By JIMMY LAWTON

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg City Council has voted down two charter commission proposals that would have set term limits and more restrictive election requirements.

The commission called on the council to consider selecting councilors from six distinct election districts rather than the current “at large” method. Under the current charter candidates for any seat on the council can be from anywhere in the city.

The recommendation from the commission would have used the six established election districts as zones from which candidates would be selected.

Candidates running for a particular district would have needed to live within the district which they intended to represent. Mayoral candidates would have continued to run at large.

However, the proposal was defeated by city council unanimously. Mayor Wayne Ashley said the proposal would have reduced the number of people who could run for particular seats. He said getting candidates to run for office is already a tough proposition and reducing that pool further would have been detrimental to future elections.

The commission also recommends staggering terms and placing limits on how long an official can serve. Under the plan councilors and the mayor would have four-year terms, with elections held on odd years. Three councilors would be selected each odd year. The mayor would be selected every other odd year.

For the position of mayor and councilor, a three-term limit would have been implemented.

But that proposition was also defeated, with only Deputy Mayor Morley, who has served 16 years on the council, voting in favor of it.

Ashley said he could see why term limits could be beneficial at the state or federal level, but said city councilors weren’t career politicians. He said it would be unfortunate to lose good councilors with knowledge and interest in bettering the city because of term limits.

All other proposals put forward by the commission passed. Those changes centered on correcting some outdated language and establishing more clear job descriptions and requirements for many of the city’s various administrative positions.

The recommendations made by the charter commission can be found at Ogdensburg.org.

Members of the Ogdensburg Charter Commission include Chairman Frederick Bean and commissioners Joseph Basta, Storm Cilley, Kevin Kendall, Douglas Loffler, Sean McNamara, Scott McRoberts, Sean O’Brien, Laura Pearson, Christopher Pitcher, Andrew Putman and John Wilson, Sr.

Sean McNamara is an employee of North Country This Week/North Country Now.