Group Seeks Clearer Term Limit Options

Group Seeks Clearer Term Limit Options

June 28, 2007

By Polly Greene
Editor, St. Tammany Farmer

The wording of a proposed amendment on term limits that was introduced at the June 7 Parish Council meeting is seriously flawed and should be modified or withdrawn, said Rick Wilke, interim president of Tammany Together, Inc.

A non-partisan coalition composed of St. Tammany residents, non-profit organizations and homeowner and civic associations, Tammany Together was recently formed to give individuals and small groups a “bigger voice” in parishwide issues. The group adopted a resolution on proposed Ordinance 3571 at its June 11 meeting and was set to present it to the Parish Council during their monthly agenda work session, which was held Wednesday.

If approved, the ordinance will result in a parishwide election on Oct. 20, where voters will be given the option to modify the parish’s Home Rule Charter, which presently calls for a three-term limit for the office of parish president and no limits on the terms of parish council representatives.

The first proposition asks voters if they wish to amend the charter to impose a three consecutive-term limit, beginning in 2008, for “any elected official of parish government.”

If that proposition is approved it would extend term limits to the Parish Council.

The second proposition would eliminate term limits for all elected parish officials, including the position of parish president.

In introducing the ordinance, its author, Councilman Henry Billiot, said its purpose was to allow voters to decide whether the parish president and the Parish Council would serve under equal conditions with respect to term limits.

By voting “no” to both options, voters would be endorsing the status quo, Billiot said.

The Tammany Together resolution calls for simpler wording and a clearer set of choices, Wilke said.

If approved by a majority of the voters, the option supporting term limits for all parish government elected officials would restart the “term limit clock” for Parish President Kevin Davis, giving him the opportunity to serve a total of five consecutive terms, Wilke said.

Several audience members expressed disapproval of this aspect of the amendment at the council’s June 7 meeting.

The Tammany Together’s resolution makes the following points:

Tammany Together agrees that voters should be given the opportunity to decide whether term limits should be equally imposed on both the parish president and the Parish Council.

The present wording of the amendment proposed in Ordinance 3571 is confusing, since it does not state clearly that a vote for term limits would result in Davis, who says he will enter the Oct. 20 race to seek a third term in office, being able to run for two additional four-year terms.

The ordinance should be reworded to provide simpler language and to give voters a clearer set of choices. The choices should be to impose term limits on the Parish Council seats or to remove term limits from the office of parish president.

“If the present wording of the amendment is not modified as suggested, Ordinance No. 3571 should be withdrawn by its author,” the resolution states. “If the ordinance is not withdrawn, it should not be adopted by the Parish Council.”

Wilke said he and other Tammany Together members will also appear at the July 5 meeting of the full council. That meeting begins at 6 p.m. at the Parish Administrative Complex on Koop Drive, north of Mandeville and Interstate 12.