Arlington term limits group nears proposal, as initiative leader makes case elsewhere
Arlington’s Term Limits Advisory Committee had its meeting agenda cut short by half an hour after one of the leaders behind the 2018 initiative backed out of making his case.
Nevertheless, the committee voted Wednesday to reconvene Thursday after hours of public comment, discussion and voting surrounding the committee. The majority of the group favored leaving term lengths for elected officials, while extending the limits on consecutive terms from three to four.
City Council members formed the group of volunteer members to field input and explore options other than the limits approved in 2018: three two-year terms for council members and the mayor. The group will recommend to the council whether to leave the restrictions alone or make changes, which the council could place on a future ballot.
Some committee members and public speakers have asked in previous meetings whether the term limits discussion was rushed in order to put the decision before voters in November, possibly paving the way for Mayor Jeff Williams to run for a fourth term.
City leaders and committee moderators steered members away from similar comments, including comments from Sinikka Dickerson, who said the group’s formation was a disservice to voters.
“The reason why we are here today is that the mayor was a sore loser along with the rest of the council,” she said
As the 24-person committee fine-tuned recommendations, members grew confused as some jumped ahead of the group’s discussion or were uncertain what how their line-by-line votes applied to the final decision.
“I think we have mental exhaustion on all sides,” Ray Whitworth told his fellow committee members minutes before the group convened.
The group was supposed to hear from Zack Maxwell, Arlington Voice publisher and part of the team behind the 2018 initiative to put the term limits, among the strictest in the state, on the ballot. However, Maxwell declined to speak after city officials told him he could not present some of his prepared slides.
Officials told Maxwell to stick to the agenda topic he was assigned, which comprised the events leading up to the election and nothing more. Instead of presenting to the council, he streamed his full presentation on the Arlington Voice Facebook page.
Maxwell was also denied appointment to the committee after council members questioned his demeanor and ability to work with others.
“I have been nothing more than an opposition voice in this community,” Maxwell said during the stream. “If that is a crime in democracy, I’m guilty as charged.
“And if the answer is to deliberately suppress opposition voices through dog-and-pony-show committees, then democracy dies at the feet of this committee’s decision.”
Committee chair Chad Bates said Kelly Curnutt, the group’s appointed presenter who was supposed to rebut Maxwell’s presentation, did not present either out of fairness. Curnutt was one of 28 speakers to call into the virtual meeting.
“A verifiable fact is the political stability of a government matters,” he said, advocating for another choice to pose to the public.
Echoing comments speakers have made in previous meetings, the majority who commented questioned the necessity, urgency and efficacy of the committee. The group was formed less than two years after nearly 63% of 98,000 voters approved the city’s limit on three two-year terms. The city has also accepted applications for the group since October 2018.
“Trying to rewrite what we consented to is absolutely appalling,” said Kelly Canon.
After hearing familiar arguments for and against alternatives to the combined 12-year lifetime limit, the committee went line by line on term-limit specifications, then term lengths. All committee members except for Nikkie Hunter, Cindy Foote and Yen Nguyen voted to keep the terms to two years long.
The majority of members favored proposing consecutive terms and a cooling-off period, or time in which someone could not seek office. Those not in favor of adding the period include: Billy Wilson, Andy Prior, Rob Cronin, Whitworth, Syed Hassan, Gwenda Hicks and Dickerson.
Whitworth, Bryan Acosta, Prior, Hicks, Hassan, Dickerson, Wilson and Cronin voted in favor of enacting term limits.
Officials recorded majority and minority opinions, all of which they said would be included in the final report to City Council.
The committee was formed from a July 7 resolution and appointed by Mayor Jeff Williams and City Council members. Charged with delivering alternative term limit recommendations, if any, in August, the group has spent nearly 12 hours over the last two-and-a-half weeks fielding public input and searching for a balance between allowing experienced public servants to advance city interests and offering new leadership to take office.
Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. meeting will be broadcast on television and online. Residents can comment during the public meeting by signing up online.
