The Herndon Town Council will decide in December whether to approve proposals changing number of years a council member can serve and moving the elections to November. Photo by Reena Singh.
Herndon Town Council may be considering a proposal to change several aspects of their elections.
The council will discuss over the next two months whether to extend councilmember terms to four years and move the May elections to November.
“We have found that most local jurisdictions in the Commonwealth operate with four-year, staggered terms for mayor and council members,” said Mayor Lisa Merkel. “This arrangement provides the opportunity every two years for citizens to make a significant change in the make-up of the council if they choose, while ensuring that some institutional knowledge remains within the governing body.”
The current election cycle is every other year. All council members and the mayor are up for election during this time. The proposal changes the cycle so that elections are still every other year. However, only half of the council members would be up for reelection.
The mayor would be on the ballot every four years.
“Since the early 2000s, the conversation surrounding four-year, staggered terms has come up several times among various council members, and I brought the issue forward most recently with council at our retreat in September,” said Merkel. “I was frankly surprised that considering November for town elections came up in the conversation and will be interested in the public's thoughts on that piece. In my opinion, the four-year, staggered terms is the more critical conversation at this point.”
Council member Grace Wolf said she plans to listen to what residents say at the next several meetings before coming up with a decision of her own.
“When you have high and frequent Council turnover, you find that the staff ends up shaping many important decisions since they are the only ones who have been around to see and understand the whole project,” she said. “Longer terms and staggered terms ensures that residents, businesses get the best service with minimal disruption.”
She said having staggered terms will also keep the town competitive with neighboring jurisdictions.
“Several neighboring jurisdictions recently moved to four-year, staggered terms and have enjoyed the benefits of higher confidence from the business and development community, less disruption on local services, less work for staff, less loss of institutional memory, and increased satisfaction from residents in knowing that there is some continuity in leadership and thought that is not reliant upon staff,” she said.
Not all of the council members are convinced yet, however, that this is the best option for now.
“I’m currently of the mindset that I think other things need to be changed first before this,” said council member Steven Mitchell.
Further, he said he definitely does not support moving the elections to November because it would not save the town much money and would create a more partisan environment.
However, he said he is willing to listen to residents before he makes his final decision.
“I’m going into the conversation open minded about it.”
Public hearings for these resolutions will be held at 7 p.m. Oct. 28, Nov. 11 and Nov. 25 at the council chambers located at 765 Lynn Street. The proposals will be voted on at the Dec. 9 public hearing.