(A) Except as provided in Section 9.01 of this Charter, the electors of the City shall have the power to require that ordinances or resolutions passed by the Council be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection as provided in this Section. This power shall be known as the referendum. Ordinances and resolutions shall be subjected to referendum by a petition signed by electors of the City not less in number than ten percent of the electors voting at the last mayoral election. The petition shall designate not less then three of the signers of the petition as a Committee authorized to take action as provided in Division (B) of this Section. The petition shall be in a form approved by the Director of Law. The petition may be circulated in separate parts, but the separate parts shall be bound together and filed as one instrument. Each petition and separate part thereof, shall have attached thereto while it is circulated and when it is filed a full text of the ordinance or resolution, as passed by the Council, which is sought to be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection.
(Amended 11-5-91)
(B) A referendum petition shall be filed with the Director of Finance not later than thirty days after the final passage of an ordinance or resolution by the Council. The Director of Finance shall determine whether the petition is sufficient within ten days after it is received by that Director. If the petition is found to be insufficient, the Director of Finance shall notify the committee of the petitioners, and the Committee shall have ten days in which to file additional parts to the petition in order to make the petition sufficient. If the petition is sufficient in its original or amended form, the Director of Finance shall present the petition to the Council at its next regular meeting subsequent to the date the petition is found to be sufficient.
(Amended 11-2-21)
(C) When a sufficient referendum petition is presented to the Council by its Clerk, the Council shall, within twenty days, reconsider the vote on the final passage of the ordinance or resolution. The question before the Council on such reconsideration shall be, "Shall the (ordinance) (resolution) previously adopted by this Council known as (the number or other description should be inserted) be repealed?" If a majority of the members of the Council vote for repeal, the ordinance or resolution shall be repealed and no further action under the referendum petition shall be taken. If the Council shall not vote to repeal the ordinance or resolution upon such reconsideration, or if the Council shall fail to reconsider the ordinance or resolution within the required twenty day period, the proposed ordinance or resolution shall be submitted to a vote of the electors at the next primary or general election to be held within the City that occurs at least seventy-five days after the Council's action upon reconsideration or the expiration of the twenty day period, as the case may be. The Council shall take all actions necessary to cause an ordinance or resolution required by this Section to be submitted to a vote of the electors, to be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejection.
(D) An ordinance or resolution submitted to a vote of the electors under the power of referendum, if approved by a majority of the persons voting on the issue, shall be effective immediately unless a later date is specified in the ordinance or resolution. Ordinances and resolutions approved by the electors under the power of referendum may be amended or repealed in the same manner as other ordinances and resolutions.
(Amended 11-8-77)