The four members of council and the mayor are elected to two-year terms all at the same time.
The council will vote on the proposed change to the town charter at its June 10 meeting. The council was not required under state law to hold a public hearing on the change. But members wanted to gauge public interest — or lack of it.
If the council approves the change, voters would continue to elect the mayor directly, but on a staggered basis in combination with one or two other seats during the alternate-election year cycle.
Mayor Frank Quis said after the meeting that he isn’t sure how he will vote on the charter change. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Haney said he favors the change.
“If we make the change and someone wants to run, he can still have an opportunity to run every two years,” Haney said. “Rather than seeking campaign support so frequently (every two years), I felt going to four-year terms would be a better move. I think it would be in the best interests of the citizens and give council members more opportunity to serve the town rather than run for re-election every two years.”
Haney said that if the council doesn’t change the charter, he would be discouraged to seek re-election on the shorter-term cycle.
But Marquita Daniels, who previously expressed support for going to staggered terms to give more “continuity” and prevent all five members from possibly being replaced at once, said after the hearing that she was having second thoughts.
“I don’t know how I’m going to vote on the term changes,” she said in an interview. “Greg (Zywocinski, who opposed the change at the public hearing) and the other fellow made me think about it. Maybe he was right. Maybe we should consider putting it before the voters to change the method of electing the council like we did on the mayor’s separate election.”
Councilman John McInerney said “stay tuned till next month,” when asked how he intends to vote.
‘Anti-Democratic’
Zywocinski, who has run unsuccessfully for council, said the reasons given by Haney and Daniels in support of four-year, staggered terms were “bogus.” He called the proposal “anti-democratic” and would further remove the council from the people. He suggested that the town hold a referendum on whether to make the change.
Zywocinski said having four-year, staggered terms could lead to problems with primaries and allow undesirable council members to remain in office too long. He chastised the council for not meeting regularly every second Tuesday of the month as advertised.
Christopher Smithson, the son of former town councilman Mike Smithson, also opposed the change.
Both men said the council had gone three months without a regular meeting and tended to take care of important decisions in work sessions, which are held at 3 p.m. on the fourth Monday of each month.
Quis said the council meets to take care of required business as efficiently as possible and doesn’t meet if there is no business to take care of. He said he wished more people would attend the work sessions.
“I make no apologies for trying to run the government effectively,” Quis said. “We can conduct a lot of business better at the work sessions. We can have more in-depth discussions than at the regular monthly business meetings.”
Both Smithson and Zywocinski later told The Pilot they aren’t thinking of running for council currently.
“I don’t think I could beat an incumbent,” Smithson said in a brief interview. He added that the town appears to be well run.
Subdivision Opposed
Most of the people attending Tuesday’s council meeting — about 100 — came for another public hearing to speak against a proposed 12-house subdivision planned on 3.33 acres in near Youngs and Sheldon roads. Corey Rice is seeking approval of a conditional use permit for the subdivision.
The area is zoned RS-1, which requires a 10,000-square-foot minimum lot size. It is in Horse Country, where most of the lots and homes are much larger than the minimum required
The advisory Planning Board voted 3-2 to against recommending that the council y approve the request.
In other business, the council approved a conditional use permit for a five-lot subdivision on 23.71 acres on the west side of Hedgelawn Way between Lone Pine Place and Strathmore Road, submitted by Realtor Ed Rhodes.
The public hearing drew no speakers except for Rhodes. One man did ask if the developer could increase the density after the council approved the permit. McInerney said “no.”
