SECTION 68. RECALL ELECTIONS.

   The electors shall have the power to remove from office, by a recall election, any elected officer of the City in the manner herein provided. If an elected officer shall have served six months of their term, a petition demanding their 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. 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 not to exceed five hundred words of the grounds for the removal. Such petition shall be signed by at least that number of electors which equals fifteen percent in number of the electors voting at the last preceding regular municipal election for the office of Mayor, provided, however, the petition for recall of a council member elected from a ward shall be signed by at least that number of electors of the council member's ward equal to twenty-five percent in number of the electors of such ward who voted at the last preceding regular municipal election for the office of Mayor. Within twenty days after the day on which such petition shall have been filed, the Clerk shall determine whether or not it meets the requirements hereof. If the Clerk shall find the petition insufficient, the Clerk shall promptly certify the particulars in which the petition is defective, 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, shall promptly so certify it 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 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 thirty days nor more than sixty days after the date of such delivery, 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 determined by Council to be of general circulation in the City. At such recall election, this question shall be placed on the ballot: "Shall (naming the officer) be allowed to continue as (naming the office) ?", with the provision on the ballot for voting affirmatively or negatively, and in the event a majority of the vote is negative such officer shall be considered as removed, the office shall be deemed vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled as provided in this Charter. The officer removed at such recall election shall not be eligible for appointment to the vacancy created thereby. If the officer is not removed at such recall election, no further recall petitions shall be filed against him for a period of one year following such election.
(Amended 11-6-18.)