(a) Right to Initiate Ordinances. The people shall be able to propose ordinances by a petition process. Ordinances and other measures providing for the exercise of any powers of government granted by the Ohio Constitution, delegated to any municipal corporation by the General Assembly or created by this Charter, may be proposed by an initiative petition.
(b) Petition. Whoever seeks to propose an ordinance or measure in the Village by initiative petition shall, before circulating the petition, file a certified copy of the proposed ordinance or measure with the Village Clerk. Initiative petitions must contain the signatures of not less than ten percent (10%) of the number of electors who voted at the preceding regular general election. Any initiative petition may be presented in separate parts, but 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. Each signer of an initiative petition must be a registered voter of the Village. When a petition is filed with the Village Clerk, signed by the required number of electors proposing the ordinance or other measure, the Clerk shall, after ten (10) days, transmit a certified copy of the text of the proposed ordinance or measure to the Board of Elections. The Clerk shall transmit the petition to the Board, together with the certified copy of the proposed ordinance or other measure. The Board shall examine all signatures on the petition to determine the number of electors of the Village who signed the petition. The Board shall return the petition to the Clerk within ten (10) days after receiving it, together with a statement attesting to the number of such electors who signed the petition. Whoever knowingly signs an initiative petition more than once, signs a name other than his or her own, or signs when not a legal voter, is liable to prosecution as Council has determined by a general ordinance concerning the acts specified in this section.
(c) Referendum. The Board shall submit such proposed ordinance or measure for the approval or rejection of the electors of the Village at the next regular Village or general election, occurring ninety (90) days or later after the Clerk certifies the sufficiency and validity of the initiative petition to the Board of Elections. Any ordinance approved by the voters shall take effect the same as an ordinance passed according to Sections 2.08
to 2.10
of this Charter.
(d) Validity of Ordinance or Other Measure. No ordinance or other measure submitted to the voters of the Village, and receiving an affirmative majority of those voting, shall be held ineffective or void on account of the insufficiency of the petitions by which such submission of the ordinance or measure was procured, nor shall the rejection, by a majority of the votes cast thereon, of any ordinance or other measure submitted to the voters of the Village, be held invalid for such insufficiency.
(e) Certified Defined. As used in this section, "certified copy" means a copy containing a written statement attesting it is a true and exact reproduction of the original proposed ordinance or other measure.
(Nov. 2, 2021)