[Added Ref. of 11-3-1992]
The right to enact ordinances is hereby granted to the qualified
electors of the city by initiative, notwithstanding the provisions
of Section 1-101 of this Charter, provided that such power shall not
extend to the budget or capital programs to the levy of taxes, or
to the salaries and benefits of city officials or employees.
[1]
Editor's Note: See also Sec. 2-200 et seq. of this Charter.
Any elector or group of electors who desire to circulate an
initiative petition shall first file notice of their intention to
do so, together with a copy of the petition, with the city clerk,
and with the City Solicitor. The City Solicitor shall forthwith review
the petition for conformity with the provisions of Sections 6-200
and 6-204 of this chapter, and file his/her opinion thereon with the
city clerk in writing. If the City Solicitors shall have approved
the petition, the city clerk shall certify the date upon which their
opinion was received. No signatures collected prior to such certification
shall be valid. Following certification, those who filed said notice
of intention shall have 60 days to secure a total number of valid
signatures equal to at least 10% of the number of registered electors
in the city as of the date of certification, said total to include
the valid signatures of at least 5% of the electors resident in each
of the six wards of the city.
The signatures of any initiative petition provided for in this
chapter may be on separate papers, provided, however, that each such
separate paper shall contain a full and correct copy of the title
and text of the proposed ordinance and all shall be bound together
and filed as one instrument with the city clerk. To each said separate
paper there shall be attached a signed statement of the circulator
thereof, who states therein under oath, that each signature appended
to said paper was made in the presence of the circulator.
Upon receipt of any such petition after completion of signature
collection, the city clerk shall forthwith submit it to the board
of canvassers who shall have 14 days to verify the signatures thereon
and report their findings to the city clerk. If the canvassers report
that a petition has sufficient signatures as required in Section 2-201
of this chapter, the city clerk shall make the necessary arrangements
to have the question of approval or rejection of the ordinance which
appears on said petition placed on the ballot for the next ensuing
state general election or municipal election, whichever come first
with sufficient time for placement of the initiative question thereon.
Any ordinance placed on the ballot as a result of the circulation
of an initiative petition which shall receive a majority of the votes
cast thereon shall be deemed to have been enacted, and shall take
effect thirty days following the date of the vote thereon as an ordinance
of the city, unless otherwise provided for in the petition. No ordinance
thus enacted shall be repealed or be the subject of any substantive
amendment by the city council for a period of three years following
the effective date thereof. In the event of the rejection of an ordinance
by the voters which shall have been placed on the ballot as a result
of the circulation of an initiative petition, no new petition shall
be circulated to place the same ordinance on the ballot, nor an ordinance
for substantially the same purpose, for two years from the date of
the certification of the rejected petition by the city clerk as provided
in Section 6-201 of this chapter.
The city council may, by ordinance, make such other further
regulations for carrying out the provisions of this chapter as are
not inconsistent herewith.
