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Heath council amends ordinance to make newly adopted term limits retroactive
Summary
Following a high-turnout petition and a post-election debate over ballot language, the Heath City Council voted unanimously to amend its ordinance so the recently adopted council and mayor term limits apply retroactively to prior service.
The Heath City Council voted unanimously Oct. 28 to amend the city's ordinance so that the term limits it adopted earlier this year apply retroactively, including to current officeholders.
Mayor Jeremiah McClure and multiple council members described the background: petitioners submitted pages and signatures seeking specific term limits — four two-year terms (eight years) for councilmembers, two two-year terms (four years) for mayor, and a 12-year combined cap in any combination of offices. The petition language and how it was presented created confusion because some petition forms did not include the detailed limit language as an attachment; ballots therefore presented a general Proposition A without the detailed terms.
Councilmembers who supported retroactivity said the election result — 5,440 votes for term limits and 1,163 against — demonstrated the voters' intent to adopt the specific limits. Opponents at prior meetings had argued the council lacked clear evidence that all petition signers had the same understanding of the detailed terms.
Councilman Dodson moved to amend the ordinance to make the ordinance’s limits retroactive; the city attorney and staff confirmed the substantive term limits as written already matched the petition language except for the retroactivity question. The motion to amend the ordinance to apply the limits retroactively passed unanimously.
The ordinance as amended states councilmembers cannot serve more than four two-year terms (eight years), the mayor cannot serve more than two two-year terms (four years), and no one can serve more than a total of 12 years in any combination of the two offices. The council also voted that time served before adoption will count toward those limits. City staff said the change will be reflected in the city's ordinance code and provide guidance on interpreting future eligibility and vacancies.
Council discussion included comments from members who had campaigned on specific term limits and from members urging fidelity to the voters' expressed preferences. One councilmember suggested considering a future provision allowing former officeholders to return after a cooling-off period; that idea was discussed but not added to the ordinance.
