How long should Tacoma elected officials be able to serve? Term limits being debated
This year is a big one for local government: The Tacoma charter is up for review. It’s a once-in-a-decade process that could usher in significant changes to how the city operates, including when it comes to term limits for the City Council and mayor.
The Charter Review Committee plans on putting forth a recommendation that would extend the length of time elected officials could serve at City Hall.
The charter is the city’s constitution, committee Chair Stephen Wamback told The News Tribune. Today a person can only stay in office as a council member or mayor — or a combination of both — for a maximum of 10 consecutive years, amounting to 2.5 terms. That means two-term council members must first resign if they want to serve a full term (or two) as mayor.
Under the committee’s recommendation, someone could potentially stay at City Hall for two decades — doubling the current limit.
“This changes the language to three full terms, which are four years each, on the council and two full consecutive terms as mayor,” Wamback said.
Proponents of the move contend that residents would benefit from more experienced representatives. Naysayers argue that it could hamstring council diversity and prolong power among a select few.
Eight committee members voted in favor of the proposal, two were absent, one abstained and three opposed, including Wamback, according to the Charter Review Committee’s draft report. The final report is due to City Council on Tuesday, May 7, although Wamback told The News Tribune via email that it is scheduled to be delivered the day prior.
From there the council will deliberate on the recommendations, Wamback said, and decide which issues — if any — will appear before voters on the November ballot.
Arguments for, against extending term limits
A decade ago, then-Mayor Marilyn Strickland proposed an amendment to expand term limits, The News Tribune previously reported. (It ultimately failed.) Strickland, who now serves in the U.S. House of Representatives, reasoned that it would let more council members have the opportunity to launch a mayoral bid.
Strickland told The News Tribune in 2014 that longer term limits would give those who’d served on council more time to complete projects and to carry out their vision for Tacoma.
“In many ways, having had this job now, a lot of what you do is build upon what your predecessor did,” she said at the time.
Wamback said earlier this month that those who support term limits like that they “dilute the power of incumbency.” The restriction gives other candidates a chance to run. Some argue that because of term limits, the City Council is more diverse.
Former Mayor Harold Moss put it this way during an interview with The News Tribune in 2014: “I feel very, very strongly that the rotation of fresh blood and fresh opportunities outweigh the easy incumbency to remain on the job.”
Tacoma’s previous term-limit proposals
The Charter Review Committee might see merit in expanding term limits. Not everyone has agreed with that in years past.
When the charter was last up for review a decade ago, Mayor Victoria Woodards was still a member of the City Council. She told The News Tribune at the time that she thought Tacoma residents should get the chance to pick a mayor who’d already served two full council terms.
Tacoma voters approved term restrictions in 1973, The News Tribune previously reported. A failed 2014 term-limit amendment would have let a 10-year council veteran stay on another eight years as mayor without having to first resign.
Woodards served seven years on council before stepping down in December 2016; she returned as mayor in January 2018. She told The News Tribune earlier this month that the charter is crucial to how Tacoma functions.
“It’s our guiding document of how the city operates and what we value, and I think it’s important to review that because things change,” she said. “Over time, things change and things have to be updated. You can’t just create something over 100 years ago and then just say it’s going to be the same since then.”
More than half (52%) of Tacoma voters in 2008 rejected a proposal to ditch term limits entirely.
Woodards noted that regardless of one’s term-limit views, voters get a chance every four years to pick who they want to represent them. Even if term limits were to expand this time around, it would not apply to Woodards, whose tenure expires at the end of 2025.
Today the mayor has embraced a more middle-of-the-road stance on term limits.
“I think there are benefits and challenges with both, but it has affected me,” Woodards said. “And I guess the community can decide whether it affected me positively or negatively, meaning I will be done, and for those who would want me to stay — if I wanted to stay — then there’s not an opportunity.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
