Should Glendale City Council members have term limits? Voters will decide in April
The City Council on Tuesday voted to place a measure on the ballot in the April 4 election that would limit the number of terms for council members to three consecutive terms, or 12 years in office.
If approved, the amendment to the city charter, which currently imposes no restrictions on the number of terms a council member can serve, would enact a strict consecutive three-term limit.
The unanimous vote was held after some wrangling between Councilmen Zareh Sinanyan and Vartan Gharpetian over whether the rules should allow a council member who is termed out after three consecutive terms to return to office after a four-year absence. That alternative was dismissed.
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There was also a brief last-minute attempt by Mayor Paula Devine to ask the council to instead consider placing a two-term limit on the ballot, but Devine eventually acquiesced to the three-term limit.
The City Council also decided Tuesday not to appoint anyone to fill the vacant seat on council — left open by Councilwoman Laura Friedman’s election to State Assembly in November — until voters can decide on a replacement in the April election.
Friedman’s success among voters left two other seats open, one on the Metropolitan Water District’s board of directors and the other, on the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.
City Council selected Sinanyan to serve on the water board of directors and Gharpetian to be on the airport authority.
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Jeff Landa, jeff.landa@latimes.com
Twitter: @JeffLanda
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