Mayfield voters to decide on term limits for mayor, council in special election March 16 - cleveland.com

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MAYFIELD, Ohio -- Village voters will go to the polls March 16 to decide whether there should be term limits for council members and the mayor. The special election that day is the only one to be held in Cuyahoga County.

Issue 1 asks if council members should be limited to two four-year terms. Issue 2 asks if the position of mayor should also be limited to two terms.

The two-term limit would begin when each of the staggered council terms is next up for election and, in the case of the mayor, with the term starting in January 2024.

A sample ballot can be seen here.

A committee of resident petitioners including chairman Ron DiNardo, former councilman Stephen Jerome, Jeff Geisinger, Richard Eisenberg and Richard Koch circulated petitions last fall.

They gathered 117 valid signatures from village residents on the council term limit petition and 119 on the mayoral petition.

Several council members and Mayor Brenda Bodnar have stated opposition to the limits, while DiNardo said he believes limits are necessary in order for the village to see continued forward progression.

“It’s always been in the charter and was removed for one person,” DiNardo said. “That was for (former mayor) Bruce Rinker, so he could stay on. And Bruce Rinker has left the community, left the village, where he did do well for the community.

Rinker decided in 2015 not to run for re-election after serving as mayor for 22 years.

“The current administration isn’t of the caliber of the past administration,” DiNardo said.

“What I’ve seen over the last eight years, or so,” DiNardo said, “is nothing that has benefited the community like the previous administration brought forward. That was a fantastic administration. So, let the people decide.”

Law Director Anthony Coyne wrote an article about the ballot issues in the winter edition of Mayfield’s “Voice of the Village” newsletter. In his article, Coyne notes that the original village charter that voters adopted in 1974 did not contain term limits.

In 1995, voters approved a charter amendment that created a three-term limit for both the mayor and council members. In 2004, a group of residents circulated a petition to remove term limits, a move voters approved.

“Based upon articles written at the time,” Coyne stated in his article, “the citizens believed that in a community the size of Mayfield Village, with a small population and eight elected positions of leadership, the candidate pool from which to select a mayor and council was very small.

“The time commitment required of elected officials is substantial and the meeting schedule imposes a burden upon their careers and families. Therefore, in 2004, the voters did not believe that it made sense to limit the number of terms that a willing official could serve,” Coyne wrote.

DiNardo further stated: “Complacency does no good for anybody, so the ability to have term limits brings new ideas to the forefront with new council people or mayor. Right now, it’s a status quo.

“People will tell you, ‘It’s a small community, there aren’t a lot of people who’ll run.’ Well, the community’s 200 years old. It’s 100 years old as a village. There’s never been a vacancy. I’ve lived in the village more than 30 years. There’s never been a vacancy that had to be filled because somebody didn’t put their name on the ballot.”

Council President Stephen Schutt said term limits limit who can run for council and mayor, and therefore limit voters’ options.

“With the village being as small as it is, about 3,400 residents, with the term limits, you’re kind of limiting your candidate pool,” said Schutt, who was elected in 2017 and is finishing his first term this year.

“Number two, (with term limits) you get rid of that knowledge (of officeholders), as well. There hasn’t been any issues with our longer-term council members in the past, (so limits) don’t really make sense,” he said.

“If we had some issues, or there was corruption or things of that nature, then sure, maybe you might want to try and limit candidates.

“Our residents already have the option of voting us out if we’re not doing a good job.” Schutt said. “So we kind of have a term limit now, in that regard, in that they won’t vote for us if they don’t think we’re doing a good job for the village.”

When asked her views on the issues, Bodnar said: “I think I, and the members of council, are pretty much on the same page. (Term limits) take away our choices.

“We’ve had a lot of long-term leaders in Mayfield Village, and I believe they’ve really served us well. They’ve probably been our best leaders. And really, sometimes it takes a couple of terms to get your feet wet, put together your vision and proceed with that.

“That’s what a lot of our past leaders have done, and it’s made for consistent leadership and positive leadership. If you don’t want to vote for someone, you don’t have to vote for them at any given point.

“I think we’re transparent,” Bodnar said, “and the smaller a village, the harder it is to find good people who are willing to take up the task and run for office. I don’t want to restrict that field.”

Mailings were sent recently to residents by a committee called Citizens for Quality Government, of which Bodnar, Schutt and other council representatives are members. In the mailing, it is stated that the term limits are “proposed by two individuals who lost their previous bids for office.”

Jerome, a former councilman, lost his last two bids, as has DiNardo.

“You know what really makes me sick,” DiNardo said, “is for the current administration to work against the people and confuse them with a postcard (mailing) that says ‘Keep your right to choose.’

“What does that even mean? What are they talking about? Why would (council members and mayor) pay money to send out a postcard to say no? Why send literature out? Let people decide.”

DiNardo said his committee has not sent out literature.

“These people are diabolical in their attempt to, I don’t know, stay in office,” DiNardo said. “Why would they do that? I don’t know.”

In a letter to cleveland.com commenting on the proposed charter amendment, Schutt noted that the current council consists of three longtime members and four who are serving their first terms.

“It is important to note that this initiative is about the future of Mayfield Village,” the letter states. “Although those behind the term limit initiative have tried to personalize it, this is not about our current leadership.

“To run for mayor or council, every candidate needs to get petitions signed by the voters. If a candidate can secure those signatures, he or she should be permitted to run for office. The voters should be able to elect who it is that they choose.”

The special election is costing the village just over $9,000 to conduct.

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