Section 9.03 Recall and Replacement of Elected Officials.
(A) The electors shall have the power to remove, by recall election, any elected official of the City.
(B) If the elected official shall have served twelve (12) or more months of a four (4) year term or six (6) or more months of a two (2) year term, an elector or electors of the City may serve written notice upon the Clerk of Council of their intent to circulate petitions for the recall of a named elected official or officials. No petitions for the recall of an elected official may be circulated until such written notice of intent is served upon the Clerk of Council. Not later than thirty (30) days after service of such notice of intent on the Clerk of Council, such persons may file, with the Clerk of Council, a petition demanding the removal of an elected official. Separate petitions shall be filed for each elected official sought to be removed by recall. The Clerk shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition and the date of such filing, and deliver to such person a receipt therefor and attach a copy thereof to said petition. Such petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain the name and office of the person whose removal is sought. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen percent in number of the registered voters who voted for the office of Mayor at the last election at which a Mayor was elected; provided, if the petition is filed demanding the removal of a ward Council member, such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen percent in number of the registered voters in such ward who voted for the office of Mayor at the last election at which a Mayor was elected.
(C) Within ten (10) days after the day on which such petition is filed, the Clerk of Council shall determine whether or not it meets the requirements hereof. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition insufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is insufficient, deliver a copy of the certificate to the person who filed the petition and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of ten (10) days after the day on which such delivery was made in which to make the petition sufficient. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition sufficient, the Clerk shall promptly so certify to Council and shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the person whose removal is sought within five (5) days and make a record of such delivery.
(D) If the person whose removal is sought shall not resign within five (5) days after the day on which the Clerk's certificate shall have been delivered, Council shall, by ordinance or resolution, fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than thirty (30) days nor more than forty-five (45) days after the date of the Clerk's certification of sufficiency to Council, and shall cause notice of such recall election to be published on the same day of each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City. At such recall election, this question shall be placed upon the ballot: "Shall (naming the person whose removal is sought) be allowed to continue as (naming the office)?" with the provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively. In the event a majority of the vote is negative, such person shall be removed, the office shall be vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in division (E) of this section. If the person is not removed at such recall election, no further recall petitions shall be filed against him or her for a period of twelve (12) months following such election. In the event that a recall election is ordered, as provided by this section, for a ward Council member, only the electors of the ward which such Council member represents shall be entitled to vote upon the issue of recall.
(Amended 11-5-96)
(E) In the case of an official who is removed by recall, or who dies or is otherwise unable to continue service, the county central committee of the political party with which the last occupant of the office was affiliated, acting through its members who reside in the political subdivision in which the official served, shall appoint a person to hold the office and to perform the powers, duties and functions thereof for the remainder of the unexpired term. Not less than five (5) nor more than fifteen (15) days after a vacancy occurs, the county central committee, acting through its members who reside in the political subdivision in which the official served, shall meet for the purpose of making an appointment. Not less than four (4) days before the date of such meeting, the chairman or secretary of such central committee shall send by first class mail to every member of such central committee who resides in such subdivision a written notice which shall state the time and place of such meeting and the purpose thereof. A majority of the members of the central committee who reside in such subdivision present at such meeting may make the appointment. If the last occupant of the office was elected as an independent candidate, the Council shall make such appointment at the time the vacancy occurs.
(Amended 11-7-00)
(F) A person who has been removed by recall shall not be either a candidate or appointed to succeed himself, but such person shall not be barred by such removal by recall from becoming a candidate for office in other future elections.
(G) In the case of a Mayor who is removed by recall, or who dies or is otherwise unable to continue service, the President of Council shall becoming the Acting Mayor to serve until a successor to the office of Mayor is either elected or appointed pursuant to division (E) of this section. While serving as the Acting Mayor, the President of Council shall continue to hold his office as the President of Council but shall not preside at Council meetings nor shall he vote upon any matter before the Council; and shall exercise all powers, duties and functions of the Mayor. In the case of any elected official other than the Mayor or a member of Council who is removed by recall, or who dies or is otherwise unable to continue service, the Council shall, by a majority vote of its members, forthwith appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy in an acting capacity until another person is appointed pursuant to division (E) of this section, and qualified, and such persons so appointed in an acting capacity shall have all the powers, duties and functions provided for the office they are holding.
(H) The names and addresses of persons elected or appointed to office to fill a vacancy, other than in an acting capacity, created by the recall of an elected official shall be certified by the Clerk of the Council to the County Board of Elections and the Secretary of State.
(I) Ordinances and resolutions enacted to call elections pursuant to divisions (D) and (E) of this section need not be read at more than one meeting of the Council, shall be effective immediately upon their passage, shall not be subject to the Mayor's veto power, and shall not be subject to initiative or referendum.
(Amended 11-5-96)