City Council member Chi Ossé, a Democratic Socialists of America ally of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, has the poorest attendance record of any member of the City Council, according to records.
The left-wing lawmaker missed four of the 18 required legislative meetings for unexcused reasons. By comparison, the overwhelming majority of the council’s 51 members recorded perfect attendance during the current legislative session.
Ossé’s attendance record came under public criticism from one of his fellow Democrats last week.
“Your attendance record says everything we need to know: you literally have the worst attendance record of all 51 council members this session; and when you attend [a regularly scheduled meeting] via Zoom, you leave as soon as you possibly could,” Council member Oswald Feliz (D-15) said.
Feliz made the pointed comments after Ossé accused him of blocking legislation that would disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a frequent target of law-enforcement reform activists and the DSA.
“It’s unfortunate that you are more interested in doing the performative stuff for social media attention, rather than doing the difficult work to resolve this important issue,” Feliz added.
Other council members with poor legislative-meeting attendance included Darlene Mealy (D-41), who missed three of 15 meetings; Rita C. Joseph (D-40), who missed three of 18; and Alexa Avilés (D-38), who missed two of 18.
Avilés and Ossé were both seen missing a Sept. 24 meeting as they protested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the United Nations General Assembly.
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All other members had either one absence or none. The figures do not include approved absences for medical or bereavement reasons.
The City Council’s 2026 attendance policy, circulated internally in May and later obtained by The Post, does not specify how many unexcused absences could trigger disciplinary action. It does, however, describe regular attendance as a “core responsibility” of council members.
“Council Members must appear in person at a meeting, unless, in the event of unforeseen circumstances, they are authorized to participate remotely,” the policy states.
Absences from committee meetings are far more common. Those meetings are where legislation is initially considered before being sent to the full council for a vote.
Just four active members had perfect committee attendance: Elsie Encarnacion, Justin Sanchez, Shantel Thomas-Henry and Speaker Julie Menin. Menin, however, had been required to attend only two committee meetings during the session.
The weakest committee attendance records belonged to James Gennaro (D-24), who attended 52.3% of meetings; Ty Hankerson (D-28), who attended 60%; and Althea Stevens (D-16), who attended 62.1%.
A spokesperson for Gennaro said the council member had “endured a series of health challenges” over the past year and was still being monitored for one of the unspecified conditions.
“He has a good record of chairing his own committee and attending Stated meetings,” the spokesperson said. “That said, he has had to prioritize medical appointments over some committee hearings.”
“Most of our legislative work happens in committee meetings and hearings where we discuss proposed laws, receive updates from agencies, and hear feedback from New Yorkers like you,” the City Council website says.
