If the Mayor, or any Councilman, misses three consecutive regular meetings of the Council, he shall be removed from office, and his service in office shall be terminated, and a vacancy shall exist. The said Mayor or Councilman shall be reinstated by the Council, at any special or general meeting following the said third missed regular meeting, if the absence at any of the three meetings was caused by the Mayor or Councilman’s attending the City’s business elsewhere, or if dire circumstances are shown by properly signed affidavits submitted to the Council.
If the Mayor or any Councilman misses one-third of the regular Council meetings during a year, then said Mayor or Councilman shall be removed from office, and his service shall be terminated, and a vacancy shall exist. For the purpose of this paragraph, a year shall deem to run from the date of the installation in office of the said Mayor or Councilman. The provisions pertaining to reinstating the said removed Mayor or Councilman, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, shall not apply to the provisions of this paragraph.
The Mayor or Councilman being removed under the provisions of this section shall be notified of said removal by the City Clerk or other City official. The notice shall be effective when either:
(a) Served upon the official being removed by any competent person,
(b) Mailed to and received by the official being removed or
(c) Published once in a paper with general circulation in Marion County, West Virginia.
The Mayor or Councilman being removed, may within ten days of the notification, request a hearing to be held by the Council at a regular or special meeting. If the request for a hearing is not made within ten days then the removal shall become automatically effective. At a hearing held under this section, the Mayor or Councilman being removed can not take part as a City official, but can attend the hearing, be represented by counsel, call witnesses, examine witnesses, and have other rights normally available at a hearing. If a hearing is conducted as herein provided, then three Councilmen must vote for the removal, in order to make the removal effective.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person removed from office under any provisions of this section shall not be appointed to fill any municipal office during the remainder of that term.
(Amended 6-7-77.)