ELECTIONS / TORRANCE PROPOSITIONS : Ballot Measures Could Shake Up the Way City Hall Does Business : Voters will decide term limits for council members, and whether the city clerk and treasurer should be elected or appointed.

City government in Torrance could undergo sweeping changes if three local propositions are passed in next week’s election, including one that would impose term limits for City Council members.

Proposition W asks voters whether the elected city clerk should be converted to an appointive post filled by the City Council; Proposition X similarly asks whether the elected position of treasurer should be changed to a post filled by the council, and Proposition Y asks whether council members should be limited to two consecutive terms of office.

If Proposition Y passes, Torrance would join Redondo Beach in the South Bay in limiting the number of times a person can hold office. Under the measure, a council member would have to sit out an election after serving two consecutive terms.

“We see it as a change that is appropriate at this time,” said Harvey Horwich, vice chairman of a council-appointed committee that drew up the ballot measures. “There is a perception that it is very difficult to defeat an incumbent. (Proposition Y) is an attempt to give other people who are well-qualified and don’t have unlimited resources available an equal opportunity to be elected.”

The drive to limit terms of office and have an appointed treasurer gained momentum last year after the city lost $6.2 million in an investment scandal.

The funds had been entrusted to Steven D. Wymer, an Orange County financier who last month pleaded guilty to securities fraud involving Torrance and dozens of other agencies across the country.

City Treasurer Thomas C. Rupert came under heavy criticism for investing city funds with Wymer, but there have been no allegations of wrongdoing against Rupert, who is on industrial leave.

Marie Rupert, the treasurer’s wife, wrote the ballot argument against turning the post into an appointive job and said the Wymer scandal would have occurred regardless of whether the treasurer was appointed or elected.

“There’s nothing you can do about a crook,” she said, noting that dozens of government agencies were deceived by Wymer.

Ron Littlefair, chairman of the committee that wrote the ballot measures, said the treasurer’s job has grown increasingly complex and sophisticated, responsible for overseeing Torrance’s $68-million investment portfolio. Yet, he noted, the existing charter requires only that a person be a registered voter for 30 days before filing for election to the job.

“It’s really a very technical job, demanding certain types of technical skills,” Littlefair said. “These are changing times. . . . It requires a different kind of person.”

Likewise, Littlefair said the demands of the clerk’s position have also outgrown current requirements for the job.

But former Councilman Timothy Mock said appointing the city clerk and treasurer is an invitation to corruption. Mock said an appointed clerk, responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws, would be reluctant to fine the council members responsible for his or her appointment.

“Can you fine your boss, especially when your job is the balance?” Mock asked. “I think there’s a conflict right there.

“I think the voters can decide whether the person is qualified or not to be the clerk,” said Mock, who wrote the ballot argument against Proposition W. “I think it’s sort of anti-democratic to think the voters are not bright enough to decide those issues.”

City Clerk John Bramhall disagreed.

“Whether elected or appointed, the laws are going to be fairly administered,” Bramhall said. “The ethics of the position require it.”