Nudity in Pierce Co. city leader’s Zoom background sparks backlash over meetings
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Orting faced backlash after a Zoom meeting showed a council member’s nude family member.
- Council minutes show frequent virtual attendance and several absences in 2025–2026.
- Mayor will propose discussing tighter virtual-attendance rules; council will decide.
The Orting City Council’s virtual attendance policies are under scrutiny, with some calling for the city to kick Zoom to the curb.
During the April 1 study session, council member and deputy mayor Jeffrey Sproul attended the meeting through Zoom. About 11 minutes into the meeting, a naked person was seen walking behind Sproul, despite his background being blurred.
The News Tribune reached out to Sproul but did not receive a response. Sproul has served on the council since 2024, and his term expires on Dec. 31, 2027.
Scott Drennen, mayor of Orting, told The News Tribune that Sproul was on a cruise ship at the time, and the person was a family member.
“I know that Council Member Sproul is very embarrassed by what happened, but his (family member) was even more so embarrassed, and it was an accidental moment,” Drennen said. “She was unaware that he was in a meeting when it occurred.”
Drennen said the city has since blurred the family member from the footage of the meeting on the city’s website and Facebook page. The city released a statement on April 3.
“The City of Orting was unaware until this afternoon of a brief embarrassing moment of an unclothed person in the background of a councilmember who was attending the April 1st council study session virtually,” the city wrote in a news release on its Facebook page. “None of the staff or members of the community attending the meeting caught this moment.”
The News Tribune asked Drennen how the incident went undetected for two days.
“I just know that when you’re in a virtual meeting, you’re trying to monitor three or four or five people’s individual screens up above the council dais, and so you’re focusing on the conversations that are happening,” Drennen said. “That went on in the background, I didn’t see it when it occurred, and so yeah, I was embarrassed. I was surprised and embarrassed when I found out that had happened.”
Later in the statement, the city said it takes the event seriously and “will be taking measures to investigate it as well as create additional guard rails around the virtual attendance at our meetings.”
The incident has prompted backlash from residents who say they want to see council members attend meetings in person. Many comments on the city’s post cited concerns about technical issues holding up the meeting, security issues, and the loss of an in-person connection between council members and their constituents.
“They need to be in person, they need to be showing up, they need to not be absent,” Tawnya Frasier, an Orting resident who commented on the city’s post, told The News Tribune. “Why did you run if you’re not going to be there and be there for the people?”
How often are council members attending meetings in person?
Voters elected three new council members during the Nov. 4 election: Ed Torres, John Williams and Dale Reed. They also elected Drennen as the new mayor. Sproul, Don Tracy, Stanley Holland and Greg Hogan served on the council last year.
The News Tribune used the city’s meeting minutes and recordings to track Sproul, Tracy, Holland and Hogan’s attendance in 2025. The News Tribune counted every meeting — including regular meetings, special meetings and study sessions — except the Nov. 20 budget retreat, since that meeting happened virtually.
- Sproul: 16 virtual appearances, 0 absences
- Holland: 7 virtual appearances, 8 absences
- Tracy: 5 virtual appearances, 6 absences
- Hogan: 0 virtual appearances, 2 absences
Out of the 33 meetings the council held in 2025, only two had all seven council members in the same room.
There have been eight meetings in 2026 so far. The News Tribune counted the Feb. 25 study session and the Feb. 25 regular meeting as two meetings, despite being back-to-back.
- Sproul: 8 virtual appearances, 0 absences
- Torres: 3 virtual appearances, 1 absence
- Tracy: 2 virtual appearances, 2 absences
- Reed: 4 virtual appearances, 0 absences
- Holland: 2 virtual appearances, 1 absence
- Williams: 1 virtual appearance, 0 absences
Hogan is the only member who has attended all eight meetings in person. There have not been any meetings in 2026 where all council members were in the same room.
The News Tribune reached out to Torres, Tracy, Reed, Holland, Williams and Hogan for comment on council attendance, but did not receive responses.
Drennen confirmed to The News Tribune that Sproul spends a lot of his time traveling, and that many council members also spend time out of state.
“Historically, he’s spent time out of the country, and as a new mayor, I’m not exactly sure of the locations he’s spent time in. I do know he spends time, potentially, in China or abroad,” Drennen said. “We have similar council members right now that snowbird, and they are snowbirding out of state in warmer climates in the winter, and so I think this time of year, you’re seeing more people attend virtually because they’re out of state in a warmer climate.”
Mark Bethune, the interim city administrator, said age could be a factor.
“People who apply to be council members, it’s not unusual that they’re retired people who have the time to put in,” Bethune said. “Given that they’re retired, it’s not unusual to see that kind of behavior and, again, they were elected, so they appealed to the citizens.”
In the Nov. 4 election, Tracy ran for reelection unopposed, while Reed also ran unopposed to replace former deputy mayor Melodi Koenig. During the election on Nov. 7, 2023, Sproul ran unopposed and Hogan, who was running for reelection, was also unopposed.
According to the 2025 budget, the city budgeted $25,200 on council member salaries last year. This comes out to about $3,600 per year for each of the seven council members, or $300 a month. Council positions are considered part-time.
Drennen emphasized the council members stay in regular contact with him and Bethune, staying up to date on what’s happening.
“They maintain their connection to the city, even though they may be somewhere else,” Drennen said.
What does city and state law say about attendance?
Orting first allowed virtual attendance in 2021, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, like many cities across the country.
Drennen said the city still allows virtual participation and currently, there are no limits for how often a council member can attend a meeting virtually.
“Members of the City Council may attend regular meetings by telephone or a video platform,” the municipal code says. “A quorum of the City Council can occur either at the location of the regular meeting, by telephone, or by video platform for the duration of the meetings.”
State law requires the following:
- City/town councils must hold at least one regular meeting a month, with the city determining the times and places. For Orting, meetings are on the second and last Wednesdays of each month, unless it falls on a holiday — then the meeting gets moved to the next non-holiday.
- Councils cannot conduct business unless the majority of council members are present, making up a quorum.
- Council members cannot be absent from more than three meetings in a row without having an excused absence from the council. Otherwise, their position becomes vacant.
- All meetings must be conducted in public, and citizens must have a “reasonable opportunity” to be heard at meetings.
Drennen said he plans to bring up virtual attendance rules at the next council meeting on April 8.
“We will be bringing it forward in the next council meeting to talk a little bit about the optics of virtual meetings and the challenges we have with virtual meetings, and the council will decide if they would like to include that in their rules as council,” Drennen said. “[We want to] reevaluate how effective it is today, how necessary it is, following that we no longer have the need of COVID to dictate virtual attendance.”
The mayor does not have direct control over how the council conducts its meetings, Drennen said, saying he will raise the issue and that the council will decide which rules, if any, it wants to impose on itself.
“I think that it’s important for our representation to be present in the city and in attending our meetings, I think there’s a value to that. You cannot replace the in-person connection that you make in a meeting vs. having a person attend virtually, and then to just be closer in touch with the issues that are in our city,” Drennen said. “It’s something we’re concerned about and we hope, with citizen input, we can kind of get this resolved and have a more reflective council for our community.”
‘The people that vote you in there want you present.’
Frasier told The News Tribune she wants to see new rules that force council members to show up in person.
“If you live in town, you’re like a five-minute drive away,” Frasier said. “I definitely think they need to be residing 12 months out of the year minus a vacation. If they’re going to retire, this isn’t the right fit. If you’re going to retire and be out of the country, out of the state, either one, you’re not fulfilling your obligation to the community.”
Troy West lived in Orting for 53 years and used to serve as a commissioner for the Orting Valley Fire District before it merged into Central Pierce Fire & Rescue. He moved to Texas two years ago. He told The News Tribune that he learned of the controversy last week, and he described what happened during the April 1 study session as “embarrassing.” He said eliminating virtual attendance will prevent incidents like this in the future.
“If you put your commitment 100% to the taxpayers of the city of Orting, you should be there and present, not on a TV screen,” West said.
He said he only supports virtual attendance or absence if a council member is sick or dealing with a family emergency.
“When I was a fire commissioner, if there was a vote that had to be done and I could not be there, for family reasons, they could call me, I could do it over the phone, a phone call away,” West said. “If you can’t be there, I guess, don’t run for the position — because the people that vote you in there want you present.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct some numbers around council member attendance and clarify the separate counting of the Feb. 25 study session and regular meeting.
This story was originally published April 7, 2026 at 12:42 PM.
