By ADAM ATKINSON

CANTON — Term limits for the mayor, trustees and village clerk/treasurer will be extended to four years from two.

The village board approved a local law extending the terms at their meeting this past week. The law is subject to a permissive referendum and if 20 percent of the village electorate does not file a petition opposing the change by June 20, the law will be filed with the New York Secretary of State and the new term limits will take effect.

If challenged by the electorate through the petition process the changes would then go to the ballot for voters to decide directly.

To be effective before the next election in December, the new term lengths must be in place 30 days prior.

Trustees Klaus Proemm's and Beth Bullock Larrabee’s current terms end in December 2018. The terms for those two trustee positions would be the first to fall under the auspices of the new term lengths created by the law.

A provision of the new law indicates that if a term begins in an odd year after the adoption of the local law, then that first term shall last three years, with future terms for the position lasting 4 years from then on. The provision was written to allow village elections moving forward to fall every two years on even years.

Subsequently, whichever candidates win those two seats in December would serve for three years in the upcoming term; all terms thereafter would last 4.

A public hearing regarding the term limit extensions was held at the village board meeting Monday, May 21.

“What is the problem we are trying to solve by doing this?” asked Gerard Tozzi of East Main Street during the hearing.

“I brought up the idea. My opinion is that if you are (serving) for two years, if you are on for one year, you sort of get to know what is going on — and two years is a short time to be on — and then you spend time A. campaigning and B. working for the second half of the second year or some of the second year, not knowing for sure you are still going to be here,” said Trustee Carol Pynchon. “If you had four years, to my mind, you could plan . . . you could design projects, you could have initiatives that you know you are going to be able to see through for four years.”

“We see this as a little bit more continuity of the process,” said Mayor Michael Dalton.

Dalton and Pynchon both said that the village’s new four year terms would follow suit with the town government whose councilmen and supervisor serve a 4-year hitch.

“I think it also gives some stability too, because it takes a while to learn the committees and to learn where the village stands on different projects and initiatives,” said Larrabee.

Tozzi asked how often the positions on the village board turned over. Dalton replied that sometimes turnover was frequent.

“We have the same issue with the House of Representatives, and frankly, I wish to god that we could say the same thing about our Representatives in Washington that they turn over every two years,” Tozzi said.

“We view ourselves as a little bit different than that,” said Dalton. “I think we have some really positive things that are going on here on a regular basis and I think (the new terms lengths) gives us some consistency. And, we can follow a plan through a little bit easier. Again its up to the public and this is what this is about, to hear public input on whether or not they think its a bad idea or a good idea.”

Town Supervisor Mary Ann Ashley spoke as a taxpayer during the hearing and voiced support of the change. Ashley said serving on the board was “a lot of work” and that extending the terms provided more continuity and allowed more time for the board members to see projects through.

The two local laws detailing the new term lengths and how the municipality will transition into the them can be found on the village website at https://cantonny.gov/2018/05/legal-notices/.

Copies can be obtained from the village office as well.