Des Plaines voters to weigh in on term limits
A decade after Des Plaines voters set term limits for elected officials, residents will be asked in February whether they want officials to serve "unlimited" terms.
Resident Beverly Becker turned in 123 pages of signatures Monday to the Des Plaines city clerk's office.
The question "Shall the City of Des Plaines allow an unlimited number of terms of office for each elected city official?" will appear on Feb. 5 ballots.
In 1998, voters overwhelmingly approved term limits for elected Des Plaines officials. This spring, three aldermen had to leave their posts in the first application of term limits. Tom Christiansen (2nd Ward), Dick Sayad (4th) and Tom Becker (6th) had served two 4-year terms after the 1998 vote.
Beverly Becker couldn't be reached for comment on Monday.
Mayor Tony Arredia, City Clerk Donna McAllister and the four odd-numbered council seats would be affected by term limits in 2009, which would require them to leave office. Aldermen Patricia Beauvais (1st), Laura Murphy (3rd), Carla Brookman (5th) and Don Smith (7th) would have to leave their posts.
If voters decide to overturn the term limits, however, they would be free to run again.
Arredia said he doesn't know if he would seek the city's highest post again if voters decided to end limits.
He doesn't agree with term limits since the democratic process already allows voters to seek new representation.
"If you don't like someone, you vote them out," Arredia said.
Arredia said he knows Becker from his work to help alleviate flooding in her Big Bend Lake neighborhood.
Besides Des Plaines, the only other Northwest suburb with term limits is Rolling Meadows.
A city-driven plan to add a question on February ballots to increase the real estate transfer tax by $1 per $1,000 of property value failed Monday night.
Arredia broke the tie vote to kill the plan, which would have added $450,000 a year to city coffers. Those selling property in Des Plaines currently pay $2 for each $1,000.
The extra money would have gone to help bolster the city's reserves, officials said.