Term limits: Tacoma council members may seek other vacancies
LEWIS KAMB; The News Tribune
Even before Election Day, one thing is certain for the Tacoma City Council: There will be new blood.
With three council members and the mayor facing term limits at year’s end, voters will choose from among a field of six vying to replace them in Tuesday’s election.
And once the ballots are counted, two other sitting council members – now in the middle of four-year terms but seeking other elected offices – might also vacate their seats.
If that happens, as many as five of the nine council members could be new faces.
But now, some of the old faces say they’re not necessarily ready to leave just yet, and they might not have to.
In what some critics are calling a creative bit of political maneuvering, at least two sitting council members who cannot run for their own seats again – Rick Talbert and Connie Ladenburg – say they are interested in serving out any council seat that might come open due to the election.
“If there is an opening, I definitely would seek the appointment,” Talbert said.
Added Ladenburg, “Yeah, I’m open to it.”
If Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, who is running for mayor, and Councilwoman Julie Anderson, who is running for Pierce County auditor, win either or both of those races, their respective council seats would be vacated with two years remaining on each term.
That would leave the next City Council with the task of filling either one or both of those seats.
The city charter prohibits any council member from serving “for more than ten (10) consecutive years, either as a Councilman, Mayor or combination thereof,” but Talbert and Ladenburg each have served for only eight straight years. That leaves both with two years of eligibility – the same amount of time remaining for the terms potentially to be vacated by Strickland and Anderson.
Councilman Mike Lonergan and Mayor Bill Baarsma, who both face term limits on their seats, also would be eligible to serve out the prospective vacancies, though neither say they are interested.
Lonergan, whose son Joe Lonergan is challenging Beckie Summers Kirby for the open Position 5 seat, said one Lonergan on the council is enough.
“I certainly don’t think it would be appropriate to have my son and myself on the council,” Lonergan said, speaking confidently about his progeny’s prospects come Election Day.
Baarsma, meanwhile, said the appointment of a sitting member facing term limits to any vacated seat just wouldn’t look good.
“There would be a community uproar,” Baarsma said. “Even with the best of intentions, I think it would cloud the council.”
Baarsma, a Tacoma politics buff, said while there have been past appointments of former council members to fill open seats, he knows of no instance when a member facing term limits on his or her own seat immediately moved into an open seat to serve out an unexpired term.
Though there have been examples of council members serving 10 consecutive years, such as Paul Miller and Sharon McGavick, they were appointed to first serve out vacated terms, then subsequently won elections to serve out their remaining years of eligibility.
Other than such examples, Baarsma said he could think of only one other instance that comes even close to the current appointment scenario: In the middle of his second term as mayor, Brian Ebersole gave up that full-time office to become president of Bates Technical College. When deputy mayor Mike Crowley filled the open mayor’s seat and in turn vacated his own council seat, Ebersole initially sought to fill that council vacancy.
“It created such an uproar and so much opposition that the council quickly backed off and Brian quickly backed off,” Baarsma said. “I suspect we would see something similar.
“There is an argument to be made that doing this would bring back some institutional memory,” Baarsma added. “But the perception here would be this would be a way to subvert term limits on a technicality.”
Several returning council members and at least one would-be member who could be tasked with filling such a vacancy say they’re open to considering Talbert and Ladenburg – or any past council member – should an appointment possibility arise.
“Of course, the needs of the community would come first,” said Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland, who, win or lose come Tuesday, will be returning to the council. “But I would not rule anyone out.”
Likewise, Councilman Jake Fey said he’d be open to all comers. But he noted he’d want public feedback before making any decision.
“I don’t want to pre-judge the situation,” Fey said. “If we need to make an appointment, the main thing is we’re transparent and have an open interview process of all of the applicants.”
Councilman Spiro Manthou, who as a six-year veteran will become the senior member when the new council convenes next year, said he normally wouldn’t consider bringing back an old member to fill an open seat.
But the big turnover facing the council has Manthou concerned, he said.
“We could have four, possibly five new council members coming on board,” Manthou said. “And, we’re losing 32 years of council experience.”
Noting it took him a good year to gain his footing, Manthou said he could see the need to bring back someone with experience.
Marty Campbell, who’s running for the District 4 City Council seat, said he could see a scenario in bringing back just one past council member.
“If we find ourselves in a position where we’re appointing two new people to the council, we could be looking at the majority being people who’ve never served on council,” said Campbell, who last year co-authored the voter’s statement against an unsuccessful ballot measure that sought to repeal council term limits.
“With that in mind, I could see a case being made for the short term – two years – retaining one experienced council member who still had eligibility left under the city charter.”
Under such a two-appointment scenario, Campbell added he’d be open to considering any past council member – Tom Stenger, Bill Evans or others – not just Talbert or Ladenburg.
Still, at this point, Campbell said he’d likely lean toward Talbert.
“One of the things I think would be good for my district is to have one of the appointees come from the East Side or the South End,” Campbell said. “That would appeal to me, but I don’t even know if Rick’s interested.”
There’s no question Talbert is.
“I’m not counting on it,” Talbert said. “But I would love to continue serving this city.”
Ladenburg, who supported the unsuccessful 2008 measure to repeal council term limits, said “having five new council members is problematic for continuity purposes.”
“Personally I am concerned about that,” she said. “I’d like to make sure we see the city continue to move along and not lose ground.”
But Ladenburg added that any talk of such appointments at this point is just that – talk.
“It’s kind of just water-cooler discussions at this point,” Ladenburg said. “It’s a lot of what-ifs. No one is really advocating or pushing it.”
If the what-ifs pan out, deputy mayor Julie Anderson said she knows where she’ll stand.
“I believe term limits are there for a reason,” she said.
Lewis Kamb: 253-597-8542
lewis.kamb@thenewstribune.com
