Should Term Limits be Implemented on Local Political Office?

A discussion on how long local elected politicians can hold any one office was introduced to members of the city council on Tuesday, where councilman Fleming suggested imposing a limit of three consecutive terms for each elected position.

The suggestion stems from questions raised by members of his district, Fleming said, who have shown an interest in having such limitations set in place for the future.

Council members and the mayor engaged in a brief, eight-minute discussion on the matter, each voicing their piece, all of whom, Fleming excluded, were opposed to the proposition.

“I’m just asking the council to let the public decide this,” Fleming said shortly before lunchtime Tuesday. “What I’d like to do is set a term limit up of three terms for any one position, consecutive terms. It could be as little as five years or as many as six years, but that’s for any one position, so you could technically serve for six years as a councilperson and six years as the mayor.”

Moving down the line from left to right, each councilmember stated their opposition, while citing the public vote as an indicator of who they want in office.

“I think that there are a lot of discussion occurring at the federal level that have maybe only some relevance to the local level,” councilwoman Grindstaff began. “I certainly don’t want to try to bring every discussion that has some federal implication to the local level. I think that local government is very different from our federal system. It’s very responsive.”

Grindstaff stated that council races are not big-money political efforts where individuals raise over $1,000 to push their names. She said it isn’t as if members of the council are buying a seat. 

Councilman Don Vardeman agreed with Grindstaff, adding that serving on the council is not a big-money venture and that members are certainly not in it for the money. His statement was echoed by Mayor Dwain Morrison, who expressed a similar lack of monetary motivation.

“Well, I will admit as 10 years as a city council member drawing $40 a month—and now as mayor I draw 50—I have built a, I am a multi-hundred-aire,” Morrison said. “I see no reason for term limits. If people don’t want us, I guarantee they will vote against us.”

Charlotte Farmer, also opposed, called the length of city projects to the council’s attention, effectively saying that a lack of expertise caused by a rotating door would prove problematic in the long run.

“The real reason I ran this last time…why have term limits?” she said. “Why, if there’s not a depth of knowledge up here as to what we’ve been doing, it’s kind of scary to think that if you set term limits staff really runs everything and makes all the decisions. Why do you need a council? Why restrict them with term limits if their district, their people, are putting them back in office every time? They make that decision without term limits every election.”

Silvas, whose term would have ended at the last election, said he had contemplated not running, but was encouraged to do so by the support of the members of his district. “That reassured me…” he said.

No decision was made on the issue on Tuesday, however council did discuss the possibility of taking a look at the city charter, which hasn’t been updated since 2010.

The discussion will rest with the community, who will have to make their wants and needs known if a term limit is indeed something sought by more than just a few.