The qualified voters of the City shall have the power, subject to the procedures and limitations set forth herein, to propose the initiation of ordinances or the repeal of ordinances previously enacted by the Council. The Council shall give consideration to any matters brought to its attention by the process of initiative, and if the Council should fail to act affirmatively in response to such petition, the action desired by the petitioners shall be submitted to referendum of the qualified voters of the city under procedures set forth in this article.
Initiative and referendum may not be used to:
A. 
Alter ordinances enacting or amending the annual operating and capital budgets of the City; however, such action may be taken with respect to any ordinance authorizing the establishment of specific programs and projects.
B. 
Alter the salaries of City officials and employees.
C. 
Alter or rescind any ordinance providing for the levy and collection of taxes, special assessments, service charges, fees, rates or other charges for City services.
D. 
Alter more than one (1) subject matter per initiative; the subject shall be clearly contained in the title of the initiative.
All petition papers for the purpose of initiating or repealing an ordinance shall:
(1) 
Bear in ink the signature, addresses and date of signing of at least One Thousand (1,000) registered voters of the City.
(2) 
Contain the names and addresses of at least three (3) voters designated as the Committee of Petitioners and the person designated as Chairperson of the Committee.
(3) 
In the case of initiating an ordinance, identify the title, date and a summation of the significant substance of the ordinance proposed.
(4) 
Contain on each page an affidavit executed by the circulator of the petition that all signatures thereon are genuine and were affixed in the presence of the circulator on the date indicated only after the signer had an opportunity to read the full text prior to signing.
(5) 
Be circulated and signed within a period of forty-five (45) days between the date of the first signature and the date at which the petition papers are submitted to the City Clerk as provided herein.
(6) 
Be submitted to the City Clerk, who shall take the action specified in this Charter.
If the petition calls for the repeal of an ordinance which was not in effect at the time the petition was filed with the City Clerk, the effective date of the ordinance will be suspended until a final decision has been made on the petition. If the ordinance was in effect at the time the petition was filed with the City Clerk, the ordinance will remain in effect until repealed by the Council or by referendum.
Upon receipt of a petition to initiate or repeal an ordinance, the City Clerk must take the following action:
(1) 
Within twenty (20) days of receiving the petition, the City Clerk shall examine the petition for compliance with the provisions of this Charter with respect to the form and sufficiency of signatures and shall advise the Chairperson of the Committee of Petitioners by registered mail of the results of such examination.
(2) 
If the purpose of the petition is to initiate an ordinance, the City Clerk shall immediately refer a copy of the ordinance to the City Solicitor, who shall, within five (5) days, certify to the City Clerk whether or not the proposed ordinance is lawful under general law or this Charter and whether or not the proposed ordinance is in proper form or can be so written without changing the substance. If the Solicitor considers the proposed ordinance to be lawful but defective in form, the Solicitor shall provide a draft in proper form. The City Clerk shall report the findings of the Solicitor in the report to the Chairperson of the Committee of Petitioners.
(3) 
Within ten (10) days of receiving the response of the City Clerk, the Chairperson of the Committee of Petitioners may notify the City Clerk of the Committee's acceptance of the report and the revised draft, if any, of the ordinance and shall remedy any minor procedural deficiencies, if any, cited by the City Clerk in the report to the Committee. Otherwise, the matter will be considered to be abandoned, and any further action must be initiated by a new petition.
(4) 
If the City Clerk finds the petition to be sufficient, the City Clerk should, within twenty (20) days after receipt, place the proposed ordinance on the agenda for consideration at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Council which shall occur at least seven (7) days after advertisement as provided herein.
(5) 
The City Clerk shall advertise the proposed ordinance in the same manner as an ordinance initially approved by the Council as stated in this Charter.
Unless the petition is rescinded by action of the Committee of Petitioners as provided in this article, the Council must accept or reject the proposed ordinance or repeal of an ordinance at the advertised meeting. No amendments may be made which materially change the substance or effect of the proposed ordinance.
If within sixty (60) days of submission of the petition to the City Clerk the Council shall fail to adopt the proposed ordinance or repeal of an ordinance without any change in substance, the Chairperson may, within ten (10) days, request the City Clerk to file the petition with the election officers of Blair County and request that the proposed ordinance or repeal of an ordinance be submitted for referendum to the voters of the City at the next election, municipal, general or primary, which shall occur not less than sixty (60) days from the date of certification of the petition to the county election officers. The City Clerk must file the petition within ten (10) days of being notified, in writing, by the Chairperson of the Committee of Petitioners. Prior to the election, the proposed ordinance or description of the ordinance to be repealed shall be published as required by the Pennsylvania Election Code. See 25 P.S. § 2600 et seq. No referendum shall be taken under this article other than at the time of a regularly scheduled election.
If a proposed ordinance or repeal of an ordinance is rejected in the referendum, no further action may be initiated by petition of the same subject within five (5) years from the date of the election at which the proposal was defeated. However, the Council will retain the option of adopting a similar ordinance or repealing previous ordinances at its discretion. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question favor the adoption of a proposed ordinance or repeal of an ordinance previously enacted, the new ordinance shall become effective or the repealed ordinance shall become void upon certification of the election results. The City Clerk shall add new ordinances to or delete repealed ordinances from the record book and the Code of Ordinances. The Council shall take no action to repeal or significantly modify an ordinance adopted by initiative and referendum within a period of two (2) years from the date of the election at which the ordinance was approved.
Before final action is taken by the Council or by the County Election Officers, if the matter has been certified to them for referendum, the Committee of Petitioners may, by majority vote of its members, elect to rescind the petition and thereupon notify, in writing, the City Clerk and, if necessary, the County Election Officers of such decision. If such action is taken, the matter will be closed and any further action may be taken only by a new petition.