The Mission Viejo City Council voted Feb. 14 to scrap term limits for residents appointed to city commissions.
Commissioners are appointed by councilors and have been limited to three two-year terms.
While the vote removes that cap, under the new policy, commissioners will still need to be re-appointed by a majority vote by the council every two years.
The council voted 4–1 on the issue with Councilwoman Cynthia Vasquez dissenting.
Vasquez said she was concerned having no term limits for commissioners would “send the wrong message” to residents.
“I feel as councilmembers, it is our duty to set examples to the community and hold ourselves to the highest of standards,” she said during the council’s meeting Tuesday. “Therefore, excluding term limits ... sends the wrong message, which I believe is the opposite of what we all want.”
When the proposal was brought for a first reading during the council’s Jan. 24 meeting, Vasquez said the then-proposed change “discourages potential applicants with new ideas and different perspectives.”
She said the policy may cause residents to think the same city councilors will consistently vote in the same commissioners, “which makes it very difficult for new people to be brought on.”
Other councilors did not comment on the matter at either the most recent or the Jan. 24 board meeting.
However, when the policy was first proposed at a Jan. 10 meeting, Councilwoman Trish Kelley said she didn’t want to limit “talented commissioners” to just six years with term limits.
“What I don’t want to do is close the door on talented commissioners who are doing a good job, who have the experience and have their arms wrapped around the issues of the city and just mandatorily [take] them off because their six years [are] up,” Kelley said.
The city has three commissions: the Community Services Commission, which advises the council on the development and maintenance of parks and recreation services; the Investment Advisory Commission, which oversees the city’s investment programs; and the Planning and Transportation Commission, which advises the council on land use and planning.
Both the Community Services Commission and the Investment Advisory Commission have five seats, while the Planning and Transportation Commission has seven.
Under the new policy, any councilor may also appoint commissioners from any district in the city, instead of appointing only residents from within their own district.
The new rule will go into effect March 14.
