Any five qualified voters may commence initiative
or referendum proceedings by filing with the Manager an affidavit
stating they will constitute the Petitioners' Committee and be responsible
for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating
their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all
notices to the Committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the
proposed initiative ordinance or citing the ordinance sought to be
reconsidered. Promptly after the affidavit of the Petitioner's Committee
is filed, the Manager shall have issued the appropriate petition blanks
to the Petitioners' Committee.
Within 25 days after the petition is filed,
the Manager shall complete a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying,
if it is insufficient, the particulars wherein it is defective and
shall promptly send a copy of the certificate to the Petitioners'
Committee by registered mail. A petition certified insufficient for
lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended once
if the Petitioners' Committee files a notice of intention to amend
it with the Manager within two days after receiving the copy of his
certificate and files a supplementary petition upon additional papers
within 10 days after receiving the copy of such certificate. Such
supplementary petition shall comply with the requirements of Subsections
B and C of Section 703, and within five days after it is filed, the
Manager shall complete a certificate as to the sufficiency of the
petition as amended and promptly send a copy of such certificate to
the Petitioners' Committee by registered mail as in the case of an
original petition. If a petition or amended petition is certified
insufficient and the Petitioners' Committee does not elect to amend
it in the time required, the Manager shall promptly present his certificate
to the Council and the certificate shall then be a final determination
as to the sufficiency of the petition.
When a referendum petition is received by the
Manager, he shall so notify the Council and the ordinance specified
in the petition shall not become effective until the sufficiency of
the petition has been determined. If the petition is finally determined
to be insufficient under Section 704, the ordinance shall become effective
upon certification to the Council of this insufficiency or 31 days
after enactment of the ordinance, whichever is later. If the petition
is certified sufficient, the ordinance shall be placed in suspension
and shall not become effective unless or until the suspension is removed.
Such suspension shall terminate when the results of the election on
the ordinance in question are certified, or the Council repeals the
ordinance.
When an initiative or referendum petition has
been certified, the Council shall promptly consider the proposed initiative
ordinance in the manner provided in this Charter or reconsider the
referred ordinance by voting its repeal. If the Council fails to adopt
a proposed initiative ordinance without any change in substance within
30 days or fails to repeal the referred ordinance within 30 days after
the date the petition was finally determined sufficient, the Manager
shall file the ordinance with the County Election Board to be submitted
to the voters of the Township at the next election, primary, municipal
or general, occurring not less than 90 days after the petition is
certified. If the Council adopts the initiative ordinance without
change in substance further proceedings may, be halted by filing with
the Manager a concurrence signed by at least four members of the Petitioners'
Committee.
A. Initiative. If a majority of the qualified electors
voting on a proposed initiative ordinance vote in its favor, it shall
be considered adopted upon certification of the election results and
shall be treated in all respects in the same manner as ordinances
of the same kind adopted by the Council. If conflicting ordinances
are approved at the same election, the one receiving the greater number
of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
B. Referendum. If a majority of the qualified electors
voting on a referred ordinance vote against it, it shall be considered
repealed upon certification of the election results.