Term limits are not coming to the Jefferson County Council any time soon.
Councilman Scott Seek (District 5, Festus) proposed an ordinance that would have put a measure on the Nov. 5 ballot asking voters whether those serving on the council or as county executive should be limited to three terms.
The council voted 5-2 April 22 to deny the ordinance, with Seek and Brian Haskins (District 1, High Ridge) voting to approve it and Gene Barbagallo (District 2, Imperial), Lori Arons (District 3, Imperial), Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart), Dan Stallman (District 6, De Soto) and Bob Tullock (District 7, House Springs) voting against the ordinance.
Council members and the county executive serve four-year terms under the charter form of government that county voters approved in 2008 and that was put fully into effect in 2011.
The charter does not call for term limits, so the public would have to vote to approve an amendment to adopt them.
Haskins said he favored putting term limits on the ballot and letting voters make their voices heard, just like the vote in April on a countywide 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana. County voters approved the issue with 69.19 percent in favor and 30.81 percent opposed.
“This would be the first charter amendment ever brought forward by this council in all these years,” he said. “I always find it confusing when we (debate) having the voters vote on things because, to me, I can’t ever imagine a better feeling than when we give our folks a chance to vote, whether it was on the marijuana tax, whatever. Let the people vote. I’m all for it.”
Seek said he proposed the issue at the April 1 work session because of similar term limits found in the state Legislature. In 1992, Missouri voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to limit elected officials to a maximum of eight years in the Missouri House of Representatives and the Missouri Senate, for a total of 16 maximum years in the General Assembly, by a margin of 75 percent.
“I believe that instituting term limits would establish a more democratic process and will prevent people from getting entrenched,” Seek said.
Barbagallo said the measure was unnecessary because the public already has a system to limit council members’ terms in the form of elections.
“You have a vote every four years (that determines) if you’re going to stay or not,” Barbagallo said. “If you’re a bad politician, you’re going to lose your job.”
Groeteke agreed with Barbagallo and said term limits could cause the county to lose seasoned and knowledgeable, elected officials.
He also said it could be difficult to fill the county executive position if term limits were put in place.
“Elections are a reflection of our job performance here,” Groeteke said. “What good executive would run for this position only to know that he or she would be term-limited and would need to move on after a short period of time? I believe that would be a detriment to that elected position. The same can be said of the other officers of our county government. Who would run for them?”
County Executive Dennis Gannon is serving his second four-year term and is up for re-election in 2026.
He was the second elected county executive after the charter government was formed. Ken Waller, who is now a state representative, was the county’s first executive.
Groeteke is the longest-tenured member of the County Council.
In order to stagger council members’ terms, Groeteke, like the other council members elected to represent even-numbered districts after the charter was first instituted, won a two-year term in 2010. He lost a re-election bid in 2012 but returned to the council in 2016 for a four-year term and was re-elected to another four-year term in 2020. He has filed to run for a third term in the Aug. 6 Republican primary election, where he faces challenger Leslie E. Cheek.
Tullock said having seasoned council members can keep meetings running smoothly, adding that experienced members can make more informed decisions.
“As we’re deciding things on this council, there may be somebody who makes a comment on something discussed years ago, and without having at least a little bit of background on how things were and where we’ve come from, you don’t have time to look it up after the meeting,” Tullock said. “A lot of the time you’ll need to find out what was discussed at the spur of the moment.”
Haskins said the decision on term limits should be left to the voters.
“When we have these opportunities to put something in front of the voters, it makes people like (Tullock) and (Groeteke) shake and nervous that we’re doing something awful,” Haskins said. “I think it’s a very good example of letting the people vote.”
Barbagallo said the county would lose some of its institutional knowledge by limiting elected officials to three four-year terms.
“I had this discussion with my son-in-law who happens to be a journeyman electrician, and he wanted me to explain this issue. I said, ‘Well, you’ve been a journeyman for 12 years, and it would be like you would have to quit because you’re term-limited out.’ You’re taking the best, most knowledgeable people and kicking them to the curb.”