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By Alex Riggins
(October 9, 2013 (La Mesa)--The La Mesa City Council voted 5-0 on Wednesday to postpone a decision on whether to place a measure on the November 2014 ballot regarding term limits for the mayor and council members. The item, introduced by Vice Mayor Kristine Alessio, is the first step towards imposing limits on the number of consecutive terms that councilmembers could hold office.
If placed on the ballot, the measure would be voted on in next year’s general election and would limit the mayor and councilmembers to serving no more than three consecutive terms. Those who served three terms would then be eligible to serve again following at least a two-year absence.
“We’re now faced with name-recognition rather than merit is what seems to get people elected,” said Alessio, a first-term councilmember who was elected last year when Dave Allan did not run for reelection. “I’ve come to the conclusion that I think people need to decide whether they want term limits in La Mesa. It just makes sense.”
It is a significant issue in a city where Art Madrid has served as Mayor since 1990, and since that time no incumbent member of the council has lost an election in which he or she ran for reelection. Only four times during that span have new councilmembers been elected – 2000, 2002, 2006 and 2012 – when incumbent members decided not to run for reelection.
As written, the proposed ballot measure would appear to apply only to future terms, so no current officials would be excluded from running for reelection initially.
Councilmember Ernie Ewin motioned that the item be decided at the next council meeting when more information regarding the impact and results of term limits in other cities will be made available by the city staff.
A majority of the public who commented on the issue supported putting the measure on the ballot. Russell Buxley, Kevin George, David Smyle, Craig Maxwell, Bill Jaynes and Scott Kidwell all spoke in favor of letting the voters decide whether to impose term limits.
Gloria Carrillo and Kristin Kjaero spoke in opposition of the limits.
“We have term limits – it’s decided by the voters of La Mesa,” said Carrillo. She said that if voters don’t want an elected official in office, they would simply not elect them to another term. She also spoke of the value of experience on the council.
Kjaero suggested that term limits could harm La Mesa’s ability to wield influence on SANDAG due to SANDAG’s rewarding seniority among its elected officials who are members.
"If it were any other field or profession, we would not be arguing that experience is a negative thing. There is a lot to be gained by having experience," she said. "You build connections. If you look at SANDAG, there's more than enough good projects out there, competing for a limited amount of funds. And the way you are at the head of the line is by building up experience. You go to the end of the line if you keep turning over people constantly. It's the reality – I don't like that we have to beg for our tax money back, but we do. And we have to compete. And the connections that people build, over time, are what enable this city to do as well as it has so far."
Smyle said that it’s been 23 years since the voters of La Mesa have voted out an incumbent, and that three consecutive four-year terms is plenty of time for a councilmember to gain the necessary experience.
“If term limits are good enough for the president of the United States, they ought to be good enough for La Mesa,” Smyle said. “I would encourage you to come forward with term limits on the ballot for 2014.”
City Manager David Witt said that he and his staff will try to gain as much information that they can regarding term limits in other cities before the next council meeting, but the issue could be pushed back even further.
The council also voted 5-0 to begin to initiate a zoning ordinance that would allow citizens to own chickens in residential neighborhoods.
Councilmember Ewin introduced the item and the council decided that the restrictions should be changed, though work will have to be done by the city staff and the planning commission to determine exactly how to change the zoning ordinance.
The council also voted 3-2 in a motion that will not fund Mayor Madrid’s travel to Sacramento in November for a meeting of the Local Government Commission. Alessio, Ewin and Ruth Sterling all voiced concerns that the $439 cost of the trip would outweigh any benefits gained by Madrid’s attendance. Madrid later indicated he will attend at his own expense.
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