Brookhaven’s current and future mayors could stay in office longer under a new bill in the Georgia Legislature.
The bill would extend the term limit from two consecutive four-year terms to three; the change was intially proposed last year by a group of Brookhaven citizens who reviewed the city’s charter.
But an analysis shows that it’s uncommon for a Georgia city to set mayoral term limits. According to an analysis conducted last year by the Georgia Municipal Association, only 22 of Georgia’s 538 cities have mayoral term limits. That’s about 4 percent.
It’s much more commonplace for larger, more urban cities to have term limits. Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta and Macon all hold their mayors to a limit of two four-year terms. So do some smaller metro Atlanta cities like Alpharetta, Dunwoody and Peachtree City. Marietta, Milton, Roswell and South Fulton are the only cities with three-term limits, according to the GMA.
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In the metro area, Sandy Springs, Kennesaw and Decatur are among the large cities without mayoral term limits.
State Rep. Matthew Wilson, the main representative for the area, said he sponsored the Brookhaven bill since the charter review commission recommended the change. The City Council then passed a resolution in December that urged the General Assembly to pass the bill. Several other DeKalb representatives signed on to sponsor the change.
“When it comes to local bills, my role as a representative is to make sure that the local elected officials have conducted a transparent process that has included citizen input,” Wilson said in an interview.
House Bill 695 also sets up a procedure for filling vacant seats on the Council.
Brookhaven Mayor John Ernst, currently in his first term, has said he intends to run for a second term this year. He said Tuesday that he does not know if he would shoot for a third.
The City Council followed the suggestions of the charter review commission, which thought that “to have regional presence, you have to make a mayor that sticks around for a longer period of time to get things done,” Ernst said.
The bill, introduced Monday, will need to pass both the House and the Senate by next Tuesday to become law.
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