Section 503.5.   MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL TERM LIMITATIONS.
   No person shall serve as Mayor or as member of the City Council for a combined period of more than eight consecutive years. For purposes of calculating consecutive years of service pursuant to the limitation of this section, consecutive periods of service as Mayor (other than periods where such person served concurrently as the Mayor and as a separately elected member of the City Council) shall be combined with consecutive periods of service as member of the City Council to determine the combined period of consecutive years of service which is subject to the limitation of this section. In addition, any period of service resulting from, or which (if the complete term of service were completed) could result from, an election or appointment which period of service commences less than two years following the date of completion of any prior period of service by such person shall be combined with such prior period of service for purposes of determining the combined period of consecutive years of service of such person for purposes of this section.
   No person shall be eligible for further election or appointment as Mayor of member of the City Council (and the City Clerk shall reject, refuse to accept for filing, and otherwise refuse to process any nominating papers or other equivalent declaration of candidacy as required or authorized by law for such person) where the term to which such person seeks election or appointment, when combined with the immediately preceding consecutive years of service by such person as defined in the preceding paragraph of this section, would exceed a total of eight consecutive years of service; provided, however, and notwithstanding any other provision of this section, no period of service resulting from an election or appointment to fill an unexpired term of less than two years in length shall be counted in determining consecutive years of service for purposes of this section.
   Any person who shall be ineligible for election, appointment or further service as Mayor or member of the City Council due to the limitation set forth in this section shall again be eligible for election or appointment as Mayor or member of the City Council (and a new period of consecutive years of service shall commence) provided not less than two years has or will have elapsed between the most recent date of such person's prior service as Mayor or member of the City Council and the effective date of such person's most recent election or appointment to such office.
   Two complete terms of service as City Council member pursuant to Charter Section 500, or as elected Mayor pursuant to Charter Section 504(b), or one complete term as City Council member and one complete term as elected Mayor, shall be deemed equivalent to eight years of service for purposes of this section regardless of the actual number of days of service.
   The phrase "two years" as used in this section shall mean the period between the date of the declaration of the results of any general municipal election held in November of any even numbered year and the date of the declaration of the results of any general municipal election held in November of any immediately preceding or immediately succeeding even numbered year even though such period may be more or less than an actual period of two years.
   The provisions of this section shall apply to all persons including the Mayor and members of the City Council in office on the date this section becomes effective and consecutive years of service by such Mayor and City Council members occurring prior to the date of adoption of this section shall be counted in calculating the limitation on consecutive years of service set forth in this section; provided, however, any incumbent Mayor or member of the City Council in office on the date this charter section becomes effective shall be entitled to serve the balance of the term to which such person was elected or appointed even though such service results in such person serving more than eight consecutive years in office. Further, any member of the City Council, including the Mayor, in office on November 3, 1992, and who would otherwise be ineligible to seek election to the office of Mayor in 1994 due to the operation of this section, shall be eligible for election to the office of Mayor in 1994, and if so elected shall be eligible for reelection to the office of Mayor in 1998, notwithstanding any other provision of this section. (Added November 3, 1992, filed by Secretary of State, December 21, 1992.)