Minutes 01/11/1972 - Laserfiche WebLink

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.T~mm wv 11 1977 Section 10.O2. Petition for Referendum. (a) At any time within thirty days following the adoption of an ordinance, except an emergency ordinance, a petition signed by electors equal in number to at least thirty per centum of the electors eti~bl~gt6o~e~e~ng for governer in the last preceding general ~ubernatorial election protesting against the enactment of such ordinance and requesting ts repeal, may be presented to the council. Such petition need not contain the text of the ordinance sought to be repealed, but it shall be sufficient to refer to it by ordinanc~ number or code section number. (b) The petition shall be substantially in the following form: To the Council of the City of Portsmouth, Virginia: We, the undersigned, qualified electors of this city, able body to repeal the following ordinance: respectfully petition your honor~b Signature of Elector Street Address Date Signed (c) The execution of the petition by an elector shall be acknowledged by him, or it may be proved by the oath of a witness who shall swear that he knows the elector and that the petition was signed by the elector in the presence of the witness. The separate sheets, each sheet containing at the top ~hereof the petition as set forth above, and when bound together and offered for filing, shall be deemed to constitute one petition. Section 10.O9. Recall of Elective Officers. (a) Any elecgive officer of the city may be removed from office at any time after one year from the beginning of his 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 per centum of the electors of the city etigi~t~::~6 vote ~otiB~¥~e~c~overnor in the last preceding general gubernatorial election, and demandih~' ~h-e election of a successor of the officer sought to be removed7 shall be filed ~ith the clerk of the court of hustings which petition shall contain a general statement of the grounds upon which the election of a successor ~s 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 add to his signature his place of residence, giving street and number if any, and the date signed. Such petition may be in the form of separate papers, but each separate paper to which signatures are appende!d shall contain at the top thereof the original petition or a duplicate statement thereof, and when bound together and offered for filing, 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 official that the statements made therein are true, as he 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 genuinesignature of the person whose name it purports to be, and that it was signed in his presence. (c) If it appears that the petition is signed hy 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 Section 10.O8. of this article. (d) If the petition shall be sufficient, and if the officer or officers whose removal is sought shall not resign within five days after the sufficiency of the petition has been determined by the judge,~f the court of hustings, the judge thereof shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding an election for the selection of a successor ~o each officer named in said petition, which election shall be held not less than thirty nor more than forty days from the presentation of the petition or from the making of any court order thereon. The judge of the court of hustings 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 so far as possible. (e) A nomination o~ 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 court of hustings 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 per centum of the el~c%ors of the city etigible~to vote voting for governor in the last preceding guber- natorial election. (f) The ballots a~ 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 aforesai 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 himself.