Lake Forest to explore extending term limits for councilmembers

Lake Forest voters, in a lopsided victory, approved a ballot measure in 2018 that limited its elected City Council members to two consecutive four-year terms total.

The initiative passed with an overwhelming 82.5% of the vote.

But after eight years, Councilmember Scott Voigts wants the city to revisit the reform.

At the end of the Dec. 16 Lake Forest City Council meeting, Voigts, who presided as mayor for a final time, called for a future agenda item to explore rolling back the term limits established by the ballot measure.

“There have been many cities in the state and in the county that are bringing up revisions to term limits,” he said. “I’d ask the city attorney if they could look into that for us.”

Councilmember Doug Cerbo supported Voigts’ call to put a discussion on term limits in 2026. He backed a debate on extending them to three consecutive four-year terms, but Voigt wanted to leave specifics to City Atty. Mal Richardson.

Richardson did not respond to a TimesOC request for comment regarding how soon a discussion may come back before council.

Voters in La Palma passed a ballot measure in 2024, amid district election reform, that allows its councilmembers to serve three consecutive four-year terms. Laguna Beach, which does not have term limits for councilmembers, will decide a ballot measure in November that could impose them.

Lake Forest voters passed a ballot measure in 2014 that required elected officials to take a two-year hiatus after serving three consecutive terms, a move that would allow members of the council to potentially serve in office for 24 out of 26 years, if reelected. Four years later, voters further restricted their tenures to eight years over two terms.

When the City Council met on Jan. 6, resident Buck Reed spoke out against any extension of term limits in the city.

Reed criticized an extension of term limits as a potentially “anti-democratic” reform that would give the advantage to incumbents.

“When terms are limited, it forces the local voter to choose from a brand new slate of candidates,” Reed told the council. “It puts pressure on them to actually make an informed decision rather than being governed by inertia. That can’t be anything but positive for our city.”

Voigts served his first term on council in 2010. He won reelection in 2014.

After Lake Forest transitioned to district elections, Voigts, who ran unopposed, returned to council in 2022 to represent District 3.