SALISBURY — For the past few months, the Salisbury City Council has discussed whether or not to change term limits established in the city’s charter as two-year terms to staggered four-year terms. Some have argued that having elected officials only serve two-year terms does not allow enough time for them to accomplish their goals before being up for re-election.

After holding several town hall meetings and hearings to find out the public’s opinion, council voted at Tuesday night’s meeting to put the matter to a public vote via referendum in this year’s election. Even though the turn out for those meetings was not very high, council still decided to go through with considering these changes due to the ongoing developments in Salisbury.

“This is a matter of recognizing the fact that we have a growing economy, we have more people moving into this city, and it’s getting more complex. Our surrounding municipalities are getting a clue that they need elected officials that need more time to do their job,” council member Anthony Smith said. “It’s a matter of observing local context in which we’re in.”

In November, Salisbury residents will get to vote on whether or not to extend term limits. If it is approved, the changes will not go into effect until the next election in 2025, so all council members and the mayor would continue with their current two-year terms until then. The cost of the referendum is roughly $9,000. Some citizens in attendance and Mayor Pro-Tem Tamara Sheffield thought council missed an opportunity to change the charter without using additional funds, but did not want to see the entire motion get rejected because of it.

“I reluctantly voted yes for that because I didn’t want this to die. I do feel like that. I mean we’ll find out now how that proceeds, but I do feel like it’s a waste of money and we were capable of making that decision, but I feel like it would die,” Sheffield said.

Council member Harry McLaughlin countered that by stating $9,000 is a small price to pay in order to learn definitively where residents stand on this matter. “The ability to have another chance for somebody to communicate, I don’t think $9,000 is a waste. This is about the people, so if we’re about the people, give the people a chance to say something,” McLaughlin said.

This year’s election is on Tuesday, Nov. 7.