Arlington Heights Trustees Pass on Term Limit Referendum

Arlington Heights trustees and the village president unanimously voted against the idea of putting a referendum question about term limits for elected officials on the ballot.

“I think it needs to come from the people through the petition process,” Trustee Thomas Hayes said.

Resident Art Ellingsen asked the board Monday to place a referendum on the ballot asking voters if term limits should be set for trustees and the village president. Arlington Heights is a Home-Rule Community so the board could put the question of establishing term limits in a referendum, he said.

Ellingsen made the request after the

Another resident, Thomas Krausmann, challenged the petition. Ultimately, the electoral board had the final say and rejected the petition.

“We had a petition, but there were several technical defects in this petition,” Ellingsen said. “I thought since the petition was rejected because of technical defects, the simplest way was to have the board put it on the ballot and let people decide.”

The electoral board found the petition did not meet legal requirements, Trustee Thomas Glasgow said. The petition was poorly drafted and did not ask a question, he said. While the village has helped residents with minor corrections on petitions in the past, this one is different, he said.

“We are not talking about a minor flaw,” Glasgow said. “We are talking about ideology of the government and a fundamental change.”

A problem would be drafting a referendum question that reflects what the people who signed the petition want, Glasgow said. The board could also face criticism over how the question is worded, he said.

“It’s unfortunate the way the electoral board is set up by the state constitution,” Trustee John Scaletta said. “It puts a negative perception that somehow the elected officials on this board somehow are not doing their duty.”

Scaletta, himself, once had a petition turned down by the electoral board. He said he hired a lawyer to help him.

He said he would like to see the state change the procedure, and have an electoral board that does not include elected officials, but also said people have to have respect the system that is in place now.