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Any proposed ordinance may be submitted to the Council by petition signed by qualified electors equal in number to at least fifteen (15) percent of the total votes cast at the last preceding general Municipal election; but no ordinance or other measure shall operate to amend this Charter unless properly designated as an amendment and adopted as such.
Petitions submitting proposed ordinances to the Council shall be filed with the Clerk of the Council. Signatures to such petitions need not all be appended to one (1) paper but all petition papers circulated with respect to all proposed ordinances shall be uniform in character and shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and have printed or typewritten thereon the names and addresses of at least five (5) electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose thereinafter named.
Each signer of a petition shall sign his or her name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place on the petition paper after his or her name and place of residence by street and number. The signatures to any such petition paper need not all be appended to one (1) paper but to each such paper shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof stating the number of signers to such part of the petition, and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be and was made in the presence of the affiant.
All papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the Clerk of the Council as one (1) instrument. Within twenty (20) days from the filing of a petition the Clerk shall ascertain whether it is signed by the required number of qualified electors. Upon the completion of an examination the Clerk shall endorse upon the petition a certificate of the result thereof.
If the Clerk's certificate shows that the petition is insufficient in valid signatures, the Clerk shall at once notify each member of the petitioners, hereinbefore provided for, of the amount of such deficiency; and the petition may be amended by securing additional signatures, at any time within fifteen (15) days from the date of the Clerk's certificate of examination. Upon the filing of such an amendment the Clerk shall, within ten (10) days thereafter, examine the amended petition and attach thereto a certificate of the result. If still insufficient in signatures, or if no amendment shall have been filed, the Clerk shall file the petition in the office and shall notify each member of the committee of that fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When the certificate of the Clerk shows the petition to be sufficient in valid signatures, the Clerk shall submit the proposed ordinance to the Council at its next regular meeting, and the Council shall at once read and refer the same to an appropriate committee, which may be the committee of the whole. Thereafter, the committee shall report the proposed ordinance to the Council with its recommendations thereon not later than the third regular meeting of the Council following that at which the proposed ordinance was submitted to the Council by the Clerk.
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