Agenda - Council - 03/08/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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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 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- detennine 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 all 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 prejudice 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. Section 5.5. Initiative. Any ordinance may be proposed by a petition,'which shall state at the head of each page or attached thereto the exact text of the proposed ordinance. If the council passes the proposed ordinance with amendments, and a majority of the sponsoring committee do not disapprove the amended form by a statement filed with the city clerk within ten days of its passage by the council, the ordinance need not be submitted to the voters. If the council fails to enact the ordinance in a form acceptable to the majority of the sponsoring committee within sixty days after the final determination of sufficiency of the petition, the ordinance as originally proposed shall be placed on the ballot at the next election occurring in the city. If no election is to occur within 120 days after the filing of the petition, the council shall call a special election on the ordinance to be held within such period. If a majority of those voting on the ordinance vote in its favor,-it shall become effective immediately after adoption unless the ordinance specifies a later effective date. Section 5.5. Recall. Consideration by the electorate of the recall of any elected officer of the city may be initiated by petition. The petition shall state at the head of each page, or attached thereto, a certificate stating the name of the officer whose removal is sought, the grounds for recall, which shall be malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance in office, in not more than 250 words, and the intention of the sponsoring committee to bring about the officer's recall. Such petition shall be filed in the city clerk's office prior to circulation. If the petition or amended-petition is found sufficient under the provisions of section 5.3. of this chapter, the city clerk shall transmit it to the council without delay, and shall also officially notify the person sought to be recalled of the sufficiency of the petition and of the pending action. The council shall, at its next meeting, by resolution, provide for the