In an act that would be the first amendment to merger law since city and county governments combined in 2003, Louisville Metro Councilman Brent Ackerson, D-26, will introduce a resolution urging state lawmakers to change the number of consecutive years a person can hold the office of mayor from three terms to two.
At a news conference held Friday, Councilman Ackerson said with new leadership coming to the mayor’s office next year, now is the time for a review of term limits for the city’s chief executive position. In July, longtime Mayor Jerry Abramson announced he would not seek a final third term in order to run for Lt. Governor in 2011.
“With this change, Louisville will follow the commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Ackerson. “The state’s highest elected officials from the governor on down can only serve two consecutive terms. This move guarantees new ideas, new vision, and new leadership.”
The proposal is no reflection on Abramson, he says. If approved the change could go into effect when a new mayor takes office.
Over the past year, council members have challenged the exercise of mayoral power in Metro government. In December 2008, council members Tina Ward-Pugh, D-9, Kelly Downard, R-16, and Hal Heiner, R-19, sent a letter to Attorney General Jack Conway questioning the mayor’s authority to commit cash and property to the downtown Center City project, an expansion of Fourth Street Live being developed by The Cordish Cos. In September, Conway’s office issued an opinion saying the mayor’s actions were within city and state laws that created a strong mayoral system under merger. In subsequent interviews, however, Conway pointed out that could change if the council took a more assertive role in Metro government.
Voters approved merger in November 2000, but critics have complained that there has been little review of those laws since. The Ackerson resolution forces that conversation, says Republican caucus director Steve Haag, adding that GOP council members are supportive of the resolution and are looking forward to a number of other measures aimed at reviewing merger law.