Roswell city council members voted this week to impose term limits on their successors, but the city's mayor — who faces a lawsuit related to his own term limits — said Tuesday that he doubted the change would become law.
Any changes to Roswell’s charter have to be made at the legislature, Mayor Jere Wood said. And with the number of days left in the session waning, Wood said he doubted adding term limits for council members would be a priority for the Fulton County delegation.
Additionally, he said, the delegation has yet to take up a change that would clarify the mayor’s term limit, which is already in place.
And that request passed the city council unanimously. Adding term limits for council members was approved 4-2.
“I’m not sure they can reach a decision if it was divided,” Wood said of the delegation.
At the council meeting Monday, he said term limits for council members were “unnecessary.” Councilman Jerry Orlans was opposed, too. He worried that the rule would have unintended consequences, like creating a dearth of candidates or encouraging leaders to deplete the city’s reserves for immediate projects.
Councilman Donald J. Horton, who was in favor of term limits, said the changes wouldn’t keep talent away. They would limit council members to three consecutive four-year terms, but he noted that they could run again for 12 more years following a break.
Wood, the mayor, initiated a change in 2010 that limited the mayor to three four-year terms. He is in his 19th year in office, but intended the law not to be retroactive. A resident, Michael Litten, filed suit against Wood earlier this year saying that he should not have run for office in 2013, when he was last elected.
The case will go to trial next month, where it will be heard by a Fulton County jury.
“I’m glad we’re going to get a decision,” Wood said. “I’m glad it’s not going to hang around and be a question.”
The city had asked the delegation to clarify that the rule was not retroactive, Wood said, but so far, nothing’s moved. Sen. John Albers, R-Roswell, did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on possible changes.
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