WESTMINSTER : Voters to Decide on Term Limits, Districts

Voters will get the chance in November to shape future city councils by deciding whether to limit the terms of elected officials and whether council members should represent specific districts.

The proposal setting term limits requires council members and the mayor to take a two-year break from office once they have served eight consecutive years. Council terms normally last four years; mayoral terms last two years.

Voters will also decide whether they want to create City Council districts, whose residents would then elect council members representing their particular neighborhoods. Under the current at-large system, City Council members are elected by the city as a whole.

If that measure is approved in November, the city would be divided into four districts and individuals running for the council must live in the area they represent. The mayor would continue to be elected by the city as a whole.

Last week, the council decided by a 4-1 vote to place the two resolutions on this year’s ballot. Councilman Craig Schweisinger cast the dissenting vote.

Schweisinger said he had problems with the wording of the resolution on term limits but not with its intent. But, he said, he did not favor dividing the city into districts.

“I don’t think this city is large enough for districts,” Schweisinger argued before voting. He added that the process of electing a representative from each district would prove more expensive because it requires that a different ballot be printed for each area.

Although Mayor Charles V. Smith cast a vote in favor of getting the resolution on the ballot, he did so only to have the opportunity to argue against establishing districts. Smith volunteered to write the opposing argument that will appear on November ballots.