Section 1. Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by at least twenty-five percent of the total number of qualified electors. All petition papers, circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance shall be uniform in character and shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and shall have printed or written thereon the names and addresses of at least five electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition, and who shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose hereinafter named.
Section 2. Each signer of a petition shall sign his or her name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place on the petition paper after his or her name his or her place of residence. The signatures to any such petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each paper there shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof, stating the number of signers to such part of the petition and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and was made in the presence of the affiant.
Section 3. All papers comprising a petition shall be assembled, and filed with the City Clerk, as one instrument and when so filed, the City Clerk shall submit the proposed ordinance to the Council at its next regular meeting. Provision shall then be made by the Council for public hearings upon the proposed ordinance.
Section 4. The Council shall at once proceed to consider it, and shall take final action thereon within thirty days from date of submissions. If the Council rejects the proposed ordinance, or passes it in a form different from that set forth in the petition, the committee of the petitioners may require that it be submitted to a vote of the electors in its original form.
Section 5. When an ordinance proposed by petition is to be submitted to a vote of the electors, the committee of the petitioners shall certify that fact and the proposed ordinance to the City Clerk within twenty days after the final action on such proposed ordinance by the Council.
Section 6. Upon receipt of the certificate and certified copy of the proposed ordinance, the Clerk shall certify the fact to the Council at its next regular meeting. If an election is to be held not more than three months nor less than thirty days after the receipt of the Clerk’s certificate by the Council such proposed ordinance shall be submitted to a vote of the electors at such election. If no such election is to be held within the time aforesaid, the Council shall provide for submitting the proposed ordinance to the electors at a special election.
Section 7. The ballots used when voting upon any such proposed ordinance shall state the title of the ordinance to be voted on, and below it the two propositions, “For the Ordinance,” and “Against the Ordinance.” Immediately at the left of each proposition there shall be a square in which by making a cross (X) the voter may vote for or against the proposed ordinance. If a majority of the electors voting on any such proposed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, if shall thereupon become an ordinance of the City.
Section 8. Proposed ordinances for repealing existing ordinance or ordinances, in whole or in part, may be submitted to the Council as provided in the preceding sections for initiating ordinances Initiated ordinances adopted by the electors shall be published, and may be amended or repealed by the Council as in the case of other ordinances, but not within twelve months after their adoption.
Section 9. No ordinance except emergency measures and the annual appropriation bill, shall go into effect until twenty days after its passage, nor shall any resolution for a bond issue, franchise, or general public improvement calling for the expenditure of money from the general funds of the City, go into effect for a period of twenty days after being passed by the Council. If at any time within said twenty days a petition signed by fifteen percent of the qualified electors be filed with the City Clerk requesting that any such ordinance be repealed, amended or submitted to a vote of the electors, it shall not become operative until the steps indicated herein shall have been taken, and said petition shall have printed or written thereon the names and addresses of at least five electors who shall be officially regarded as filing such petition.
Section 10. The City Clerk shall deliver the petition to the Council, which shall proceed to reconsider the ordinance. If, upon such reconsideration, the ordinance be not entirely repealed or amended in the manner asked for in said petition, satisfactorily to the committee named in said petition, the Council shall provide for submitting it to a vote of the electors, and in so doing the Council shall be governed by the provisions of Sections 6 and 7, Chapter 8 of this Charter, respecting the time of submission and of manner of voting on ordinances proposed to the Council by petition. If, when submitted to a vote of the electors any such ordinance be not approved by a majority of those voting thereon, it shall be deemed repealed.
Section 11. Referendum petitions need not contain the text of the ordinances, the repeal of which is sought, unless some special amendment is asked for, but shall be subject in all other respects to the requirements for petitions submitting proposed ordinances to the Council. Ballots used in referendum elections shall conform in all respects to those provided for in Section 7, Chapter 7 of this Charter.