Should Yonkers extend term limits? City Council to vote next week; what to know

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano, whose tenure was to end next year at the completion of his third term, may win a shot to run for a fourth.

The Yonkers City Council next week will consider an extension of term limits for the mayor and members of the council, without putting the proposal before voters in a referendum as was done when term limits were established 28 years ago.

The council will hold a public hearing on changing the city charter law at 6:30 p.m. Monday, with a vote scheduled for the following evening. There will be an opportunity for testimony from the public on both nights, setting the stage for a quintessential Yonkers drama, playing out with great fervor in its historic City Council chambers.

Extending term limits would allow Yonkers elected officials to serve for four four-year terms − two terms more than voters ratified in 1994, and one more term than was authorized through an amendment to the city charter by the council in 2018.

The action would give Spano, the Democratic scion of one of the city's most powerful Republican political families, the opportunity to run for a fourth term. When Spano first ran in 2011, he did so after his predecessor left office after two terms, as set down by city law.

Spano told Tax Watch in late October he'd like a shot at another term to continue work on downtown development and improvements throughout the city.

"There's a lot left to finish and I’d love to see myself in the mix," he said. "That means not just finishing what we’ve started, but continuing to build a better Yonkers."

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On Tuesday night, the council met to discuss how to proceed before a raucous standing-room-only crowd, with each side brandishing signs, and more onlookers spilling out into the fourth-floor hallway.

The vote to move forward without further study by a council committee came as supporters of extension, many of whom work for the city, chanted, “Four more years!” while the opponents responded with, “Let the people vote!”

City Councilperson Shanae Williams was among three council members who supported sending the issue to committee, and then to a referendum. Williams, a Democrat, joined by Democrat Corazon Pineda Isaac and Republican Anthony Merante.

Voting against sending it to committee were council members John Rubbo, Tasha Diaz and Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy.

Absent was Councilperson Mike Breen, a Republican nearing the end of his third term, who just lost his bid to unseat Assemblyman Nader Sayegh.

Bellamy said keeping limits at three terms was a disservice to democracy in Yonkers because it would not let city voters cast ballots for the person they wanted to elect to office.

"We aren't giving Mayor Spano another term by extending term limits," said Collins-Bellamy. "We are giving the residents the opportunity for residents to vote for him if that's the person they want to see as mayor again. He'll still need to run and win an election."

She said elections should be the way democracy limits how long someone serves in elected office. She noted she ousted City Council President Mike Khader in 2021.

"The voters decided they didn't want him," she said. "They wanted a more diverse voice and voted for someone different. Perhaps those against term limits may want to run and don't want the competition. That's a more selfish way of thinking."

Williams, who nearly beat four-term incumbent County Clerk Tim Idoni in a 2021 Democratic primary, voted for the charter change in 2018, which allowed Spano to seek a third term. But once was enough, she said.

"I realized we can't keep changing the city charter every few years to benefit a specific person or group," she said. "We extended it once before. If we want to extend them again, we need to let the people in on it."

'Why give it to someone else?'

Nick Davod, who works for the city’s Department of Public Works, said Yonkers has flourished under Spano’s leadership. He sees no reason to stop the progress.

“We’ve got low taxes, great schools, great police and a great place to live,” said Davod. “Why give it to someone else to run?”

Tony Marji, who owns Gourmet Deli in Yonkers, held a sign stating: “Four More Years!!!”

“You see all the property going up, and our property values rising,” he said. “The city is safe. Everything is moving forward. Yonkers is the best city in the state of New York. We've got to keep it going, baby."

'A blind eye was turned'

But Yonkers resident Shatika Parker said the City Council was moving in an anti-democratic direction. She testified against the first extension for term limits in 2018, when Spano reached the end of his second, and supposedly, final term.

The council voted then to extend term limits to give Spano and council members a third term. That was to be the final change to the law. Four years later, Spano supporters want the law changed again.

Her sign stated: “The People of Yonkers Should Decide How Many Terms.”

“Four years ago, many of us spoke up, not wanting to give an extra term,” said Parker, a committee coordinator for the Westchester County Board of Legislators. “A blind eye was turned. I believe strongly that if it went to a referendum, the voters would not be in favor of it. Now they want to give the mayor an extra term. It’s unfair, and it’s undemocratic.”

Follow David McKay Wilson on Twitter @davidmckay415.

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Yonkers term limit extension could let Mayor Spano run again