At the same time Kissimmee voters will choose two of their five city commissioners during the Aug. 18 primary, they will also determine whether those elected officials will be able to serve an extra term before they have to step down from the dais, at least temporarily.
Voters will also decide if their successors must be subject to a criminal background check to even get on future ballots.
If passed by voters—another reason it is important to cast a ballot either on the 18th or when early voting begins on Friday—Chapter 2, Section 7 of the City Charter would be amended to require candidates to consent to a background check, “For the purpose of verifying the candidate’s qualifications to hold office.”
A candidate could not be disqualified from running for office without prior notice. City Manager Mike Steigerwald noted the city has limited ability to disqualify a candidate. Rather, the amendment would create the opportunity for a hearing, where “clear and convincing evidence that the candidate does not meet the qualifications to hold office” would have to be brought forth.
But Vice Mayor Angela Eady questions what the city would, and could, do with that information.
“If we can’t act on that information, then why are we making it a requirement?” she asked.
At the February meeting commissioners approved the ballot initiatives, Eady reminded fellow commissioners and the public that criminal histories are matters of public record.
She said she is voting ‘no’ on that measure, as well as the change to term limits.
“The two-term limit we’ve had serves works us well in terms of the needs of the city of Kissimmee,” she said. “If it isn’t broke, why try to fix it or change it. If you want to run again after your eight years, you just sit out a cycle and decide if you want to do it again.”
Currently, commissioners must give up their seat after two full terms. But they can run for another seat in a future election cycle, which could come just two years later.
Opponents of similar term-limit amendments say governments have inherent term limits built in— they’re called elections. But Mayor Jackie Espinosa said candidates deemed worthy by voters should be able to use those elections to gauge the will of the people.
“I’m of the opinion that, if the Commissioners are doing a great job, the people will see it, the people will vote,” Espinosa said when the motion to put it to voters was approved. “And if they’re doing a poor job, the people will see it. The people will vote.”
If the measure passes, Commissioner Carlos Alvarez, in office since 2020, could conceivably run for a third term in 2028. He noted in February that that an additional term may be what it takes to accomplish his goals and said he was happy to extend the final voice on the proposal to voters.
