Pueblo city councilors will get up to six weeks of parental leave with new policy
District 3 City Councilor Sarah Martinez is set to have a baby. She’s the only councilor in Pueblo’s history who has been pregnant while on the job, Martinez said.
Pueblo City Council unanimously approved a leave policy for new parents Monday evening, which allows six weeks of excused absences for new parents. The leave can be extended unless a majority of councilors think it's "unreasonable."
Two unexcused absences can result in a councilmember losing their seat, Martinez said. The new policy codifies up to six weeks of parental leave — for new moms and dads — as a “reasonable excuse for absence.”
“I am going to work hard to represent this city as a new mom, just like I have been working hard to represent this city this whole time,” Martinez said. “I hope that we can improve this (policy) and I hope that we can show the rest of the people in Pueblo that we encourage people who look like me and who are new parents to serve on this council.”
The new policy initially received pushback from some councilors, including Mark Aliff and Roger Gomez, who wondered why new parents would need to be absent when they could access the meetings virtually through Zoom.
After some discussion among councilors, the initial skeptics came around to supporting it. Martinez acknowledged that she could be able to participate remotely before the six-week leave is up, but emphasized that it’s important to have the option.
“I'm going to support it because I think it's the right thing to do. You know, I just have to go against my gut sometimes and say that my old guy mentality is not right — and this is the right thing to do,” Aliff said.
Councilor Dennis Flores noted that relatively few women have served on Pueblo City Council in the past.
“This is also one of those issues that it's always amazing that there are men making this kind of decision all the time, and not really understanding what females have to go through — not only in having the job but the discomfort of having to sit here for long, long periods of time,” Flores said.
The new policy for elected officials is similar to the parental leave policy for most city employees, City Attorney Carla Sikes told councilors. Departmental directors do not have any parental leave policy, which is also something that Martinez has asked the law department to look into.
The United States is one of a few countries around the world that does not have guaranteed paid maternal leave.
Anna Lynn Winfrey covers politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. She can be reached at awinfrey@gannett.com. Please support local news at subscribe.chieftain.com.
This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo city councilors approve up to six weeks for parental leave
