WESTFIELD – On Wednesday, the Legislative & Ordinance Committee chaired by Ward 2 Council Ralph J. Figy once again looked at the issue of extending the term of mayor to four years.
A motion made by Ward 3 Councilor Andrew K. Surprise that terms limits be included on a ballot question with extension of terms for mayor and City Council had been discussed at the April 7 meeting of the City Council, and referred at that time to the L&O Committee.
Figy said that there had been no consensus by the City Council to extend the lengths of terms of councilors, but that most seemed in favor of putting a non-binding referendum on the ballot to extend the term of mayor to four years.
Figy recommended removing the motion from the committee with no action, and asking Surprise if he wanted to resubmit the motion to extend the term with term limits for the mayor only. Ward 4 Councilor Mary O’Connell and Ward 6 Council William Onyski, the other members of L&O, agreed.
Onyski said he would ask Surprise to resubmit the motion.
After the meeting, Figy said that the question can’t go on the ballot until November of next year.
“We can’t have a ballot question unless we have a municipal election,” he said. He also said it would not go into effect until the following election in 2019.
“We have lots of time, we can do this,” Figy said.
