The electors shall have the power to remove from office, by recall election, any elected officer of the City. If an elected officer shall have served for six (6) months of a term, a petition demanding his removal may be filed with the Clerk of Council who shall note thereon the name and address of the elector filing the petition, and the date of such filing. 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, and a statement in not more than two hundred (200) words of the grounds for removal.
(a) In the case of a Ward Council Member, such petition shall be signed by at least fifteen (15) percent of the total number of registered voters from that Ward at the time of the most recent election for that position. For the purposes of recall, an appointed Ward Councilman shall be treated as an elected member.
(b) In the case of an at-large Council Member or the Mayor, such petition shall be signed by at least fifteen (15) percent of the total number of registered voters from the City at the time of the most recent election for that position. For the purposes of recall, an appointed at-large Council Member shall be treated as an elected member. 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 within twenty (20) days certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, deliver a copy of the certificate to the person who filed the petition with the Clerk, and make a record of such delivery. Such person shall be allowed a period of twenty (20) 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 within twenty (20) days so certify to the Council, shall deliver a copy of such certificate to the officer whose removal is sought, and shall make a record of such delivery. If such officer shall not resign within five (5) days after the day on which such delivery shall have been made, the Council shall thereupon fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than six (6) days nor more than seventy-five (75) days after the date of such delivery.
At such recall election, conducted by the Board of Elections of Warren County, Ohio, as stated in Section 11.02, this question shall be placed on the ballot: "Shall (naming the officer) be allowed to continue as (naming the office)?" with provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively on such question. If a majority of the votes cast at such election be voted affirmatively, such officer shall remain in office. If a majority of the votes cast shall be voted negatively, such officer shall be considered as removed, said office shall be deemed vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in this Charter. The officer removed by such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy thereby. (Amended 11-4-08.)