Johns Creek Term Limits Request Moves Forward In State House

JOHNS CREEK, GA — The Johns Creek City Council earlier this month voted to send a resolution to the state legislature that would amend its City Charter to add term limits for its elected officials. The resolution, which was approved at the Feb. 12 City Council meeting, has been sent to State Rep. Brad Raffensperger (R-Johns Creek) for introduction in the Georgia General Assembly.

According to the resolution, no one elected mayor or city council member in the general municipal election in 2019 or thereafter that would be allowed to serve more than two consecutive terms of office and "shall not include any partial terms of office."

Any terms served before Jan. 1, 2020 will not be counted against a person in determining if he or she has served more than two consecutive terms, according to the resolution. This would also not apply towards, for example, a mayor running for a City Council seat or a council member seeking the office of mayor.

City Council member Lenny Zaprowski, who was re-elected in 2017 and said this would be his last four-year term in office, said he was in support of the measure. However, he did say he can see both sides of the argument in the discussion surrounding term limits.

Councilman Chris Coughlin, who said this was an issue when he first ran for the City Council in 2015, said the resolution has been a long time coming. Some of the disadvantages, he added, could be the loss of strong leadership, but added that can be mitigated by a person taking a break for four years and re-entering the political scene.

"I think it does address the disadvantages," he said of the resolution.

Raffensperger, a former Johns Creek City Council member himself, introduced the resolution on Feb. 21 in the form of House Bill 979 in the State House of Representatives.

"It was terrific working with (the) mayor and (City) Council as we crafted this term limit legislation," he said in his weekly message to constituents. "This reflects the popular will of our residents and I look forward to this bill’s passage."

As of Monday, the legislation was still in the House of Representatives. Wednesday, Feb. 28, marks Crossover Day, the deadline in which any legislation introduced in one chamber has to make it to the other chamber before it can be considered for final passage.

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