REDMOND, OR -- Redmond voters will decide in May whether to change who can be elected to City Council and for how long. 

Mayor Ed Fitch says a ballot question asking to prohibit members of the same household from serving at the same time is in response to former Mayor George Endicott and his wife, former Councilor Krisanna Clark-Endicott, "They were both duly elected; not a problem. But people did perceive it as something of an issue as not having seven independent people."

Another ballot question would limit Councilors and the Mayor to no more than two terms at a time. "They can run in the next election, but there would be about a two-year break." Currently, Redmond doesn’t have term limits for elected office. "The President has term limits, Governor has term limits," says Fitch, "So it’s not a new idea. It’s one that just gets fresh blood in there every now and then. But eight years is a long time to serve on a Council. It just is."

Fitch tells KBND News Council the two-term limit is just one of two issues in the measure, "I think that’s a healthy process of people getting off the council, getting back involved in the community without that title. If they want to run again, they certainly can. The other one is: in 2026, the Mayor term would go to four years instead of two." He says extending the Mayor's term to match Councilors gives the position more time to follow through on campaign promises, "When you’re trying to lead a community and have certain agenda things that you want to get done, it’s not going to happen in two years. It takes longer time to pursue the goals that you ran to be in the office in the first place."

City Council this week unanimously approved sending the questions to the May ballot.