Voters Likely To Get Decide On Term Limits In Arlington
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - The city of Arlington is embroiled in a lawsuit over term limits for elected leaders.
Arlington residents pushing for a cap to how long a person can hold public office, tell CBS11 they have a restraining order against the city.
An effort to limit elected official term limits in Arlington is now a legal battle. Tuesday night, the city of Arlington voted to add a proposal residents can vote on in November to the ballot.
The problem, according to some, is that it watered down a different ballot initiative to limit terms for office holders— the city's proposal allowing for nine years in office.
"It was deliberately misleading," said term limit supporter Zach Maxwell. "It was confusing to voters and it was done water down."
For the last several months, Arlington taxpayers have been trying to gather support for term limits.
"For years, we have watched this city council engaged in the very behavior that it engaged in last night, where it believes that the citizens are down here and its donors and its political allies are up here," said Maxwell.
Because of the restraining order, supporters of term limits say Arlington residents will be able to vote on limiting service to six years for an elected official in November because the city will likely not have enough time to make changes before the election.
The mayor and city council both declined to comment on camera about this but they a spokeswoman for the city say they are looking at options for an August 24 court hearing.
