Members of an Ottawa Transition Board committee say councillors for the new city of Ottawa should serve full time, but only for a maximum of six years.

Those are a couple of the recommendations put forward Thursday by the board's Political Infrastructure Project Team.

The committee's most controversial suggestion is that municipal politicians be limited to two terms, or six years.

"I think we can become stale. We can become entrenched, and sometimes familiarity to a name is enough to get some of us elected," says former regional councillor and member of the project team Brian McGarry.

But Ottawa's mayor Jim Watson says that is foolish.

"I disagree with that. It's anti-democratic and the public should have the say when to kick someone out of office. So I think term limits don't make a lot of sense. It may be a good American philosophy, but I wouldn't support it here in Canada."

The committee also says councillors will have to start seeing themselves as policy makers, not pothole fixers.

To do this the committee wants to establish a 24-hour expert call centre to help deal with service problems.

"I don't think the politicians will be able to be there at every snowplow problem and every garbage problem," says McGarry.

But regional councillor Alex Munter says dealing with things like potholes keeps politicians in touch with their constituents.

And on the money side of things, the project team has recommended there be the same number of councillors as are on regional council, and that they receive up to $70,000 a year. That's about what regional councillors earn now. While the recommended wage is the same, the office budget is smaller.

The mayor would earn up to $140,000 a year, similar to what the regional chair makes now.

Members of the transition board will vote on these recommendations June 12.