(a) Initiative. The qualified voters of the Municipality shall have the power to propose ordinances and resolutions to the Council and, if Council fails to adopt an ordinance or resolution so proposed without any change in substance, to adopt or reject it at an election, provided that such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any ordinance or resolution relating to the appropriation of money or salaries of Municipal officers or employees, or to the removal of any officer of the Municipality.
(b) Referendum. The qualified electors of the Municipality shall have power to require reconsideration by the Council of any adopted ordinance or resolution and, if the Council fails to repeal an ordinance or resolution so reconsidered, to approve or reject it at an election, provided that such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or ordinance or resolution relating to the appropriation of money or the levy of taxes, or any other ordinance or resolution which takes effect immediately under the provisions of Section 6.08 of this Charter, or to the removal of any officer of the Municipality.
Any five (5) electors may commence initiative or referendum proceedings by filing with the Clerk of Council an affidavit stating they will constitute the petitioners’ committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the proposed initiative ordinance or resolution or citing the ordinance or resolution sought to be reconsidered.
Within five (5) days after the affidavit of the petitioners’ committee is filed, the Clerk shall specify to the petitioners’ committee the appropriate petition forms that are to be used.
(a) Number of Signatures. Initiative and referendum petitions must be given by qualified electors of the Municipality equal in number to at least ten (10) percent of the total number of qualified electors voting for the office of Governor at the last general election at which a Governor was elected.
(b) Form and Content. All papers of a petition shall be uniform in size and style, and each petition shall be assembled as one (1) instrument for filing. Each signature shall be executed in ink or indelible pencil, and shall be followed by the address of the person signing, his ward and precinct, and the date of signing. Petitions shall contain, or have attached thereto throughout their circulation, the full text of the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be reconsidered.
(c) Affidavit of Circulation. Each petition shall have attached to it, when filed, an affidavit executed by the circulator thereof stating that he personally circulated the paper, the number of signatures thereon, that all the signatures were affixed in his presence, that he believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be, and that each signer had an opportunity before signing to read the full text of the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be reconsidered.
(d) Time for Filing Referendum Petitions. Referendum petitions shall be filed with the Clerk of Council within thirty (30) days after the effective date of the ordinance or resolution sought to be reconsidered.
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