Second in a series

Re “Term Limits for Council: Immutable or Can Law Change?”

[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]Pondering the perhaps suddenly relevant again question of term limits for City Council members, Andy Weissman, nearing the end of his term, recalled the most recent debate over the contentious subject:

Nearly a decade ago, in his pre-Council days, the two-term Councilman served on the Charter Review Committee.

“We already had term limits in place at the time (dating to the early 1990s), and the question of term limits came up,” Mr. Weissman said.

“There was a discussion over whether to consider changing them. It was determined that we would hold over the discussion until a later date.

“At least one very outspoken member of the Charter Review Committee (an elected former official) said ‘I never will vote for a revised charter if you tamper with term limits.’ He also said ‘Over my dead body.’

“We decided,” said Mr. Weissman, “that it was ,ore important to move forward with unanimity, to revise the entire Charter, than to get distracted by one particular element.”

Speaking 15 months ahead of his own term limits wall, Mr. Weissman, a lawyer who has been deeply, in varied forms, been civically involved for more than three decades, he says, unsurprisingly:

“Term limits are a topic worth having a discussion about.”

Councilman Jeff Cooper revived the community discussion of term limits two days ago when he told the newspaper that elected officials should be allowed to serve a minimum of three terms not two.

(To be continued)