Bangor voters to decide on term limits

BANGOR – City councilors voted 7-2 Monday night to send a pair of charter amendments involving term limits for elected officials to citywide referendum in the November 2003 elections.

One amendment would extend the number of consecutive three-year terms councilors can serve from two to three. The other would, for the first time, impose term limits on school committee members. Members of both bodies could seek re-election, if they so desire, after taking a year off.

City Solicitor Norman Heitmann said the new provisions, if approved by voters, would take effect for city councilors after the November 2008 election; for school committee members, they would take effect after the members had served three terms.

The issue of term limits generated some lively debate among city councilors. It also drew comment from nine residents, all opposed to term limits.

During their deliberations, councilors weighed the pros and cons of limits. Proponents said limits resulted in turnover, which helped ensure fresh ideas. Many opponents countered that the limits deprived the city of benefiting from the experience and institutional knowledge offered by of veteran members.

Regardless of where they fell on the issue, however, most councilors agreed that both amendments should be sent to voters. Many also said the school committee ought to be subject to the same standard as city councilors where the limits are concerned.

Councilor Michael Crowley was one of several elected officials who acknowledged feeling conflicted about term limits. He said he probably wouldn’t have run for a council seat had there not been an opening created when an incumbent termed out.

He said, however, that term limits were an “artificial” means for ensuring turnover. The real term limits occur in the voting booth, he said. Voters unhappy with an elected official’s performance have the option of voting that official out of office.

Councilor Gerry Palmer favored going to three terms, but no longer than that. He said the city would benefit from the institutional knowledge offered by veteran officials, especially when it came from such long-term projects as replacing the city’s aging auditorium.

Among the opponents of term limits who addressed the council Monday were school committee members Christine Szal and newcomer Phyllis Guerette.

Szal noted that the school committee already had considerable turnover. She said 16 residents had served two terms or fewer since 1986.

Guerette said the city’s schools were a “real economic boon to Bangor” in that they helped attract business and families to the community.

“I don’t think [term limits] would help us in any way,” she said.

Also during the discussion, Councilors Dan Tremble and David Nealley took issue with a Bangor Daily News editorial published Saturday concluding there was little evidence showing term limits led to better government, particularly where the school committee is concerned, and urging councilors not to “burden” the committee with the limits.

Nealley was among those who noted that the “power of incumbency” made it difficult to dislodge veteran members

Mayor Nichi Farnham and councilors Annie Allen, Richard Greene, Nealley, Palmer, John Rohman and Tremble voted to send the amendments to referendum. Councilors Frank Farrington and Crowley voted in the minority.