§ 9. Free petition and initiative referendum and recall.
9.1 Free Petition.
(a)
Individual Petitions, Action Discretionary. The city council and the school committee shall receive all petitions which are addressed to them, which are signed by one or more voters, and may, in their discretion, take such action in regard to such petitions as they deem to be necessary and advisable.
(b)
Group Petitions, Action Required. The city council or the school committee shall hold a public hearing and act with respect to every petition which is addressed to it and which is signed by one hundred and fifty voters, or more. The hearing shall be held by the city council or by the school committee, as the case may be, within 45 days following the certification of the signatures by the registrars of voters. Hearings on two or more petitions filed under this section may be scheduled for the same time and place. The clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee shall mail notice of the hearing to the ten petitioners whose names first appear on the said petitions at least seven days before the date of the hearing. The said clerk or secretary shall also cause to be published in a local newspaper a general summary of the subject matter of each such petition, the order in which they will be taken up, and a notice stating: (1) the times and places where copies of the full text of the citizen petitions are available for public inspection and (2) the time, not less than seven nor more than fourteen days following such publication, and (3) the place where a public hearing will be held on the petition, or petitions, by the city council or the school committee.
9.2 Citizen Initiative Measures.
(a)
Commencement of Proceedings. Initiative procedures shall be started by the filing of an initiative petition with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee as the case may be. The petition shall be addressed to the city council or to the school committee, shall contain a request for the passage of a particular measure which shall be set forth in the petition, and shall be signed by at least twelve percent of the total number of persons registered to vote at the preceding city election. Signatures to initiative petitions need not all be on one paper. All such papers pertaining to any one measure shall however be fastened together and shall be filed in the office of the registrars of voters as one instrument, with the endorsement thereon of the name and residence address of the person designated as filing the same. With each signature to the petition there shall appear the street and number, if any, of each signer.
Within five days following the filing of the petition the registrars of voters shall ascertain by what number of voters the petition is signed, and what percentage that number is of the total number of persons who were registered to vote at the preceding regular city election and shall attach thereto their certificate showing the results of such examination.
The registrars of voters shall forthwith transmit the petition and their certificate to the city council or to the school committee according as the petition is addressed and at the same time they shall send a copy of their certificate to the person designated on the petition as having filed the same.
(b)
Action on Petition. Within thirty days following the date a petition has been filed with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, which has been certified by the board of registrars of voters to contain more than five percent of the names of voters as aforesaid, and after a public hearing has been held in accordance with the procedure established in Section 3.8(d) for ordinances and loan orders, the city council or the school committee shall act with respect to each initiative petition by passing it without change or by rejecting it, or by passing a measure which is stated to be in lieu of such initiative proposal. The passage of a measure which is in lieu of an initiative measure shall be deemed to be a rejection of the initiative measure. If the city council or the school committee fails to act with respect to any initiative measure which is presented to it within thirty days following the date it is filed with the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, the measure shall be deemed to have been rejected on the thirtieth such day. If an initiative measure is rejected, the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee shall promptly give notice of that fact to the person designated as having filed the same and to the first ten names on each such petition by mail. Initiative measures shall not be subject to the procedure of Charter objection provided in Section 3.8(c).
(c)
Supplemental Petitions. Within forty-five days following the date notice of rejection of an initiative petition has been given by the clerk of the council or the secretary of the school committee, a supplemental initiative petition addressed to the city council or the school committee may be filed in the office of the registrars of voters. The supplemental initiative petition shall be signed by a number of voters which is at least equal to 12 percent of the total number of persons registered to vote at the preceding city election. The signatures on the supplemental initiative petition may include the same voters who signed the original petition. If the number of signatures to a supplemental initiative petition is deemed to be sufficient by the registrars of voters, the city council shall call a special election to be held on a Tuesday fixed by it not less than sixty-five nor more than ninety days following the date that the registrars certify the petition.
(d)
Publication. The full text of any initiative measure which is to be submitted to the voters shall be published, in full, in a local newspaper not less than seven nor more than fourteen days preceding the date of the election at which the question is to appear on the ballot.
(e)
Form of Ballot. The ballots used when voting on a measure proposed by voters under this section shall contain a question in substantially the following form:
Shall the following measure which was proposed by an initiative petition take effect?
(Text of the measure, or a fair, concise summary prepared by the petitioners)
Yes / / No / / (f)
Time of Taking Effect. If a majority of the votes cast on the question, as stated above, is in the affirmative, the measure shall be deemed to be effective forthwith, unless a later date is specified in the measure.
9.3 Citizen Referendum Procedures.
(a)
Referendum Petition. Effect on Final Approval. If, within twenty-one days following the final approval on any measure by the city council or by the school committee, a petition signed by a number of voters equal to twelve percent of the total number of persons registered to vote at the preceding city election, and addressed to the city council or to the school committee as the case may be, protesting against such measure or any part thereof taking effect, is filed in the office of the registrars of voters, the same shall thereupon and thereby be suspended from taking effect. The city council or the school committee shall, forthwith, reconsider such measure or part thereof, and if such measure or part thereof is not rescinded, the city council shall submit the same, by the method herein provided to the voters either at a special election, which it may in its discretion call, or at the next regular city election and such measure or part thereof shall be null and void unless a majority of the voters voting on the same at such election vote in favor thereof.
(b)
Certain Initiative Procedures to Apply. The petition described in this section shall be termed a referendum petition and insofar as applicable Sections 9.2(a), (e) and (f) shall apply to the procedure in respect thereto, except that the words "measure or part thereof protested against" shall for this purpose be understood to replace the word "measure" in said sections wherever it may occur and the word "referendum" shall be understood to replace the word "initiative" where it may occur.
9.4 Initiative and Referendum: Ineligible Measures.
None of the following measures shall be subject to initiative or referendum procedures: (1) proceedings relating to the internal organization or operation of the city council or the school committee, (2) an emergency measure adopted in conformity with the charter, (3) the city budget or the school committee budget as a whole, (4) revenue loan orders, (5) any appropriation for the payment of the city's debts and obligations, (6) appropriations of funds necessary to implement a written agreement executed under collective bargaining, (7) proceedings, or parts thereof, relating to the election, appointment, employment, suspension, transfer, demotion, removal or discharge of any officer or employee, (8) any proceedings repealing or rescinding a measure or part thereof, which is protested by referendum proceedings, and any proceeding providing for the submission or referral of a matter to the voters at an election.
9.5 Submission of Proposed Measures to Voters.
The city council may, of its own motion, and shall, upon the request of the school committee if a measure originates with that committee and pertains to affairs under its administration, submit to the voters for adoption or rejection at a general or special city election any proposed measure, or a proposition for the repeal or amendment of any measure, in the same manner and with the same force and effect as are hereby provided for submission on petition.
9.6 Measures with Conflicting Provisions.
If two or more measures passed at the same election contain conflicting provisions, only the one receiving the greater number of affirmative votes shall take effect.
9.7 Recall of Elected Officials.
(a)
Application. Any person who holds an elected city office, whose term exceeds two years with more than twelve months remaining of the term of office, may be recalled from the office, by the voters, in the manner provided in this section.
(b)
Recall Petitions. One hundred or more voters may file with the city clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer whose recall is sought and a statement of the grounds upon which the petition is based not less than twelve months prior to the expiration of the term of office. The names on the affidavit shall be from the city at large.
The city clerk shall deliver to the said voters petition blanks demanding said recall, printed forms of which he shall keep available. The blanks may be completed by writing or typewriting; they shall be addressed to the city council; they shall contain the names of the persons who have filed the affidavit and the grounds for recall as stated in the affidavit; they shall demand the election of a successor to the office; and they shall be dated and signed by the city clerk. A copy of the petition shall be kept on file in the office of the city clerk in a record book maintained for that purpose. The recall petitions shall be returned and filed in the office of the city clerk within thirty days following the date the petitions were issued, signed by at least fifteen percent of the total number of persons registered to vote at the preceding city election.
The city clerk shall, within twenty-four hours following such filing, submit said petitions to the registrars of voters who shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters.
(c)
Recall Election. If the petition shall be certified by the registrars of voters to be sufficient, the city clerk shall forthwith submit the same to the city council. Upon its receipt of the certified petition, the city council shall forthwith give written notice of said petition and certificate to the person whose recall is sought. If the officer does not resign his office within 5 days following delivery of the notice, the city council shall order an election to be held not less than 65 nor more than 90 days after the date of the registrar's certificate of the sufficiency of the petition. If, however, another city election is to occur between 65 and 90 days after the date of the certificate, the city council shall hold the recall election on the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in the office after a recall election has been ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section and only the ballots for candidates need be counted.
(d)
Nomination of Candidates. An officer whose recall is sought may not be candidate to succeed himself at the recall election. The nomination of candidates, the publication of the warrant for the recall election, and the conduct of the same shall all be in accordance with the provisions of other laws relating to elections, unless otherwise provided in this section.
(e)
Propositions on Ballot. Ballots used at a recall election shall state the following propositions in the order indicated:
For the recall of (name of officer) / /
Against the recall of (name of officer) / /
Adjacent to each proposition, there shall be a place to vote for either of the said propositions. After the propositions shall appear the word "candidates" and the names of candidates arranged alphabetically, by surname. If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in the affirmative, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. If a majority of the votes on the question is in the negative, the ballots for candidates need not be counted, except as provided in (c) above.
(f)
Officeholder. The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the recall election. If he is not recalled in the election he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in this section.
If the officer is recalled in the election, he shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his successor who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor fails to qualify within five days after receiving notification of his election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.
(g)
Repeat of Recall Petition. No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within six months after he takes office, or in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not recalled thereby, until at least six months after the election at which his recall was submitted to the voters.
(Ord. dated 1/1/03 §§ 16—18, 22; Ord. dated 11/27/01 §§ 16—18)