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SEC. 5.03 FURTHER REGULATIONS.
   The council may provide by ordinance such further regulations for the initiative, referendum, and recall, not inconsistent with this Charter, as it deems necessary.
INITIATIVE
SEC. 5.04 INITIATION OF MEASURES.
   Any five electors may form themselves into a committee for the initiation of any ordinance except as provided in section 5.01. Before circulating any petition they shall file a verified copy of their proposed ordinance with the city clerk, together with their names and addresses as members of such committee. They shall also attach a verified copy of the proposed ordinance to each of the signature papers herein described, together with their names and addresses as sponsors.
SEC. 5.05 FORM OF PETITION AND OF SIGNATURE PAPERS.
   The petition for the adoption of any ordinance shall consist of the ordinance, together with all the signature papers and affidavits thereto attached. Such petition shall not be complete unless signed by a number of voters equal to at least fifteen per cent of the total number of votes cast in the municipality at the last preceding presidential year general election. All the signatures need not be on one signature paper, but the circulator of every such paper shall make an affidavit that each signature, appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. Each signature paper shall be in substantially the following form:
   “INITIATIVE PETITION
“proposing an ordinance to                          (stating the purpose of the ordinance), a copy of which ordinance is hereto attached. This ordinance is sponsored by the following committee of electors:
            Name                            Address
1. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
   “The undersigned electors, understanding the terms and the nature of the ordinance hereto attached, petition the council for its adoption, or, in lieu thereof, for its submission to the electors for their approval.
1. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________    ______________________________________________
   At the end of the list of signatures shall be appended the affidavit of the circulator.
SEC. 5.06 FILING OF PETITIONS AND ACTION THEREON.
   All the signature papers shall be filed in the office of the city clerk as one instrument on or before thirty days after the verified copy of the ordinance is filed as required by section 5.04 above. Within fifteen (15) days after the filing of the petition the city clerk shall ascertain by examination the number of electors whose signatures are appended thereto and whether this number is at least fifteen per cent of the total number of electors who cast their votes in the municipality at the last preceding presidential year general election. If the clerk finds the petition insufficient or irregular, the clerk shall at once notify one or more of the committee of sponsors of that fact, certifying the reasons for the finding. The committee shall then be given fifteen (15) days in which to file additional signature papers and to correct the petition in all other particulars. If at the end of that period the petition is found to be still insufficient or irregular, the clerk shall file it in their office and shall notify each member of the committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency or irregularity of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose, nor shall it prevent the council from referring the ordinance to the electors at the next regular election at its option.
(Ord. 556, passed 6-27-2016)
SEC. 5.07 ACTION OF COUNCIL ON PETITION.
   If the petition is 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 ordinance and refer it to an appropriate committee, which may be a committee of the whole. The committee or council shall thereupon provide for public hearings upon the ordinance, after the holding of which the ordinance shall be finally acted upon by the council not later than sixty-five (65) days after the date upon which it was submitted to the council by the city clerk. If the council fails to pass the proposed ordinance, or passes 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 electors at the next regular municipal election; but if the number of signers of the petition is equal to at least twenty-five per cent (25%) of the total number of voters voting in the municipality at the last preceding presidential year general election, the council shall call a special election upon the measure. Such special election shall be held not less than thirty (30) nor more than forty-five (45) days from date of final action on the ordinance by the council or after the expiration of sixty-five (65) days from the date of submission to the council when there has been no final action; but if a regular election is to occur within three months, the council may submit the ordinance at that election. If the council passes the proposed ordinance with amendments and at least four-fifths (4/5) of the committee of petitioners do not express their dissatisfaction with such amended form by a statement filed with the city clerk within ten (10) days of the passage thereof by the council, the ordinance need not be submitted to the electors.
SEC. 5.08 INITIATIVE BALLOTS.
   The ballots used when voting upon any such proposed ordinance shall state the substance of the ordinance and shall give the voters the opportunity to vote either “yes” or “no” on the question of adoption, if a majority of the electors voting on any ordinance vote in favor of it, it shall thereupon become an ordinance of the city. Any number of proposed ordinances may be voted upon at the same election but the voter shall be allowed to vote for or against each separately, in case of inconsistency between two initiated ordinances approved at one election, the one approved by the higher percentage of electors voting on the question shall prevail to the extent of the inconsistency.
SEC. 5.09 INITIATION OF CHARTER AMENDMENTS.
   Nothing in this Charter shall be construed as in any way affecting the right of the electors under the Constitution and statutes of Minnesota to propose amendments to this Charter.
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