Whenever the petition shall be found to be sufficient, the City Clerk shall so certify to the council at its next meeting, stating the number of petitioners, and the percentage of the total number of voters which they constitute, and the council shall at once read the proposed ordinance and refer it to an appropriate committee, which shall be a committee of the whole. The committee or council shall thereupon provide for public hearings upon the proposed ordinance, after the holding of which the proposed ordinance shall be finally acted upon by the council not later than sixty-five days after the date upon which such proposed ordinance was submitted to the council by the City Clerk. If the council shall fail to pass the proposed ordinance, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition and unsatisfactory to the petitioners, the proposed ordinance shall be submitted by the council to the vote of the registered voters at a special election to be held pursuant to State Statute, unless a regular municipal election is to occur within three months, in which case it may be submitted at such regular municipal election. In case the council passes the proposed ordinance with amendments and at least four-fifths of the committee of petitioners do not express their dissatisfaction with such amended form by a certificate filed with the City Clerk within ten days from the passage thereof by the council, then the proposed ordinance need not be submitted to the registered voters.
(Ord. 193, passed 6-3-2019)