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1 CHAPTER 5 (Draft Replacement Option 8/8/2003) 0 2 3 INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL 4 5 Section 5.01. General Voter Authority. The people of Mounds View have the right, in 6 accordance with this Charter, to propose ordinances [initiative] and to require that any 7 ordinance be referred to the voters [referendum], except those that appropriate money or levy 8 taxes. The voters also have the right to remove elected public officials [recall]. The term 9 voter(s), as used in Chapter 5, shall refer only to qualified and registered voters who reside 10 in the City of Mounds View. 11 12 Section 5.02. Petitions. A petition provided for under this chapter must be sponsored 13 by a committee of five or more voters of the City whose names and addresses appear on the 14 petition. A petition consists of one or more pages with each separately circulated page 15 containing at its head the information specified in sections 5.05, 5.07 or 5.08 which apply, 16 respectively, to initiative, referendum and recall. The committee may obtain a sample petition 17 from the city Clerk-Administrator. All petition circulators must be voters of the City. Each 18 separate page of the petition must have appended to it a certificate by the circulator, verified 19 by oath. The certificate shall affirm that each signature was made in the circulator's presence zo and that the circulator believes them to be the genuine signature of the voter whose name it 21 purports to be and that each signer was presented with the full petition. Each signer of a 22 petition must be a voter of the City and must sign and print their name and give their street 23 address. Any voter whose name appears on a petition may withdraw their name by filing a 24 statement in writing with the Clerk-Administrator before the Clerk-Administrator advises the •25 Council of the sufficiency of the petition. 26 27 Section 5.03. Determination of Petition Sufficiency. The committee must file the 28 completed petition in the office of the Clerk-Administrator. For a petition to be sufficient, the 29 required number of signatures shall be a percentage of the number of ballots cast for 30 President in the most recent Presidential election. 31 • Petitions for Initiative and Referendum require at least (15%) fifteen percent. 32 • Petitions for Recall, at least (25%) twenty-five percent. 33 Immediately upon receipt of the petition,the Clerk-Administrator shall determine its sufficiency 34 and report to the Council within ten working days. The Council shall declare the sufficiency 35 of the petition by resolution. -36 37 Section 5.04. Disposition of Insufficient or Irregular Petition. If the Council determines 38 that the sufficiency of a petition cannot be declared, it shall be determined to be insufficient 39 or irregular. The Clerk-Administrator shall deliver a copy of the petition,together with a written 40 statement of its defects, to the sponsoring committee. The committee shall have thirty 41 calender days in which to file additional signature papers and/or to correct the petition in all 42 other particulars, except that, in the case of a petition for recall,the committee may not change 43 the statement of the grounds on which the recall is sought. Within ten working days of receipt 44 of the corrected petition, the Clerk-Administrator must report to the Council on the sufficiency 45 of the corrections. If the Council finds that the petition is still insufficient or irregular, this shall 46 be considered the Final Finding and the Clerk-Administrator shall file the petition as noted and 47 notify the sponsoring committee that no further action will be taken. The final finding that the 48 petition is insufficient or irregular shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same 49purpose, nor shall it prevent the Council from referring the subject matter of the petition to the 050 voters at the next regular or special election.