(1) Any proposed ordinance, including ordinances for repeal of ordinances then in effect or which have been enacted but not yet effective, may be submitted to the City Commission by a petition signed by at least fifteen (15) per cent of the total number of registered voters in the city. All petitions circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance shall be uniform in character, shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and shall have printed or written thereon the names of five (5) electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition, and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for purposes hereinafter named. Each signer of the petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place on the petition opposite his name the date of his signature. The signatures of any such petition need not be appended to one paper, but to each such paper shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof, stating the number of signers to such part of the petition and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that it was made in the presence of the affiant on the date indicated.
(2) Filing with City Clerk, submission to Commission. All papers comprising an initiative petition shall be assembled and filed with the City Clerk as one instrument within thirty (30) days of the first signature thereon, and when so filed the City Clerk shall submit the same to the City Commission at its next regular meeting and provisions shall be made by the City Clerk for public hearings upon the proposed ordinance.
(3) Action of Commission; referendum. The City Commission shall at once proceed to consider such petition and shall take final action thereon within thirty (30) days after the date of submission. If the City Commission rejects any of the provisions of the proposed ordinance, as set forth in the petition, the City Clerk shall at once cause notice of the filing of such petition and the refusal of the City Commission to pass said ordinance to be published in a newspaper of general circulation published in the City of Pompano Beach, and the City Commission shall at once proceed to submit the passage of the ordinance to the majority vote of the qualified electors of the city voting in such election; providing, however, that before said ordinance shall become effective, it shall be approved by at least seventeen and one-half (17½) per cent of the registered electors. If a regular or special election is to be held in the city not earlier than thirty (30) days, nor later than sixty (60) days the ordinance shall be submitted to the voters at such election, otherwise an election shall be called for such submission. At least ten (10) days before such election, the City Clerk shall cause the text of the ordinance to be published in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city.
(4) Offending ordinance suspended. When the initiative petition is for an ordinance repealing or amending an ordinance which has been enacted, but is not yet effective, the offending ordinance shall not go into effect until after the demands of the petition shall have been carried out.
(5) Form of referendum ballot. Referendum elections shall be provided for in the same manner as other elections of the city. The ballot shall have printed upon it the title of the ordinance to be referred and voters shall vote “for” or “against” such ordinance.
(6) Vote at regular election; notice. Ordinances adopted by referendum vote can be amended or repealed only by a referendum vote, but the proposition to amend or repeal such ordinances may be submitted to the voters in any regular election of the city; provided, that no later than fifteen (15) days before such election the City Commission shall cause notice of such referendum to be published in a newspaper of general circulation published in the City of Pompano Beach, Florida, using only the title of such ordinance in the notice if it is to be repealed, but the amendment in full if it is to be amended.
(Sp. Acts, Ch. 59-1763, § 11; Ch. 61-2712, § 21; Ch. 65-2141, § 9; Ref. of 3-9-76; Am. Ord. 88-28, passed 1-19-88, Ref. of 3-8-88)