All irrevocable public utility franchises and all renewals, extensions, and amendments or any repeal of them shall be granted only by ordinance. No ordinance for these purposes shall be adopted before thirty (30) days after application for a franchise, renewal, extension, or amendment has been filed with the Council nor until a full public hearing has been held on it. No such ordinance shall become effective until it has been submitted to the electors and has been approved by three-fifths (3/5) of the electors voting upon it. No such ordinance shall be submitted to the electors at an election unless sixty (60) days shall have passed after the grantee named in it has filed its unconditional acceptance of all of the terms of such franchise, and it shall not be submitted to a special election unless the expense of holding the election, as determined by the Council, shall have been paid to the City Treasurer by the grantee. No exclusive franchises shall ever be granted, and no franchise shall be granted for a longer term than thirty (30) years. No such franchise shall be directly or indirectly transferable except with the approval of the Council expressed by ordinance.