Term limits for Hamilton County mayor formally proposed
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Will term limits be placed on the position of Hamilton County mayor?
That is what Mayor Weston Wamp proposed Wednesday to the Hamilton County Commission.
Hamilton County is the only major county in Tennessee to not have term limits for its primary executive.
The proposal by Mayor Wamp would align the county with the Chattanooga mayoral office, Tennessee gubernatorial office, and the Presidency of the United States of having a two term limit.
He said, “I think it serves well, it prevents consolidation of power, but more importantly it provides a type of transparency, that new ideas are coming into government. I think there’s accountability built in with it.”
A change to having two term limits would be a major shift in county government.
Since the county mayor position was established in 1978, only four men, Dalton Roberts, Claude Ramsey, Jim Coppinger, and Weston Wamp have served in the position.
The lack of turnover in that role has some commissioners wary about the proposal.
Commissioner Joe Graham said, “With a change of executive branch other than an election, of course I think that’s your term limit, every four years is an election, but as we’ve seen, the staff is the most vulnerable if we change the executive branch.”
However, in Mayor Wamp’s view, he argues continuity would not be impacted by these term limits.
He said, “You look at even across the some of the longer terms of county mayors, several department heads, long standing county employees have been here through all of it. When I came into office, I was very intent on keeping a lot of the most talented people within county government. I would expect whoever follows me to do the same.”
If approved by the Commission, it would go to the State Legislature as a Private Act, which means it could ultimately go to a voter referendum.
Mayor Wamp said, “If the state can transition well and benefit from the accountability of term limits than so could we.”
This item is scheduled to be up for a vote next week to begin the process.
Mayor Wamp hopes this will be up on a referendum for the 20-26 election.
