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| Breaking News: Activist turns in petition for council term limits |
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| Written by Patterson Irrigator | |
| Friday, 04 July 2008 | |
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A measure that would limit the terms of Patterson City Council members may be on a ballot soon after an activist turned in petitions with more than 1,000 signatures Wednesday evening. Patterson resident Donna Worley, who organized signature-gathering efforts, submitted the petitions to Patterson City Hall, which forwarded them on to the county clerk-recorder’s office. “This truly reveals the will of the people, and that is what the initiative process is all about,” Worley said. Worley’s proposed measure would limit the mayor to two two-year terms and council members to two four-year terms. The mayor and council members now can serve unlimited terms. Anyone who is appointed or elected to fill the remaining term of a council member or mayor would be considered to have filled a full term, under the measure. About six volunteers went door-to-door and gathered signatures, Worley said, though she would not provide further details on the volunteers or how she found them. She said she did not pay the signature gatherers, but she does not know if someone else gave them money for their efforts. Patterson City Councilwoman Annette Smith said she had phone calls from 10 to 20 residents who said those who collected signatures for the term-limits initiative also gathered signatures for at least one other initiative. Worley said she had no knowledge of other petitions being distributed. Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder Lee Lundrigan said her office counted 1,119 signatures on the petition. Measure supporters needed only about 550 signatures to get the measure on the ballot. Worley has been actively seeking signatures for the measure since late last year. The measure has received its share of critics, who have accused Worley of being a paid representative of PCCP West Park LLC, which aims to build a 4,800-acre industrial park in and around the former Crows Landing naval airfield south of Patterson. Patterson City Council members have opposed the project. Worley has denied any affiliations with project developers. Worley said she favors term limits in general. At the same time, she made note that petition gatherers heard local residents discuss a “need for change” as they gathered signatures. “Term limits is a just a stepping stone, but it brought the community together, and signing this petition gave our people a way to express themselves,” Worley said. Lundrigan said there will be a 30-day review period for the petitions. If the signatures are certified, the city can choose to adopt the measure as an ordinance, place it on the ballot for a special election, or order a fiscal impact report to be done. Lundrigan estimated the proposed measure would not reach the city’s desk until August. Worley is not certain if the initiative will appear on November’s ballot because it could be too late. She could have gotten the signatures in earlier if she stopped at the minimum requirement, but with the 1,119 signatures she gathered, she could call for a special election. “It will be on the ballot when we want it to be on the ballot,” she said.
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