CHARLESTON, W.Va. –Controversy continues over a proposal that would institute term limits in Charleston city government, with city council members firing back at their colleagues who are pushing for changes.
Council members Shannon Snodgrass and Joe Solomon proposed the addition of term limits for city council as well as executive officials. Other members of the council are questioning their plans.
“This is not a serious proposal from these two members of our council. This has basically been a stunt,” Council member Emmett Pepper said on 580 Live with Dave Allen.
Snodgrass and Solomon stated last week they would continue pursuing their goal of instituting term limits after the bill was tabled by the council’s rules and ordinance committee at its last meeting. Council member Caitlin Cook believes Snodgrass and Solomon haven’t done their due diligence on the issue.
“I think it a bit disingenuous to say that a good proposal for term limits was put before the committee. It was not, and I think at the end of the day, it’s not necessarily the policy that is the issue. It’s the procedures that were done and not done leading up to that policy being proposed,” she said.
The members in favor of term limits cited concerns that having long-standing members on the council discourages interested candidates from running for a seat. That’s not the opinion of council member Harper Gardner, who worries term limiting willing members will result in empty seats.
“We’ve got 11 uncontested seats. If you limit terms for people that are willing to stand up and put their name on the ballot, you’re going to wind up with an undemocratically elected person,” he said.
The issue of the uncontested races in the upcoming city elections is at the heart of the debate for both sides of the conversation. Pepper views the proposal as a de facto campaign tactic from two members up for reelection.
“This is about some people who have had some problems the past four years and have not been very successful, so what they’re doing is they’re trying to make it this last-minute thing, right before a primary election, so they can get votes,” he said.
The three council members speaking in opposition of term limits on the council itself indicated they would be open to instituting term limits for the mayor, city treasurer, and municipal judge. Gardner thinks the people’s decision is enough for the council.
“I think we have term limits for council, and it’s called elections, and I think, again, it would be really dangerous to tell somebody who’s brave enough and willing to stand up that they have to sit down just because they’ve done it,” he said.
With Snodgrass and Solomon seemingly refusing to back down, the next steps for their proposal are not entirely clear. Cook said if they want to keep pushing, they need to communicate their plans with other council members and try to collaborate on a solution.
“Regardless of what the policy is, bring the policy to the table having done the work first because I can tell you, if you don’t approach a single committee member before that bill gets to your committee, your goal is not progress or policy. It’s pageantry,” she said.