Millbrae interprets term limit break policy to mean 4-year hold: Former councilmembers who’ve maxed out term limits to wait before running again

In a 3-1 vote, with Mayor Stephen Rainaldi dissenting, the City Council moved to interpret the break in service as a four-year period. 

The question at large was how Millbrae should define the term length of a break in service, which isn’t specified by numerical value in existing policy. Ultimately, voters will need to decide the answer themselves via ballot measure. For upcoming November races, however — like the special election to fill the remaining two-year District 3 term following the resignation of former Mayor Reuben Holober — there isn’t enough time for voters to answer the question. 

It affects potential candidates like former Mayor Ann Schneider, who left office in 2024. She argued at the special meeting that in prior years, councilmembers took only a two-year break before running for council. 

“At least three councilmembers successfully returned to office after sitting through two years,” she said. “Never in the history of Millbrae has a break in service been enforced as a mandatory four-year banishment.”

Those two-year breaks occurred when Millbrae had at-large elections with staggered terms, Vice Mayor Anders Fung said. Now that 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 the three four-year term limit rule will expect a candidate to be ineligible the full following term, Fung argued. 

“That’s what most people expect, that if you get limited by a term limit, you don’t serve in the next term. That’s the voters’ intent,” he said. “Do we or do we not have the courage to clarify that ambiguity?” 

Rainaldi was the only councilmember to actively argue that the city should not make an attempt to interpret the law, which has raised questions from residents. Millbrae should allow voters to decide, both in the upcoming election and then via ballot measure, he said. 

“I feel they are the ultimate decision-makers. They’re the ones that are going to change the policy,” Rainaldi said.