(a) The electors shall have the power to remove any elected official of the City from office by a recall election in the manner provided in this section.
(b) If the elected official shall have served six (6) months of a term, a petition demanding removal from office may be filed with the Office of the Clerk of Council, who shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition and the date of filing, and shall deliver to the person a receipt and attach a copy of the receipt to the said petition. The petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one (1) instrument. Each part shall contain the name and office of the person whose removal is sought and a definitive statement stipulating the grounds upon which removal is sought. for removal. The form, sufficiency and regularity of any such petition shall be determined as provided in the general election laws. The petition shall be signed by qualified electors equal in number to at least fifteen percent (15%) of the total votes cast in the City at the last preceding gubernatorial election.
(c) Upon receipt of the petition, the Clerk shall promptly deliver a copy thereof to the Board of Elections for a determination of the number of valid signatures thereon.
(d) Within ten (10) business days after the number of valid signatures on the petition has been made known to the Clerk of Council in writing, the Clerk in consultation with the Director of Law shall determine whether the petition meets the requirements of this section. If the petition is found insufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which it is defective, deliver a copy by certified mail of such certificate to the person who filed the petition, and make record of the delivery. The person who filed the petition shall be allowed a period of ten (10) days after said delivery to make the petition sufficient and refile it with the Office of the Clerk. If the petition is found sufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify its sufficiency to Council, cause delivery by certified mail of a copy of this certificate to the person whose removal is sought, and make a record of that delivery.
(e) If the person whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) business days after the day on which delivery has been made, Council shall thereupon fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than seventy-five (75) days nor more than one hundred twenty (120) days after the date of delivery, and shall cause notice of the recall election to be published on the same day of each week, for two (2) consecutive weeks, in a newspaper determined by Council to be of general circulation in the City. At the 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 position held)?", with provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively. In the event a majority of the vote is negative, the person shall be considered as removed and the office shall be deemed vacant. The person removed at the recall election shall not be eligible for elected or appointed office for one (1) year. If the person is not removed at the recall election, no further recall petitions shall be filed against such person for a period of one (1) year following the election.
(f) A removal by a recall election shall not bar the person removed from becoming a candidate for office in future elections.
(Amended Nov. 3, 1998)