VOM Waves Goodbye to Term Limits

Volunteer boards, commissions, councils and committees in the Village of Mamaroneck will no longer be bound by term limits. This does not affect the duration of any particular term, but the number of terms one person can serve.

The motion to eliminate term limits in the village was approved 3-2, with trustees Toni Pergola Ryan and John Hofstetter casting the dissenting votes, at Monday's Board of Trustees meeting.

The idea was first brought up by Mayor Norman Rosenblum at a work session last month, when he stated that the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals can have a direct effect on the future of the village, and therefore people with expertise on these boards should be kept for as long as possible.

In e-mails to Patch, ZBA member Clark Neuringer said he was against ending term limits. Planning Board Chairman Bob Galvin said two members of his board were "strongly against the idea of term limits" and two did not feel strongly about the issue.

Last month, Rosenblum also suggested allowing alternate members to serve on the Planning Board and ZBA in case a regular member can't participate in a specific matter to "avoid unnecessary delays." This item, which was discussed in a public hearing on Monday, was adjourned to the next board meeting on September 13.

Currently, the Village Code allows members to serve "for no more than two consecutive terms." However, if a member who has served for two terms takes a one-year hiatus, he/she can serve for another two terms. Assuming that the term is five years, this would allow him/her to serve 20 out of 21 years, 40 out of 42, etc. The new law will allow members to serve for an unlimited number of terms. 

Village Manager Rich Slingerland conducted a survey of New York State municipalities to see which had term limits. Out of the 34 that responded, only four have term limits (Batavia, Canandaigua, Hastings on Hudson and Scarsdale). According to Hofstetter, these numbers are not reliable because they represent less than 10 percent of all villages in the state (556, according to the New York State Department of State).

Ryan said she voted against ending term limits because she did not think the system was broken and therefore did not need to be fixed. "If people serve indefinitely, how is that going to generate interest [in potential members]," she asked.

Both Hofstetter and Ryan asked what had changed since 1984, when term limits were adopted, to justify this motion.

Going back in time

In the minutes from the Jan. 2 meeting when term limits where adopted, Trustee Gary Bastian said that "merely having people serving on boards for several years is not in the best interest of the village… If someone is valuable, the Board of Trustees should be able to reappoint them."

Trustee Archie Gianunzio "did not agree with limiting the number of terms people can serve," noting that "people gain expertise from length of service."

Trustee Beth Hofstetter said that limiting the terms would give more opportunity for change.

The chairman of the Recreation and Parks Commission, said the "Board of Trustees should have the option to reappoint someone who does a good job, and not deprive the village of their services," according to the minutes.

The chairman of the Board of Electrical Control said "the village may find that there is a vacancy [for boards that require certain expertise] and no one to fill it."

Rosenblum is quoted as saying that he "fully supports the law," and mostly speaks in favor of a section that allows for the removal of people with unexplained absences.

Trustees Beth Hofstetter and Robert Funicello and Mayor Suzi Oppenheimer voted in favor of term limits; trustees Gianunzio and Bastian voted against them.

Removal of members

At Monday's meeting (we're back in 2010), Ryan and Hofstetter expressed concern over how members would be removed under the new law. As stated in the Village Code, people "are subject to removal from office by reason of three unexplained absences without prior notification..." Removal for any other reason would require a cause and a public hearing, according to New York State Village Law, although land use board members could also be removed for failing to comply with training requirements.

The Board of Trustees could also ask a member to resign or let them serve the remainder of their term and not reappoint them, explains Assistant Village Manager Dan Sarnoff, and "the board always has the option of reappointing members."

Ryan and Hofstetter both agreed that having term limits brought new ideas to the table.

After casting his vote, Rosenblum said that "nothing has changed." Eliminating term limits is simply a "tool" to be used when there is no replacement for someone with an expiring term, he added.