Arlington voters to decide length of term limits for city officials in November
Arlington voters can decide Nov. 8 if they want to lengthen mayor and city council term limits.
The Arlington City Council approved a special election Aug. 16 to place two amendments to the city charter on the Nov. 8 ballot. They would extend the term limits for mayor and city council from two to three years.
This election comes just four years after roughly 62% of voters approved term limits in 2018.
Larry Fowler, an Arlington attorney and one of the driving forces behind the special election, told the Star-Telegram in a video interview that the two-year limit adopted in 2018 doesn’t give public officials enough time to get anything done.
“If we citizens are going to spend the time to support a candidate, and you know, and they get elected, we want them to have time to actually do what we voted for, which is help run the city,” Fowler said.
Currently the mayor and city council members are limited to three consecutive two-year terms, for a possible total of six years in office.
Fowler likened the current term limits to business employees being trained for six years and then fired.
“It’s just unfair to our elected officials to require them to be, you know, running continually,” he said.
In contrast, Zachary Maxwell, who led the petition to get term limits on the ballot in 2018, called the proposed amendment a “power grab” by city officials and a “backhand” to those who voted for term limits four years ago.
“I think it’s self-serving,” he told the Star-Telegram in a telephone interview.
Fowler said it’s clear from the 2018 election that voters want term limits for city officials, but the only choices on the ballot were three, two-year terms or no term limits at all.
“Now we as citizens have the option of deciding do we like three, two-year terms or does three, three-year terms make more sense,” Fowler said.
