Any or all members of the City Commission may be removed from office by the electors by the following procedure: A petition for the recall of the City Commissioner designated, signed by at least fifteen (15) per cent of the registered electors of the city and containing a simple statement in no more than two hundred (200) words as to why the recall election is sought shall be filed with the City Clerk. Any such statement shall be legally sufficient to hold the recall election. Within ten (10) regular working days from the date of the filing of the petition, the City Clerk shall determine the percentage of registered electors who have signed the petition. If fifteen (15) per cent of the registered electors have signed the petition, he shall forthwith give written notice to the City Commissioner sought to be recalled. Within five (5) days after such notice the Commissioner may file with the City Clerk a defensive statement not exceeding two hundred (200) words. Upon the expiration of the five (5) days, the City Clerk shall immediately make a sufficient number of printed or typewritten copies of the petition without the signatures and shall attach to each of them a printed or typewritten copy of the defensive statement if one is furnished him within the time stated. He shall place the copies in some convenient public place in the city hall and provide facilities for signing them, and he shall immediately cause notice to be published in some newspaper of general circulation in the city of the placing of such copies of the petition. The copies of the petition shall remain on file in the city hall for the period of thirty (30) days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays, during which they may be signed by any registered elector of the city in person who has not already signed the original petition. No name shall be signed by agent or attorney or otherwise than in person. Names may also be removed during the thirty (30) day period by filing in person with the City Clerk an appropriate affidavit indicating the desire of the registered elector to have his name removed. It shall be the duty of the City Clerk upon final tabulation of the number of names on the petition to remove any name for which an affidavit has been filed. Each signer of the original petition or any copy shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place thereafter his residence by street number if a number has been assigned.
(Special Acts, Ch. 61-2712, § 17; Ref. of 3-9-76)