OGDENSBURG — The municipality’s Charter Review Commission is recommending term limits for City Council.
The 12-member panel, appointed in March, is tasked with updating the Ogdensburg City Charter. The charter is a wide-ranging document that serves as the guide for municipal governance. It includes all laws, ordinances and procedures for running the municipality.
This week the panel voted 10-0, with two members absent, to add language to the charter that would limit the time a citizen can serve on City Council to three terms. The three-term limit would apply separately to the positions of mayor and councilor.
Frederick P. Bean, commission chairman, said the intention of the proposal is to bring new people with fresh ideas to city government.
“Anybody who is there too long, no matter how well intended they are, runs out of ideas,” Mr. Bean said. “It’s a way to get a new thought pattern, new ideas, and maybe spur more people to run.”
The Charter Review Commission will meet again on Sept. 5, at which time it will finalize the wording of several proposed changes within the charter document, including a proposal to limit terms. The document will then be presented to City Council for approval.
Mr. Bean said most of the changes proposed within the document are minor in nature, for example, altering job descriptions and other formalities to reflect changes that occur within government over time. By law the charter must be updated every 10 years. The last year a review commission was convened was in 2007.
Mr. Bean said he doesn’t know how the council will view the suggestion to limit the amount of time a person can spend on the elected board.
“We make the recommendations and they decide whether to accept them or not, that’s the way it works,” Mr. Bean said.
Mayor Wayne L. Ashley said each proposed change to the city’s charter will be discussed and voted on separately. He said he has no idea how other members of the board feel about the idea of term limits, but that he personally is OK with the idea.
“I don’t know how the rest of the council thinks, but I think it’s fair,” Mr. Ashley said. “If you can’t accomplish what you want to do in three terms, it’s probably time to step down anyway.”
Failure to update the charter every 10 years means the document becomes void, according to city officials. The 12 people appointed to serve on the Charter Review Commission hail from each of the city’s six election districts. Two residents from each of the districts were appointed to serve.
The current City Charter document is accessible on the City of Ogdensburg’s website at www.ogdensburg.org by clicking on the Municipal Code button at the top left side of the home page.