By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
An ordinance that would have limited the members of Glasgow’s legislative body to four terms, or a total eight years, consecutively in the position was defeated Monday after the only person who voted in favor of it was the one who asked for it to be drafted.
City Attorney Rich Alexander, noting that Councilwoman Marna Kirkpatrick had “instructed” him to prepare the proposed new local law, which briefly stated, “No person shall be eligible to serve as a member of the Glasgow City Council who has served as a member of the City Council for 4 (four) previous consecutive terms. This provision shall not apply to incumbents serving at the time of the adoption of this ordinance.”
It would have taken effect upon passage, which would have required approval on two readings, this being the first, and publication.
Alexander, though, said it does not conflict with state law, which dictates the two-year length of the terms and how the method of elections can be changed, e.g. making a nonpartisan one into a partisan race.
He specified that the ordinance, despite the wording in the document itself, would not “grandfather in” any of the existing council members or exempt any of them from the new rule
“What it does do is it says that everyone taking office as a city council member January of 2025 will be subject to term limits, and each person starts with a clean slate,” Alexander said.
He said, as an example, if someone is re-elected this year to begin a new term in 2025 and that person had already served three terms – six years – he or she would not be limited to just that one additional term. Rather they could serve up to four new terms, with the first beginning in 2025.
He said that because it specified “consecutive” terms, if someone sat out one or more elections, he or she could then be eligible to be elected and serve another four consecutive terms.
“I think those were perhaps some of the questions that were out there, so I wanted to clarify that point,” Alexander said.
Kirkpatrick, who is in her eighth year on the council, made the motion to get it on the floor and Councilman Max Marion seconded, with Councilman Terry Bunnell kicking off the discussion by asking Kirkpatrick what the motivation was for putting forward the proposed ordinance.
“If you want me to be completely honest,” she replied, “I’ve had people call me and ask me to put it on the agenda.”
Bunnell said the council seats are up for election every two years, so in that sense, their terms are already limited. He said he believed the ordinance was unreasonable and unnecessary and could exclude qualified candidates.
Councilman Joe Trigg said he had proposed similar measures himself before, but he now thinks he concurs with Bunnell.
“It is hard to get folks to run for office, and if the community is concerned about the length of time that folks serve who run for office, then they should elect somebody else,” Trigg said.
He discussed some other offices where people had held the position for a long time.
“I believe that the system is designed, like Terry said, that if someone is not doing their job, that he won’t be re-elected, and if they continue to be elected, that means obviously folks think they are,” he said.
Marion said he could kind of see it both ways.
He said they are the voice of the people, and voters choose who they want at the polls.
“The only other thing that I think we could do is, you know, if you want to put that on the ballot for the citizens to vote, you know, we could do that,” Marion said.
With no further discussion, the vote was called and, after a couple of seconds, Kirkpatrick voiced her lone “aye” vote.
Of the current nine council members, only two will have been part of the group for less than eight years at the end of this calendar year – Bunnell, who is in his third term, and Max Marion, who is in his first term. Three – James Neal, Freddie Norris and Marlin Witcher – will have been in office 16 consecutive years at the end of this term. Norris had also served for a decade in the 1980s, having moved away and returned in the interim, he said.
He told Glasgow News 1 before Monday’s meeting began that he has announced to his family that he would not run again after this year’s election, so he will be departing the council either at the end of this year or at the end of 2026.
Chasity Lowery and Patrick Gaunce are in their 10th years. Joe Trigg is in his sixth consecutive year, but he had served twice before for four years each, with the gaps occurring because he was seeking other elected offices at those times.
– NOTE: Coverage of other matters addressed during the meeting, including a real estate purchase, will be provided in a separate GN1 report Tuesday.
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