Arlington groups planning 'biggest oppositional campaign' as council takes up term lengths

Arlington City Council will vote Tuesday evening on a ballot measure that, if voters approve it, would expand city council term lengths from two years to three. Under the change, council members and mayor could serve up to nine years at each post. City council unanimously approved the ballot question during their Aug. 9 evening meeting. Meanwhile, Zachary Maxwell says, he and others are planning the "biggest oppositional campaign that the city's seen" to fight it this fall and exploring whether to campaign for a recall amendment. Maxwell led the 2018 referendum to put council's current term limits, which cap elected officials at six years on city council and six years as mayor. Around 63% of voters in 2018 approved the current limits. However, the debate didn't end on election day four years ago.

A state district judge in 2018 threw out a lawsuit that sought to invalidate the 2018 results, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. City council in 2020 organized a term limits task force, which recommended four two-year terms with a two-year "cooling off" period as an alternative. Council did not take up the recommendation. Council members in late July received emails from people asking council consider three-year term lengths. Maxwell says the vote marks the third time council has tried to make changes after the November 2018 election. "I think my initial reaction was somewhere in the ballpark of, 'Here we go again,' because this is just another example of council doing something that appears to be a very rushed, self-serving decision that was not taken to the public at all before it was put to a ballot," he says. Council, who has publicly discussed the proposal since Aug. 2, say their efforts are not rushed and that the ballot question will not do away with term limits. Andrew Piel, District 4 council member, said during a work session that people have had time to voice their concerns since the committee's formation in 2020.