[§ 34, L.L. No. 4-1925; L.L. No. 21-1928; L.L. No. 28-1932]
Any ordinance or part of an ordinance relating to public utility franchises adopted by the Council may be suspended in its operation and its submission to the electors at a general election required by petitions of the electors filed with the City Clerk within 30 days after its adoption. The power so to require the submission of an ordinance to the electors shall, for the purposes of this local law, be designated "the referendum," ordinances referred to the electors shall be designated "referred ordinances," and petitions requiring ordinances to be referred shall be designated "referring petitions."
[§ 35, L.L. No. 4-1925]
Signatures to referring petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but all such papers respecting the same ordinance shall be uniform and each shall contain:
A. 
A descriptive title, which need not be the legal title, of the ordinance or the part of an ordinance to be referred to the electors.
B. 
A request that the Council adopt the necessary resolution referring said ordinance or part of an ordinance to the electors in accordance with the provisions of this local law.
C. 
The signatures and addresses of not fewer than 10% of the voters who registered for the last preceding general election. Each separate paper of a referring petition shall be signed and attested and the completed petition shall be assembled and filed as provided in this local law for initiating petitions.
[§ 36, L.L. No. 4-1925; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006; § 4, L.L. No. 10-2009]
The City Clerk shall examine any referring petition filed with him or her and shall transmit to the Council, at a regular meeting held not later than 20 days from the date of the filing of the petition, a certificate that he or she has examined the petition and has found that it complies or does not comply, as the case may be, with all the requirements of the preceding section. If the petition has been found sufficient, the Council at the same meeting, shall provide for the submission of the ordinance to the electors at the next general election occurring not less than 15 days after the date of the said meeting. The referred ordinance shall be suspended in its operation from the date of the Clerk's certification to the Council that a sufficient, referring not more than 10 nor less than three days before the election there on, shall publish in an official newspaper the complete text of the referred ordinance and the title by which it will be designated on the ballot. Such title and such ballot shall conform with the requirements for the title and ballots of initiated ordinances. If a majority of the votes cast are "For the ordinance" the ordinance shall be considered sustained. If a majority of the votes cast are "Against the ordinance" the ordinance shall be considered repealed. If so repealed all rights and privileges conferred by the said ordinance shall be null and void but any such ordinance so repealed shall be deemed sufficient authority for any payments made or expense incurred by the City in accordance therewith prior to the date of the Clerk's certification to the Council that a sufficient referring petition has been filed. The Council may require that the referred ordinance be voted upon at a special election held not earlier than 45 days after the receipt of the referring petition by the City Clerk. All such special elections shall be held in accordance with a local law governing the same.
[§ 37, L.L. No. 4-1925; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006]
The term of office of any Councilmember may be terminated by a vote of the electors at the general municipal election succeeding his or her election. Such removal of a Councilmember prior to the expiration of his or her term shall be designated "the recall;" elections held for this purpose shall be designated "recall elections;" and petitions initiating such an election shall be designated "recall petitions."
[1]
Editor's Note: See MacFarline v. O'Leary (1935) 245 A.D. 164, 281 N.Y.S. 112, affirmed without opinion in 268 N.Y. 605, 198 N.E. 426, wherein the Court said:
"Since Sections 1 to 20 (constituting Article 1) of the local law have been declared invalid (Bareham v. City of Rochester, 246 N.Y. 140, 158 N.E. 51, 55), Sections 37 to 41 fail of means of execution. The recall election cannot be 'held in accordance with the provisions of Article I of this local law' (to use the language of Section 40) for the reason that Article I has been annulled by the decision in the Bareham Case; and such election cannot be held in accordance with the General Election Law, because such law makes no provision for placing upon the ballot the name of any candidate not nominated by a political party or by independent nomination.
"Furthermore, we think that appellant takes too narrow a view of what was decided in the Bareham Case. To be sure, the Court of Appeals, in its opinion, speaks of Sections 1 to 20 of the local law as the sections particularly condemned, for those are the sections that provide for the nomination and election of councilmen, but the opinion, as well us the judgment following the Court of Appeals' decision, states 'the local law to be invalid insofar as it supersedes the provisions of the Election Law,' etc., and does not confine the decision of invalidity merely to Sections 1 to 20. Section 40 supersedes the Election Law and likewise falls under the condemnation of the decision in the Bareham Case."
[§ 38, L.L. No. 4-1925; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006]
Signatures to recall petitions need not all be appended to one paper but all such papers for the recall of the same Councilmember shall be uniform and each shall contain:
A. 
The name of the Councilmember it is proposed to recall.
B. 
A brief statement of the reasons for the recall.
C. 
The signatures and addresses of electors as hereinafter required. Where the recall of a District Councilmember is sought, the petition to be sufficient, must be signed by not less than 15% of the electors who registered for the last preceding general election in that district. Where the recall of a Councilmember-at-large is sought the petition, to be sufficient, must be signed by not less than 15% of the electors who registered for the last preceding general election in the City. Each separate paper of a recall petition shall be signed and attested and the completed petition shall be assembled and filed as provided for initiating petitions. Recall petitions shall be filed not later than 5:00 in the afternoon of the eighth Tuesday preceding the primary election in an odd-numbered year. Separate recall petitions shall be filed for each Councilmember whose removal is sought.
[§ 39, L.L. No. 4-1925; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006]
The City Clerk shall examine any recall petition filed with him or her and certify to the Council, at a regular meeting held not later than 15 days from the date of the filing of the petition, that he or she has examined the petition and has found that it complies or does not comply, as the case may be, with the requirements of the preceding section. If the petition complies with the requirements aforesaid, the Clerk, on or before the sixth Tuesday preceding the primary election, shall so certify to the Board of Elections.
[§ 40, L.L. No. 4-1925; L.L. No. 4-1965; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006]
The effect of the filing of a sufficient recall petition is to require the name of the Councilmember, whose recall is sought, to be placed on the ballot at the following general municipal election. A candidate to oppose such Councilmember shall be selected at the primarily election preceding the general municipal election. In case the Councilmember whose recall is sought shall, prior to the primary election, file with the Board of Elections a notice that he or she declines to be a candidate at the recall election, the names of the two candidates receiving the highest vote at the primary election shall be placed on the ballot.
[§ 41, L.L. No. 4-1925; § 1, L.L. No. 1-2006]
At a recall election, the Councilmember whose recall is sought shall have the status of a new candidate. The candidate elected at any recall election shall take office on the first day of January following and shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term.