The mayor of National City wants to repeal and replace his own term limits.

Mayor Ron Morrison, who joined the City Council in 1992 and has been mayor since 2006, supports a ballot measure that would let him run for another two four-year terms.

On Tuesday, the City Council voted 4-1, with Councilwoman Mona Rios opposed, to put the measure, and a competing term limit measure, before the voters in a special election on June 5.

Existing term limits, passed in 2004 by 70 percent of voters, restrict the mayor to three terms but does not put limits on City Council members.


The measure Morrison backs would erase mayoral limits and replace them with a two-term limit on the mayor, City Council, city clerk, and city treasurer.

Existing term limits prevent Morrison from running for re-election in November. The only way he can be on the ballot is if the measure passes in a special election in June.

“What it does is it would give all of our positions two-term limits for consecutive terms and not punish anyone who is on the council presently,” Morrison said in an interview before the City Council voted to include the measure in a June election.

The measure inspired a competing term-limit measure that imposes a six-term limit across the board without repealing existing mayoral limits.


“Why would you repeal term limits?” asked Andrew McKercher, the chairman of the Citizens for Real Term Limits in National City. “Our initiative is to preserve what we have currently, to protect those term limits and even expand the limits.”

The competing measure would place a lifetime ban on politicians who reach the six-term limit. The other measure allows politicians to serve in one position for two terms.

When asked which measure he supports, Morrison didn’t hesitate.

“Absolutely the first one,” he said.


Victor Barajas, one of three business owners behind the repeal and replace measure, said they introduced it to “shake things up in City Hall,” and get more business-friendly politicians on the City Council.

In response to criticisms that Morrison directly benefits from the repeal and replace measure, the mayor shifted the focus to Councilwoman Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, who is currently the only mayoral candidate in November’s election.

Morrison argued that without the repeal and replace measure, Sotelo-Solis would run unopposed.

“At the same light, Alejandra, who has already declared for mayor and ran twice and was soundly defeated twice, directly benefits,” he said. “She would run unopposed.”


The council had already set aside $65,000 to pay for the election last month.

Dozens of people attended the council meeting, most to speak out against the repeal and replace measure. Those who opposed the measure said it was fiscally irresponsible to spend $65,000 of taxpayer money on a special election in June because it would be cheaper to put the measures in a November election.

But the council’s vote was a formality.

Because the Registrar of Voters certified the initiatives, the City Council was required by state law to put the initiatives on the ballot for voters to decide.


The council did have a choice of putting the measures in a June or November election. But they made that decision during a special meeting on Feb. 27 by directing the staff to only look into a June election, according to the City Attorney.

Councilwoman Rios, who opposes the repeal and replace initiative, criticized council members who asked the staff to only look into a June election.

She called out Councilman Albert Mendivil for making the motion, Mayor Morrison for seconding the motion, and Councilman Jerry Cano for voting for the motion.

“We don’t have a choice today because they already made that decision,” she said.


Mendivil responded to the criticism without saying why he proposed a June election over a November one. Instead, he said that nearly 8,000 people signed the ballot initiatives and to not have a vote would be to ignore the will of the voters.

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