The electors shall have the power to remove from office by a recall election any elected officer of the Municipality who has served at least one (1) year of the term to which he was elected or appointed, by filing a petition demanding his removal with the Clerk of Council, who shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition, the date the petition is filed, and the Clerk of Council shall issue a receipt to the person filing the petition and shall attach a copy of such receipt to the petition. The petition may be circulated in separate parts, but such separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one (1) instrument. Each part shall contain the name of and office held by the person whose removal is sought and a statement, in not more than two hundred (200) words, of the alleged grounds or reasons for the removal. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen (15) percent of the total votes cast for the office of Mayor at the last preceding regular municipal election at which a Mayor was elected. Within ten (10) days after the day such petition is filed, the Clerk of Council shall determine whether or not the petition meets the requirements hereof. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition insufficient, he shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective and deliver a copy of such certificate to the person who filed the petition and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of twenty (20) days after the day of such delivery in which to make the petition sufficient by amendment. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition or amended petition sufficient, he shall promptly certify such finding to the Council, shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the person whose removal is sought, and shall make a record of such delivery. If such person sought to be removed shall not resign within five (5) days after such delivery to him, an election shall be held at the next primary or general election occurring more than ninety (90) days from the date of the finding of the sufficiency of the petition. The Clerk of Council shall certify to the appropriate Board of Elections that an election is to be held on the question of the removal of the accused official on the date fixed by the Council as herein before provided, and the Clerk of Council shall cause notice of such election to be published on the same day of the week for two (2) consecutive weeks in a newspaper determined by Council to be of circulation in the Municipality if such election is to be held on a day which is not the day of a regular municipal or primary election or of a general or primary election held in even numbered years.
At such election this question shall be placed on the ballot: "Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of (name of office) by recall?" Immediately following such question, there shall be printed on the ballot the two propositions in the order set forth:
"For the recall of (name of person).
Against the recall of (name of person)."
Under the question for recall shall be placed the names of candidates to fill the vacancy. The name of the officer whose removal is sought shall not appear on the ballot as a candidate to succeed the officer's self.
In any recall election, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of removal are affirmative, the person whose removal is sought shall be removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of that election, and the candidate receiving the plurality of the votes cast for candidates for that office shall be declared elected. The successor of any person so removed shall hold office during the unexpired term of the successor's predecessor. The question of the removal of any officer shall not be submitted to the electors until such officer has served for at least one year of the term during which the officer is sought to be recalled. The method of removal provided in this section, is in addition to other methods of removal as are provided by this Charter or by law.
Removal shall not bar such person from becoming a candidate for office of the Municipality at any subsequent election. If the accused person is not removed at such recall election, then additional recall petitions shall not be filed seeking his removal for a period of one (1) year following such election. The removal of any officer under the provisions of this section shall not affect the validity of any ordinance, resolution or any other action in which such officer shall have participated.
(Amended 5-3-2022)