(a) The electors shall have the power to remove from office by a recall election any elected official of the City in the manner provided in this section.
(b) If the elected official shall have served six months of his or her term, an elector or electors of the City may serve written notice upon the Clerk of Council of their intent to circulate petitions for the recall of an named elected official or officials. No petitions for the recall of an elected official may be circulated until such written notice of intent is served upon the Clerk of Council. Not later than thirty days after service of such notice of intent on the Clerk of Council, such persons may file, with the Clerk of Council, a petition demanding the removal of an elected official. Separate petitions shall be filed for each elected official sought to be removed by recall. The Clerk shall note thereon the name and address of the person filing the petition and the date of such filing, and deliver to such person a receipt therefor and attach a copy thereof to said petition. Such petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each part shall contain the name and office of the person whose removal is sought. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen percent in number of the registered voters at the time of the last general election; provided, if the petition is filed demanding the removal of a ward Council member, such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen percent in number of the registered voters in such ward at the time of the last general election.
(c) Within ten days after the day on which such petition is filed, the Clerk of Council shall determine whether or not it meets the requirements hereof. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition insufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is insufficient, deliver a copy of the certificate to the person who filed the petition and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of ten days after the day on which such delivery was made in which to make the petition sufficient. If the Clerk of Council shall find the petition sufficient, the Clerk shall promptly so certify to Council and shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the person whose removal is sought within five days and make a record of such delivery.
(d) If the person whose removal is sought shall not resign within five days after the day on which the Clerk's certificate shall have been delivered, Council shall, by ordinance or resolution, fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than thirty days nor more than forty-five days after the date of the Clerk's certification of sufficiency to the Council, and shall cause notice of such recall election to be published on the same day of each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of circulation in the City. At such 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 office)?" with the provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively. In the event a majority of the vote is negative, such person shall be removed, the office shall be vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in division (e) of this section. If the person is not removed at such recall election, no further recall petitions shall be filed against him or her for a period of one year following such election. In the event that a recall election is ordered, as provided by this section, for a ward Council member, only the electors of the ward which such Council member represents shall be entitled to vote upon the issue of recall.
(e) At the next regular meeting of the Council following a final determination that an elected official of the City has been removed from office by recall, the Council shall adopt an ordinance or resolution calling a special election to be held on a day fixed in such ordinance or resolution, not less than thirty nor more than forty-five days after the adoption of such ordinance or resolution, at which a successor to the official removed by recall shall be elected for the remainder of the unexpired term of office; provided that if less than one year remains in the term of the official removed, the Council shall, by a majority vote of its members, appoint the successor for the remainder of the unexpired term. The Clerk of Council shall cause a notice of such special election to be published on the same day of each week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of circulation in the City. Candidates for the unexpired term shall be nominated by petition only, and such petitions shall contain signatures of not less than twenty-five electors of the City at large; provided that if the office to be filled is that of a Ward Council member. such petitions shall be signed by electors of the City who reside in the ward for which the vacancy exists. If the election is held to elect a successor to a Ward Council member, only the electors of the ward shall be entitled to vote at the election. A person who has been removed by recall shall not be either a candidate or appointed by the Mayor to succeed himself or herself, but such person shall not be barred by such removal by recall from becoming a candidate for office in other future elections.
(f) Upon the removal by recall of an elected official, other than the office of Mayor, the Mayor shall forthwith appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy in an acting capacity until another person is elected and qualified pursuant to division (e) of this section. The President of Council shall fill a vacancy in the office of Mayor created by removal by recall until another person is elected and qualified pursuant to division (e) of this section. The person serving as Acting Mayor under this division (f) shall not be subject to the provisions of division (b) of Section 5.02 of this Charter. Persons appointed in an acting capacity under this division (f) shall have all the powers, duties and functions provided for the office they are holding in an acting capacity.
(g) Ordinances and resolutions enacted to call elections pursuant to division (d) and (e) of this section need not be read at more than one meeting of the Council, shall be effective immediately upon their passage, shall not be subject to the Mayor's veto power and shall not be subject to initiative or referendum.