Want to get away with playing hooky? Get elected to the City Council.
One-fifth of its membership — 10 legislators — showed up at 75 percent or fewer mandatory hearings and meetings in fiscal 2009, records show.
The biggest truant was Maria Baez, a Democrat and head of the council’s Bronx delegation, with a pitiful 56 percent attendance rate.
Baez did not return a call for comment.
Second on the annual absentee list was James Sanders (D-Queens), who showed up 61 percent of the time.
Sanders’ spokesman, Donovan Richards, blamed the poor record on a serious car accident Sanders was in on Nov. 15.
But only three of his absences — just over 4 percent of the total — were officially excused by Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s office.
Members must provide sufficient documentation to have an absence deemed excusable.
Third in line was James Gennaro (D-Queens), who came to 66 percent of his required sessions.
Gennaro’s absences were due in part to his unsuccessful bid to unseat state Sen. Frank Padavan last year.
He also has been dealing with a grave family situation, his spokesman said.
“Sadly, for the last seven months, Councilman Gennaro has had to dedicate much of his time to the care of a seriously ill family member,” Brad Groznik said.
“[He] regrets that this situation has caused him to miss committee meetings, but he has kept up his schedule at his district office and the Committee on Environmental Protection, which he chairs.”
It was unclear why most of Gennaro’s absences were not formally excused.
The fourth and fifth members with the highest absentee rates were Sara Gonzalez and Al Vann, both Brooklyn Democrats who were marked present 70 percent of the time.
Gonzalez is lead budget negotiator for the Brooklyn delegation — a job that cuts into some of the other council meetings she can attend.
She also is the primary caretaker for a sick relative, a situation Quinn’s staff is familiar with, sources said.
Vann could not be reached for comment.
Many members privately gripe that meetings are notoriously late, so they leave City Hall to go back to work in their district offices.
Others complain that members can attend the first few minutes of a meeting to be marked present and immediately leave with no consequence.
Two members — Quinn and Tony Avella (D-Queens) — scored perfect attendance records last year.
Additional reporting by David Seifman