LA PALMA : Suit Challenging Term Limits Filed

Two-term Councilman Richard T. Polis sued the city Wednesday, four hours after the city clerk refused to accept his nomination papers to run for a third term.

A voter-approved law enacted in 1982 limits council members to two consecutive terms.

Polis filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court to challenge the term limit. He is the first council member to try to run for a third term since the law has been in place, said City Manager Pamela Gibson, who also serves as city clerk.

In claiming that La Palma’s law is illegal, Polis cited earlier court rulings prohibiting cities from establishing term limits unless the city has an adopted charter. Charters allow cities to adopt laws that disagree with state laws.

Most California cities, including La Palma, are considered “general law” cities because they lack separate charters.

Because of past legal challenges over term limits, La Palma officials have questioned the legality of the city’s term-limit law, Gibson said. But the city attorney has said that since the law was enacted by a citizen vote, the council does not have the authority to overturn it. The matter can only be decided by a court, City Atty. Joel D. Kuperberg said earlier this year.

Gibson said she decided she had to honor the city law and refuse to accept Polis’ nomination papers. She said she knew Polis intended to sue the city to decide the validity of the two-term limit.

Besides La Palma, six other cities in Orange County have council term limits. All but one, however, are chartered cities and are not restricted by state election law.

The other non-chartered city, Villa Park, had a similar circumstance arise two years ago when a two-term council member ran for reelection. Villa Park took a different path and chose to accept his nomination and place his name on the ballot in violation of the term-limit law, City Manager Fred Maley said.

The issue died, though, after the former councilman, Jim Fasbender, lost the election. Nobody since has challenged the legality of the city term-limit law, which also was passed by voters, Maley said.

Council members in Orange, a general law city, recently discussed adopting term limits. But City Atty. Robert Franks warned the council that term limits probably would be illegal. “I came to the conclusion that a general law city was not permitted to impose term limits, but that they could put it on the ballot as an advisory measure that would be non-binding,” Franks said. “It would at least give the electorate a chance to give their opinion.”

Polis’ lawsuit is scheduled to be heard July 29 in Orange County Superior Court. Judge William F. Rylaarsdam said he will issue a ruling before Aug. 7, the final date for Polis to be accepted as a candidate on the Nov. 3 ballot, Polis said.

Voters in Newport Beach and Anaheim will consider term limits on the November ballot. Both cities are chartered cities and may adopt their own election requirements.