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Term Limits Reconsidered in Kansas City, Missouri

By Sylvia Maria Gross

Kansas City, MO – Kansas City Missouri voters consider changes to the city's 81 year old charter on August 8th. The changes are designed to simplify and modernize the document. But one particular issue has been left out of the revisions, and will go directly to voters on that same ballot, term limits. In 1990, residents voted to restrict council members and the mayor to a maximum of two four-year terms. But now, some council members want to eliminate, or at least extend, the term limits, to allow them to serve for longer periods of time. KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross spoke to council members on both sides of the issue, first is at-large Fifth District Councilwoman Becky Nace.

Council Members Bonnie Sue Cooper and Bill Skaggs introduced the repeal of term limits, which would take effect next year, when five council members - including Cooper, Skaggs and Nace, would be ineligible to run because of term limits. Fifth District Councilman Terry Riley introduced a different term limit bill earlier this year, which wouldn't take effect until 2011. That bill failed to pass. We reached Councilman Riley on his cell phone to talk about the issue.

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