(A) Any or all of the elected officials of the municipality may be removed from office by the registered voters of the municipality. Petition papers, to do such, shall be procured from and filed with the Municipal Clerk, who shall keep a sufficient number of such blank petition papers on file for distribution. An affidavit to procure such papers shall be made by one or more registered voters and filed with the Municipal Clerk, stating the name and office of the officer or officers sought to be removed. The Clerk, upon issuing any petition paper, shall enter in a record, to be kept in his or her office, the name of the registered voter or voters to whom issued, the date of such issuance, and the number of papers issued and shall certify on the papers the name of the registered voter or voters to whom the papers were issued and the date they were issued.
(B) Circulators of such petitions shall comply will all requirements of the statutes of the state. Such petition demanding that recall be submitted to the registered voters shall be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least 35% of the total votes cast at the last general municipal election, except for an office where more than one candidate is chosen, in which case the petition shall be signed by registered voters equal in number to at least 35% of the number of votes cast for the person receiving the most votes for such office in the last general election. If officers are elected by ward, only registered voters of that officer’s ward may sign a recall petition or vote at the recall election.
(C) All petitions shall be filed with the Clerk for signature verification as one instrument within 30 days of issuance of the original petition papers. Within ten days after the filing of the petition, the Clerk shall ascertain whether or not the petition is signed by the requisite number of registered voters and shall attach to the petition a certificate showing whether any signatures need to be corrected in order to comply with the requirements of this section and state statutes. If the Clerk finds incorrect signatures, he or she shall promptly notify the person filing the petition that the petition may be cured at any time within ten days after the giving of such notice by the filing of a supplementary petition, with the corrected signatures, on additional petition papers issued and filed as provided for the original petition. No new signatures may be added after the initial filing of the petition and no signatures may be removed unless the Clerk receives an affidavit signed by the person requesting his or her signature be removed. The Clerk shall, within five days after any correction, examine the corrected petition and attach a certificate as in the case of the original petition. If the certificate shows the corrected petition to be insufficient or if no correction was made, the Clerk shall file the petition in his or her office without prejudice to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
(D) If the petition or corrected petition is found to be sufficient, the Clerk shall attach to the petition a certificate showing the result of such examination and shall notify the officer whose removal is sought. If the officer does not resign within five days after the notice, the Clerk shall submit, within ten days after the five-day period has elapsed, the original petition and supplement, together with his or her certificates, to the governing body. Upon receipt of such petition and certificate, the governing body shall order an election to be held not less than 30 nor more than 45 days after the five-day period, except that if any other election is to be held in that district within 90 days of the five-day period the governing body may provide for the holding of the removal election on the same day.
(E) No recall petition shall be filed against members of the governing body within 12 months after a recall election has failed to remove him or her from office or within six months from the end of his or her term of office.
(Prior Code, § 1-717) (Ord. 114, passed 12-4-1984)
Statutory reference:
Related provisions, see Neb. RS 32-1401 through 32-1408