Denton’s committee on City Council term limits is welcoming public feedback as it begins wading into the politically charged issue.

The city has added a page to its Web site to let people e-mail comments to committee members, read minutes from past meetings and keep track of upcoming meetings of the 21-member panel.

Residents can also sign up to receive e-mail notification of meeting dates, agenda items and other news at www.cityofdenton.com .

“We want the public to respond, so this is hopefully a good way to get them to respond,” committee chairman Bill Giese said Wednesday during the group’s second meeting.

The committee is still getting organized and has yet to debate possible changes to the city charter’s term limits statute. Much of Wednesday’s meeting focused on the various ways other Texas cities have handled the issue.

The council voted in February to form the panel after a 2008 lawsuit challenged the city’s practice of letting council members essentially avoid term limits by switching seats or sitting out at least one term.

The committee will report to the council, and voters would have to approve any changes as part of a charter amendment election.

Mayor Mark Burroughs, one of the lawsuit’s targets, is pushing for a November charter election while stressing that any changes would not benefit sitting council members. A state district judge dismissed the lawsuit in October over procedural issues; four of the plaintiffs have appealed.

Giese said he wanted the committee to finish its work by the end of May to avoid encroaching into summer vacation season.

Kathleen Wazny encouraged fellow committee members to come to the next meeting April 15 prepared to share their views on major issues, including whether or not Denton should have term limits and whether separate rules should apply to a mayor.

“I think we’ve all been chosen not just to be sponges from the community but to also bring our wealth and background of information to this committee and try to solve the problem that is before the city of Denton right now,” she said.

Some residents advocate strict term limits to avoid entrenched power, while others say the current limit of six years is too short for council members wishing to master the job or become leaders in regional government bodies.

The charter limits the mayor and council members to three consecutive two-year terms, but opinions differ over whether the limit applies per seat or across all seats. City attorneys say past years of service do not count against council members who run for a different seat, including mayor, or sit out a term.

Denton voters approved term limits in 1980 as part of a collection of charter changes that also expanded the council from five to seven members and created the current configuration of four geographical district seats and three at-large positions. The mayor’s seat is one of the three at-large positions.

Also Wednesday, the committee reviewed a written recommendation from the League of Women Voters of Denton, a nonpartisan political organization that studied term limits following last year’s lawsuit. The league believes the term limit should apply per seat, allowing council members to serve three consecutive terms in one seat and up to three more terms in another, including mayor.

Several charter committee members are also members of the League of Women Voters, and at least two — Giese and Linnie McAdams — helped develop the recommendation. McAdams, a former Denton council member, said the recommendation was a compromise among league members and didn’t necessarily reflect her personal views.

LOWELL BROWN can be reached at 940-566-6882. His e-mail address is lmbrown@dentonrc.com .