Minutes 12/09/1969 - Laserfiche WebLink

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December 9~ 1969 10.08. Judicial Review. A petition,' which complies with the requirements of this article as to form, number of signers, and manner of execution, shall be accepted as prima facie sufficient. The circuit or hustings court of the city shall have summary Jurisdiction upon complaint of an elector to determine the sufficiency of the petition and the genuiaeness of the signatures thereon, and the qualifications of the electors signing the same, and may make such order in the premises as the justice may require; but such procedings shall be institute within ten days after presentation of the petition, and the burden of proof shall be on the complainant. § 10.09. 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 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 at least thirty per centum of the eiectors of the city eligible to vote in the last preceding general election, and demanding the election of a successor of the office sought to be removed, shall be filed with the clerk of the court of hustings, which petition shall contain a general statement of the grounds upon which the election of a successor is sought. Such petition since the 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 appended 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 separat~ paper, the circulator of the peti- tion 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 presence. .(c) If it appears that the petition is signed by the requisite percentage of electors, the same shall be aceepted as prima facie regular and sufficient, but it shall be subject to summary review in the same manner as provided in ~ 10.08 of this article. (d) If the petition shall be sufficient, a~d 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 of the court of hustings, the judge thereof shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding an elec -tion for the selection of a successor to each officer named in said petition, which election shall be held not less than thrity 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 nominat~on 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 court of hustings at.least ten days'prior to such special election, a petition propos& ing~a person for such office, signed bythe electors equal in number'to at least thirty per centum of the electors of the city eligible to vote in the last preceding general electio (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 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. (g) In any. such election, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of re- moval be affirmative, the c~ndidate receiving the highest number of the votes cast shall be declared elected, and if more than one councilman is removed at such election the candidates receiving the highest number of Votes, equal in number to the number of councilmen removed, shall be declared elected. The officer whose removal is sought shall thereupon be deemed removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of the election. The successor of any officer so removed shall hold office during the unexpired term of his predecessor. In case the person or persons receiving the highest number of votes shall fail to qualify within ten days after receiving notification of his election, the office shall be deemed vacant. The question of the removal of any officer shall not be submitted to the electors a second time during the same term of office, Until after the expirat±on of one year from the determination of the first application for hf~ removal. The method of removal herein provided in cumulative and additiona~ to sUch other methods as may be provided by law.