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Ordinances and resolutions adopted by Council shall be subject to referendum to the extent and in the manner now or hereafter provided by the Constitution or the laws of the State of Ohio, except that such ordinances and resolutions subjected to referendum shall be submitted to the electors for approval or rejection at the next succeeding general election or primary election occurring subsequent to ninety days after the certifying of such referendum petition to the Board of Elections, and except that referendum petitions shall be filed with the Clerk of Council.
By a two-thirds vote of the members of the Council any pending ordinance or resolution may be referred to the electors of the City at a general, primary or special election. The action of referral provided for in this section shall be taken by resolution, which resolution shall go into immediate effect without publication, and such resolution shall be passed not less than sixty days prior to the date of the primary or general election at which such referred ordinance or resolution is to be submitted. In the event that such ordinance or resolution is to be referred for approval or rejection at a special election, the Council shall fix a date for such special election at a date not less than sixty days after the date of the passage of the resolution to refer, and the Clerk of Council shall cause notice of the special election to be published on the same day of each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper determined by Council to be of circulation in the City. At such primary, general or special election this question shall be placed upon the ballot: "Shall an (ordinance or resolution) providing: (the wording contained in the title of the proposed ordinance or resolution shall be inserted here) be adopted?"; with the provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively. In the event a majority of those voting on the issue shall be in the affirmative, the ordinance or resolution shall go into immediate effect, without the need for further publication.
a. The electors of the City shall have the power to remove from office by a recall election any elected official of the City in the manner herein provided.
b. If the elected official shall have served six (6) months or more of his or her term, any elector or electors of the City may serve written notice upon the Clerk of Council of their intent to circulate petitions for the recall of a named elected official or officials. No petitions for the recall of an elected official shall be circulated until such written notice of intent is served upon the Clerk of Council.
c. Not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after service of such notice of intent on the Clerk of Council, such elector or electors may file, with the Clerk of Council, a petition demanding the removal of an elected official. The Clerk of Council shall note thereon the name and address of the elector or electors filing the petition and the date of such filing and deliver to such elector or electors a receipt therefor 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 of the grounds for the removal. Said petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals twenty five percent (25%) in number of the electors voting at the last preceding regular municipal election; however, if the petition is filed demanding the removal of a ward council member, such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals twenty five percent (25%) in number of the electors voting in such ward at the last preceding regular municipal election.
d. Within twenty (20) days after the date on which such petitions shall be been filed, the Clerk of Council shall determine whether or not its meets the requirements hereof. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition insufficient, he shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, deliver a copy of the certificate to the elector or electors who filed the petition and make a record of such delivery.
e. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition sufficient, he shall promptly so certify to Council, shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the person whose removal is sought, and shall make a record of such delivery. If the person shall not resign within five (5) days after the day on which such delivery shall have been made, then the question of recall shall be certified to the Board of Elections of Lorain County to be placed on the ballot at the next municipal or state primary or general election not less than ninety (90) days thereafter.
f. At such recall election, this question shall be placed on the ballot: "Shall (naming the person whose removal is sought) be allowed to continue as (naming the position held)" with provisions on the ballot for voting affirmative or negative, and in the event a majority is negative, such persons shall be considered as removed, their office shall be deemed vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled a provided in this Charter.
g. The person removed at such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy created thereby. If the person is not removed at such recall election, no further recall petition shall be filed against them for a period of one (1) year following such election except that recall petitions may be filed within such one (1) year period if they are based upon actions of the accused person subsequent to the filing of the original recall petitions. A removal by recall election shall not bar the person so removed from becoming a candidate for office in future elections. In the event that a recall election is ordered, as provided by the section, for a ward council member, only the duly qualified electors of the ward which said council member represents shall be entitled to vote upon the recall issue of recall.
(Amended 11-6-12)