NEWPORT BEACH : Petitions Presented on Limiting Terms

Thousands of signatures from residents who want to limit City Council terms were brought to City Hall on Thursday morning by a group that organized a petition drive to put the issue on the November ballot.

Officials of the group, Newport Residents to Limit City Council Terms, said they gathered 8,584 signatures during their monthlong petition drive. The group needed to gather 6,504 signatures for the issue to qualify for the ballot.

Since it first formed, the group headed by resident Maria Hedges--whose husband, John, is a first-term councilman--aimed to collect more than the required number of signatures to show that term limits had widespread community support. The requirement is 15% of the city’s registered voters, and the group hoped to collect support from 20% of those residents.

The petition now goes to the county registrar of voters, where the signatures will be verified before the initiative is formally put on the ballot.

City Council members now serve four-year terms without a limit. With the proposed change, members could serve two consecutive four-year terms, then would need to sit out one term before running again.

Three council members have served more than eight years: John C. Cox Jr., Ruthelyn Plummer and Evelyn R. Hart. The seats held by Plummer and Cox will be contested this fall.