Any initiative or referendum petition, or one for a recall, may be presented in separate parts. Each part of any initiative petition shall contain a full and correct copy of the title and text of the proposed ordinance or other measure, and each part of any referendum petition shall contain the number and a full and correct copy of the title of the ordinance or other measure sought to be referred, but need not contain the full text of such ordinance or other measure.
Each signer of a petition shall be a registered voter of the City and shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil and shall place on the petition his name and place of residence by street and number, the date of the signing, and his voting precinct. Each part of any such petition shall contain the affidavit of the person soliciting the signatures to the same, which affidavit shall contain a statement of the number of signers of such part of such petition and shall state that to the best of the affiant's knowledge and belief each of the signatures contained on such part is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that he believes such persons are registered electors of the City and that they signed such petition with knowledge of the contents thereof. Each part of such petition also shall have printed thereon the names and addresses of at least three registered electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose herein elsewhere named.
All such petitions shall be filed with the Clerk of Council not later than ninety (90) days from the date of the first signature affixed to such petition and all parts of any such petition shall be assembled by the Clerk as one instrument.
Within ten (10) days after the filing of a petition the Clerk shall ascertain whether the same is signed by the required number of qualified electors, and whether all signatures were affixed within the period of ninety (90) days prior to the filing thereof. Upon the completion of his examination the Clerk shall endorse upon the petition a certificate of the result thereof. Any signer of such petition may withdraw his support to the same, and his signature shall not be counted or considered if he gives written notice to the Clerk of his desire for such withdrawal at any time before final certification.
If the Clerk's certificate shows that the petition is insufficient he shall at once notify each member of the committee of the petitioners herein elsewhere provided for, and the petition may be amended at any time within fifteen (15) days from the date of the Clerk's certificate of examination by filing with the Clerk an additional petition in one or more parts in the same manner as provided for the original petition. In the event that it shall be determined by judicial proceedings that the certificate of the Clerk as to the sufficiency of the petition is erroneous, a similar period of time shall be granted for additional petitions after the final determination of such question.
Upon the filing of any such additional petitions, the Clerk shall within ten (10) days thereafter examine the petition as thus amended and attach thereto his certificate of the result, and the petition shall thereafter be treated in the same manner as it would have been treated after the original certification. The final determination of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prevent the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
The sufficiency of the number of signers to any initiative, referendum or recall petition, shall be determined on the basis of the number of registered voters at the last general election for Municipal officers.
The filing of an initiative, referendum or recall petition by the Clerk of Council within the times herein elsewhere provided shall be computed from the date of the attaching of the final certificate of the Clerk to such petition.
Whenever it becomes the duty of Council to call an election by reason of the filing of an initiative or referendum petition, or one for recall, Council shall call an election for the submission of such question, or recall, at the next regular primary or general election occurring not less than forty (90) days nor more than ninety (120) days thereafter. If no such regular primary or general election is to be held within such time, Council shall provide for calling a special election not less than forty (90) days nor more than ninety (120) days thereafter. In either event, Council shall certify its action to the Board of Elections.
(11-2-71; 11-5-91)
(11-2-71; 11-5-91)