A citizens group is asking the Naperville City Council to put on the November ballot a measure that would limit the terms of mayor and city council members.

James Boyajian, Robert Fieseler and Grant Wehrli, current council members, agreed to put the proposal from the Naperville Voter Education League on the city council agenda for Tuesday's meeting.

Under state law, voters must agree to any new term limits.  NVEL is hoping the council will agree to put the question to voters, but is prepared to secure sufficient voter signatures -- about 8,800 -- on petitions to force the issue. The deadline for ballot inclusion is Aug. 16.

The group's proposal before the council would limit officials to three terms, but petitions already being circulated set the limit at two terms.

Also up in the air is whether any term limits would apply to current officeholders who might seek re-election.   

“These issues keep coming up,” said Bill Eagan, NVEL chair. “We don’t have an opinion for or against any issue. We just want to let people go to the ballot to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ [to term limits].”

Eagan lost an April 2009 bid for city council, and helped form  NVEL several months later.

If the council approves a ballot question, city staff would prepare the language and terms based on members' discussion, according to City Attorney Margo Ely. She said she would advise against making any limit applicable to current officeholders.

“That would be against my legal advice — to draft it retroactively,” she said.

But Eagan said NVEL wants the measure to prevent a council member who's served two or three terms to be ineligible for re-election in 2013. 

Councilman Doug Krause said the item for discussion Tuesday is unclear, but he knows where he stands.

“There’s no clarification from Bill Eagan’s group,” he said. “How do you start something and make it retroactive? It’s totally unconstitutional.” 

 Fiesler said he supported discussion on term limits, but cautioned against concluding that support for a referendum measure means approval of the issue.

“I am OK with putting it on the ballot, but I am undecided as to whether or not I am in favor of term limits,” he said.

Eagan said the group currently has “a few thousand” signatures on petitions. If a measure makes it to the ballot, NVEL will hold town halls to educate voters on the issue, he said.

 “One of the big pros [of term limits] is getting fresh blood in,” he said. “One of the big cons is losing institutional knowledge.”

Three council members and the mayor could be affected by the proposals under consideration. Mayor A. George Pradel is in his 4th term, Krause is in his 6th and Richard R. Furstenau and Boyajian are in their third terms.