Voters Will Decide on Term Limits For County Officials This November

Vargo-Heffner votes Yes. 

By a 6-3 vote, Northampton County Council decided last night to ask voters whether County Council members and the Executive should be term-limited.  By a 6-2 vote, with one abstention, they also agreed to ask voters whether the Controller should be term-limited. Under the proposal, which will be put to voters in November, the following term limits would apply: Executive and Controller - no more than two successive terms; and County Council - no more than three successive terms. 

The legislation would permit elected officials to return to office after taking a break. For example, after serving two consecutive terms, an Executive or Controller could return to the office once held, but would have to sit out one term. 

If adopted by voters, these term limits would go into effect for the terms starting in January 2024 (County Council and Controller) and January 2025 (Executive).

Voting for the measure were sponsors Lori Vargo-Heffner, John Goffredo, John Brown, Tom Giovanni and Kerry Myers. All but Vargo-Heffner are Republicans.

Voting No to term limits for the Executive and County Council were Democrats Kevin Lott, Tara Zrinski and Ron Heckman. Voting No on term limits for the Controller were Kevin Lott and Ron Heckman. Zrinski abstained because she is running for Controller and felt conflicted, even though Council Solicitor Chris Spadoni advised her there is no conflict as a matter of law. 

Heckman stated during a "governance" committee meeting the preceding day that he supports term limits for state and federal officials, but sees no need for them on a local level. Lott argued that elected officials are already term-limited because they can be voted out of office. Zrinski made the same argument, and added turnout would be too low this November to reflect the views of most voters. 

Vargo-Heffner, who drafted the legislation, argued this is a matter of consistency. County Council members are already term-limited by ordinance, and she believes other elected officials should be term limited as well. She is willing to let the voters decide. "I'm not afraid of the voters," she said.

Zrinski says No

As originally drafted, the ordinances were actually inconsistent. 

The Controller and Executive, unlike County Council, were limited to two terms. Vargo-Heffner explained that's because those are full-time positions. 

Under the original proposal, an Executive appointed mid-term would be limited to one term. Moreover, the bans on additional terms for the Exec and Controller were lifetime bans. Heffner agreed to amend her original proposal so that the Exec and Controller would be able to serve more than two terms, just not more than two terms in succession. She also agreed to remove confusing language in the original proposal that would limit an appointed Executive to just one term. 

Heckman pointed out that the one office that really needs to be term-limited more than any other is the District Attorney. John Morganelli served in that office from 1993 until 2020. Vargo-Heffner responded that she will seek to limit that office to two terms in July. 

John Cusick, who is finishing his fourth term as a Council member, argued that some Council members "stayed too long." 

Will Executive Lamont McClure veto? He was concerned on Wednesday about language in the proposal that seemed to be targeting him, but that language was removed. McClure said after the meeting that he will carefully consider all the implications and make a decision. 

Lehigh County Comm'rs rejected term limits for themselves in 2019. Comm'r Dan Hartzell argued that it suggested that "long service is a negative thing," adding "it feeds easy cynicism."

Blogger's Opinion: I oppose term limits for local officials, but am enough of a small "d" democrat to let voters make the choice. I am wary of a mob mentality among voters who act out of emotion, and would oppose a referendum on a budgetary matter. But this is a fairly simple issue.