East Palo council considers term limits for members

paloaltoonline.com · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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The San Mateo County East Palo Alto Government Center in East Palo Alto on Dec. 31, 2025. Photo by Seeger Gray. The East Palo Alto City Council on Tuesday expressed interest in floating a ballot measure in June that would allow residents to impose term limits on council members. Currently, East Palo Alto does not impose limits, so council members are able to serve for as many years as they are elected. Only six San Mateo County cities out of 20 have created term limits, according to meeting documents. Newer Council members Martha Barragan, Mark Dinan and Mayor Webster Lincoln expressed the most interest in bringing the policy to voters. Lincoln, who placed the initiative on the City’s priority list, believes that term limits can “increase citizen participation and inject new ideas and fresh perspectives into city governance,” according to the document. The trio suggested that the city introduce three consecutive term limits, which would amount to 12 years, before a council member has to take a two-year break. “I think it’s healthy to have turnover,” Dinan said at the Tuesday meeting. “It’s healthy to have younger voices. It’s also healthy to have the expectation that the city is not going to be governed by the same people for 25 years consecutively.” The three council members who are leading the push for term limits have frequently clashed over the past year with their two council colleagues, Carlos Romero and Vice Mayor Ruben Abrica, each of whom have been involved in local politics for decades. Romero, who began serving on the council in 2008, was not in favor of imposing term limits, he said, because they may generate a lack of experience among government bodies and greater polarization. If the city were to create a ballot measure, he alternatively suggested four consecutive term limits, a policy that Redwood City adopted. “We have natural term limits,” he said. “Those natural term limits are, you get voted out of office because you’re not doing your work.” Abrica, who served on East Palo Alto’s first council when the city was incorporated in 1983, was not opposed to bringing the issue to voters, he said. But he cautioned against high election costs and low voter turnout. “It is an added expenditure of money, and I think that money could probably be better used in programs that help people,” Abrica said. The council unanimously expressed interest in keeping expenditures low. While the council did not explicitly decide when to introduce a ballot measure, Barragan, Dinan and Lincoln, requested that staff present on the feasibility of a June election at the next council meeting on March 3. In order to put the measure on a June ballot, city staff would likely not have enough time to inquire about the cost of the initiative. Instead, staff would have to rely on previous election data and make a quick decision, said City Attorney John Le. Romero echoed voter turnout concerns. He said he believes adding the measure to the ballot during the 2028 presidential election would provide the most accurate results in a city that has seen low turnout in primary and midterm elections. “It would be a travesty and an injustice to this community to put this on the ballot in June,” Romero said. Whether or not voters decide to impose term limits, they would not be applied retrospectively, meaning new laws would not count previous terms served. “They can’t be used to remove council members. … So this would have virtually no unfair advantage to any council member on this dais,” Lincoln said. Most Popular Lisa Moreno is a journalist who grew up in the East Bay Area. She completed her Bachelor's degree in Print and Online Journalism with a minor in Latino studies from San Francisco State University in 2024.... More by Lisa Moreno