Politics & Government
Term Limits, Reduction of School Committee Members Approved
Starting in 2014, the NK School Committee will go from seven members to five.
All four local questions on the ballot in North Kingstown were approved with Tuesday’s election, including the institution of term limits for local elected officials and the elimination of two seats on the school committee.
Starting in 2014, the North Kingstown School Committee will go from seven to five members when the terms of William Mudge, Larry Ceresi, Kimberly Page and John Boscardin expire. During that election, voters will only be filling two rather than four seats. The measure passed with 55.3 percent of the vote – with approximately 7,070 votes in favor versus 5,705 against.
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Check below for the full vote tallies and percentages as of Wednesday at noon. Please note: these totals do NOT include mail-in ballots at this time.
The move, . Three of the five members of the council felt the reduction would help school committee members reach a consensus more easily. In recent years, behavior of school committee members has come under scrutiny from residents, teachers and parents.
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The . In its research of other municipalities across the state, 16 communities have seven members (including South Kingstown, East Greenwich and Portsmouth) while 14 have five (including Barrington, Narragansett and Coventry).
Another charter change approved by the voters was the institution of term limits for local elected officials or people appointed to commissions, board or other government bodies in town.
These aforementioned officials (i.e. town council members, school committee members, planning commission members, etc.) cannot serve more than 12 consecutive years. After those 12 years, they would have to wait two consecutive years before they’d be eligible to serve on the same body again.
Voters also approved a measure that would grant the town manager authority to appoint and dismiss apartment heads with the “advice and consent” of the majority of the town council. The charter currently allows the administration of the town to be done without the interference of the council.
Lastly, voters approved a change to North Kingstown’s budget referendum system. The charter changes now require the signatures of three percent of the qualified electors of the town as certified in the previous election instead of three percent of the qualified electors who voted in the previous general election.
Term Limits
Total Votes Percentage YES 10676 83.4% NO 2128 16.6%'Advice and Consent' of Council for Town Manager Appointments
Total Votes Percentage YES 8845 71% NO 3620 29%Reduction of School Committee Members From 7 to 5
Total Votes Percentage YES 7070 55.3% NO 5705 44.7%Alteration of Requirements to Seek Budget Referendum
Total Votes Percentage YES 9026 72.6% NO 3408 27.4%Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.