Agenda - Charter Commission - 09/06/2001

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CHAPTER 5 INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL Section 5.1. Powers Reserved by the People. The people of the City of Ramsey reserve to themselves the powers in accordance with the provisions of this charter to initiate and adopt ordinances, to require ordinances passed by the council to be referred to the electorate for approval or disapproval, and to recall elected public officials. These powers shall be called the initiative, the referendum, and the recall, respectively. Section 5.2. General Provisions for Petitions. A petition provided for under this chapter shall be sponsored by 'a committee of five registered voters of the city whose names and addresses shall appear on the petition. A petition may consist of one or more papers, but each separately circulated paper shall contain at its head, or attached thereto, the information specified in sections 5.5., 5.7. or 5.8. which apply, respectively, to initiative, referendum and recall. Each signer shall be a registered voter of-the city and shall sign his/her name and give his/her street address. Each separate page of the petition shall have appended to it a certificate by the circulator, verified by oath, that each signature appended thereto was made in his/her presence and that the circulator believes them to be the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. The person making the certificate shall be a resident of the city and registered to vote. Any person whose name appears on a petition may withdraw his/her name by a statement in writing filed with the city clerk before said city clerk advises the council of the sufficiency of the petition. Section 5.3. Determination of Sufficiency. The committee shall file the completed petition in the office of the city clerk. The required number of signatures for initiative and referendum shall be at least ten twenty percent of the total number of registered voters at the time of the last citywide election, The required number of signatures for recall shall be at least twenty percent of the total number of registered voters at the time of the last citywide election. Immediately upon receipt of the petition, the city clerk shall examine the petition as to its sufficiency and report to the council within ten days. Upon receiving the report, the council shall determine by resolution the sufficiency of the petition. Section 5.4. Disposition of Insufficient or Irregular Petition. If the council determines that the petition is insufficient or irregular, as defined in sections 5.3. and 5.2. respectively, the city clerk shall deliver a copy of the petition, together with a written statement of its defects, to the sponsoring committee. The committee shall have thirty days in which to file additional signature papers and/or to correct the petition in ali other particulars, except that, in the case of a petition for recall, the committee may not change the statement of the grounds on which the recall is sought. Within five days of receipt of the corrected petition, the city clerk shall again report to the council. If the council finds that the petition is still insufficient or irregular, the city clerk shall file the petition in his/her office and notify the sponsoring committee. The final finding that the petition is insufficient or irregular shall not pr~udice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose, nor shall it prevent the council from referring the subject matter of the petition to the voters at the next regular or special election. [ IRA_FS I ~ VOL J luserstJ77, iel ing!~JOICOUNCIL& [CHARTER C~O01 Iproposed languageO906O l.doc