The electors shall have the power to propose any ordinance or resolution 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 the initiative. An initiated ordinance or resolution shall be submitted to Council by a petition signed by at least ten percent (10%) of the electors of the City of Avon. When so submitted, the Lorain County Board of Elections shall determine the sufficiency, and, if sufficient, the Council shall take final action, either enacting, amending or rejecting the proposed ordinance, within forty (40) days after submission. If Council fails to pass such proposed ordinance, or resolution, or passes it in some form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, the petitioners, through the committee named on such petition, may, by the next regular meeting of Council, request in writing that it be submitted to a vote of the electors. Thereupon, Council shall provide for submitting the petitioned ordinance or resolution to the electors at the next general or regular Municipal election occurring more than ninety (90) days after the filing of such petition, but if such petition is signed by at least thirty percent (30%) of such electors, the date of the election may be fixed therein, which may be a special election to be held at any time more than ninety (90) days after the filing of such petition.
(Amended 11-7-95; 11-2-99)
Within thirty (30) days after the enactment by Council of any ordinance or resolution which is subject to a referendum under the laws of the State of Ohio, a petition signed by no less than ten percent (10%) of the electors of the City of Avon may be filed with the Council requesting that the ordinance or resolution be repealed or submitted to a vote of the electors. When said petition is filed, the Lorain County Board of Elections shall first ascertain the sufficiency of the petition, and, if found sufficient, the Council shall thereupon, within thirty (30) days of the filing of such petition, reconsider such ordinance or resolution. If Council shall fail to repeal said ordinance or resolution within thirty (30) days, the Council shall submit it to a vote of the electors at the next general or regular Municipal election occurring more than sixty (60) days after the filing of the petition, and if such petition is signed by at least thirty percent (30%) of such electors, the date of the election may be fixed therein, which may be a special election to be held at any time more than sixty (60) days after the filing of the petition, provided that any primary or general election may be considered a special election for the submission of the referendum provided for herein.
A referendum on a public utility ordinance shall be governed by the provisions of Article XVIII, Sections 5 and 8, of the Constitution of the State of Ohio.
(Amended 11-3-81; 11-7-95; 11-2-99)
Electors shall have the power to remove from office, by recall election, any elected official of the Municipality. After an elected official has served six (6) months of his term, a petition demanding his recall and removal may be filed with the Clerk of Council. Such petition shall be signed by at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the total electors who voted for the office of the elected official who is the subject of the recall, at the last Municipal election at which an official for that elective office was elected.
Within ten (10) days from the date of filing such petition, the Lorain County Board of Elections (the "Board") shall determine the sufficiency thereof. If the Board shall find the petition insufficient, the Board shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective and deliver a copy of the Board's certificate to the person who filed the petition with the Board and such person shall be allowed twenty (20) days from the delivery of such copy of the certificate in which to make the petition sufficient. If the Board shall find the petition sufficient, the Board shall promptly so certify such fact to the Council and to the officer whose removal is sought, and if the officer does not resign within five (5) days thereafter, the Council shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than thirty (30) nor more than forty (40) days from the date of the Board's certificate of sufficiency.
(Amended 11-5-91; 11-7-95; 11-3-98; 11-2-99)
An initiative, referendum or recall petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain, in the case of the initiative or referendum, a full and correct copy of the title and text of the proposed or referred ordinance or resolution, and, in the case of the recall, the name and office of the person whose removal is sought, and a statement, in not more than two hundred (200) words, of the grounds for the removal.
As used in this Article X, "electors" shall mean the registered voters of the Municipality. For purposes of determining the number of signatures required on petitions under this Article X, unless otherwise specified, reference shall be made to the number of electors registered on the date of the last November election preceding the filing of the petition, as determined by the Lorain County Board of Elections.
(Enacted 11-7-95)