Rolling Meadows voters could decide on tighter term limits for aldermen

Rolling Meadows voters could decide a year from now if their aldermen should have tighter term limits than they do now.

Most aldermen said this week they favor putting a binding question on the March 17, 2020, ballot to ask voters whether aldermen from the city's seven wards should serve no more than two consecutive 4-year terms.

That's been the rule for mayor since 1995, after voters approved a ballot measure. They limited aldermen to three consecutive terms effective with the 1993 election.

Alderman Rob Banger Jr. tried to make the rules consistent in 2012, and then-Alderman Len Prejna, the current mayor, tried again two years later, but neither had enough support from their council colleagues. Opponents of term limits have argued there's a learning curve for newly elected officials, and voters can limit terms by voting incumbents out.

During a committee meeting Tuesday night, Banger raised the topic again. This time, only Alderman Mike Cannon voted against the proposal in an informal straw poll of six aldermen present. Alderman John D'Astice was absent.

"A lot of people are just intimidated for running against somebody," said Banger, who is stepping down from his Ward 5 post this spring after eight years. "The more times a term would end with nobody in that seat, I think that would prompt a lot more people saying, 'Hey, I could at least fill that seat.'"

Banger also said the upcoming April 2 election - in which four people are running for mayor and eight people are running for a total of three contested aldermanic seats - disproves the argument that it's hard to find people to run for positions.

There are two uncontested aldermanic races: in Cannon's Ward 1 and in Nick Budmats' Ward 2.

The council is set to formally vote on a resolution that would create a referendum question.

If approved, the term limits still would allow an alderman to serve eight consecutive years, leave, then come back. Under the current rules, D'Astice served as Ward 6 alderman from 1993 to 2005, then was elected again in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 and 2017.