NEWPORT BEACH : Term-Limit Petitions Still Need Signatures

A residents’ group that is trying to win supporters for a ballot initiative to limit City Council terms says it has collected about 5,000 signatures, about 1,500 short of the total needed to qualify for the November election.

The group plans to stake out areas near polling places in the city today to collect more signatures from voters in hopes of reaching the group’s goal of obtaining 7,000 names by Friday.

“We are right on target,” said Maria Hedges, campaign manager for Newport Residents to Limit City Council Terms. Hedges’ husband, John W. Hedges, is a first-term council member.

Currently, council members can run for an unlimited number of four-year terms, and the change would limit that to two consecutive four-year terms. Council members would then need to sit out one term before being eligible to run again.

The group needs 6,504 signatures, which is 15% of the city’s registered voters, by June 18 to qualify for the November ballot. But members said when the group formed about a month ago that they hoped to get 9,000 signatures to show the community’s support for the proposal.

Three of the seven council members have held seats for longer than eight years, and two of them face opposition this fall. However, if the proposed change is approved by voters, it would not take effect until the next round of City Council elections in 1994.