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Charter review group asks counsel for case law after mixed legal guidance on term limits
Summary
Members of New Canaan's Charter Revision Commission Group 2 debated whether term limits should apply to elected and/or appointed offices, discussed grandfathering current officers, and agreed to request formal legal opinions and relevant case law before drafting any charter changes.
Members of the New Canaan Charter Revision Commission (Group 2) devoted a substantial portion of Thursday’s meeting to whether the town should adopt term limits for elected or appointed offices. The moderator opened the discussion with a summary of prior research, saying “the state claims that it’s silent” on local term limits and that existing materials were inconclusive.
The group reviewed examples from neighboring towns, including Wilton and Bethel, and charter-review commentary suggesting conflicting interpretations of whether municipal term limits are permissible under Connecticut law. Speaker 3 told colleagues, “there should be some term limits,” arguing limits would refresh boards and commissions and encourage broader civic participation. Others warned that long-serving members provide institutional knowledge that can be valuable to long-range planning efforts such as the town’s 10-year Plan of Conservation and Development.
Commissioners discussed scope and design: whether limits should apply only to appointed positions (for which there is no election mechanism to remove a member) or also to elected offices; how many consecutive terms would be reasonable; whether terms should be staggered; and whether a cooling-off period should be required before a former member could return. Several members proposed grandfathering current officeholders or starting the term-limit clock at adoption so incumbents could complete their existing terms.
The group concluded there was insufficient internal consensus and legal clarity to draft a final charter change. They voted informally to collect a focused list of questions and to ask town counsel for a formal opinion and cited-case law. The moderator and others agreed to compile specific questions for counsel and to request citations to prior relevant cases so commissioners can review precedent in advance of counsel’s written opinion.
Next procedural steps: commissioners agreed to finalize the questions promptly and to place the legal opinion on the agenda for the next full commission meeting.
