In 1998 Sarasota, Florida voters amended the County Charter to limit the number of terms a commissioner could serve. Today, the Sarasota County Charter reads:

"2.1A - No Commissioner shall serve more than two consecutive terms on the Board.  For purposes of this limitation, any period of service on the Board of less than eighteen (18) months shall not be deemed to constitute a term of service. Further, a Commissioner who has served two consecutive terms may thereafter serve additional term(s) only after a lapse of service in office of at least two years.  No previous term or term which is in progress as of the effective date of this Amendment shall be considered a term of service for purposes of the limitations contained herein.   (Amended 9/I/1998.)  (Pursuant to the Final Judgment entered on February 1, 2005, by the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in Moore v. Sarasota County, the term limits provision of this Section is unconstitutional and unenforceable.)"

Note at the end of paragraph 2.1A is a reference to a court case overturning this amendment. Well guess what, there is another court case adjudicated August 2011 that could make this charter amendment valid. To view the court case please click here.

According to Andrew Marra of the Palm Beach Post, "Term limits for county commissioners have survived a state appeals court's scrutiny. That's a victory for those who like term limits and a defeat for those who don't."

Andrew reports, "The Florida Supreme Court had addressed the constitutionality of term limits before, but only with regard to each county's five "constitutional officers": the sheriff, tax collector, property appraiser, clerk of courts and supervisor of elections. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that counties could not impose term limits on these positions because the Constitution doesn't mention limits, so there should be an assumption that none was intended. The ruling, however, did not address county commissioners, whose powers are detailed in a different part of the constitution."

However, Florida's 4th District Court of Appeals affirmed the counties' rights to set their own rules for who leads them and for how long. This is a victory for strong local governments and local control.

I believe from both a legal and a policy standpoint, it was the right decision.

How does this impact Sarasota County commission elections in 2012? If this ruling applies in Sarasota then Jon Thaxton would not be eligible to run for reelection. Christine Robinson was appointed by former Governor Crist to fill the seat she currently holds. Therefore Commissioner Robinson is eligible to run.

Per a discussion with a knowlegable lawyer the 4th DCA decision does not directly apply to Sarasota County. The loser of the case has filed an appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Currently there are now two cases in Florida where seperate courts (the 12th Circuit and 4th DCA)  came to different findings on term limits for county commissioners. The only court that can resolve this is the Florida Supreme Court. History tells us that the Florida Supreme Court does not overturn previous decisions, but one never knows.

This is a Constitutional issue of importance impacting 20 charter counties in Florida.

This situation is not unlike states suing the federal government citing the 10th Amendment. The Florida Constitution gives citizens of counties the right to establish a charter form of government. However, the courts in the case of term limits has limited that power. Citing the Florida Constitution Article 6, Section 4 the Florida Supreme Court looked at term limits as part of the qualifications for office. Some dispute this saying that term limits is not a qualifier for office and site Article 8 to support their argument. These are two separate and distinct issues according to some. It is important to define who holds the power to determine how one is governed at the local level - the people or the courts. Do county charters mean anything at all?

I have spoken with Kathy Dent, Sarasota Supervisor of Elections about this ruling. Supervisor Dent said she will seek a legal opinion. I will report on Supervisor Dent's reply in a follow up column.

This could make for a very interesting 2012 election cycle in 20 Florida counties.