LOWVILLE — Lewis County voters will see a familiar proposition atop their ballots in November's general election.

As they did two years ago, county legislators voted 10-0 Tuesday to authorize a referendum on increasing their terms from two years to four. If approved by voters, the change would take effect in January 2010. All 10 legislative seats are up for election in November 2009.

"You people should be ashamed of yourselves," Lowville resident John M. Gehrlein said during the public comment period. "You have no cause for four-year terms."

Most legislators ran unopposed last year, and those who did have competition didn't have to do that much campaigning, said Mr. Gehrlein, who also spoke against the term-lengthening proposal in 2006.

"You have been anointed by the county Republican hierarchy," he said.

U.S. congressmen have always served two-year terms, "and they're not complaining," Mr. Gehrlein said. Plus, county voters already gave their opinion in 2006, he said.

"Did you think we were lying?" Mr. Gehrlein said. "Or can't you take 'no' for an answer? Or are you just trying to wear us down?"

Mr. Gehrlein is a columnist for the Lowville Journal and Republican weekly newspaper, which is owned by Johnson Newspaper Corp.

Legislator Patrick F. Wallace, R-Lowville, chairman of the legislative Elections Committee, said he has heard "a lot of comments both from in government and out of government" in support of four-year terms.

Some people who voted against the 2006 proposal, which included a provision to stagger terms so that only five of the 10 seats would be contested at one time, suggested they would have supported four-year terms without that provision, he said.

"So, we decided to put it back out to voters this fall," Mr. Wallace said.

The new proposal, introduced by Mr. Wallace and fellow first-year Legislator William F. Burke, R-West Lowville, does not include staggered terms.

Supporters have touted the proposed switch as a way to improve continuity and allow new legislators more time to learn their job before facing re-election, while detractors suggest the move would reduce legislators' accountability.

The 2006 four-year-term proposition was defeated by a 2,554 to 2,165 vote, or 54.1 percent opposed. However, an additional 3,028 ballots were either blank or void, and more than half of the 16,616 eligible voters did not vote at all.

Legislators on Tuesday, by a 10-0 vote, also approved a two-year lease agreement with St. Peter's Catholic Church to house the Board of Elections office in its former school on Shady Avenue. Rental costs will be $2,100 per month plus utilities for office space and an additional $200 per month for use of areas shared with other tenants.

The county has an option to renew the lease for a third year.

County election commissioners will use the former third- through sixth-grade classrooms for office space and storage of 24 handicapped-accessible voting machines, two of which arrived in May.

"The remainder of the machines are going to be here about the 18th of this month," Mr. Wallace said, adding that commissioners are looking at a swipe-card system to secure them.

The library also will be used on occasion for training and private absentee voting, and the gymnasium will continue to be the polling site for all town of Lowville voters.

The Board of Elections office actually moved to the former Catholic school a couple of weeks ago so renovation work on the top two floors of the old county courthouse could proceed. With a rapid move needed, St. Peter's officials "on good faith" allowed it to happen without a formal lease agreement in place, County Manager David H. Pendergast has said.