Despite an aggressive campaign by Mayor Jeff Williams and other city leaders, Arlington voters elected to impose term limits on their city council Tuesday.
The proposition, drafted by citizen Zack Maxwell and placed on the ballot after supporters obtained more than 11,000 signatures, prevents members of the city council, including the mayor, from serving more than three two-year terms consecutively.
Now any one person can serve no more than 12 combined years as a council member or mayor.
In his campaign to derail the proposition, Williams said the term limits could hurt Arlington's economic development and called the term limits "extreme" and the organizers "radicals."
The mayor even tried to add his own counter-proposal to the ballot, but that attempt was shot down in court.
Now, three incumbents, Kathryn Wilemon, Lana Wolff and Michael Glaspie, will be prohibited from seeking reelection in May 2019; Sheri Capehart and Robert Shepard will not be able to run when their terms expire in 2020.
