(1) The remedies contained in this Charter for the removal of elected officials shall be the sole and exclusive remedies.
(2) Any elected official of the Village may be removed from office by the qualified voters of the Village. The removal procedure shall be as follows: (a) Petition. A petition signed by at least fifteen percent (15%) of the total votes cast at the last preceding regular general election, and demanding the election of a successor to the person sought to be removed, shall be filed with the Board of Elections. The petition shall contain a general statement in not more than two hundred (200) words specifying the grounds upon which the removal of an elected official is sought; (b) Election. If the petition is sufficient, and if the person whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) days after the sufficiency of the petition has been determined, the Village Council shall thereupon order and fix a day for the holding of an election to determine the question of his or her removal, and for the selection of a successor to each officer named in the petition. Such election shall be held not less than ninety (90) nor more than one hundred twenty (120) days from the time of the determination of the sufficiency of the petition. The election authorities shall publish notice and make all arrangements for holding such election, which shall be conducted and the result returned and declared in all respects as are the results of regular Village elections; (c) Nomination of Successors. Any candidates seeking to succeed such officer(s) shall file candidacy petitions with the election authorities no later than ninety (90) days prior to the special recall election, a petition proposing a person for each office whose holder's removal is sought, signed by electors equal in number to five percent (5%) of the total votes cast in the last preceding regular general election; (d) Ballot Wording and Voting. The ballots at the recall election shall, with respect to each person whose removal is sought, submit the question: “Shall [name of person] be removed from the office of [name of office] by recall?” Immediately after each question above, the following two (2) propositions shall be printed on the ballots in this order: “For the recall of [name of officer].” “Against the recall of [name of officer].” Immediately to the left of the proposition shall be placed a square in which the voters, by making an appropriate mark, may vote for one (1) of the propositions. The names of candidates to fill the vacancy shall be listed after each set of propositions. The officer whose removal is sought cannot be a candidate in the election. In a recall election, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of removal are affirmative, the officer whose removal is sought shall be removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of that election, and the candidate receiving the plurality of the votes cast for candidates for that office shall be declared elected. The candidate who is elected shall hold the office for the unexpired term of the officer who was removed; and (e) Timing and Expenses. No removal of any officer can be submitted to the voters until the officer has served at least one (1) year. If, at any recall election, the officer whose removal is sought is not recalled, he or she shall be repaid his or her actual and legitimate expenses incurred during the recall election from the Treasury of the Village, up to fifty percent (50%) of what the candidate could have spent in a regular Village election, but not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00).
(Nov. 7, 2017; Nov. 2, 2021)