Council members were about to decide the fate of their colleague, Stan Bogosian, at a special city council meeting on Sept. 30 in the conference room at city hall.

Bogosian was in this unenviable position because he had been absent for the only two regular city council meetings held in the last 60 days. The last meeting Bogosian attended was on Aug. 4; then a meeting scheduled for Aug. 18 was canceled. The council's next scheduled meeting was Sept. 1, and Bogosian missed that session and the one that followed on Sept. 15.

At that Sept. 15 meeting, Mayor Ann Waltonsmith had brought up the issue of Bogosian's absence. At that meeting, Waltonsmith mentioned a state law stating that a council seat falls vacant if a member is absent from regular city council meetings for more than 60 days.

But no one was sure of the rules at that point, and city staff was asked to investigate the issue. Two weeks later, a special meeting was called to authorize the absence of Councilman Stan Bogosian from the two meetings.

That's what it was on paper. If Bogosian was hoping for an easy time at the meeting, it did not happen.

At the meeting, two of Bogosian's colleagues, Nick Streit and Kathleen King, voted against the motion to authorize his absence. Norman Kline and Mayor Ann Waltonmith voted for Bogosian to stay on. In the end, Bogosian voted for himself, thus ensuring a 3-2 majority that will enable him to serve out the rest of his term on the city council. His term ends this December.

"The citizens of Saratoga expect us to be here because they elected us," said Councilman Nick Streit. He said he was opposed to authorizing any absences apart from personal illness or illness related to immediate family members.

Councilwoman Kathleen King said that she agreed with Streit. "I have been on boards where you are out if you miss two meetings," she said.

Bogosian said that he was traveling during one city council meeting and a colleague's automobile accident prevented him from attending the next one. He claimed that he had sent emails out notifying the mayor and city clerk of his absence on both occasions.

The only person who came to Bogosian's defense was Councilman Norman Kline. "Someone could be sick and then be traveling on business during the next meeting," he said. Kline also talked about putting an item on the agenda for a future meeting so that the mayor could have the power to excuse absences.

Mayor Ann Waltonsmith, who hasn't exactly been seeing eye to eye with Bogosian on a number of issues in recent council meetings, said, "I brought this up to make sure that there wasn't a rule that Stan was going to trip over."

When it was his turn to speak, Bogosian said, "Whatever happens, happens ... that's the way to go."

But later, Bogosian said that some of his colleagues were stooping to a new low that had not been reached in city politics before. According to Bogosian, his colleagues could have excused his absence at the meeting on Sept. 15.

"That is theoretically possible. But the item was not on the agenda. Bogosian would have required a four-fifths vote to be excused. But there wasn't enough information about the rules at that meeting," said City Attorney Richard Taylor.

"I am appalled that this meeting took place. This is election season. There are viable issues to be discussed. Instead they decide to rail about some guy who has served the city for eight years and has barely two months of his term left," said Bogosian.

"I think Mayor Waltonsmith took a politically expedient decision when she voted to keep me on. She realized that with elections around the corner, she might have a heavy price to pay for booting me off the council. She was going to look really bad in front of the electorate. Let us not forget that she is the one who raised the issue of my absence in the first place," he said.

Bogosian said he was eagerly looking forward to the next council meeting on Oct. 6. "I am glad that I wasn't booted out in a 15-minute meeting. I would like to leave with some fanfare," he said.