Former Millbrae Mayor Ann Schneider takes legal action against city for term-limit rule

She’s now claiming in San Mateo County Superior Court that the City Council’s interpretation of Millbrae policy is incorrect and is unfairly prohibiting her campaign.

“I think the action that they took was both illegal and targeted, and taking away the vote of the people. It’s a suppression of the vote,” she said.

At a special meeting July 7, current councilmembers voted 3-1 to define the break in service for councilmembers who’ve maxed out their term limits, which were extended by voters to three four-year terms by Measure FF in 2024.

City Attorney Lori Liu said the city does not comment on pending litigation, and City Manager Tom Williams did not respond to request for comment.

Ultimately, voters will need to decide how long they believe councilmembers should sit out before returning to office for themselves via ballot measure. For upcoming November races, however, there isn’t enough time for voters to answer the question, leading to the City Council interpreting elections law to mean a four-year break is required.

Schneider argued that prior councilmembers have taken only two-year breaks before returning to office, and the writ of mandate she filed in court is asking for a prohibition on Millbrae enforcing its interpretation for the upcoming election. She’s alleging it’s a particular overstep because of the closeness to upcoming elections — the nomination period begins July 13.

“You do not change election laws six days before the start of an election,” Schneider said. “Why didn’t City Council bring this up in June?”

Vice Mayor Anders Fung, who advocated to move forward with its interpretation of a four-year break, said previously that two-year breaks occurred when Millbrae had at-large elections with staggered terms. Now the city holds district elections, where law clearly states an individual can only hold office in the district they live in for three four-year terms. Voters who decided on that rule will expect a candidate to be ineligible the full following term, Fung argued.

Fung said he could not comment on pending litigation, but maintained that the City Council had a duty to bring clarity to ambiguous law.

“What’s clear is we have a duty to uphold our ordinance and ensure that the wishes of the voters are being implemented,” he said. “That’s the job of being a councilmember and that’s the job of the council.”

In Schneider’s petition, she argued that several councilmembers had sat out for only two years since district elections were implemented. In the July 7 ordinance that councilmembers adopted clarifying the restrictions, it notes that councilmembers who termed out before the implementation of Measure FF after the 2024 election would not be subject to them.

But Measure FF was only ever designed to extend councilmembers’ eligibility for successive four-year terms, not to set break restrictions, Schneider said.

“It was not done to have someone sit out for years. It’s never discussed. It was not done to allow new people to run,” she said. “It was done specifically because the city of Millbrae was disadvantaged within the county, by having the most restrictive term limits and limited our ability to serve on regional committees.”

Mayor Stephen Rainaldi, who was the only councilmember to vote against interpreting elections law to mean a strict four-year break, also said that the city does not comment on pending litigation.