(A) Except as otherwise provided in this Charter, ordinances may be proposed or submitted to popular vote by initiative and referendum petition. Petitions are subject to the procedures of this section and not Sections 731.28 to 731.35 of the Ohio Revised Code. However, petitions are subject to Sections 731.36, 731.38, 731.40, 731.99, and 3501.38 of the Ohio Revised Code and to other sections of the Ohio Revised Code generally applicable to municipal elections and electors. Petitions and the signatures on petitions are presumed, prima facie, to be sufficient. No petition shall be declared invalid in its entirety when one or more signatures are found to be invalid, except when the total number of valid signatures is found to be less than fifteen percent of the number of municipal electors who voted for the office of Governor at the last gubernatorial election. After the Board of Elections certifies the results of an election held under this section, the election shall not be set aside, and no ordinance submitted to and approved by the electors under this section shall be held ineffective or void, on account of insufficiency or defect of the petition by which the submission of the ordinance was procured.
(B) To initiate an ordinance or submit an ordinance to referendum, before collecting signatures:
(1) Initiative petitioners must file a written notice with the Clerk of Council or other person designated to receive notices on behalf of Council, or if there is no Clerk or designee, with the Village Manager. The notice must state intent to file an initiative petition and identify by name, address and telephone number a designated representative of the petitioners. The petitioners must also attach a copy of the proposed ordinance to be initiated to the notice. A proposed ordinance must contain a title and body and contain only one subject clearly set forth in the title, as ordinances proposed by members of Council under Section 3.02 of this Charter. The ordinance may contain an opening clause reading, “Be it ordained by the people of Granville, Ohio,” or words of similar meaning, but this is not required.
(2) Referendum petitioners must file a written notice of intent to circulate a referendum petition with the Clerk, designee, or Manager stating the number and title of the ordinance. The Clerk, designee, or Manager shall immediately obtain a copy of the ordinance identified in the notice from the village files and attach it to the notice.
(3) The Clerk, designee, or Manager shall stamp or mark either type of notice of intent and attached ordinance or proposed ordinance with the date and time it is received, make a copy of the notice and ordinance, stamp or mark the copy with the same date and time as the original, give the copy to the person who files the notice, and publish a notice under Section 3.06 of this Charter that the notice and ordinance have been filed and are available for public inspection at the municipal office.
(4) Petitioners may change designation of a representative at any time by filing a notice of change with the Clerk, designee, or Manager, stating the name, address, and telephone number of the new designated representative.
(C) After the date and time of the filing of the notice of intent, petitioners may collect signatures of qualified municipal electors on the petition. A petition may be circulated in parts, but each part must contain the title of the ordinance or resolution to be initiated or referred. When they are finished collecting signatures, petitioners must file all parts of the petition together with the Clerk, designee, or Manager, who shall immediately publish notice under section 3.06 of this Charter that the petition is now available for public inspection at the municipal office.
(D) Except as provided in division (H) of this section, a referendum petition must be filed within thirty days after Council approves the ordinance to be referred. If a referendum petition is filed, the ordinance challenged does not take effect until:
(1) if the thirty-day period is extended under division (H) of this section for the collection of additional signatures but the petitioners file no additional signatures, the day after the date to which the time for collection of additional signatures was extended under division (H);
(2) when an insufficient number of additional signatures are obtained under division (H) of this section, five days after the Board of Elections certifies that the number of signatures is insufficient to place the issue on the ballot;
(3) thirty days after the petition is rejected by the municipality and the petitioners fail to bring a legal action to reinstate it under division (K) of this section;
(4) thirty days after the Board of Elections or a court rejects or rules against the referendum petition in an action brought under division (F) or (K) of this section, or any other action to defeat the petition, and no appeal or other legal action has been filed to contest the decision; or
(5) five days after the results of the election are certified, as provided in division (J) of this section.
(E) The petition and notice of intent and the attached ordinance or proposed ordinance filed under division (B) of this section shall be kept together in the municipal office for public inspection for ten days after the first publication of notice under Section 3.06 (1) or 3.06 (2) of this Charter or the first posting of notice under section 3.06 (3) if no medium for publication is available under Section 3.06 (1) or (2). The municipality may make additional copies available for public inspection if demand requires and shall take care to preserve the security and integrity of all documents.
(F) The municipality may reject an initiative or referendum petition only for failure to file a notice under division (B) (1) of this section or to attach an ordinance with a title and body to that notice, for failure to file a notice of referendum under division (B) (2) of this section, or because the petition does not contain on its face signatures equaling or exceeding fifteen percent of the number of municipal electors who voted for the office of Governor at the last gubernatorial election. To reject a petition for any other reason, the municipality must apply to the Board of Elections in a case where it has jurisdiction to review the petition, or to a court of competent jurisdiction where the board lacks jurisdiction. If the municipality takes such an action, the petitioners have standing as a party to the action.
(G) On the eleventh day after the publication of notice required by division (B) of this section, the Clerk, designee, or Manager shall transmit the petition to the Board of Elections for validation of signatures. The Board of Elections shall examine the signatures on the petition, determine the number that are valid, notify the Clerk, designee, or Manager in writing of that number and whether it equals or exceeds fifteen percent of the number of municipal electors who voted for Governor at the last gubernatorial election, and return the petition to the Clerk, designee, or Manager as soon as possible.
(H) If the Clerk, designee, or Manager receives written notice from the Board of Elections that a petition does not have sufficient, valid signatures to submit it to the electors, or if the municipality rejects the petition for that reason, the Clerk shall immediately notify the representative of the petitioners identified in the notice filed under division (B) of this section by telephone, if possible, and by written notice mailed with return receipt requested. Petitioners shall have ten days after the representative receives the written notice to file additional signatures on additional part- petitions. The additional part-petitions are subject to division (C) of this section. This additional ten-day period applies to a referendum petition even if it extends the time for filing the final petition beyond the thirty-day time limit of division (D) of this section. The Clerk, designee, or Manager shall publish notice, as under division (C) of this section, that additional signatures are now available for public inspection at the municipal office. On the tenth day after the first publication of this notice, the Clerk, designee, or Manager shall transmit the entire petition to the Board of Elections for validation of the additional signatures. The board shall examine and return the entire petition, as under division (G) of this section.
(I) If the Board of Elections determines that a petition contains valid signatures equaling or exceeding fifteen percent of the number who voted for Governor at the last gubernatorial election, it shall submit the ordinance to the electorate at the next primary or general election occurring more than ninety days after the board declares the number of signatures sufficient, unless within ten days after the date the Board notifies the Clerk, designee, or manager that the petition contains sufficient signatures, the municipality rejects the petition or takes legal action to reject it , as provided in division (F) of this section.
(J) Initiated ordinances approved and ordinances submitted to referendum and sustained by a majority of those voting take effect on the fifth day after the day on which the Board of Elections certifies the official vote on such question.
(K) Failure of the municipality or any of its officers, employees, divisions, departments, or agencies, or of the Board of Elections to comply exactly with the requirements of this section does not invalidate a petition. If the municipality or any of its officers, employees, divisions, departments, or agents, or the Board of Elections, fails or refuses to comply with a requirement of this section, he, she, or it may be compelled to do so by writ of mandamus. If the municipality wrongfully rejects a petition, it may be compelled to reinstate it by writ of mandamus.
(L) As used in this section:
(1) “general election,” and “primary election” have the same meanings as in section 3501.01 of the Ohio Revised Code;
(2) “valid signature” means the signature of a qualified elector that meets the requirements of this section and general election law; and
(3) “qualified elector” means a person who meets the requirements of Section 1 of Article V of the Constitution of Ohio and Section 3503.01 of the Ohio Revised Code.
(Amended 11-6-01)