The electors shall have power to propose any ordinance except an ordinance, in whole or in part, that pertains to appropriating money, the levy of taxes, bonds, State designated municipal governmental functions, or in conflict with Texas or United States law or this Charter, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative. Any initiative ordinance may be submitted to the council by a petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least ten percent (10%) of the then registered voters residing in the city.
(Ordinance 3565, sec. 2, adopted 2/8/82; Amnd. by 5/7/05 election, proposition no. 1)
The electors shall have power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the council, or submitted by the council to a vote of the electors, such power being known as the referendum, except ordinances, in whole or in part, that pertain to appropriating money, bonds, the levy of taxes, State designated governmental functions, or in conflict with Texas or United States law or this Charter. Ordinances submitted to the council by initiative petition and passed by the council without change shall be subject to a referendum. A petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least ten percent (10%) of the then registered voters residing in the city may be filed with the director of public records requesting that any such ordinance be either enacted or submitted to a vote of the electors.
(Ordinance 3565, sec. 2, adopted 2/8/82; Amnd. by 5/7/05 election, proposition no. 2)
Special elections on initiated or referred ordinances shall not be held more frequently than once each year on the uniform election day in November, and no other ordinance on the same subject as an initiated ordinance which has been defeated or on the same subject as a referred ordinance which has been approved at any election may be initiated by the voters within two (2) years from the date of such election.
(Ordinance 3048, sec. 2(30), adopted 4/5/75; Ordinance 4745, sec. 2, adopted 3/8/99; Amnd. by 5/7/05 election, proposition no. 6; Sec. 3 amnd. by amendment 1 approved at an election held November 2, 2010 and certified by Resolution 5535 adopted 11/15/10)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate petition there shall be attached a statement of the circulator thereof as provided by this section. Each signer of any petition paper shall sign his or her name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall indicate after his or her name his or her place of residence by street or number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. There shall appear on each petition the names and addresses of five (5) electors who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition. Attached to each separate petition paper there shall be an affidavit of the circulator thereof that he or she only personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures, that all signatures appended thereto were made in his or her presence, and that he or she believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
All petition papers comprising an initiative or referendum petition shall be assembled and filed with the director of public records as one instrument. Within ten (10) days after the petition is filed, the director of public records shall determine whether each paper of the petition has a proper statement of the circulator, and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified electors. The director of public records shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which does not have attached thereto an affidavit signed by the circulator thereof. If a petition paper is found to be signed by more persons than the number of signatures certified by the circulator, the last signatures in excess of the number certified shall not be disregarded. If a petition paper is found to be signed by fewer persons than the number certified, the signatures shall be accepted unless void on other grounds. After completing his or her examination of the petition, if the director of public records certifies that the petition is insufficient, the director shall set forth in his or her certificate the particulars in which it is defective, and shall at once notify the petitioners of his or her findings. The director of public records shall then notify the council of the results of his or her examination at its next regular meeting.
An initiative or referendum petition may be amended at any time within ten (10) days after the notification of insufficiency has been sent by the director of public records, by filing of supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The director of public records shall, within five (5) days after such an amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition, and, if the petition be still insufficient, he or she shall file his or her certificate to that effect in his or her office, and shall notify the committee of petitioners of his or her findings, and no further action shall be had on such insufficient petition. The finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
When a referendum petition or amended petition as defined above has been certified as sufficient by the director of public records, the ordinance specified in the petition shall not go into effect, or further action thereunder shall be suspended if it shall have gone into effect, until and unless approved by the electors, as hereinafter provided.
Whenever the city council receives a certified initiative or referendum petition from the director of public records, it shall proceed at once to consider such petition. A proposed initiative ordinance shall be read, and provisions shall be made for a public hearing upon the proposed ordinance. The council shall take final action on the ordinance not later than sixty (60) days after the date on which such ordinance was submitted to the council by the director of public records. A referred ordinance shall be reconsidered by the council, and its final vote upon such reconsideration shall be upon the question "Shall the ordinance specified in the referendum petition be repealed?"
If the city council shall fail to pass an ordinance proposed by the initiative petition, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, or if the council fails to repeal a referred ordinance, the proposed or referred ordinance shall be submitted to the electors not less than thirty (30) days nor more than sixty (60) days from the date the council takes its final vote thereon. The council may, in its discretion, and if no regular election is to be held within such period, provide for a special election.
Ordinances submitted to a vote of the electors in accordance with the initiative and referendum provisions of this charter shall be submitted by ballot title, which shall be prepared in all cases by the city attorney. The ballot title may be different from the legal title of any such initiated or referred ordinance, and shall be a clear, concise statement, without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of such ordinance; if a paper ballot, it shall have below the ballot title the following propositions, one above the other in the order indicated: "For the Ordinance," and "Against the Ordinance". Any number of ordinances may be voted on at the same election, and may be submitted on the same ballot, but any paper ballot used for voting shall be for that purpose only. If voting machines are used, the ballot title of any ordinance shall have below it the same two (2) propositions, one above the other, or one preceding the other in the order indicated, and the elector shall be given an opportunity to vote for either of the two (2) propositions and thereby to vote for or against the ordinance.
When a referendum petition is filed with the director of public records, the ordinance sought to be reconsidered shall be suspended from taking effect. Such suspension shall terminate when:
(a) 
There is a final determination of insufficiency of the petition, or
(b) 
The petitioners' committee withdraws the petition, or
(c) 
The council repeals the ordinance, or
(d) 
Thirty (30) days have elapsed after a vote of the city on the ordinance.
If a majority of the electors voting on a proposed initiative or referendum ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon be an ordinance of the city. An initiative or referendum ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon shall thereupon be deemed repealed. If conflicting ordinances are approved by the electors at the same election, the one receiving the greater number of affirmative votes shall prevail.
Initiative and referendum ordinances adopted or approved by the electors shall be published in the manner prescribed for other ordinances and may be amended or repealed only in the same manner in which passed.
(Ordinance 3048, sec. 2(30), adopted 4/5/75; Ordinance 4745, sec. 2, adopted 3/8/99)
(a) 
The people of the city reserve the power to recall any elected officer of the city and may exercise such power by filing with the director of public records a petition signed by qualified voters of the city equal in number to at least ten percent (10%) of the then registered voters residing in the city demanding the removal of such elected officer. If the petition is certified by the director of public records to be sufficient, the council shall order and hold an election to determine whether such officer shall be recalled and, if the majority of the legal votes are cast for a recall of the officer named on the ballot, the council shall immediately declare his or her office vacant, and such vacancy shall be filled forthwith in accordance with the provisions of this charter. An officer thus removed shall not be eligible to hold a city office again within a period of four (4) years from the date of his or her recall.
Any member of the city council, including the mayor, may be removed from office by recall.
(b) 
A citizen or citizens group seeking to recall any elected officer of the city shall obtain a recall petition from the director of public records, who shall number and date the same and note to whom the petition has been issued. A separate petition shall be required for each elected officer sought to be removed from office by recall.
The signatures to a recall petition need not all be appended to one paper, but to each page there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof that states that he or she only personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures, that all signatures appended thereto were made in his or her presence, that the signers were fully appraised [apprised] of the purpose for which their signatures were being sought, and that he or she believes them to be genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
Each signer of any recall petition paper shall sign his or her name in ink or indelible pencil as his or her name appears on the voter registration card. Each signer shall, after his or her name, list his or her precinct number and voter registration number after listing the place of residence and shall then place the date of signing thereon.
(c) 
All papers comprising a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the director of public records as one instrument by the citizen or citizens' group to whom the petition has been issued as provided herein. The director of public records shall not receive any petition sought to be filed more than thirty (30) days from the date of issuance.
In the event any petition seeking the recall of any elected official be damaged, misplaced or destroyed, the director of public records shall, upon notification by the circulator thereof, issue a duplicate petition which shall bear the same date as the original.
(d) 
A signature to a recall petition may be withdrawn at the request of the signer. The withdrawal request must be in writing, signed, and acknowledged by the signer of the petition and filed with the director of public records. Such request to withdraw must be received by the director of public records before the petition for recall is filed.
(Ordinance 3048, sec. 2(31), adopted 4/5/75; Ordinance 3565, sec. 2, adopted 2/8/82)
The officer whose removal is sought may, within five (5) days after such recall petition has been presented to the city council, request that a public hearing be held to permit him or her to present pertinent facts. In this event, the city council shall order such public hearing to be held not less than five (5) days nor more than fifteen (15) days after receiving such request for a public hearing.
The director of public records shall at once examine the recall petition and, if he or she finds it sufficient and in compliance with the provisions of this article of the charter, he or she shall within five (5) days submit it to the council with his or her certificate to that effect, and shall notify the officer sought to be recalled of such action. If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) days after such notice, the city council shall thereupon order and fix a date for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held at the earliest date authorized by the state election code after timely passage of an ordinance calling for such recall election. Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following requirements:
(a) 
With respect to each person whose removal is sought, the questions shall be submitted "Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of (Councilman or Mayor) by recall?"
(b) 
Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the two (2) following propositions, one above the other, in the order indicated:
"For the recall of (name of person)"
"Against the recall of (name of person)"
(Ordinance 3565, sec. 2, adopted 2/8/82)
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be against the recall of the officer named in the ballot, he or she shall continue in office for the remainder of his or her unexpired term, subject to recall. If a majority of the votes cast at such an election be for the recall of the officer named on the ballot, he or she shall, regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition, be deemed immediately removed from office, and the remaining city council members, regardless of their number, shall constitute a quorum until a full quorum of the city council exists. Any vacancies shall be filled by the city council as in other vacancies.
(Amnd. by 5/7/05 election, proposition no. 7)
Should the city council fail or refuse to order any of the elections as provided for in this article, when all the requirements for such election have been complied with by the petitioning electors in conformity with this article of the charter, then the city shall be responsible for all court costs and attorney's fees of the one who institutes suit to cause a writ of mandamus, mandatory injunction order, or other court order to be issued requiring the calling of the election.