SECTION 24 PRELIMINARY ACTION UNDER REFERRED ORDINANCE.

   In case a petition is filed requiring that an ordinance passed by the commission involving the expenditure of money, a bond issue, or public improvement be submitted to a vote of the electors, all steps preliminary to such actual expenditure, actual issuance of bonds, or actual execution of the contract for such improvement, may be taken prior to the election.

SECTION 25 REFERENDUM ON EMERGENCY ORDINANCES.

   Any emergency ordinance or other ordinance which, in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of this charter, shall have gone into effect prior to the filing of a referendum petition thereon shall be subject to referendum as in the case of other ordinances, and further action thereunder shall be suspended from the date of the city clerk’s certification to the commission that a sufficient referendum petition has been filed. If, when submitted to a vote of the electors, any such ordinance is not approved by a majority of those voting thereon it shall be considered repealed and all rights and privileges conferred by it shall be null and void, but any such ordinance so repealed shall be deemed sufficient authority for any payments made or expense incurred in accordance therewith prior to the date of the clerk’s certification to the commission that a sufficient referendum petition has been filed. Such certification includes the Board of Elections having verified the signatures.

(Adopted by electorate, November 3, 2009 – Amending Ord. No. 11-09)

SECTION 26 CONFLICT OF REFERRED MEASURES.

   If two or more ordinances adopted or approved at the same election conflict in respect of any of their provisions, they shall go into effect in respect of such of their provisions as are not in conflict and the one receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail in so far as their provisions conflict.

SECTION 27 SIGNATURE TO INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL PETITIONS.

   The signature to initiative, referendum or recall petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate petition paper there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof as provided by this section. Each signer of any such petition paper shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil and shall indicate after his name his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. Failure to list the address shall disqualify the signature. The Board of Elections shall verify the signatures. There shall appear on each petition paper the names and addresses of the same registered voters of the City of Piqua, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall circulate and file the petition. The committee shall consist of no less than five nor no greater than ten registered voters of the City of Piqua. The affidavit attached to each petition paper shall be as follows:

State of Ohio,    )   ss

County of Miami, )

   I __________________________________________, being duly sworn, depose and say that I, and I only, personally circulated the foregoing petition paper, and that all the signatures appended thereto were made in my presence and are the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.

                     Signed ____________________________

   Subscribed and sworn to before me this ___________ day of ______________________, 20____.

                     __________________________________

                     Notary Public

   The foregoing affidavit shall be strictly construed and any affiant convicted of swearing falsely as regards any particular thereof shall be guilty of perjury.

(Adopted by electorate, November 3, 2009 – Amending Ord. No. 11-09)

SECTION 28 FILING, EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION OF INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL PETITIONS.

   All petition papers comprising an initiative, referendum or recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the city clerk as one instrument. Within ten business days after such a petition is filed the city clerk shall determine whether each paper of the petition is properly attested and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of electors. The City Clerk shall submit the petition papers to the Board of Elections for verification of the signatures. The city clerk shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which is not attested by the circulator thereof as required by Section 27 of this charter or upon which the affidavit of the circulator can be shown to be false in any particular. Upon completing his examination of the petition the city clerk shall attach thereto a certificate showing the result of the examination, including the results of the Board of Elections verification of the signatures. If he shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in his certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the committee of the petitioners of his findings.

(Adopted by electorate, November 3, 2009 – Amending Ord. No. 11-09)

SECTION 29 AMENDMENT OF INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL PETITIONS.

   An initiative, referendum or recall petition may be amended at any time within ten business days after the making of a certificate of insufficiency by the city clerk, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed, attested and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The city clerk shall, within five days after such an amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition and, if his certificate shall show the petition still to be insufficient, he shall file it in his office and notify the committee of the petitioners of his findings and no further action shall be had on such insufficient petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.

(Adopted by electorate, November 3, 2009 – Amending Ord. No. 11-09)