Wichita proposes longer term limits for mayor and city council

Wichita’s mayor and city council members could decide Tuesday whether they should be able to serve an extra four years.

Under a city law passed by voters in 1991, Wichita’s mayor and council members are limited to two consecutive four-year terms.

The City Council can put the question on the ballot again, if they so choose. But a proposed chartered ordinance on Tuesday’s city council agenda would allow the mayor and city council members themselves to vote on whether to extend that to three terms.

Vice Mayor Jeff Blubaugh, who under existing law would be forced to give up his seat in 2024 after being elected to a second term in November, asked for the chartered ordinance to be put on the agenda. He said it will empower voters.

“It gives the voters an opportunity — if they like the direction you’re going — to get behind you and re-elect you,” he said.

“This is something that every outgoing council member has brought up,” he said.

Council member James Clendenin said he’s been back and forth on the issue but is leaning toward a “yes” vote to change term limits on Tuesday.

He said the proposal would increase voters’ choices — including the choice to keep their current representatives if they want.

“It helps provide consistency in government if citizens like the way their elected officials are representing them,” he said. “It really helps move cities forward when those council members have worked on a project closely with citizens.”

The flip side is that voters need to be more diligent in holding officials accountable.

“It really does put more responsibility on the voters,” he said.

Clendenin and Blubaugh each pointed to last month’s vote to replace Mayor Jeff Longwell with Brandon Whipple as proof that voters will react if they want change.

Whether those same voters get a chance to decide on term limits is an option the City Council can exercise Tuesday. Instead of voting on the measure, they could put it on a special election ballot.

If passed, it would repeal a rule voters approved by a slim margin 28 years ago, when the city council placed that question and pay raises for mayor and city council together on the ballot. The raises were rejected, but voters approved putting term limits on the mayor and city council.

Blubaugh said he’s not opposed to putting the question on a ballot for voters but said that could prove costly.

Because the referendum in 1991 was close — passing 52-48 percent — he said it’s appropriate for the City Council to make the decision this time around.

“It was a pretty marginal thing,” Blubaugh said. “And I think if we were doing away with term limits altogether it would for sure need to go on the ballot. But this only takes it from two to three (terms).”

It was rare for a mayor or city council member to serve more than two consecutive terms even before voters approved the rule. Bob Knight, mayor at the time, was one of only three council members since 1916 to be elected more than twice in a row.

The change could help three council members near or in their second terms. Of the seven council members, Clendenin and Blubaugh, whose terms expire in 2022 and 2024, and Bryan Frye, whose term expires in 2024, would get one more election.

Council members Cindy Claycomb and Brandon Johnson are in their first terms. Council member Becky Tuttle, who was appointed last January and elected in November, will technically start her first term in January along with Mayor-elect Brandon Whipple, who defeated one-term Mayor Jeff Longwell.

The ordinance requires five city council votes to pass. If it does, voters who don’t like the change will have 60 days to gather 5,022 petition signatures so it can be placed on the ballot during a special election. That number is equal to 10% of voters in the most recent election.

Blubaugh said the change is necessary because city government is a complex organization and with a steep learning curve for new council members. It takes years to truly understand “what’s really going on,” he said.

It’s important to have experienced elected officials that understand the consequences of their decisions and all of the moving parts involved in city government, he said. And he said longer term limits will help ensure city decisions are driven by the will of the voters.

“Otherwise, unelected staff is running the city,” he said. “And they don’t have term limits.”

This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 7:05 AM.