Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by electors of the City equal in number to 10% of the total number of registered electors therein. All petition papers, circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance, shall be uniform in character, and shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and the names and addresses of at least 5 electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose hereinafter named.
Each signer of a petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place on the petition paper after his name his place of residence by street and number, and the date of signing. The signatures to any such petition need not all be appended to one paper but to each such paper there shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof stating the number of signers to such part of the petition and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and was made in the presence of the affiant and on the date indicated. No person shall sign more than one petition paper for the same purpose.
Before any ordinance so proposed shall be submitted to the Council, its form shall be approved by the City Solicitor, who shall endorse his approval thereon; and it shall be the duty of the City Solicitor to draft any such proposed ordinance in proper legal language and to render such other services to persons desiring to propose such ordinance as shall be necessary to make the same proper for consideration by the Council.
All papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the Clerk of the Council as one instrument within 120 days from the date of the first signature thereon. Within 10 days from the filing of such petition the Clerk shall endorse thereon a certificate showing the number of signatures of qualified electors contained therein and the number required.
If the Clerk's certificate shows that the petition is insufficient he shall at once notify each member of the committee of the petitioners, hereinbefore provided for, and the petition may be supplemented at any time within 15 days from the date of such notification by filing with the Clerk an additional petition paper or papers in the same manner as provided for the original petition.
Upon the filing of such supplemental petition the Clerk shall, within 10 days thereafter, attach thereto his certificate as hereinbefore required. If the petition as so supplemented is still insufficient or if no supplement shall have been filed, the Clerk shall file the petition in his office and shall notify each member of the committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When the certificate of the Clerk shows the petition to be sufficient, he shall submit the proposed ordinance to the Council at its next regular meeting and the Council shall take final action thereon within 30 days from the date of such submission. If the Council rejects the proposed ordinance, or passes it in a form different from that set forth in the petition, the committee of the petitioners may require that it be submitted to a vote of the electors in its original form, or that it be submitted to a vote of the electors with any proposed change, addition, or amendment, which was presented to Council in writing by said committee during the consideration thereof by the Council.
When an ordinance proposed by petition is to be submitted to a vote of the electors the committee of the petitioners shall certify that fact and the proposed ordinance to the Clerk of the Council within 40 days after the submission of such proposed ordinance to the Council.
Upon receipt of the certificate and certified copy of the proposed ordinance, the Clerk shall certify that fact to the Council at its next regular meeting. If no election is to be held within 6 months and more than 30 days after the receipt of the Clerk's certificate by the Council, the Council may provide for submitting the proposed ordinance to the electors at a special election. If a supplemental petition, signed by electors equal in number to 25% of the total number of registered electors in the Municipality other than and in addition to those who signed the original petition, be filed with the Clerk asking that the proposed ordinance be submitted to the voters at a time indicated in such petition, the Council shall provide for a special election at such time. The sufficiency of any such petition shall be determined, and it may be supplemented, in a manner hereinbefore provided for original petitions for proposing ordinances to the Council. If no other provision be made as to the time of submitting a proposed ordinance to a vote of the electors, it shall be submitted at the next election.
The ballots used when voting upon any such proposed ordinance shall state the title of the ordinance to be voted on and below it the 2 propositions, "For the Ordinance" and "Against the Ordinance". Immediately at the left of each proposition there shall be a square in which by making a cross (X) the voter may vote for or against the proposed ordinance. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on any such proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon become an ordinance of the City.
No ordinance adopted by an electoral vote shall be repealed or amended except by an electoral vote, but an ordinance to repeal or amend any such ordinance, may by resolution of the Council, be submitted to an electoral vote on the day of any regular or special election or at a special municipal election called for that purpose, provided notice of the intention so to do be published by Council not more than 60 nor less than 30 days prior to such election in the manner required for the publication of ordinances. If an amendment is so proposed, such notice shall contain the proposed amendment in full. Such submission shall be in the same manner, and the vote shall have the same effect, as in cases of ordinances submitted to an election by popular petition.
Proposed ordinances for repealing any existing ordinance or ordinances in whole or in part, or amending the same, may be submitted to the Council as provided in the preceding sections for initiating ordinances.
CITY MANAGER