Irvine Mayor Steven Choi wants his colleagues to ask voters to impose term limits aimed at closing an alleged loophole used by Councilman Larry Agran to serve on the council for 15 years.
In a memo to the council, Choi says he doesn’t think voters who approved the current term limits imagined someone would serve on the council almost indefinitely by switching between mayor and council positions.
Choi says he believes voters would support new limits preventing anyone from serving more than two terms on the council and two terms as mayor. According to the city web site, beginning in 1978, Agran served for 12 years as a council member and then mayor. He left city office in 1991 and returned as a councilman in 1999. For the past 15 years he has been either a member of the city council or mayor.
The item is up for discussion toward the end of Tuesday’s meeting, which starts at 2 p.m. Click here to read Choi’s memo.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly indicated that Agran would not be allowed to run again for city council if the measure passes. The proposal would not count years served in office before the new limit goes into effect.
You can reach Nick Gerda at ngerda@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter: @nicholasgerda.