Arlington Voters Approve Term Limits For Mayor, City Council
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - Arlington voters approved term limits Tuesday night for their mayor and city council.
With 42 percent of precincts reporting, 61 percent of voters favored the move.
This became a heated issue when a group of taxpayers got enough signatures on a petition to force the city to put the measure on the midterm ballot.
The initiative calls for a limit of three terms or six years in all for each elected position
A person could serve six years as a council member and another six years as mayor for a total of 12 years.
In early September, the city council voted to hire two high-profile law firms to defend the city and Mayor Jeff Williams from what the city called, "extreme term limits."
Zack Maxwell, the person behind the petition drive that got term limits on the November ballot, sued both of them.
"This is a flagrant abuse of tax dollars in order to try, in my opinion, to justify poor decision-making," said Maxwell at the September 4 city council meeting.
Mayor Williams said during the meeting, "Mr. Maxwell, you're the one that filed the lawsuit. You are the one that has taken action against us. We didn't ask for that."
Maxwell sued the city after the council voted to put the issue on the ballot with term limits at nine years instead of six years which was on the petition.
Arlington voters also approved nearly $138 million bond issue for street improvements.
