Lawrence sets trustee term limits

Following much debate — including three board meetings and two public hearings — the Village of Lawrence approved term limits for trustees at the Feb. 6 meeting by a vote of 3-1.
Under the new limits, trustees who are elected or appointed cannot serve more than eight consecutive years. A board member can, however, run for office again after a break in his or her service. The current trustees have effectively exempted themselves from the new law: Their previous years of service are not counted. The term-limit clock will begin on July 1 for trustees who were elected in even-numbered years, and begin on July 1, 2015, for those who were elected in odd-numbered years.
Trustee C. Simon Felder was elected to a two-year term in 2012. He has been on the board as a trustee for nearly four years since he served as mayor, but his eight-year term limit will not begin unless he is re-elected this year.
Felder introduced a resolution at the board’s Dec. 18 meeting to limit trustee service to six consecutive years. At the Jan. 9 meeting, which included the first public hearing on the proposed law, there was more debate among board members than among the residents who attended, and afterward, village attorney Peter Bee was instructed to write a proposed law that limited trustees to eight consecutive years.
Intimidated by the prospect of challenging long-serving incumbents, many residents won’t run for the board, according to Felder. “This opens up the opportunity for others to be more at ease, and makes it more possible for them to run for office,” he said.
Lawrence already limits its mayor to three consecutive two-year terms. The current mayor, Martin Oliner, did not vote on the resolution. (A mayor does not have to vote unless a tie must be broken.) He said previously that he thinks that a law restricting trustees’ tenure is a disservice to the village. “It takes a very long time to learn how the village works,” Oliner said.
Mayoral term limits were approved by the board during the administration of Lawrence Blatte, who led the village from 1996 to 2002.
Trustee Michael Fragin was the lone “no” vote on the trustee term-limit resolution. Trustees Irving Langer and Alex Edelman, along with Felder, approved the new law. Fragin called it “restrictive,” saying he did not think residents were excluded in any way from running for office and that there had been a few recent competitive elections.
“There were no statements of support at two hearings that the village held on the term-limits law,” he said. “I opposed the law because term limits should be decided by a vote of the people, not just my esteemed colleagues who have exempted their service from the eight-year limit.”
Resident J. L. Kolodny also objected during the hearing, saying that the new law would benefit the sitting trustees more than other residents. “I feel this exemption is unwarranted,” he said. “There is no one in office right now that this affects.”
Opposition also came in the form of a January letter from former Trustees Ed Klar and Joel Mael, who echoed Oliner’s sentiment that term limits would reduce the number of experienced people on the board.
The law will go into effect after it is filed with the New York secretary of state. The next village election is June 17. Felder’s and Langer’s terms are up, and Oliner would be running for his third term as mayor.