LIHU‘E, Kauai — The county Charter Review Commission voted unanimously to move forward with a ballot measure that would, if approved by voters next year, extend the term for Kaua‘i County Council members from two years to four.

The proposal is designed to increase government stability and efficiency by allowing the county’s lawmakers a wider window to delve into multi-faceted or controversial issues while reducing the amount of time and resources spent on the campaign trail.

However, such a change would limit the public’s primary lever of power — elections — and could lead to entrenchment and decreased accountability. Voters have rejected similar proposals seven different times in the past 40 years.

Charter Review Commission Chair Sherman Shiraishi said at the regular November meeting the proposal should be pursued in “baby steps” so as to avoid confusion at the polls, leaving any issues created by the change, if it is passed, to be addressed in a subsequent election.

Following the meeting, he explained that some past attempts to change council terms may have failed because they were phrased as multi-part questions that asked voters to not only consider the switch from two years to four but to also weigh the possibility of staggered terms or the impact on term limits.

Those issues, and the possibility of changing the system for filling council vacancies to bring it into alignment with how vacancies in the office of the mayor are filled — with a special election if more than half of a four-year term remains and an appointment if less than one half remains — could be put on the 2012 ballot if the council term is lengthened and would be rendered moot if it is not.

Voting history

The issue has been put before the voters seven times in the four decades since the County Charter was ratified, and has been shot down every time.

Ballot questions in 1972, 1974, 1982, 1984 and 1988 asked voters to simply choose between two- and four-year council terms, although separate questions in some of those years involved related issues.

The change was rejected by resounding tallies the first four attempts, with the no-to-yes ratio surpassing 3-to-1 every time and peaking at more than 7-to-1 in 1974.

In 1992, the yes-or-no ballot question was expanded to include a limitation of two full terms and a provision pertaining to the procedure for filling council vacancies, but still fell handily. In 1996, the question included both term extensions and term limits, but was rejected.

In 2006, the voters did approve a related proposal that limited councilmembers to four consecutive two-year terms when that question was disentangled from the issue of term lengths. The new proposal, if passed in 2010, would restart the clock on current term limits, county officials have said.

The term-extension measure came closest to passage in 1988, when 56 percent voted no and an all-time-high 34 percent voted yes. That same year, the mayor’s term in office was extended from two years to four via ballot initiative.

Mayoral terms

While it seems as if history is aligned against a change to County Council terms, the extension of mayoral terms for two to four years took multiple unsuccessful attempts before finally gaining passage.

Voters rejected proposals in the 1972, 1974, 1980, 1982 and 1984 elections before finally acquiescing in 1988, when the measure passed, 49.2 percent to 42.5 percent.

A Kaua‘i County Elections Division official confirmed Wednesday that ballot initiatives require only more yes votes than no votes for passage. Blank votes do not count against proposals.

Office of Boards and Commissions Administrator John Isobe said a business item for the election of a Charter Review Commission chair and vice chair for 2010 was deferred until January, at which time the commission is set to receive an influx of new blood as three new appointees were confirmed by the Kaua‘i County Council last week.

Vice Chair Leonard Vierra is poised to become chair, at least temporarily, in January because Shiraishi cannot serve more than one year in his current post.