Sec. 26. - Recall provisions.

Any member of the council may be removed from office by recall. A petition stating the general grounds on which removal of a district or ward council member is sought shall be signed by qualified electors equal in number to ten (10) per cent of those electors who were qualified to vote in such ward or district at the time of the last regular municipal election, and shall be filed by any qualified elector of the district or ward with the city clerk.

A petition stating the general grounds on which removal of the council member serving as mayor is sought shall be signed by qualified electors equal in number to ten (10) per cent of those electors who were qualified to vote at the time of the last regular municipal election, and shall be filed by any qualified elector of the city with the city clerk.

A separate petition shall be circulated with respect to each member of council whose removal is sought.

(Ord. No. 47586, § 1 (Prop. 1), 1-17-77)

Sec. 27. - Signatures to petitions.

The signatures to recall petitions need not all be appended to one petition and may be duplicated and assembled, but to each separate paper there shall be attached an affidavit to the circulator and such paper shall be invalid without such affidavit. Each signer of any petition paper shall, after his signature, show the place of residence by street and number or other description sufficient to identify the voting precinct. An affidavit attached to each petition or duplicate shall be as follows:

State of Texas
County of Bexar

____________, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he personally circulated the foregoing paper, that all the signatures affixed thereto were made in his presence, and that he believes them 10 to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.

Signed _____
(Signature of Circulator)

Subscribed and sworn to before me this ____________ day of ____________/____________/____________, 19____________.

_____
Notary Public

Sec. 28. - Filing, examination, and certification of recall petitions.

All petition papers comprising a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the city clerk as one instrument. Within twenty (20) days after filing, the city clerk shall determine whether each paper of the petition is properly attested and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified electors. Upon completing his examination, the city clerk shall certify the result thereof to the council. If he should certify that the petition is insufficient, he shall set forth in his certificate the particulars in which it is defective; provided, however, that except as to the particulars certified to be defective, the petition shall be deemed to be valid in all other respects.

Sec. 29. - Amendment of petitions.

A recall petition may be amended at any time within twenty days after certification of insufficiency by the city clerk, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The city clerk shall, within ten (10) days after such supplement is filed, examine the supplementary petition and, if his certificate shall show the petition still to be insufficient, he shall file it in his office and notify the person filing and no further action shall be had on such insufficient petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prevent the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.

Sec. 30. - Recall election ordered.

If a recall petition, or amended petition be certified by the city clerk to be sufficient, he shall at once submit it to the council and notify the member of council whose removal is sought of such action. The council shall order a recall election which shall be held not less than thirty nor more than forty days after the petition has been presented to the council, and at the same time as any other special or general election held within such period. If no such election is to be held, the council shall call a special election. Should the member of council whose removal is sought resign prior to said recall election, then no election shall be held.

Sec. 31. - Ballots in recall election.

Ballots used in recall elections shall read as to each member of the council whose removal is sought as follows: "Shall (name of person) BE REMOVED FROM THE CITY COUNCIL BY RECALL?" Below such question there shall be printed the following as to each member:

"For the recall of (name of person)."
"Against the recall of (name of person)."

Sec. 32. - Result of recall election.

If a majority of the votes cast be against recall of a member, he shall continue in office for the remainder of his term, but subject to recall as before. If a majority of such votes be for the recall of a member he shall, regardless of any defect in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office, and a successor shall be appointed.

Sec. 33. - Limitations on recall petitions.

No recall petition shall be filed against a member of the council within three months after he takes office nor, in respect to a member subjected to a recall election and not removed thereby, until at least six months after such election.

Sec. 34. - Power of initiative.

The electors shall have power to initiate any ordinance, except ordinances appropriating money, levying a tax, granting a franchise, or fixing public utility rates, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls; provided, however, that the foregoing limitations on initiated ordinances shall not apply to any ordinance initiated pursuant to the provisions of Article I, Section 3, Paragraph 12 of this Charter. Any initiated ordinance may be submitted to the council by a petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to ten per cent of the electors qualified to vote at the time of the last regular municipal election. In addition to the ordinances excepted above, ordinances zoning or rezoning property shall not be subject to this power.

(Ord. No. 85965, § 1 (Prop. 1), 5-5-97)

Sec. 35. - Power of referendum.

The electors shall have power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the council save one appropriating money, levying taxes, or fixing public utility rates, or any ordinance submitted by the council of its own initiative to a vote of the electors; provided, however, that the foregoing limitation on ordinances subject to a referendum shall not apply to any ordinances enacted pursuant to the provisions of Article I, Section 3, Paragraph 12 of this Charter. Ordinances submitted to the council by initiative petition and passed by the council shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. Within forty days after the enactment by the council of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least ten per cent of the electors qualified to vote at the last preceding regular municipal election may be filed with the city clerk requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the electors. In addition to the ordinances excepted above, ordinances zoning or rezoning property shall not be subject to this power.

(Ord. No. 85965, § 1 (Prop. 1), 5-5-97)

Sec. 36. - Form of petitions.

All petition papers circulated for the purpose of an initiative or referendum shall be uniform in size and style. Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate paper there shall be attached a statement of the circulator that he personally circulated the foregoing paper, that all the signatures appended thereto were made in his presence, and that he believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be. Each signer of any such petition paper shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil and shall indicate after his name his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the voting precinct.

Sec. 37. - Filing, examination and certification of petitions.

All petition papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the city clerk as one instrument. Within twenty days after a petition is filed, the city clerk shall determine whether each paper of the petition has a proper statement of the circulator and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified electors, and shall hold any petition paper entirely invalid which does not have attached thereto the statement signed by the circulator thereof. The city clerk shall certify the result of his examination to the council at its next regular meeting. If he shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in his certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the person filing same of his findings.

Sec. 38. - Amendment of petitions.

A petition may be amended at any time within twenty days after the notification of insufficiency has been sent by the city clerk, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The city clerk shall, within ten days after such an amendment is filed, examine the amended petition and, if the petition be still insufficient, he shall file his certificate to that effect in his office and notify the person filing of his findings and no further action shall be had on such petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prevent the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.

Sec. 39. - Effect of certification on referendum petition.

When a referendum petition, or amended petition, has been certified as sufficient, the ordinance specified in the petition shall not go into effect, or further action thereunder shall be suspended if it be in effect, until and unless approved by the electors.

Sec. 40. - Consideration by council.

Whenever the council receives a petition from the city clerk, it shall be immediately considered. A proposed initiative ordinance shall be read and provision shall be made for a public hearing. The council shall take final action on the ordinance not later than sixty days after the date on which such ordinance was submitted to the council by the city clerk. A referred ordinance shall be reconsidered and the council shall, within thirty days, vote upon the question, "Shall the ordinance be repealed?"

Sec. 41. - Submission to electors.

If the council shall fail to pass an ordinance proposed by initiative petition, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, or if the council fail to repeal a referred ordinance, the proposed or referred ordinance shall be submitted to the electors at a special or regular municipal election not less than thirty nor more than ninety days from the date the council takes its final vote thereon.

Sec. 42. - Form of ballot for initiated and referred ordinances.

Ordinances submitted to a vote of the electors in accordance with the initiative and referendum provisions of this Charter shall be submitted by ballot title which shall contain a clear, concise statement, without argument, of the substance of such ordinance. The ballot used shall have below the ballot title the following propositions, one above the other, in the order indicated: "FOR THE ORDINANCE" and "AGAINST THE ORDINANCE." Any number of ordinances may be voted on at the same election and may be submitted on the same ballot.

Sec. 43. - Results of election.

If a majority of the electors voting on a proposed initiative ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon be an ordinance of the city. A referred ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon shall thereupon be deemed repealed. If conflicting ordinances are approved by the electors at the same election, the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.

Sec. 44. - Repealing ordinances; publication.

Initiative and referendum ordinances adopted or approved by the electors shall be published and may be amended or repealed by the council, as in the case of other ordinances; provided, however, that no ordinance adopted at the polls under the initiative or referendum shall be amended or repealed by the council within six months of adoption.