Residents and council spar over excused absence for Councilmember Frey; Frey defends attending daughter’s graduation

Dozens of residents used the public‑comment period at Cheverly’s July 9 town council meeting to challenge the council’s handling of a June 11 vote that declined to excuse Councilmember Frey’s absence from that meeting.

Several speakers said the council applied its rules inconsistently and asked for clearer language on how excused absences are handled. “When rules are ignored, applied selectively, or dismissed as meaningless, it doesn’t just hurt the person they’re used against,” said Susan Prue (Ward 2). “If a standard can be invented after the fact and applied to one person today, it can be applied to anyone tomorrow.”

Other residents framed the issue as one of representation and family responsibilities. “It’s disheartening to see the council decline what should have been a routine request, especially given that it was for a significant family milestone,” said Nathan Zaff (Ward 6). Several commenters, including Dana Holliman (via email), called the council’s treatment of the absence insensitive.

County Councilmember Jolene Ivy, who spoke briefly during resident input, said she had relayed the county executive’s previously stated opinion about annexation to town officials but clarified she was sharing that information, not endorsing it. “It was not necessarily my opinion. It was sharing the opinion of the county executive,” Ivy said.

Councilmember Anna Frey (identified in comments and later by herself during the meeting) used her allotted time near the end of the meeting to deliver a prepared statement defending her attendance at her daughter’s graduation and to push back on what she described as repeated personal attacks. Frey said the county ethics process and the town’s ethics commission have reviewed relevant questions and that, where required, she would recuse herself from votes to avoid conflicts. “Recusal exists to protect the integrity of the decision of the vote and not to undermine it,” she said.

Frey also criticized those who she said were using the issue to politicize her family life and asked the council and public to focus instead on policy priorities such as public safety and infrastructure. Several residents and speakers urged the council to revise the language in its rules of procedure—an issue raised multiple times during the meeting—so that “favorably consider” and similar terms are clearer.

The meeting record shows public comments and questions but no new formal action or ordinance was taken at the July 9 meeting to change rules of procedure; the matter instead was aired in public comment and through staff and resident requests for clearer drafting.

What happens next: residents asked the council to bring rule‑language changes to a future work session; Vice Mayor Nicole Bridal and other council members noted the work session calendar and encouraged follow‑up discussion.