(a) Vacancies. The office of mayor or of a council member shall become vacant upon the person’s death, resignation, removal from office or forfeiture of office in any manner authorized by law.
(b) Recall. The power of recall of the mayor and council members shall be allowed as set forth in SDCL Title 9.
(c) Forfeiture of office. The mayor or a council member shall forfeit that office if the mayor or council member[:]
(1) Lacks at any time during the term of office for which elected any qualification for the office prescribed by this charter or by law,
(2) Violates any expressed prohibition in section 7.02 of this charter,
(3) Fails to maintain residency within city limits, or in the case of council members elected by district, fails to maintain residency within that district; however, any council member may complete their elected term of office if residency outside their district is caused during their term of office by a district adjustment pursuant to Section 6.02.
(4) Is convicted of a felony, or
(5) Fails to attend 50% of the regular monthly meetings of the council during a fiscal year, or three consecutive regular monthly meetings of the council, without being excused by the council.
(d) Filling of vacancies. A vacancy in the office of mayor or in the city council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any, at the next regular election following not less than 60 days upon the occurrence of the vacancy, but the council by a majority vote of all its remaining members shall appoint a qualified person to fill the vacancy until the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term takes office. If the council falls to do so within 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, the city election authorities shall call a special election to fill the vacancy, to be held not sooner than 90 days and not later than 120 days following the occurrence of the vacancy, and to be otherwise governed by law. Not withstanding the requirement in section 2.11, if at any time the membership of the council is reduced to less than six (6), the remaining members may by majority action appoint additional members to raise the membership to six (6).
(4-13-04, § C)