The electors shall have the power to remove from office by a recall election any officer of the city holding an elective position. If an elected officer shall have served 6 months or more of the term, a petition demanding the officer’s removal may be filed with the clerk of council, who shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition and the date of such filing, and deliver to such person a receipt therefore and attach a copy thereof to said petition. Such petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain the name and office of the person whose removal is sought and a statement in not more than 200 words of the grounds for the removal. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals 25% of the number of electors voting at the last regular municipal election for the office of the mayor, provided, however, the petition for recall of a councilman elected from a ward shall be signed by at least that number of electors of the councilman’s ward equal to 25% in number of electors of such ward who voted at the last preceding municipal election for the office of ward councilman. Within 10 days after the date on which such petition shall have been filed, the clerk shall determine whether or not it meets the requirements hereof. If the clerk shall find the petition insufficient, the clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, deliver a copy of the certificate to the person who filed the petition, and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of 20 days after the day on which such delivery was made in which to make the petition sufficient. If the clerk shall find the petition sufficient, the clerk shall promptly so certify to the council, shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the officer whose removal is sought, and shall make a record of such delivery. If such officer shall not resign within 5 days after the day on which such delivery shall have been made, the council shall thereupon fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than 60 days nor more than 75 days after the date of such delivery. Such recall election shall be held in all wards of the city in the case of the Mayor or a councilman-at-large; and in the case of a ward councilman shall be held only in the ward from which he was elected or appointed. The clerk of council shall certify the ordinance providing for such election to the appropriate election authorities upon receipt from the petitioners of a bond, cash, certified check or cashier’s check in the amount equal to the costs of such election as estimated by the clerk of council, such security to be retained and used by the city to pay the costs of the recall election if a majority of the votes cast shall be against the recall of such officer, otherwise to be returned to the petitioners upon the certification of the results of the election. At such recall election, this question shall be placed upon the ballot: “Shall (naming the officer) be allowed to continue as (naming the office)?”, with the provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively, and in the event a majority of the vote is negative such officer shall be considered as removed, the office shall be deemed vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in this charter. The officer removed at such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy created thereby.
If an official against whom a petition is filed is continued in office by the vote at the election, no further recall petition may be filed against the officer for a period of 2 years.
(Amendment adopted by electorate 11-6-01; Amendment adopted by electorate 11-5-02)