The electors shall have the power to remove from office by a recall election any member of Council. If such person shall have served six (6) months of his term, a form of petition demanding his removal may be filed with the Clerk of Council, who 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. A petition in such form 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 the removal. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number of electors voting at the last general election. Within ten (10) days after the day on which such petition shall have been 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, he shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, deliver a copy of his certificate to the person who filed the petition 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, he shall promptly so certify to 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, Council shall thereupon fix a day for holding a recall election, not less than sixty (60) days nor more than seventy-five (75) days after the date of such delivery. At such recall election this question shall be placed upon the ballot: "Shall (naming the officer) be allowed to continue as (naming the office)?” with provision being made on the ballot for voting yes or no on such question.
If a majority of votes cast shall be voted negatively, such officer shall be considered as removed, his office shall be declared 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 created thereby.
(Amended 11-2-71)
(Amended 11-2-71)
A petition for recall as provided for by this section may be circulated only once for any individual officer in any calendar year within a circulation period not to exceed ninety (90) days from the affixing of the first signature to the affixing of the last signature, excluding the twenty (20) day period allowed for the submission of additional signatures in the event the petition is deemed to be insufficient upon its initial submission to the Clerk of Council.
(Added 11-5-02)