County Council Sending Term Limit Extension to the Voters
I somehow found myself in Sumner tonight for the Pierce County Council meeting. Why? Because I wanted to hear about term limits …
A proposal was on the table to send to the voters in 2009 a charter amendment that would extend term limits from two to three consecutive 4-year terms. The proposal also would move the elections of certain county offices to odd-numbered years.
The conversation was a bit disjointed as each councilmember offered various justifications for each part of the proposal. Term limits. Odd years. Term limits. Odd years. Odd limits. Term years. Wait … Anyway, when it was mentioned that lumping the issues together seemed to be inappropriate for the ballot, it was pointed out that they’re both election related – so it’s fine.
The only public comment was minimal – just one citizen. We were surprised that more folks didn’t have opinions on this issue.
By a 5-2 vote, we’ll be seeing this on the ballot next year. The two NO votes came from Councilmembers Farrell and Goings.
We recorded the meeting. We’ll check it out and see if it’s worth sharing … tomorrow.
Previously on Exit133
2 comments
D DavidS December 3, 2008
The only public comment was minimal – just one citizen. We were surprised that more folks didn’t have opinions on this issue.
That’s probably because everyone expected the council members to act in self interest. It’s too bad we’ve become so cynical about our politicians.
Besides, the heavy Democratic turnout this year scared some Republicans into believing they have a better shot in off-years. It’s interesting that only two of the councilmembers with a (D) voted against it.
D Dick Dorsett December 4, 2008
Too funny. Our “progressive” D’s voting against letting the voters have a say on the nature of the county charter.