Each certificate must be separate, and contain the name of but one signer, who must make oath before a notary public or verification deputy as to the truth of the statements therein. All such certificates signed by electors of each precinct, shall be arranged alpha-betically and bound together. Upon receipt of such petition, the city clerk shall indorse thereon the time it was received. He or she shall thereupon examine said petition, to ascertain whether it conforms to the requirements of this Charter.
Within ten days after such presentation, the city clerk must determine whether said petition so conforms and shall attach thereto his or her certificate showing the result of his or her examination, and send by registered mail a copy of said certificate to the person named in said petition to whom it shall be returned. If the petition does not conform to said requirements, the certificate of the city clerk shall designate the defects in the petition and in the individual certificates. If the certificate of the city clerk shows the petition to be deficient, it may be amended by presentation, within fifteen days after mailing said certificate of the city clerk, of an amended petition, containing additional certificates, arranged and bound as above provided. The city clerk shall, within seven days after the presentation of such amended petition, make like investigation and determination as to the amended petition and attach to it a like certificate and mail a copy as aforesaid, and, if his or her certificate shall show the amended petition to be deficient, or if no amended petition shall have been presented, the petition shall be returned to the person named therein to whom it shall be returned, without prejudice to the filing of a new petition to effect the same purpose.
Should any certificate or certificates to the petition not substantially conform to the requirements of this Charter such fact shall not invalidate the petition if a sufficient number of the certificates substantially conform to such requirements. Should the city clerk find that the said petition or amended petition conforms to such requirements, he or she shall endorse the fact thereon and file and present it to the council.
Editor's note: This section was amended by the voters of the city on March 26, 1996.