The timeframe for this year’s Legislature will not be conducive to Senoia changing the terms for its elected leaders.

That was the information the Senoia City Council learned Monday night during a debate on whether the mayor and council should keep being elected every two years or changed to a four-year term.

Attorney Drew Whalen told the council that most elected bodies in Georgia serve four-year terms, but Senoia’s charter calls for elections every two years. To make a change, the City Council would have to support the issue and forward it to the local legislation to have the charter changed by the General Assembly.

City Councilman Keith Harrison wanted to knew what the residents thought, and several stepped to the podium to offer their opinion.

“Two years is enough,” said J.C. Chappell.

Newly-appointed Planning Commissioner Roger Alley had a different perspective. He said that he had lived in a small town in Massachusetts, where the town moved to four-year terms to establish continuity.

“We are on the verge of an explosion here and we need that continuity,” he said.

Councilman Bill Wood said that it was difficult enough to get volunteers for committees, and four years would require a huge amount of commitment.

Rep. Billy Horne attended the meeting and said before the issue could come up for a vote in the General Assembly that a unanimous vote would have to come from the City Council. He also added that a public hearing would have to be held, and there probably wasn’t enough time to get everything accomplished this year.

Mayor Robert Belisle agreed, but said this was not something that needed to be hanging indefinitely and the City Council should be ready to address the issue early next year.

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