Comments on: April 21, 2014: City Council Meeting Preview

By: Jim Rees

Jim Rees — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 02:24:25 +0000

Would the drive-thru restaurant at State and Eisenhower be drive-thru only? I know the Planning Commission is trying to eliminate this kind of use, but I assume this restaurant will be built under current rules.

By: Jeff Hayner

Jeff Hayner — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 19:56:23 +0000

Ugh – of course you are right – I remember the conversation as 2x 4 year terms, but it ended up 3x 4 year terms. The argument was that the DDA does 10 year capital projects so 8 years wasn’t enough to see it through to the end of a capital project. So much for term limits. 12 years is a term limit like 99 years is a lease…

By: Dave Askins

Dave Askins — Sat, 19 Apr 2014 00:11:55 +0000

Re: “In that case [of DDA board appointments] eight years was considered service enough.”

The compromise that emerged after the several months of wrangling by the council last year was actually 12 years for the DDA board: “No member may serve more than 3 consecutive full terms and may be reappointed after a lapse of 4 years.” DDA board terms are four years.

Applying that new term limit to the four board members whose current terms will end this year doesn’t appear to have any impact on eligibility. From Legistar:

Name               Start Date   Term End
Joan Lowenstein    8/06/2007    9/06/2014
John Mouat         9/04/2007    9/06/2014
Bob Guenzel        8/16/2010    8/15/2014
John Splitt       10/03/2006    9/07/2014

By: Jeff Hayner

Jeff Hayner — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 23:37:10 +0000

I see a difference in an appointment vs. a re-appoinment, in the case of Mr. Westphal. Outside of that, the circumstances are similar enough for the council to consider a similar action and deny appointment, following the Mayor’s lead. But as you pointed out, I have little to say about it since I was not elected.

In the case of Mr. Stead, I have to wonder – is there no one else qualified to fill that position, which he has held by appointment for 14 years? Is it time to have a meaningful discussion of term limits for boards and commissions, such as was had during the discussion of the DDA TIF capture calculations? In that case eight years was considered service enough.