Montrose Lifetime Limit on Council Service

The recitals of Ordinance 2728 state that no amendment to the city charter since its adoption in 1914 has addressed council term limits. Councilors serve under the limits in Article XVIII, Section 11 of the Colorado Constitution, which Montrose, as a home rule city, has the authority to depart from, according to the same recitals. Ordinance 2728 asks voters to write a city limit into the charter: eight years of elected council service in a lifetime, for any candidate after November 3, 2026.

A yes vote amends four charter sections. Article I, Section 7 makes a person with eight years of elected service ineligible to run for council. Section 8 lets a member reach eight years through any combination of terms without the waiting period the state constitution requires. Section 11, which lets the remaining councilors fill most vacancies by majority vote, bars anyone with eight years of elected service from filling one, by appointment or by election. Article III, Section 1 provides that no person shall be elected to serve "more than eight years of elected service in that person's lifetime after November 3, 2026," and excludes time served by appointment to a vacancy from the count.

City Attorney Chris Dowsey told the council on August 18 that the waiting period now required after three two-year terms would be removed, and that after six years a candidate would be eligible only for a two-year seat; the at-large seat is the council's one two-year seat. Councilor J. David Reed said the same night that the present limits are consistent with the state's. A no vote keeps them.

The recitals give the purpose: to encourage more citizens to run for council and to allow for fresh perspectives. In public comment on August 18, Bob Nicholson said no problem exists that needs solving, Cliff Faurer said no historical basis justifies the amendment, and John Brown spoke for term limits in general. On September 1, Faurer again spoke against the ordinance, and Rick Bleier, Leah Vandersluis and Brown spoke for it. Adoption followed at the same meeting, over the no votes of Dave Frank and Reed.

Ordinance 2727, which puts the move of city elections from April to November of even-numbered years on the ballot, also amends Article I, Section 8 and Article III, Section 1. Ordinance 2728's text of Article III, Section 1 keeps the April election dates, and Ordinance 2727's text replaces them with November dates. The two ordinances make no reference to each other. Voters decide the two questions separately, and both can pass. On September 1, Dowsey told the council that moving the election would extend the terms of all sitting members by seven months, and that they would be exempt from the lifetime limit during their current terms.