News

By Margie Plunkett
    
The question for Delray Beach voters this year: Should commission terms be lengthened to three years from the current two years?
    Commissioners voted to add the question to the March 13 election ballot. “The commission is only putting it on the ballot for you to decide,” said Commissioner Jay Alperin.
    If voters approve the new term, commissioners could serve three three-year terms or a total of nine years, compared with the current six-year maximum.
    Lawmakers supported the longer term for a variety of reasons, most notably that the shorter terms don’t allow commissioners to take influential committee seats in organizations like the League of Cities. Additionally, they argued, commissioners are forced to spend a disproportionate time campaigning under the current term length.
    Commissioner Angeleta Gray said after her initial election, she had been asked to consider a  board position for the Palm Beach League of Cities, but quickly learned “because of the term limits, that couldn’t happen.”
    Holding such positions is important to building critical relationships and getting Delray Beach’s issues on the table, Gray said. “By the time you build relationships to do good for our community, you’re gone.
    “It’s important to me that we have time to do our jobs, to put our issues out front and let the league back us,” she said.
    The term-limit debate sparked a call among some for a review of the City Charter, rather than dealing with the issues piecemeal, including the question of term limits.
    “We should look at the whole charter without tearing it apart,” said Christina Morrison, a candidate for the commission seat occupied by Alperin, who is not running.
    Alperin later countered: “It doesn’t require a charter review to make a single item change. You don’t hold up one issue if there’s something you think needs to be addressed.”
    Meanwhile, residents raised concerns that they’d have to endure unwanted commissioners longer. But commissioners pointed out that voters can still oust incumbents at the end of their three-year term — and that recall procedures are still in place.
    “I think six years is enough for a competent and smart person,” said Al Jacquet, another commission hopeful, calling the move the “incumbent retrenchment act.”
    Candidates have until Feb. 7 to file for this year’s election.
    Two seats are open: one, currently held by Vice Mayor Angeleta Gray; and the second, held by Alperin, who was appointed to finish a term after Fred Fetzer resigned for health reasons.
    Gray is defending her seat against only one opponent, Victor Kirson, as of the end of January.
    Alperin’s seat was thus far sought by Jacquet, Morrison, Patricia Archer and David Armstrong.