Three-year council terms on Boerne ballot in May

Boerne voters will decide whether to extend City Council terms to three-year terms as council Tuesday approved four charter amendments for placement on the May 3 ballot. 

The spotlight of the four falls on Amendment A, which proposes three-year terms for the mayor and all council members beginning with the 2026 election. The terms would be staggered so that only two council seats are on the ballot in any given year. 

Mayor Frank Ritchie said he brought the three-year term to council and its charter review commission. He said the extended term offers continuity while allowing elected officials the ability to see proposals through to fruition. 

“I’m on year two and it felt like I just ran for election a couple months ago,” Ritchie said, who has announced he will seek re-election in May to the mayoral post he first won in 2023. 

“It takes us a little bit of time just to get our feet wet and understand what’s going on,” the mayor said at their Jan. 14 meeting. “The more continuity we can have on council — the less transition we have — the more ability we have to work and see some of these things come to fruition. 

“I think it’s important they have the time to serve and be able to do that,” he added. 

This will not be the first time Boerne residents have voted on a request to extend terms. In 2020 voters rejected — with 4,003 for and 4,679 against — a request for three-year terms, the only amendment of 13 that failed. 

The charter was first adopted in 1995 and has only been amended twice since. The first amendment was approved by voters in 2012 to change from at-large to single-member voting districts for council and mayor. 

The next charter review took place in 2020 and marked the first thorough review of the charter since its adoption in 1995. 

“To ask city servants to have to spend the time and energy every two years, to be re-elected ... it’s kind of taxing,” Ritchie said. 

If the measure is approved by voters, the council would need to adopt an ordinance outlining the schedule for staggered terms. No breakdown of which terms would be allotted to which years has been determined at this time.