Lake Forest voters will decide whether to eliminate lifetime term limits for councilmembers.
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The City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to put a measure on the November ballot that would allow future termed-out councilmembers to run again after a four-year break.
Lake Forest voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in 2018 that restricted councilmembers to a lifetime limit of two consecutive four-year terms.
This new ballot measure, if approved in November, would get rid of that limit, giving councilmembers who have already completed two terms the opportunity to serve again if elected after a “four-year cooling-off period”. It would not, however, extend the two-term limit that councilmembers can serve consecutively.
The cost of placing the proposed measure on the Nov. 3 ballot is $8,500, city staff said.
A handful of residents spoke against removing the lifetime limits for councilmembers, arguing that it impedes the election of new and diverse representatives to the dais.
“You’ve served your term,” one resident said. “We appreciate these years that you’ve put into it, but it’s time to allow other volunteers … other people in our communities to come forward and serve.”
Councilmember Mark Tettemer, who pledged to not run for another term, said fresh faces do not guarantee quality governance and voters should have the final say in who represents them.
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“We have term limits: they’re called elections,” Tettemer said. “If you don’t like anybody, don’t vote for them and campaign for their opposition.”
Tettemer noted that the City Council operated smoothly without term limits from 1989 to 2014, when voters approved an ordinance that required councilmembers who had served three consecutive terms to take a two-year hiatus before running again for office.
Several councilmembers said they have no intention or desire to return to the dais after they’re termed out, but supported getting rid of term limits because they found it unfair.
Councilmember Scott Voigts said the ballot measure simply gives experienced former councilmembers “the option” to impact local government should their successors take it “in the wrong direction,” adding that most Orange County cities do not impose a lifetime term limit.
“There will be new candidates that come on, and if there are people that are running the city well, I don’t feel like any of us have a longing to come back,” Voigts said.
The City Council first discussed reforming the term limit ordinance at a meeting earlier in the year, and the idea was similarly met with stiff public pushback then. The council had considered an alternative proposal from Voigts to let councilmembers serve three consecutive terms instead of two.
In a separate discussion Tuesday night, the council voted against increasing the salaries of city councilmembers and commissioners. The idea also faced strong public opposition.
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