Kennesaw Councilwoman Wants End to Benefits, New Term Limits

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A member of the Kennesaw City Council wants to make sure voters have a chance to decide whether the mayor and council will be subject to term limits in the near future.

According to the Marietta Daily Journal, Councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh will ask the council to put the binding question on the 2016 election ballot during their next meeting on May 18. She also plans to request the council eliminate health insurance benefits for themselves and the mayor during the meeting.

Councilwoman Debra Williams told the MDJ that she believes the end of benefits and the beginning of term limits will ensure that career politicians do not become entrenched at Kennesaw City Hall.

Mayor Mark Mathews and Councilman Tim Killingsworth said that the council’s recent decision to place a non-binding question on term limits on the 2016 ballot was the proper amount of action called for in this situation, and stressed that voters can impose de facto term limits by voting out officials they disagree with.

Mathews added that he supported the policy of providing the mayor and council with insurance plans, and he himself has a city-issued insurance policy. The city pays 87 percent of insurance costs, a city spokesperson told the MDJ.

The MDJ reports that Eaton-Welsh and Williams say that the benefits are unfair because mayors and council members immediately become vested, while rank-and-file employees have to wait at least 10 years for the same benefits.