(a) The electors of the Municipality shall have power to propose any ordinance or resolution, except an ordinance for the appropriation of money or an ordinance levying a tax, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative, subject to the conditions set forth in this Charter.
(b) Prior to the circulation of a petition to initiate an Ordinance or Resolution, the circulators shall register such petition with the Clerk of Council. Such registration shall set forth in full the proposed Ordinance or Resolution and shall also designate a committee of five (5) electors who shall represent all the petitioners in all matters relating to such petition. Notice of all matters required by law to be served on the committee shall be served either personally or by certified mail, or by leaving such notices at the usual place of residence of any member of the committee. The Clerk shall check the petition(s) registered to determine if the form is defective. If found defective, the Clerk shall notify the petitioners within seven days of filing and shall certify all defects. The petitioners may submit corrected petitions for registration at anytime within one year of the date of first filing and registration.
(c) Such petition shall be in a form according to the general laws of the State of Ohio and shall be valid only if submitted as hereinafter set forth within ninety (90) days from the date of registration.
(d) After registration, petitioners shall obtain a sufficient number of elected voters signatures. An initiated Ordinance or Resolution may be submitted to the Clerk of Council by petition signed by at least fifteen percent (15%) of the votes cast within the Village in the most recent Governor's election, as certified by the Board of Elections. When so submitted, the Clerk shall forthwith determine the sufficiency of the petition. If the Clerk of Council finds any initiative petition insufficient, the Clerk of Council shall, within twenty (20) days after the filing of the petition, certify the particulars in which the petition is insufficient, deliver a copy of the certificate to the committee named on the petition, return the entire petition to the committee, and make a record of the delivery. The committee may take steps to make the insufficient petition sufficient, and may refile the petition, as an originally filed petition, with the Clerk of Council at any time within the original ninety (90) days after date of registration.
(e) If the Clerk Of Council finds the petition sufficient, the Clerk shall certify the petition to Council and Council shall have the proposed Ordinance or Resolution read at its next regular Council meeting and referred to an appropriate committee, which may be a Committee of the Whole. Council shall thereafter schedule and conduct at least one (1) public hearing on the proposed Ordinance or Resolution not less than thirty (30) days after the petition was certified to the Council. Council shall, within sixty (60) days after such Ordinance or Resolution is submitted, take final action thereon, either adopting or rejecting the proposed Ordinance or Resolution. If Council fails or refuses to pass such proposed Ordinance or Resolution, or passes it in some form different from that set forth in the original registered petition therefor, the committee of the petitioners may require that it be submitted to a vote of the electors either in its original form or in the amended form by filing a letter with the Clerk of Council within ten (10) days after Council either rejects the legislation proposed by the initiative or passes it in some form different than requested.
(f) Council shall thereupon provide for submitting such Ordinance or Resolution to the vote of the electors at the next primary or general election if one occurs in not less than ninety (90) days from the date of registration, whichever is scheduled first. If an Ordinance or Resolution is adopted by the electors, it shall be in full force and effect from the date that the election result is officially certified by the Board of Elections, and Council shall not repeal it for at least two (2) years thereafter. (Amended 11-3-20)