Candidate Morgan term limits ordinance discussion shot down by Village committee

Candidate Morgan term limits ordinance discussion shot down by Village committee

At the January 11th Village of Frankfort Land Use and Policy Committee meeting, Mayoral Candidate Todd Morgan presented to the committee for discussion a drafted ordinance to consider term limits in the Village of Frankfort and asked for consideration that the ordinance be added to the upcoming April 4, 2017 election ballot.

Unfortunately, to Morgan’s surprise, this proposal was met with firm opposition and a litany of "why not's" from committee members with little discussion on the topic’s merit itself. Morgan stated, “While I truly appreciated the board allowing me to place the item on the agenda for discussion, it was clear from the start that it wasn't going to be discussed for its potential inclusion on the ballot but only to be shot down by a list of reasons on why it can't be considered at this time.”

As part of Morgan’s campaign platform announced back in October, he began calling for term limits to be considered and placed on the ballot in a future election. While he has been talking with residents about it for months in the community, he wondered why the current board didn't add it to their discussion at the Village level or why any of the incumbent officials seeking re-election did not weigh in on it. Knowing that the deadline was January 17th for its inclusion on this year's ballot for the upcoming April 4th election was nearing, Morgan decided to take it upon himself to present the discussion to the committee. Even though the timeline was tight for a binding referendum question to be added, he at least hoped that maybe enough discussion would occur that a non-binding referendum question would be added to get community input.

Morgan stated, “I think the people want to know where our elected officials stand on the issue and I think it was a great opportunity wasted to at least get our community’s feedback. I believe it was obvious that my proposal was ‘dead on arrival.’ There was absolutely no discussion of how it might be done, only that it can't be done.”

While this term limit proposal was dismissed at the committee level, Morgan still feels it was a success because it started a process of gathering opinions on the topic for the citizens going forward. He continued, “If elected, I promise to move this proposal to the forefront for our citizens to make this important decision.” Mayoral candidate Todd Morgan may be contacted at 815-464-1730 or Morganformayor2017@gmail.com.