Providence has term limits. So how is this former councilor running again?

PROVIDENCE — In the 2022 election, the Providence City Council had an unusual number of wide-open seats. Term limits had kicked in for the first time, barring a third of the council members from running for office again. One member had been in office since the 1990s.

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Now, one of those term-limited councilors is making a comeback bid. Carmen Castillo, who served three terms as Ward 9’s councilor before hitting the term limits, filed late last month to run for her old seat. And city lawyers confirm it’s perfectly legal.

Castillo is the first term-limited politician to seek her old seat back under the term limits overwhelmingly approved by Providence voters in 2006. The reason it’s allowed boils down to one word: consecutive.

Unlike the US presidency, which limits the president to two total terms, the charter change that voters approved limited city councilors to three consecutive four-year terms, and limited Providence mayors to two consecutive four-year terms. Mayor Jorge Elorza was the first mayor to hit the limit in 2022, and technically could run again after sitting out a term. (Elorza told the Globe he has not considered running again.)

“The city’s legal department confirmed that city councilors who have served three full terms are eligible to seek election for a non-consecutive fourth term provided that there has been a break in service of at least one full term,” said Josh Estrella, a spokesperson for the city.

There’s no limit on the total number of terms an city councilor or mayor can serve, under the city’s interpretation, as long as they aren’t in office for more than three terms in a row.

“That doesn’t sound like term limits to me,” said John Lombardi, who was City Council president in Providence at the time the council asked voters to approve the charter change. Lombardi, who is now a state representative and a municipal judge, said he intended to limit the total number of terms a city councilor or mayor could serve.

“People thought that would be the way to avoid a Cianci-type situation,” Lombardi said, referring to former Mayor Buddy Cianci, who served for 20 years in two separate stints and ultimately went to prison for public corruption. “It was to avoid the accumulation of that kind of power, so that we could avoid even the temptation of those types of situations.”

He has repeatedly proposed similar term limits for state representatives and senators, which have never passed.

Lombardi said he thinks the city charter’s language could reasonably be interpreted both ways, though he didn’t dispute the city solicitor’s decision.

“It wouldn’t be the first time the Providence City Council passed an ambiguous charter change,” said John Marion, the executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, a good government group.

Marion has previously criticized the council for writing vague ballot questions that required later interpretation, including when the council asked voters to approve a hybrid school board in 2022.

Common Cause opposes term limits in general, Marion said.

“Term limits empower lobbyists and legislative staff at the expense of legislators who can develop expertise over time,” Marion said.

The language of Providence’s term limits dates back to 2002, when the Charter Review Commission recommended a series of charter changes, including term limits. The group’s report said members were particularly concerned about mayors being in power too long, and noted that other executive jobs, including the president and governor in many states, have term limits.

“While voters can always use the ballot box if an incumbent overstays his or her welcome, term limits represent a more effective safeguard against any one individual accumulating so much political power that he or she becomes entrenched in office, thus essentially precluding any challenge from other candidates,” the commission wrote in its 2002 recommendations.

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The commission also recommended creating citywide council seats, which did not come to fruition. The group envisioned term-limited ward councilors potentially coming back to run for the citywide seats.

Kelly Sheridan, who chaired the commission at the time, said if the commission wanted to cap the total number of terms, it would not have used the word “consecutive” in the language.

“It was clearly an intentional move,” Sheridan said. “We have to assume that the voters understood the plain language of the amendment.”

The commission’s report also noted that term limits could help make the council more diverse, which did come to fruition. A majority of current council members are people of color. The council also shifted to the left after the 2022 term limits, with several conservative Democrats replaced by progressives.

The City Council opted not to send the recommendation to voters in 2002, but later put the question on the ballot in 2006. It asked voters: “Commencing on the first Monday in January 2011, shall any mayor be limited to serving two consecutive full terms (excluding any partial term of less than two years previously served) and shall any council member be limited to serving three consecutive full terms (excluding any partial termof less than two years previously served)?”

Castillo, a longtime hotel worker at the Omni downtown, told the Globe she’s running again because of the “love I feel for my community.” She said constituents have continued to call her since she left office four years ago.

“I resolve a lot of problems for them,” Castillo said. “I never disappeared.”

She’ll face incumbent Juan Pichardo, who replaced her on the council, in the Democratic primary on Sept. 9.

“It’s within her right to run, and it’s democracy,” Pichardo said. “I continue to work hard for my district.”

The two Democrats differ on rent control; Pichardo sponsored a measure earlier this year to limit rent increases in the city to 4 percent a year. Castillo said she was “a little concerned” about rent control, but would be willing to discuss it if elected.

Pichardo said if he wins reelection, he’s interested in seeking the presidency, which is open after President Rachel Miller decided not to run for reelection.

Other city councilors that were term-limited in 2022 include Michael Correia, Nicholas Narducci, John Igliozzi and David Salvatore. (Sabina Matos was also term-limited from running again, but left her seat early to become lieutenant governor in 2021.)

None of those officials opted to run for council again this year after sitting out a term. In this year’s election, Councilors Jo-Ann Ryan and Mary Kay Harris are barred by the term limits from running again.

Another former city councilor, Michael Solomon, is also aiming to make a comeback this year, running for his former seat representing Ward 5. Solomon served two terms — including one as council president — before running unsuccessfully for mayor, so he never hit the limits.

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In total, 39 candidates filed to run for the 15 council seats.