Advocates of Term Limits Plan Ballot Drive

A grass-roots initiative campaign to limit the terms of Glendale City Council members will be launched within a few weeks, former Mayor Jerold Milner said.

Volunteers hope to gather the signatures of 15,000 voters to place a measure on the Nov. 3 ballot that would limit council members to two four-year terms. The effort is the latest in a series of drives nationwide to force career politicians out of office.

A steering committee, led by Milner and Duane deCroupet, an optometrist and former planning commissioner, will meet this week to organize the campaign, Milner said.

Proponents will need the signatures of 10,053 voters--15% of the 67,020 voters who were registered in the last general election in October, 1990, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder.

The group has until Aug. 7 to qualify the measure for the ballot. Milner said that seeking 15,000 signatures will allow for a margin of error. He estimated the cost of the campaign at less than $5,000.

The committee was formed last week after Milner met with about 20 community leaders to determine support for the campaign. “The consensus was that they were all willing to put some time and effort into it, which I found very reassuring,” Milner said.

Other members of the steering committee include Mary Ann Prelock, a homeowner-activist who campaigned unsuccessfully for the council last year; developer Salvatore Gangi, and attorneys Dick Marston and John Schock.

Milner said the committee has not decided whether the proposed term limits should be applied to current council members.

The terms of three council members will expire in April, 1993: Mayor Carl Raggio, serving his second term; Ginger Bremberg, in her third term, and Dick Jutras, in his first term. Milner, elected to the council in 1983, stepped down last year after serving two terms.

Opponents, including Bremberg, maintain that limits are not needed in local government because officeholders can be recalled easily.