(1/10) At the January Town Council meeting, Commissioner Betsey Brannen asked the Council to consider modifying the length of terms for Council members to alleviate the issue of a full council turnover due to the current practice of electing all its members on the same date and for the same length of time.
"This has been on my mind since I ran in 2018 when there was a significant amount of turnover of elected officials," she said. The changes proposed would protect the Town from the stress that a situation such as a full turnover of the Council and the Burgess could have on the town staff. It would also protect the incoming Council members, who although well intentioned to serve, would be unaccustomed to how the Town's government works. "There is a huge learning curve," she said. "I’ve been here since May and I’m still learning."
Brannon reached out to Thurmont for examples in their Town Code on the subject and from there she adjusted the chapters of the Walkersville Code and Ordinances to accommodate the changes.
The resolution will have the Burgess serve a four-year term, the two Commissioners with the highest vote count will also get four years and the three Commissioners with the lowest votes will serve terms of two years. Currently both the Burgess and the Commissioners serve three-year terms.
"This does mean terms will increase to four years in order to stagger terms every two years." said Brannon. "We just need to do it once to stagger the terms." The Council will also need a special resolution for elections in September in order to get the new Code on track.
Commissioner Gary Baker approved of the changes noting that Middletown as well as Thurmont have the same schedule for terms. Both Emmitsburg, Woodsboro and Taneytown hold an election every year in which at least one Commissioner is put up for re-election so there is always a changeover in their Town Council’s makeup.
Baker was also a proponent of limiting each member to two consecutive terms, "It's important to allow for new people to have a chance at being involved in their government," he said. "You could run again after a break." The addition of term limits would be a separate change to the code for future consideration.
"There would not be a significant increase in election costs," said Brannon. "The positives outweigh the negatives."
Commissioner Mike McNiesh was absent for the meeting, so Brannon asked the Council to consider her suggestion before officially introducing the change at the next meeting. A public hearing will be scheduled before adoption of the changes can be finalized.
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