Jay Patrick

There was a note a short time ago from Mayor Ed Fitch about changes both he and the council want to make to the city charter.

This is going to be put on the ballot for the election in May. The city charter is hardly ever changed and must be voted on by the citizens of Redmond to make that change. This is a good thing. We the people can make changes to it, but my caution is to think clearly and thoughtfully before checking that box on the ballot to change Redmond’s city charter.

Do not vote to change this on a whim, an emotion or a feeling. Instead, reason and common sense need to be driving that decision. To preface my comments, I want you to know they come from me spending several years serving the city of Redmond.

The main change the mayor and council are asking for is term limits. I am generally a big term limits supporter. This support, for the most part, is based on elected positions being paid that people seldom retire from. Their goal seems to be to make themselves millionaires. Too often there is little concern about doing what is best for the people they serve.

The first item to discuss that will be on the ballot is to limit the councilor position to two terms. Currently we have a councilor position with no limits and we have a $200 stipend given. So, basically, it is still a volunteer position. Those who are elected are not there to retire off the salary made being a councilor.

In the last 25 years, in many of the elections — which happen every two years for three of the six councilor positions — we have seldom had more than three to maybe four people step forward to fill those spots. Often one to three of those running are citizens who are currently council members. I hesitate to limit the term for this unpaid position.

Think about who serves and why they serve. Most times, it is because they care for Redmond. Wanting to do a “good thing” by enacting term limits will only limit candidates to select from. This may come back to bite us as we face the unintended consequences. I find the ones that go through the effort of gathering signatures and actually getting their names on the ballot truly care about the whole city.

Often those who are appointed do so to “fix” one pet project affecting themselves. For these reasons, I cannot support the change. We should not limit council terms to two, but instead keep them as is currently for those who want to do the best for Redmond.

As for the second item, which is the mayor’s term, the ask will be to change this from a two-year to a four-year term.

I struggle with this for many reasons. I will share a few. The mayor position has one unique difference and that is the amount of influence over council, the staff, and the city as a whole. The mayor is elected to represent the citizens at a shorter term of two years currently. This makes sure they are always in front of the people.

A four-year term may very well change the mayor’s position for the worse. And as you likely have heard in the past, if it is not broken don’t try to fix it. The two-year term is a good length of time. Especially if the mayor happens to go off the rails, there can be a correction from the people. The mayor can certainly run for multiple terms and if the people wish to keep them then in place, they will.

For those reasons, my position on this proposal is that four years is just too long for the mayor’s term. We need to keep it at a two-year term.

The next change that is desired is a nepotism change to the city charter. It would effect the mayor and councilor positions and keep family from serving in these positions at the same time. This is an unfortunate change to have to make. It should be common sense. But having lived through this in my time on council and seeing the difficulties it presents for the staff, council and the city, I would support making this change and adding this to the city charter.