STANDISH – A group of Standish petitioners, including former long-serving town councilor Lou Stack, is calling for Town Council term limits.
The group’s proposed charter amendment would limit councilors to a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms. After serving the two terms, councilors would have to wait three years in order to run again. The amendment does not propose a lifetime limit on council terms. The amendment would also require councilors who were appointed and then elected to a three-year term to step down at the end of the second term.
If approved by voters, the charter amendment would prevent five of the seven sitting councilors from running once their term expires, according to Town Manager Gordon Billington. Wayne Newbegin, who was elected to the council last month, and Steve Nesbitt, who was recently appointed to a one-year, at-large seat, would be able to run again.
Dan Kasprzyk, Walter Wasson, William Napolitano, Gary Lind, and Stack filed an affidavit for a petition to amend the municipal charter on July 17. Starting July 22, the group has 120 days to collect the 804 signatures needed to bring the amendment to a referendum vote. The group hopes to put the amendment before Standish voters at the Nov. 4 election. According to Town Clerk Mary Chapman, the amendment requires that at least 1,205 voters, or 30 percent of the turnout at the last gubernatorial election, participate in the referendum. It could pass with a simple majority, Chapman said. She said the group would need to have the signatures submitted about 45 days before the election to qualify for the November ballot.
Kasprzyk, a member of the SAD 6 Board of Directors who has helped spearhead the effort, as well as recent campaigns including Stop the Bundling and Standish Watchdog Group, said the proposed charter amendment is designed to counter complacency among long-term councilors. It should not be taken as a criticism of sitting councilors, he said.
“When you look at the Town Council, when someone serves in the same period for a long period of time, it’s easy to become complacent in your role,” Kasprzyk said. “For that reason it’s always good to have a fresh set of eyes.”
Newbegin is a member of the Standish Watchdog Group, which calls for transparency in town government. If the charter amendment passes, Kasprzyk suggested, councilors who are forced to take a break could serve on the town’s budget committee or the SAD 6 board.
“There’s no malice for anyone that’s currently a council member, and absolutely I encourage them to run for a different seat on any of the other elected positions with the town,” he said.
Stack declined to comment on the effort.
Councilor Lynn Olson, whose second term will expire in 2016, said the proposed charter change struck her as an overreaction.
“If you sprained your ankle, would you cut off your leg?” Olson said. “To automatically say, ‘We’re going to change the charter without a dialogue,’ is a little disingenuous, especially from a group that feels communication is important. A charter change is serious. Wouldn’t it be better to judge candidates on their experience and their potential to serve versus a blanket change that eliminates opportunities?”
Olson said that the town is already struggling to recruit volunteers and that the proposed amendment would discourage residents from seeking office.
“It sounds to me like this is a solution looking for a problem,” Olson said. “Perhaps these people just don’t like individuals on the current council.”
“It’s not an issue as far as I’m concerned,” Olson added. “But Dan is having a great time in the spotlight.”
Billington said that he was not aware of any previous citizen-initiated efforts to modify the Standish municipal charter.
According to Jeff Herman, the director of state and federal relations for the Maine Municipal Association, a handful of Maine communities have term limits for municipal officers, including Augusta, Bangor, and Falmouth. In 2000, Herman read through the roughly 80 municipal charters in Maine, nine of which contained term limits.
“I think it’s fair to say that it’s not the norm,” Herman said. “There are 492 municipalities, and we’re talking about nine that have term limits in the entire municipal universe.”
Billington said the change would diminish the quality of institutional memory among town councilors.
“I personally think it would be very disruptive to town government if it did pass,” Billington said. “I think it’s a well-functioning system now with councilors who are able to serve multiple terms gaining (institutional) memory in town governance, which affords a much smoother management of town affairs.”
“Lou Stack was a member of the committee, as well, which I found interesting, as well – a former councilor who served three terms suggested this,” Billington said.
Kasprzyk noted that the town’s election structure prevents a situation where the entire council could be voted out at one election.
“The town charter has elections intentionally for institutional memory, and that’s why every Town Council member has a staggered seat,” he said. “You don’t have an election where everybody’s kicked off the board in one fell swoop.”
A CLOSER LOOK
The proposed charter amendment to impose term limits on the Standish Town Council, which would be added to section 202 of the charter, reads:
“No council member shall seek reelection to the Town Council for more than one additional consecutive term. No person who has served either four or more successive years, or has been elected to two successive terms on the council, shall be eligible for either appointment or election to the council within 36 months of his/her last serving as a member. The provisions of this amendment shall apply to all appointments or elections, whether for district or at large seats.”
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