01-12-2006 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CHAPTER 5 . INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM AND RECALL Section 5.01. General Voter Authority. The people of Mounds View, have the right, in accordance with this Charter, to propose ordinances jinitiative] and to require that any ordinance be referred to the voters [referendum], except those that appropriate money, levy taxes or deal with administrative issues. The voters also have the right to remove elected public officials [recall]. The term voter(s), as used in Chapter 5, shall refer only to residents of the City of Mounds View who first register, or who have registered and are qualified to vote. Per Minnesota Statute 200.039 (as amended), eligibility to sign the petition is not restricted to only those who were eligible to or did cast ballots in the previous election. For clarity flow charts and a referendum timeline are attached to the end of this chapter. Section 5.02. Petitions. To circulate a petition provided for under this chapter, it must be filed with the Clerk-Administrator with the grounds for the petition and sponsored by a committee of 5 to 15 members who are voters of the City and whose names and addresses appear on the petition as the Sponsoring Committee. A petition consists of one or more pages with each separately circulated page containing at its head the information specified in sections 5.05, 5.07 or 5.08 which apply, respectively, to initiative, referendum and recall. The committee may obtain a sample petition from the city Clerk-Administrator. All petition circulators must be voters of the City. Each separate page of the petition must have appended to it a certificate by the circulator, verified by oath. The certificate shall affirm that each signature was made in the circulator's presence and that the circulator believes them to be the genuine signature • of the voter whose name it purports to be and that each signer was presented with the full petition. Each signer of a petition must be a voter of the City and must sign and print their name and give their street address. Any voter whose name appears on a petition may withdraw their name by filing a statement in writing with the Clerk-Administrator before the Clerk-Administrator advises the Council of the sufficiency of the petition. Section 5.03. Determination of Petition Sufficiency. The committee must file the completed petition in the office of the Clerk-Administrator. The Clerk-Administrator shall provide the number of total ballots cast for President in the most recent Presidential election. For a petition to be sufficient,the required number of signatures shall be a percentage of that number. • Petitions for Initiative and Referendum require at least 15 percent. • Petitions for Recall, at least 25 percent. Within 10 calendar days of receipt of the petition, the Clerk-Administrator shall determine if its sufficiency can be declared by the City Council. Upon final determination, the Clerk-Administrator shall report the date of the determination and its sufficiency to the Council. Upon receipt of the report, the Council shall immediately declare the sufficiency of the petition by resolution including the reported date of determination of sufficiency. Section 5.04. Disposition of Insufficient or Irregular Petition. If the Clerk- Administrator determines that the sufficiency of a petition cannot be declared, it shall be determined to be insufficient or irregular. The Clerk-Administrator shall deliver a copy of •