The voters of the City shall have power to recall and remove from office any member of the council before the expiration of his term, such power being known as the recall. A recall may be started by filing with the Clerk of Council a petition signed by a number of electors which equals twenty-five (25) per cent of the total number of electors voting at the last preceding municipal election. This petition shall contain the name of the person whose removal is sought and a statement in not more than two hundred words of the grounds for the removal. The councilman whose removal is being sought shall be given an opportunity to reply with a statement of equal length. These statements shall be given to newspapers, radio and television stations. The clerk, if he finds the petition sufficient, shall certify to the Board of Elections, to be placed on the ballot the question: "Shall John Doe (naming the councilman) be recalled from office as councilman in the City of Huron? Yes ( ), No ( )." If, at the election a majority of the votes cast on the question shall be in favor of recall, the council member shall forthwith retire from office, and the council shall fill the vacancy thus created in the manner provided in this charter. No recall shall be filed against a council member during his first six months in office. If a council member against whom a petition is filed is continued in office by the vote at the election no further recall petitions may be filed against him for a period of one year.
All petition papers circulated for the purpose of recall shall be uniform in size and style. The signatures to petitions need not all be appended to one paper but to each separate part there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator as provided herein. Each signer shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil and shall insert after his name his place of residence and the date of signing. There shall appear on each copy of the petition the names and addresses of the same five voters who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition. This committee shall file a sample copy of the petition with the clerk of council before any signatures are solicited or obtained. Attached to each part of the petition, when signed and filed with the clerk shall be an affidavit of the circulator thereof that he only personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures, that each signature was affixed in his presence, and that he believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
All separate papers comprising a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the clerk of council as a single instrument. Within twenty days thereafter the clerk shall examine the petitions and determine their validity and sufficiency and report thereon to the council.
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