Tustin residents will decide in the upcoming election whether the mayor and members of the City Council should serve longer terms.
If voters approve Measure II, term limits would increase from two consecutive terms of four years to three successive terms, also of four years. Past terms won’t be counted — the new rules would apply to mayoral and council terms starting with the November election.
If voters reject the measure, the city will stick to the current term limits, which were decided in 1994.
According to city attorney David Kending, once an individual has served on the dais for three consecutive terms, they would be ineligible to serve again for eight years from their last day, if Measure II is approved. Right now, the period of ineligibility is two years.
The City Council, in a split 3-2 vote in June, decided that term limit rules need to be revisited following the city’s switch to district elections in 2021.
Mayor Austin Lumbard, who supported the term limit change, said the changes will increase resident representation at City Hall.
“Tustin’s current term limit ordinance was enacted decades before the city was compelled under state law to switch to district elections,” he said. “This measure modifies the term limit ordinance to avoid potential conflicts and increase opportunities for residents.”
However, Councilmembers Letitia Clark and Rebecca Gomez, who voted against the change, suggested that the new rules would attract “career politicians.”
“Our term limits are simple. A member of the City Council cannot serve more than two consecutive four-year terms in office. That’s the same term limit that we put on the president and the governor,” they said in a joint argument against the measure. “If a person wants to serve again, they can — as long as they wait out of office.”
Clark will term out this year, and Gomez is not running for re-election. The mayoral seat, which Lumbard was elected to in 2022 — the first time Tustin voters elected a mayor instead of council colleagues appointing someone to the position — will not be on the ballot this year.
Information on the ballot measure in Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Vietnamese is available on the city’s website.
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