Arlington Heights Man Wants to Give Term Limit Referendum New Life

A resident is asking the Arlington Heights village board to take action on term limits by putting a binding referendum question on the ballot.

“I thought I’d give them an idea to start with,” said Art Ellingsen of a request he made to the village board Monday. The board did not discuss the request.

Election officials Monday rejected petitions resident Bill Gnech gathered asking for a referendum question on the April ballot to establish term limits for trustees and the village president.

A panel found the question was confusing and not worded correctly, and did not include other specifics such as when the terms would be effective.

But Ellingsen does not think the issue should just go away.

Ellingsen attended the hearing and testified he witnessed Gnech collecting petitions. He said he never heard voters say they were confused by the question or petition.

“All the guy was saying was let’s have term limits like the president,” said Ellingsen, founder of the Arlington Heights Tea Party.

“These guys (those objecting to the petition) were trying to make it a confusing mumbo jumbo,” he said.

He wants to have the issue put on the next agenda so trustees can vote on putting the question to voters in the next election, he said, adding it is the quickets way to get it on a ballot. 

“Right now, there’s nothing on the agenda about this,” said Robin Ward, assistant village attorney, late Tuesday afternoon. She said agendas are not finalized until the end of the week.

Private citizens can ask the village manager to put an item on the agenda, however, Ward said she has not received any request.

Ellingsen said he is pretty sure the village board can take action on a referendum question.

“As far as I know, as a Home Rule community, they can do whatever they want,” he said. “There are very few restrictions on a Home Rule Community. They can’t do stuff in direct contradiction of state and federal law, but they have wide latitude and they can give voters a choice on something.”

Ellingsen gave trustees two versions of sample questions, one version grandfathers those serving on the current board and establishes term limits for those elected in April and beyond.

“I don’t prefer it be done that way but at least they would be comfortable voting for it because it won’t affect them,” he said.

He said he is not sure whether the issue will be placed on the agenda, but is certain it is not going away anytime soon. 

“I will predict once that thing hits the ballot, it will pass,” Ellingsen said. “I think the voters of Arlington Heights will vote it in, in a heartbeat.”