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By Brian Hews
Publisher-Owner | Follow X
October 2, 2026
By Brian Hews
Orange voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to adopt a new city charter that would give the city greater control over municipal affairs while making a consequential change to the rules governing how long elected officials can remain in office.
Under the proposed charter, previous service by the mayor and City Council members would not count toward the new term limits.
The charter would establish a lifetime limit of three four-year terms, or 12 years, for councilmembers and two four-year terms, or eight years, for the mayor. Service of more than two years of an unfinished term would count as a full term.
But the charter specifically states that those limits would apply only prospectively.
“Service as Mayor or Council Member completed before the effective date of this Charter shall not be counted,” the proposed charter states. It also says only terms beginning after the charter takes effect would count toward the new limits.
That means previous years served by Orange elected officials would not be included when calculating their eligibility under the charter’s new lifetime limits.
Measure K asks voters whether Orange, which has operated as a general-law city since its incorporation in 1886, should become a charter city. The City Council says the change would provide greater local control over municipal affairs.
The proposed charter declares that Orange would have the full authority available to charter cities over municipal affairs. It specifically identifies contracting, procurement, elections and local governance among the areas in which the city seeks greater authority.
The city’s existing council-manager form of government would remain in place.
The charter would continue to have a mayor and councilmembers, but provides that the manner of election, district boundaries, terms of office, qualifications, vacancies and related election procedures would be established by ordinance and applicable state and federal law.
The proposal contains several other significant provisions.
It would establish an Open Space Reserve covering city-owned properties designated by the City Council. Residential, commercial, industrial and mixed-use development inconsistent with the reserve’s purposes would be prohibited, and removing property from the reserve would require voter approval at a regularly scheduled municipal election.
The charter would also give Orange greater authority over municipal contracting and procurement, including bidding thresholds, design-build projects, best-value procurement and alternative project-delivery methods where permitted for charter cities.
Fiscal provisions would require the City Council to adopt a balanced operating budget and require an independent annual audit that would be presented to the council and made available to the public.
The charter also contains provisions dealing with vacancies and suspension from office. By a three-fourths vote, the council could suspend an elected or appointed official when specified felony criminal proceedings or formal proceedings involving corruption, fraud, abuse of office, official misconduct or certain ethics violations are pending, subject to the conditions contained in the charter and applicable law.
The Orange City Council voted 4-3 on July 14 to place the proposed charter before voters. Councilmembers Bilodeau, Dumitru, Tavoularis and Mayor Daniel Slater voted in favor, while Councilmembers Barrios, Gutierrez and Gyllenhammer voted against placing it on the ballot.
Measure K requires a simple majority — 50% plus one — to pass. If approved, the charter would take effect following voter approval and filing with the California Secretary of State.
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