In the Town of Greenport, there was a referendum in the election just past on increasing the length of the term for town supervisor from two years to four years. The outcome of that referendum has not yet been reported on the Board of Elections website, but a similar initiative in Hudson, still in its beginning stages, seems to be getting a less than enthusiastic reception. Amanda Purcell reports on it today on HudsonValley360: "Hudson Common Council weighs terms lengths."
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Members of the Council might want to take a look at the referendum which failed maybe 15-20 years ago, which proposed lengthening the terms of the Mayor and Council President to four years, as I recall. It did not even come close to passing.
ReplyDeleteThat was a long time ago, but it would be worth understanding the reasons why this did not fly before.
My impression at the time was that there was not a lot of trust in the leadership of the City, and voters wanted to keep the two-year terms to ensure more accountability.
It’s also worth considering that a different segment of the voting population tends to participate in votes for referenda than for candidates. Say you have 2,500 people casting votes for Mayor... You might only see 1,000-1,500 vote on the referendum.
I think lengthening the terms of the elected officials is worth considering. Whether that plan carries, council seats should be staggered so that only one member per ward would be up for (re)election in any given cycle. This would build in a certain amount of continuity which is lacking in the current model.
ReplyDeleteIt is also worth considering the benefits of term limits for the various elected offices (esp. the political ones -- in other words, perhaps not for the treasurer). This would ensure that the office holders are working for the citizens and not themselves by seeking to secure re-election. It would also ensure a steady stream of revolving citizen engagement that can only benefit the entire city.
I'd echo Friedman's statement above, and add that there is no need to group all term extensions into a single referendum. Term extensions for the mayor, Common Council president, and aldermen (hopefully with staggered terms) can all be presented to the public individually.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem that of the three positions, the office of the mayor is the one with the most obviously steep learning curve, and two years may not be enough to hit a strong stride. It would also insulate the mayor from department heads that choose to wait out an executive with policies unfavorable to that department (or, as the case may be, unfavorable to that department head.)
Agree w/ John F and John K. Pratt doesn't live in Hudson, yet has the biggest mouth. Am I the only person sick of Sam?
ReplyDelete