City Council began discussion on the possibility of extending the number of terms City Council members can serve and also staggering the Council terms. The initial discussion took place at a recent Council Rules and Ordinances Committee meeting. If a change is determined, the measure would go to the voters under the form of a charter amendment.
Currently, the North Royalton City Charter states that “each Ward Councilperson is to serve for a term of two (2) years commencing with the November election of 1979 and every two (2) years thereafter. No person elected Ward Councilperson shall hold the office for a period longer than six (6) consecutive terms or more than twelve (12) consecutive years, unless one (1) full term or more has elapsed since that person last held the position of Ward Councilperson.”
Ward 3 Council Representative Joanne Krejci asked for the topic of term limits to be placed on the agenda of the Council Rules and Ordinances Committee for Discussion. Krejci said the issue started when a resident asked her when she was up for re-election. “It raised the question in my mind is two years the right term. I’m not sure I know the answer to that, but I know it was worth discussing. I mean, a lot of time and money does go into every election that we have.” She went on to say that she also would like to look at a staggered term. “I like the way the School Board does it.” Krejci was referring to the manner which the North Royalton School Board operates relative to their terms. Each member serves a four year term, with half of the board up for election at a time, staggering half of the Board every two years. “You would never have it like it happened last time, that everybody would be new at the same time and you would at least have some continuity and some new people. I know that this is something that has to go to the voters and the voters in North Royalton usually don’t like change too much, I don’t think, but it was just something I wanted to bring up for us to discuss and see, does it make sense.”
Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz, Ward 1 Council Representative John Nickell and Council President Paul Marnecheck were asked if the matter had been previously discussed. Nickell stated that yes, both the matter of extending the length of the term and staggering terms was discussed previously. “It’s been my recollection that it always had to be the Charter Review Committee and it was either last time or the time before that the Charter Review didn’t want to change, so it really didn’t get talked about,” said Nickell. Antoskiewicz said that “it’s always been part of the discussion, and there have been a lot of discussions with a lot of different scenarios, because I think you can present this in a lot of different ways. If you go to four-year terms, which I think it should be four-year terms, by the way, I think two years is just too short of a time frame. When you talk about staggering them . . . the only caveat to stagger is, against my belief, I don’t think anyone should be able to run from a safe seat.” Antoskiewicz said that if, for example, a member of Council, who is currently in year two of a four year term, should have to resign for that position in order to run for the Council President or Mayoral positions. When asked if he likes the point of staggering, Antoskiewicz said, “I don’t know if I like staggering, but I get the point of it.” He again noted that with staggered terms he has seen where other cities do not have the requirement of leaving the current office to run for the new office. “You see where they are on Council, but then are running for (Council) at-Large. They are a regular Councilman in that ward, but then an at-large seat comes up and they run for at-large. If they lose the at-large, they are still on Council. I personally don’t think that you should run.” He also cautioned Council about the appearance that if they run this issue now, that some will think that they will be doing it for their own benefit.
North Royalton Law Director Tom Kelly was asked that if the measure was placed on the ballot this fall and passes, would it be for the people that were elected this fall, or would it be going forward? Kelly responded by saying that the date could be fixed in the amendment itself, but otherwise, if approved in the November election, it would become effective as the amendment to the City’s charter, which would then start on January 1, 2024. Kelly pointed out that if Council wished to change the charter to four year terms, that an additional change to the charter relative to the actual term limits, would have to be addressed. “What we might have to do is repeal the entire section and adopt a brand new section and give everybody a clean slate.”
Council then discussed the various options regarding both issues, as well as a possible staggered term for the Council President and Mayor. Council was polled for the four year term. All but Marnecheck was in favor. He stated that the matter should be one for the Charter Review Commission to discuss if they felt an amendment should be placed on the ballot. Council will be researching the extended terms and the potential for staggering the terms and then call for a special Rules and Ordinances meeting in the future to further discuss whether to place the issue(s) on the November ballot. The deadline for the placing an issue on the November ballot is in September.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer