The nine committee members are all Aberdeen residents: Nancy Backus, Pat Faircloth, Gina Bantum, Donald Curry, Chuck Doty, Norma Ford, Bruce Garner, Karen Heavey and Donna Jolley.
Ruth Ann Young, a councilwoman elected last fall, said that if the council goes to four-year terms, there should be a recall component, to allow voters to take back an official. Bennett also supports that idea.
"The biggest concerns we have are probably that the terms of service - two years is not enough to get anything done," he said. "At the same token, we don't think we'd like to see four years unless we have some sort of recall."
Many in Aberdeen look to Bel Air as a model.
Bel Air Town Commissioner Terence O. Hanley said the town's system, in which commissioners serve four-year terms with staggered elections, works.
"It generally takes 24 months to get a good feel of how government operates," Hanley said.
Aberdeen's northern neighbor, Havre de Grace, has a council that serves two-year terms with staggered, annual elections every spring.
The city looked into the issue of extending council terms to four years several years ago, said Havre de Grace Mayor Wayne Dougherty. He said he opposed extending the terms.
"We had such uproar from the community no one dares to suggest it today," he said.
madison.park@baltsun.com
