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)

ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE

SECTION 30 THE CITY MANAGER.

   The commission shall appoint a city manager who shall be the chief executive officer of the city. The manager shall be chosen by the commission solely on the basis of his executive and administrative qualifications and need not, when appointed, be a resident of the city or the state. No member of the commission shall, during the time for which elected, be chosen as city manager. The manager shall be appointed for an indefinite term but shall be removable at the pleasure of the commission. Before the manager may be removed he shall, if he so demand, be given a written statement of the reasons for his removal and the right to be heard publicly thereon at a meeting of the commission prior to the final vote on the question of his removal but pending and during such hearing the commission may suspend him from office. The action of the commission in suspending or removing the manager shall be final, it being the intention of this charter to vest all authority and fix all responsibility for such suspension or removal in the commission. In case of the absence or disability of the manager the commission may designate some qualified person to perform the duties of the office during such absence or disability, except that the city manager may appoint his own replacement for periods of absence or disability not to exceed thirty days.

(Adopted by electorate, November 7, 1989 – Amending Ordinance No. 53-89)