It's not the Mayor's job to attend Fresno City Council meetings. He doesn't have a seat on the dais and his interests are represented there by City Manager Andy Souza.
An Autry sighting at a council meeting is so rare in fact that even when he's expected he still can surprise members of his own staff.
On Tuesday, Autry came in the back door and sat down next to Souza so quietly that the city manager didn't notice until he turned to make a comment to Bruce Rudd, who had been in the chair moments earlier.
Souza's double-take at seeing the mayor drew a few laughs from members of the public in the audience, and from the mayor himself.
Autry was in the chamber to cast a vote as part of the Joint Powers Authority. His appearance was interesting enough to distract even former mayoral candidate Barbara Hunt, who had been speaking on every issue.
Instead of commenting on the JPA vote to issue $27 million in bonds for convention center improvements, Hunt told Autry that he needed to back off of comments he made recently about protesting the lack of state and federal support for the Valley on water issues.
"Don't go to jail over water," Hunt said. "We need you here. You need to go out in style."