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Gastonia City Council To Vote Tuesday On Extending Mayoral Term

Gastonia City Hall
City of Gastonia Facebook

The Gastonia City Council is set to vote Tuesday on an ordinance that would allow the city’s mayor to serve a four-year term.

The mayor of Gastonia currently serves a two-year term, while council members are elected to staggered, four-year terms. The mayoral term was reduced from four to two years in 2014 by a previous council.

Last month, a 4-3 majority on the current council voted in favor of returning the mayor’s term to four years. One of the “yes” votes came from Gastonia mayor, Walker Reid. Reid was a longtime city council member and was elected to serve as mayor last year.

If passed, the ordinance would amend the city charter to establish a four-year mayoral term, beginning with the November 2019 election. Gastonia residents then would have 30 days to petition the city for a voter referendum on the amendment.  

In Charlotte, a city council committee also wants to let voters decide whether Charlotte City Council members should serve four-year instead of two-year terms.

The council meeting begins Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Gaston County Courthouse.

Mark Rumsey grew up in Kansas and got his first radio job at age 17 in the town of Abilene, where he announced easy-listening music played from vinyl record albums.