(a) The people reserve unto themselves the right to recall and remove from office any member of Council or the Mayor, after he shall have served six months (6 mos.) of his term. The process to effect such recall or removal shall be as follows:
A petition demanding that the question of removal of such officer or officers be submitted to the electors, shall clearly state in the petition in not more than two hundred (200) words, the reasons or grounds for such removal. A petition for the recall of the Mayor shall contain the signatures of twenty-five per centum (25%) of the voters voting at the last regular general election of Municipal officers. A petition for the recall of a Councilperson in a ward shall contain the signatures of twenty-five per centum (25%) of the voters voting in that ward in the last regular general election of Municipal officers.
When there shall have been filed a petition signed by the aforestated required number of electors, the Clerk shall certify the same to Council at the next regular meeting and shall furnish a copy thereof to the member or members of Council or the Mayor whose removal is so sought, and the Council shall call an election upon the question of such removal as herein elsewhere provided, unless within five (5) days after such certification the member or members of Council, or the Mayor, tender his or their written resignation to the Clerk.
(b) If a majority of the votes cast at such election on the question of removal of any member of Council or the Mayor is affirmative, the person whose removal is so sought shall thereupon be deemed removed from office upon the certification of the official canvass of that election to Council, and a vacancy caused by such recall shall be filled by the remainder of the Council according to the provisions of Article II of this Charter.
If however, an election is held for the recall of more than three (3) members of Council, candidates to succeed them for their unexpired terms shall be voted upon at the same election and shall be nominated by petitions dated and verified in the manner required for petitions presenting names of candidates for regular Municipal elections and similar in form to such petitions and filed with the election authorities at least seventy-five (75) days prior to such recall election, but no such nominating petition shall be signed or circulated until such recall petition has been certified to Council, and any signatures antedating such time shall not be counted. (5-2-61)