TEMPLE TERRACE -- Homeowners have erected red, white and blue signs in this city urging residents to "Vote No!'' on the proposed amendments to the city charter that would the city's form of government.
Some longtime political observers, including former Mayor Joe Affronti -- a charter revision committee member who favors the changes -- say they sense a rising groundswell of opposition.
If passed, the charter amendments would change the current system of five voting council members and a non-voting mayor to four voting council members and a voting mayor.
Another amendment, also controversial, would limit a person to two terms on the council and two terms as mayor, after which the person would be barred from seeking the same office for two years. But the proposal does not prevent someone termed out of as a voting member of the council from immediately running for the voting mayor's job, then, after serving two terms, run again for council.
"I'm in favor of allowing people to have a say in government, and I feel like the charter is reducing the opportunity to bring new people into the city government,'' said businessman and resident Ken Copenhaver, explaining part of reason for opposing the changes.
"There was no groundswell from the citizenry for these changes,'' said lawyer and resident Jack Townsend, a who opposes the changes. "It feels like a select group did this, probably well meaning.''
The charter amendments were recommended by a committee chaired by Affronti and including current council candidates Gil Schisler and James Chambers, and residents Robert Fernandez and Carl Avari-Cooper.
Council Members Andy Ross and Cheri Donohue -- who is running for a second term -- expressed concern during an August meeting that the charter change would allow someone to serve indefinitely. Ross said he thought the council was "goofing up here'' by proposing such a system, but he and Donohue voted to let the citizens decide.
Donohue said she just wanted to make it clear to the voters that the proposal would allow a candidate stay in office term after term.
Affronti, interviewed last week, said the current system already allows a person to term out in one job and run for the other job. The difference is that the mayor's power is currently limited: she or he does not have the power to vote except to break a tie.
Schisler, speaking during the August meeting, said an incumbent could stay in office only so long as the voters allow it.
"If a person is not qualified and not doing a good job, our populace, which is intelligent and reasonable, will not vote him in,'' he said.
Copenhaver said he has talked to Democrats, Republicans and independents who say they opposed the charter changes and "just simply don't understand why they are necessary.''
The way it's set up now, he said, the mayor can veto a council vote and the veto can be overridden. "They represent a check and balance.''
By putting the mayor on city council with the power to vote, "it puts you in a situation where you if you have three people in agreement all the time, then those three people run the city government,'' Copenhaver said.
Townsend said that the current system, the way he sees it, provides a "two-year term limit on the power to vote, and that's good.''
The proposed system with a voting mayor would be a "false positive so to speak that we have term limits,'' he said. "We have term limits on positions, but we don't have voting term limits.''
He said he was in favor of giving the mayor a vote because he remembers the frustration of not having a vote, able to give his opinion but having no real voice on the issues.
"You feel like you're just up there,'' he said.
Townsend said he is opposed to all three amendments, including the seemingly innocuous one that allows the city to correct typos and grammar and update references to gender without having to put it to a vote of the citizens. He is concerned about the phrase and other minor changes.
"I don't want to be litigating what is a minor change or not,'' he said.
Contact Philip Morgan at pmorgan@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3435. Follow .