A former candidate for the Morgan Hill mayor’s seat says he is fulfilling one of his campaign promises by trying to place a local measure establishing term limits on the November 2018 ballot.
Kirk Bertolet, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2016, is the lead sponsor of the ballot measure petition that would limit candidates to 10 years on the city council or as the mayor. He is in the process of collecting at least 2,300 signatures from registered Morgan Hill voters in order to present an ordinance to the city council.
Bertolet thinks local elected officials should be subject to term limits in order to hold them more accountable and “eliminate the career politicians we have in Morgan Hill.” But he thinks the voters should get to decide.
“I made a promise during my campaign for mayor that there would be this term limits initiative on the 2018 ballot, win or lose,” Bertolet said.
Bertolet began the ballot measure process earlier this summer by publishing a notice for an initiative measure and a notice of intent to circulate petition in the newspaper. Now that the notices have been published, Bertolet is ready to begin enlisting volunteers and start collecting signatures.
Specifically, Bertolet’s measure would prohibit any person from serving as an elected council member or mayor for more than 10 years. Anyone who serves a full 10 years on the council “would be precluded from serving on” city commissions as appointees, the initiative notice states.
The notice of intent to circulate a petition, also published by Bertolet, clarifies that a candidate could serve two four-year council terms and a two-year mayoral term; or one term as a council member and three terms as a mayor; or five terms as a mayor.
The initiative would allow former council members who would otherwise be ineligible to run for election to be appointed to a vacant council seat, if at least six years have passed since they last served in Morgan Hill, the notice says.
In order for a measure to be considered for the ballot, it must gain the signatures of 10 percent of Morgan Hill’s total electorate, which numbers about 22,500 registered voters, according to City Clerk Irma Torrez.
Bertolet and volunteers have until Nov. 20 to collect the signatures. After that, Torrez and the county’s Registrar of Voters office will count and verify the signatures.
If the petition is certified, the city council will consider the ballot measure. The council will have two options: they can implement the term limits described in the initiative notice with a council vote, or they can place it on the November 2018 election ballot for the voters to decide.
Bertolet said he would rather let the voters tackle the question, because if a future council ever wants to change or eliminate any imposed term limits, that council will also have to go to the voters.
Incumbents opposed
The current slate of council incumbents is unlikely to adopt the initiative on their own. The two elected members of the council who have served the longest—Mayor Steve Tate and Mayor Pro Tem Larry Carr—are opposed to term limits. So is Councilman Rich Constantine, who is currently serving in his second term.
“I think it’s the voters’ responsibility to figure out when term limits have been reached, and vote the person out of office…Term limits are kind of a slap in the face for the voters; it says you have to decide for them,” said Tate, who is serving his sixth consecutive two-year term as mayor.
Tate said before his last re-election in November 2016 that he will retire from public office after his current term.
Carr, who won re-election in November to his fifth consecutive four-year term on the council, agrees with the mayor.
“Despite the fact that I’ve been a longtime council member, it is certainly not my career,” said Carr, who works as the Vice President of Joint Venture Silicon Valley in San Jose.
“Fundamentally, I don’t agree with term limits,” he continued. “It seems artificial. I guess I have far more faith and trust in the voters, who are smart and confident in what they do. I think we should leave it to the voters who their elected official should be.”
Carr and other sitting council members pointed out that the city’s fledgling transition to a district-based election system—as opposed to an at-large system—coupled with term limits could even further limit the voters’ choices, and influence a resident’s desire to run for office.
Councilwoman Caitlin Jachimowicz, who was appointed to the council in 2016 and has not yet won an election, said, “In moving to district elections, we no longer are safe with two qualified at-large candidates coming forward every two years. We must recruit top candidates from within each district. I worry that if we eliminate some of those candidates solely based on their length of service, we would regret it.”
Fighting special interests
Bertolet’s published notice of intent to circulate the petition includes a written argument in favor of term limits. It begins, “There are three reasons for term limits. One: It eliminates career politicians. Two: It promotes new ideas. Three: It fights the influence of special interests.”
He puts Tate, Carr and Constantine (currently in his second term) in the category of local incumbents who have “been on the council way too long.” While he doesn’t accuse any of them of acting improperly, Bertolet said, “There is an appearance they are influenced by special interests.”
Specifically, he pointed to “the exceptional amount of development that is going on” as creating such an unsavory impression.
Construction underway in Morgan Hill has been subject to the restrictions of the city’s Residential Development Control System, and within the limits cast by that voter-approved ordinance.
“I’m willing to throw the dice and let the voters decide,” Bertolet said.
He added that as of now, he is not planning to run for office in Morgan Hill again, but that could change.
One supporter of term limits on the council is Councilman Rene Spring, who won his first term in November 2016. It was even part of his campaign platform last year, though he didn’t know the city would be moving to district elections this year too, he noted.
“I truly think after eight or maybe 12 years, change is a good thing,” Spring said. “No one should be married to any of those seats. Opening it up to new ideas and new faces and fresh energy is good. It also helps break up certain networks that are not necessarily beneficial, what I call the ‘old boys’ networks.’”
Spring added that most cities in the region, as well as offices at the county, state and national level already impose term limits on elected officials.
