A) Initiative. The qualified electors of the City shall have power to propose ordinances and resolutions to the Council and, if the Council fails to adopt an ordinance or resolution so proposed without any change in substance, to adopt or reject it at an election, in the manner hereinafter provided, provided that such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any ordinance or resolutions relating to appropriation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of City officers or employees.
B) Referendum. The qualified electors of the City shall have power to require reconsideration by the Council of any adopted ordinance or resolution and, if the Council fails to repeal an ordinance so reconsidered, to approve or reject it at an election, in the manner hereinafter provided, provided that such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any emergency ordinance or resolution or to any ordinance or resolution relating to appropriation of money or levy of taxes. (Amended 11-4-75.)
Any five qualified electors may commence initiative or referendum proceedings by filing with the Clerk of Council an affidavit stating they will constitute the petitioners' committee and any number of qualified electors will be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full, the proposed initiative ordinance or resolution or citing the ordinance or resolution sought to be reconsidered. Any number of qualified electors may circulate the petition.
Promptly after the affidavit of the petitioners' committee is filed the Clerk of Council shall issue the appropriate petition blanks to the petitioners' committee. (Amended 11-7-95)
A) Number of Signatures. Initiative and referendum petitions must be signed by qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least 10 per cent of the number of electors who voted for governor at the most recent general election for the office of governor (Amended 11-3-2015).
B) Form and Content. All papers of a petition shall be uniform size and style and shall be assembled as one instrument for filing. Each signature shall be executed in ink or indelible pencil and shall be followed by the address of the person signing. Petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation, the full text of the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be reconsidered.
C) Affidavit of Circulator. Each paper of a petition shall have attached to it when filed an affidavit executed by the circulator thereof stating that he or she personally circulated the paper, the number of signatures thereon, that all signatures were affixed in the presence of the circulator, that he or she believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be and that each signer had an opportunity before signing to read the full text of the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be reconsidered.
D) Time for Filing Referendum Petitions. Referendum petitions must be filed within 30 days after adoption by the Council of the ordinance or resolution sought to be reconsidered. (Amended 11-4-75.)
E) Filing of Referendum Petitions. Petitions shall be filed with the Clerk of Council. (Added 11-6-90.)
A) Certificate of Clerk of Council; Amendment. Within twenty days after the petition is filed, the Clerk of Council shall complete a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying, if it is insufficient the particulars wherein it is defective and shall promptly send a copy of the certificate to the petitioners' committee by registered mail. A petition certified insufficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended once as to the number of valid signatures if the petitioners' committee files a notice of intention to amend it with the Clerk of Council within two days after receiving the copy of his or her certificate and files a supplementary petition upon additional papers within ten days after receiving the copy of such certificate. Such supplementary petition shall comply with the requirements of subsections B and C of Section 11.03
, and within five days after it is filed the Clerk of Council shall complete a certificate as to the sufficiency of the petition as amended and promptly send a copy of such certificate to the petitioners' committee by registered mail as in the case of an original petition. If a petition or amended petition is certified sufficient, or if a petition or amended petition is certified insufficient and the petitioners' committee does not elect to amend or request Council review under subsection (b) of this section within the time required, the Clerk of Council shall promptly present such certificate to the Council and the Certificate shall then be a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition.
B) Council Review. If a petition has been certified insufficient and the petitioners' committee does not file notice of intention to amend it or if an amended petition has been certified insufficient, the committee may, within two days after receiving the copy of such certificate, file a request that it be reviewed by the Council. The Council shall review the certificate at its next meeting following the filing of such request and approve or disapprove it, and the Council's determination shall then be a final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition.
C) Court Review; New Petition. A final determination as to the sufficiency of a petition shall be subject to court review. A final determination of insufficiency, even if sustained upon court review, shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. (Amended 11-4-80.)
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