The voters shall have power to propose any ordinance except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as initiative. Any initiative ordinance may be submitted to the Council by a petition signed by currently qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least ten (10) percent of the total number of the qualified voters registered to vote at the last regular municipal election.
Section 14.02. Power of Referendum.
The voters shall have power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the Council or submitted by the Council to a vote of the voters, such power being known as the referendum, except in cases of bond ordinances and ordinances making the annual tax levy. Ordinances submitted to the Council by initiative petition and passed by the Council without change shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. Within twenty (20) days after the enactment by the Council of any ordinance which is subject to referendum, a petition signed by currently qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least ten (10) percent of the total number of the qualified voters registered to vote at the last preceding regular municipal election may be filed with the City Secretary requesting that any such ordinance be submitted to a vote of the voters.
Section 14.03. Frequency of Election.
Special elections on initiated or referred ordinances shall not be held more frequently than once each six (6) months, and no ordinance on the same subject as an initiated ordinance which has been defeated or on the same subject as a referred ordinance which has been approved at any election may be initiated by the voters within one (1) year from the date of such election.
Section 14.04. Form of Petition.
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate petition there shall be attached a statement of the circulator thereof as provided by this section. Each signer of any petition paper shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall indicate after his name his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. There shall appear on each petition the names and addresses of five (5) voters, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition. Attached to each separate petition paper there shall be an affidavit of the circulator thereof that he only personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures appended thereto which were made in his presence, and that he believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
Section 14.05. Filing Examination and Certifications.
All petition papers comprising an initiative or referendum petition shall be assembled and filed with the City Secretary as one instrument. Within ten (10) days after the petition is filed, the City Secretary shall determine whether each paper of the petition has a proper statement of the circulator, and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified voters. The City Secretary shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which does not have attached thereto an affidavit signed by the circulator thereof. After completing the examination of the petition, if the City Secretary certifies that the petition is insufficient, he shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in which it is defective, and shall at once notify the petitioners of these findings. The City Secretary shall then notify the Council of the results of the examination at its next regular meeting.
An initiative or referendum petition may be amended at any time within ten (10) days after the notification of the insufficiency has been sent by the City Secretary, by filing of a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The City Secretary shall, within five (5) days after such an amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition, and, if the petition be still insufficient, a certificate shall be filed to that effect in the City Secretary’s office, and the committee of petitioners notified of these findings, and no further action shall be had on such insufficient petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When a referendum petition, or amended petition as defined above, has been certified as sufficient by the City Secretary, the ordinance specified in the petition shall not go into effect, or further action thereunder shall be suspended if it shall have gone into effect, until and unless approved by the voters, as hereinafter provided.
Section 14.06. Council Consideration and Submission to Voters.
Whenever the Council received a certified initiative or referendum petition from the City Secretary, it shall proceed at once to consider such a petition. A proposed initiative ordinance shall be read, and provision shall be made for a public hearing upon the proposed ordinance. The Council shall take final action on the ordinance not later than sixty (60) days after the date on which such ordinance was submitted to the Council by the City Secretary. A referred ordinance shall be reconsidered by the Council, and its final vote upon such reconsideration shall be upon the question, “Shall the ordinance specified in the referendum petition be repealed?”
If the Council shall fail to pass an ordinance proposed by the initiative petition, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, or if the Council fails to repeal a referred ordinance, the proposed or referred ordinance shall be submitted to the voters not less than thirty (30) days nor more than ninety (90) days from the date the Council takes its final vote thereon. The Council may, in its discretion, and if no regular election is to be held within such period, provide for a special election.
Ordinances submitted to vote of the voters in accordance with the initiative and referendum provisions of this Charter shall be submitted by ballot title, which shall be prepared in all cases by the City Attorney, but it shall be finally approved by the City Council. The ballot title may be different from the legal title of any such initiated or referred ordinance and shall be a clear, concise statement, without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of such ordinance and if a paper ballot is used, it shall have below the ballot title the following propositions, one above the other in the order indicated: “FOR THE ORDINANCE” and “AGAINST THE ORDINANCE.” Any number of ordinances may be voted on at the same election, and may be submitted on the same ballot, but any paper ballot used for voting on an initiated or referred ordinance or ordinances shall be for that purpose only. If voting machines are used, the ballot title of any ordinance shall have below it the same two propositions, one above the other or one preceding the other in the order indicated, and the voter shall be given an opportunity to vote for either of the two propositions and thereby to vote for or against the ordinance.
Section 14.07. Referendum Petitions; Suspension of Effect of Ordinances.
When a referendum petition is filed with the City Secretary, the ordinance sought to be reconsidered shall be suspended from taking effect. Such suspension shall terminate when:
(a) There is a final determination of insufficiency of the petition, or
(b) The petitioners’ committee withdraws the petition, or
(c) The Council repeals the ordinance, or
(d) Thirty (30) days have elapsed after a vote for repeal of the ordinance has failed.
Section 14.08. Results of Referendum Elections.
If a majority of the voters voting on a proposed initiative ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon be an ordinance of the City. A referred ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the voters voting thereon shall thereupon be deemed repealed. If the conflicting ordinances are approved by the voters at the same election, the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
Initiative and referendum ordinances adopted or approved by the voters shall be published, and may be amended or repealed by the Council, as in the case of other ordinances.
Section 14.09. Power of Recall.
The people of the City reserve the power to recall any elected officer of the City. In the case of either the Mayor or any Council Member, such power may be exercised by filing with the City Secretary a petition signed by currently qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least twenty-five (25) percent of the total number of currently qualified voters registered to vote at the last regular municipal election demanding the removal of such elected officer. If the petition is certified by the City Secretary to be sufficient, the Council shall order and hold an election forthwith to determine whether such officer shall be recalled, and if the majority of the legal votes are cast for a recall of the officer named on the ballot, the Council shall immediately declare his office vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled forthwith in accordance with the provisions of this Charter. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within six (6) months after such elected officer takes office.
Any member of the City Council may be removed from office by recall.
Section 14.10. Public Hearing to be Held.
The officer whose removal is sought may, within five (5) days after such recall petition has been presented to the City Council, request that a public hearing be held to permit him to present pertinent facts. In this event the City Council shall order such public hearing to be held not less than five (5) days nor more than fifteen (15) days after receiving such request for a public hearing.
Section 14.11. Recall Election.
The City Secretary shall at once examine the recall petition and if he finds it sufficient and in compliance with the provisions of this article of the Charter, he shall within five (5) days submit it to the City Council with the City Secretary’s certificate to that effect, and notify the officer sought to be recalled of such action. If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) days after such notice, the City Council shall thereupon order and fix a date for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held not less than thirty (30) nor more than ninety (90) days after the petition has been presented to the City Council or after the public hearing provided in Section 14.10 is held; if such hearing is requested, at the same time as any municipal election held within such period; but if no such municipal election be held within such period, the City Council shall call a special election to be held within the time aforesaid.
All qualified voters of the City shall be entitled to cast ballots in a recall election of the Councilman elected at large.
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following requirements:
(a) With respect to each person whose removal is sought, the question shall be submitted “Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of Council Member by recall?”
(b) Immediately below each question there shall be printed the two following propositions, one above the other, in the order indicated: