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Bill Tracking - 2011 session> Legislation Page 14 of 15 9 12.07. Publication of Ordinance. Whenever an ordinance is required under the provisions of this Chapter to be submitted for adoption or repeal to the electors of the city, the City Clerk shall cause the ordinance to be published once in a daily newspaper published in or having a general circulation in the City of Portsmouth. Such publication shall occur not more than sixty days nor fewer than thirty days prior to the date of such election. 9 12. 08. Judicial Review. A petition, which complies with the requirements of this Chapter as to form, number of signers, and manner of execution, shall be accepted as prima facie sufficient. The Circuit Court of the City of Portsmouth shall have summary jurisdiction upon complaint of an elector to determine the sufficiency of the petition and the genuineness of the signatures thereon, and the qualifications of the electors signing the same, and may make such order in the matter as justice may require. Such proceedings shall be instituted within ten days after presentation of the petition, and the burden of proof shall be on the complainant. 9 12.09. Recall of Elective Officers. a. Any elective officer of the city may be removed from office at any time after one year from the beginning of the term of office by the electors qualified to vote for a successor for such incumbent. The procedure to effect such removal shall be as hereinafter set forth. b. A petition signed by electors equal in number to at least thirty percent (30%) of the electors of the city voting for governor in the last preceding gubernatorial election, and demanding the election of a successor of the officer sought to be removed, shall be filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court. The petition shall contain a general statement of the grounds upon which the election of a successor is sought. Such petition may be filed at any time after one year has elapsed since the beginning of the term of the official sought to be removed. Each signer shall include the number and street of his or her residence in the city, and the date heor she signed the petition. Such petition may be in the form of separate papers, but each separate paper to which signatures are appended shall contain at the top thereof the original petition or a duplicate statement thereof, and when bound together and offered forfiling, such separate papers shall be deemed to constitute one petition with respect to the election of the successor of the officer or officers named therein. One of the signers of such petition shall make oath before a proper officiaUhat the statements made therein are true, as he or she believes, and upon such separate paper, the circulator of the petition to which signatures are appended shall make oath that each signature to such paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that it was signed in his or her presence. c. If it appears that the petition is signed by the requisite percentage of electors, the same shall be accepted as prima facie regular and sufficient, but it shall be subject to summary review in the same manner as provided in 9 12.08 of this Chapter. d. If the petition is sufficient, and if the officer or officers whose removal is sought do not resign within five days after the' sufficiency of the petition has been determined by a judge of the Circuit Court, a judge thereof shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding an election for the selection of a successor to each officer named in said petition, which election shall be held notfewer than thirty nor more than forty days from the presentation of the petition or from the making of any court order thereon. The judge shall cause publication of notice and all arrangements to be made for holding such election and the same shall be conducted and the result thereof returned and declared in all respects as in other special elections, in so far as possible. e. A nomination of a candidate to succeed each officer sought to be removed shall be made without the intervention of a primary election, by filing with the Clerk of the Circuit Court at least ten days prior to such special election, a petition proposing a person for such office, signed by the electors equal in number to at least thirty percent (30%) of the electors of the city voting for governor in the last preceding gubernatorial election. f The ballots at such election shall conform to the following requirements: with respect to each officer whose removal is sought, the question shall be submitted: Shall (name of officer) be removed from the office (name of office) by recall? Beneath the aforesaid question shall be placed the names of the candidates to fill the vacancy. The name of the officer whose removal is sought shall not appear on the ballot as a candidate to succeed him/herself. g. In any such election, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of removal be affirmative, the candidate receiving the highest number of the votes cast shall be declared elected and if more than one council member is removed at such election, the httn:/ /11s_vlfQlnla_Qov/cQl-hln/lel!t1004exe?111 +fIl1+rH A P0040 fl/iO/?011