This Bellingham council member excused from meetings for three months
Councilwoman Hollie Huthman will miss the next three months of Bellingham City Council meetings with her colleagues’ approval after a 6-0 vote Monday, May 9.
Huthman, 41, gave birth to her first child a month early and missed the council’s morning and afternoon committee meetings Monday, as well as the evening session where official votes are taken.
Her son’s name is Slade River and both mother and child were doing well at St. Joseph Hospital, Huthman told The Bellingham Herald in a text message.
Council President Hannah Stone offered the council’s best wishes during the afternoon Committee of the Whole session, adding that Huthman phoned her on Mother’s Day to say that she was in labor.
“A heartfelt congratulations to Councilmember Huthman as well,” Stone said.
A council vote to excuse Huthman’s absence was required because under the city charter, a council member can be removed from office for missing three consecutive meetings without an excuse.
“This was something that the City Council in Bellingham had never encountered previously,” Stone said.
Also Monday, the council voted unanimously to change council procedures that widen the scope of reasons for excused long-term absences and includes the option of naming a temporary replacement for a council member with an approved extended leave.
Huthman, who owns the Shakedown nightclub, was first elected to the council in 2019, winning a two-year at-large seat.
In November 2021, she ran unopposed for the four-year Ward 2 seat that opened when Gene Knutson decided not to seek re-election after nearly three decades in office.
Ward 2 is on the city’s northeast side and includes the King Mountain, Irongate, Cornwall Park and Barkley neighborhoods, plus parts of Meridian, Birchwood, Columbia, Sunnyland and Roosevelt.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 10:37 AM.
