On April 5, the Ames community — which includes ISU students — has the opportunity via a special election to change Ames city government by shortening City Council terms to two years.

We support the change.

Ames’ population changes each year as seniors graduate and freshmen begin their college careers. Reducing council term limits would give ISU students an opportunity to be more active in Ames city government and may also help bring increased understanding between the city and university. We believe both the city and the university would benefit from shorter terms.

Although many students support the change in terms, the issue has been met with opposition from members of the Ames City Council. Councilman Daryl Vegge said one problem with two-year terms is that people would spend too much time campaigning instead of governing. Vegge also said the learning curve associated with being on City Council was so steep that a two-year term would not be sufficient time for council members to learn the intricacies of the job.

Neither of Vegge’s arguments are strong enough to outweigh the good shorter terms could bring.

Time spent campaigning could be curtailed with specific limits on the amount of time and money each candidate could spend on his or her campaign.

As far as the “learning curve” is concerned, it seems unlikely that an accomplished person — one who was elected by a majority of the voters — would not be able to understand the workings of the Ames City Council. The Iowa House of Representatives has two-year terms and manages all the state’s business in the first four months of each year. If these representatives can learn the responsibilities required to run a whole state in two years, Ames council members should be able to do the same. And if a council member can’t, the burden is on the voter to remove him or her from office.

In addition, it’s the responsibility of the Ames community to elect council members who support its goals and priorities. No educated voter, we hope, would elect someone who did not have the knowledge and passion it takes to be a capable member of the City Council.

Other opponents of the change have cited increased costs to the city. This should not be a concern. City elections are already held every two years because of staggered four-year council terms. We’re not implying that two-year terms are as simple as adding a few more names to a ballot, but with the elections already in place, the costs surely would not be exorbitant.

Shortening City Council terms has the potential to bridge the greatest divide this community faces. We think it’s worth a try.