Peck Pushes Village Board to Discuss Implementing Term Limits

At the instigation of Trustee Garrett Peck, the Board will be talking term limits Monday night.

It's not necessarily a concept that he agrees or disagrees, Peck said, as much as a topic that deserves to be considered, especially as the village heads into another election cycle. There will be at least one new face on the board come May.

"I've had several residents ask me to bring it up," he said. "I'd like the board to have a dialog to see where everybody is on it."

The discussion comes on the heels of the November election in Naperville, in which voters overwhelmingly supported a term-limit referendum. More than 70 percent voted in favor of limiting all positions, including that of the mayor, to three terms, starting with candidates who win in the April 5 muncipal election.

Peck said he'd probably prefer to see the measure put to residents here as a referendum as well, but the board could also decide to make the call on their own. Three terms seems a fair number, he said.

"I think 12 years is a sufficient time to serve the community," he said.

The idea would be to ensure that some elected officials don't become so entrenched that they become unbeatable because of their name recognition. There are communities where trustees have served for as many as 30 years, he said.

Then again, Peck said he can understand the argument that if people want term limits, they can voluntarily vote out incumbents so that others can have a shot.

The trustees up for re-election in April are Bill Lamb and Paul Fay; Larry Kachel, who was appointed to the board, is not seeking election.

Were the board to decide to establish term limits, the soonest the change could go into effect would be May 2013, following the spring election.