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Subin defends absences from council votes

Friday, Dec. 2, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Subin ‘Council is a part-time job’

This week, when the bill came up for discussion and a vote, Subin (D-At large) of Gaithersburg was again missing from much of the discussion, appearing just before the vote to offer a few comments.

The incident is part of an increasingly noticed trend on Subin’s part. The council record of his presence at committee and legislative sessions shows spotty attendance.

Since January, Subin has missed two Education Committee meetings — he chairs that panel — and eight Public Safety Committee meetings.

In addition to being late to the lending bill vote on Tuesday, Subin earlier in the day missed a critical vote that banned expansion into the county’s Agriculture Reserve.

A court conflict accounted for this week’s absences, said Subin, who practices family, juvenile and criminal law. Last week, he said, he was caring for his 82-year-old mother in New York.

For Attorney Subin, conflicting court dates have led to the absences for Councilman Subin.

His missed votes, according to council records, include those on setting spending guidelines for the capital budget, approving budgets for the public libraries and the Department of Economic Development, among others, taking land for the Montrose Parkway project and setting the county’s bond limits.

But a missed committee meeting or regular session does not mean disservice to constituents, and the issue is more about the part-time status and salary of council members, Subin said.

‘‘I’m not going to run from the fact that yes, I’ve missed things at times, but the council is supposed to be a part-time job,” he said, adding that he has been ribbed over his absences by some of his colleagues but never reprimanded. ‘‘I can point to a number of things where the experience that I’m bringing back straight from the courts and straight from the street that benefit the citizens of Montgomery County.

‘‘I have made the council a priority for 19 years. After 19 years if I don’t know the fundamental issues by now,” he said, ‘‘being there 24 hours a day isn’t going to help.”

Council members are paid $76,654 a year; council president receives $84,320 a year. They are considered part-time legislators, unlike in Prince George’s County where council members are considered full time and are paid $73,114 a year (council chairman receives $78,114).

‘‘Personally, I think the position should be considered a full-time job,” said Gail H. Ewing, a Montgomery councilwoman from 1990 to 1998. ‘‘By not calling it that you do bring in people who ordinarily couldn’t do it on that salary, so you’ve got to augment the salary with another job.

‘‘When I was on the council, we were paid $60,000, and if you couldn’t have another job you wouldn’t even apply,” she said.

As for missing votes, Ewing said, ‘‘When you miss votes you’re not putting the viewpoint of your constituents forward, but I don’t think citizens elect people to be there for every vote.”

Drew Powell, executive director of Neighbors for Montgomery County, agreed that council members’ absences are sometimes a direct correlation to the salary.

‘‘I think that nowadays, with the county population bumping into a million people, that the council position is a full-time job, and I believe that council members need to be paid commensurate of a reasonable salary living in Montgomery County,” Powell said. ‘‘That way ordinary people who usually wouldn’t be able to serve under the current conditions would have an opportunity.”

A presentation on compensation for county officials, including the County Council, is scheduled for Tuesday.