes of the night. Our count of individual roll-call votes tracks that.
Only two meetings, April 6 and the regular meeting of June 22, had every councillor present and on time. Five of the 19 were special meetings: the January 5 inauguration, the March 3 session, the June 22 swearing-in of firefighters, the August 17 vote on the state primary warrant and the October 5 swearing-in of four police officers, which five councillors missed.
Update, October 20: Added the October 19 meeting, at which Hines and Tanairi Garcia were absent, from the clerk’s roll call on the video. We will check it against the minutes when they are published.
Update, October 16: This report originally counted 17 meetings and said the September 21 and October 5 minutes had not been published. The September 21 minutes were in the October 5 council packet, and the minutes of both October 5 meetings are in the October 19 packet. They match the roll calls we took from the video, and the October 5 minutes add Hines’s arrival time. We had left out the special meeting at 6 p.m. on October 5, when four police officers were sworn in and Recupero, Jimenez-Rivera, Hines, Tanairi Garcia and Kelly Garcia were absent. The count, charts and dates now include it.
Correction: Our September 14 report on council attendance left out DeJesus’s absence on March 9 and her late arrival on January 28, and said Recupero was late three times when the table showed four. This count corrects those errors.