Lee County Voters Decide Tuesday Whether to Term-Limit the Sheriff and Four Other County Officers
A charter amendment on the November 3 ballot would cap Lee County's five constitutional officers — sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, supervisor of elections and clerk of courts — at three consecutive four-year terms, the same limit county commissioners already serve under.
Lee County voters will decide on Tuesday whether the county's top elected officers should serve under the same term limits its commissioners already do. A proposed charter amendment on the November 3 ballot would limit the sheriff, property appraiser, tax collector, supervisor of elections and clerk of courts to three consecutive four-year terms — 12 years in office — according to the News-Press's reporting on the referendum.
Commissioners have been limited to three consecutive four-year terms since voters approved the limits by a landslide in 2013, the News-Press reported, and the paper noted that if the two longest-serving commissioners, Cecil Pendergrass and Brian Hamman, are re-elected on Tuesday, they would begin their final terms under that limit. The county commission voted unanimously at a public hearing on May 5 to place the constitutional-officer amendment on the November ballot, according to Gulfshore Business.
Terms already underway would not count toward the new limit, so no sitting officer would be removed by a yes vote; the cap would phase in over the coming election cycles. Among the five officers, only Property Appraiser Matt Caldwell has taken a public position on the question — he is in favor, the News-Press reported. The Florida Sheriffs' Association opposes term limits, and Lee County Democratic Party Chairman Jim Rosinius told the News-Press that his party is not in favor of the amendment as written, saying it carries no enforcement mechanism if an officer sought a fourth term.
