While term limits have failed to gain traction for congressional positions, they took center stage as Princeton tries to solidify the language for its home rule charter.

Princeton’s Home Rule Charter Commission discussed term lengths and term limits during its regular meeting Wednesday, April 6. 

During the meeting, City Attorney David Overcash presented commissioners options to vote for, but he is prohibited from making recommendations on how the commission should structure the city’s government in the charter.

Among the topics Overcash covered was whether the mayor would be able to vote on issues before council. He said one potential problem that arises when mayors can vote outside of a tiebreaker situation is that ties on a council vote results in no action being taken on action items.

“Ties can sometimes have a paralytic effect on a governmental body,” Overcash said. “They won’t be able to change the status quo if they can’t muster a majority on a given issue.”

While having a voting mayor was discussed, the commission ultimately took no action after the presentation.

Additionally, commissioners discussed term lengths for mayor and council. Princeton recently moved to three year terms and several commissioners expressed a desire to increase the length of terms to four years.

Acting Chairperson Nikki Krum initially expressed some hesitation about increasing terms, but she quickly joined the consensus on four year terms.

Commissioner Maxine Waters said she was in favor of four year terms because it allows the mayor or councilmember more time to act. 

The commission approved four year terms and moved on to discuss term limits.

Waters said she wants term limits because she does not think councilmembers or the mayor should serve indefinitely.

“You get to a point where you have those people who never leave,” Waters said. “Then, unfortunately, that can lead to no change.”

For the full story, see the April 14 issue of The Princeton Herald.