Any elected city official, whether elected to office by the
qualified voters of the city or appointed by the city council to fill
a vacancy, shall be subject to recall and removal from office by the
qualified voters of the city on ground of incompetency, noncompliance
with this charter, malfeasance in office, or upon any other grounds
set forth in the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas.
Before the question of recall of such officer shall be submitted
to the qualified voters of the city, a petition demanding such question
to be so submitted shall first be filed with the person performing
the duties of city secretary. If the petition demands the recall of
either the mayor or councilman at large, said petition shall be signed
by registered and qualified voters of the city equal in number to
at least twenty-five (25) percent of the number of votes cast in the
last regular municipal election of the city, or two hundred (200),
whichever is greater. If the petition demands the recall of one or
more of the councilmen from one of the five (5) numbered council precincts,
said petition shall be signed by registered and qualified voters of
the council precinct from which the councilman was elected, equal
in number to at lest twenty-five (25) percent of the number of votes
cast in said precinct in the last regular municipal election of the
city or seventy-five (75), whichever is greater. Each signer of such
recall petition shall personally sign his or her own name thereto
in ink or indelible pencil followed by his place of residence, giving
name of street and number, or place of residence, and the day, the
month and year the signature was affixed.
(Ordinance 85-13, § 4, 4-16-85)
Any registered voter of the city may make and file with the person performing the duties of city secretary an affidavit containing the name or names of the officers whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal. The city secretary shall immediately notify in writing the officers sought to be removed that the affidavit has been filed and shall inform the officers of its statement of grounds. The city secretary shall within a period of two (2) working days from the time the affidavit was filed thereupon deliver to the registered voters making such affidavit copies of petition blanks demanding such removal. The city secretary shall keep a sufficient number of such printed petition blanks on hand for distribution. Such blanks when issued by the city secretary shall bear the signature of the city secretary and be of such form as prescribed in Section 6.04 of this article, and shall be numbered, dated and indicate the name of the person to whom issued. The city secretary shall enter in a record to be kept in his or her office the name of the registered voters to whom the petition blanks were issued and the number issued.
The recall petition mentioned above must be addressed to the
city council of the City of Hillsboro, must distinctly and specially
state the grounds upon which such petition for removal is predicated,
and, if there be more than one ground, such as for incompetency, noncompetence
with this charter, misconduct or malfeasance in office, shall specifically
state each ground with such certainty as to give the officer sought
to be removed notice of such matters and things with which the officer
is charged. Recall petition papers provided by the person performing
the duties of city secretary shall be in form substantially as follows:
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"We the undersigned registered voters of the City of Hillsboro
hereby demand the question of removing (name of person) from the office
of (name of office) be submitted to a vote of the registered voters
of the city. The charges and specifications upon which this demand
for removal is predicated are as follows:
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NAME ADDRESS DATE
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The signatures shall be verified by oath in the following form:
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STATE OF TEXAS
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COUNTY OF HILL
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I, _____, being first duly sworn, on oath depose and say that
I am one of the signers of the above petition; and that the statements
made therein are true; and that each signature appearing thereto was
made in my presence on the day and date it purports to have been made,
and I solemnly swear that the same is the genuine signature of the
persons whose name it purports to be.
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Sworn and subscribed to before me this _____day of _____, 20
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Notary Public, Hill County, Texas"
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(a)
The
petition may consist of one or more copies, or subscription list,
circulated separately and the signatures thereto may be upon the paper
or papers containing the form of petition, or upon other papers attached
thereto. Verifications provided for in the next preceding section
of this article may be made by one or more petitioners, and the several
parts or copies of the petition may be filed separately and by different
persons; but no signatures to such petition shall remain effective
or be counted which were placed thereon more than forty-five (45)
days prior to the filing of such original petition or petitions with
the person performing the duties of city secretary on the same day,
and the said secretary shall immediately notify in writing by registered
mail the officer so sought to be removed, by mailing such notice to
the officer's Hillsboro address.
The person performing the duties of city secretary shall present
such certified petition to the city council at the next regular council
meeting.
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 before the city council to permit
the officer to present facts pertinent to the charges specified in
the recall petition. 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.
Reasonable notice of the public hearing shall be afforded to
the officer whose removal is sought.
If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign, then
it shall become the duty of the city council to order an election
and fix a date for holding such recall election, the date of which
election shall be on the date of the annual regular election or under
a date specified for special elections in the Texas Election Code,
as amended, whichever is earlier, but the date of said election shall
not be less than twenty-five (25) days from the date such petition
was presented to the city council, or from the date of the public
hearing, if one was held.
Ballots used at recall elections shall, subject to the requirements
of the Texas Election Code, as amended, conform to the following:
(a)
With
respect to each person whose removal is sought, the question shall
be submitted: "Shall (name of person) be removed from the office (name
of office) by recall?"
(b)
Immediately
below each such question there shall be printed the two (2) following
propositions, one above the other, in order indicated:
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"FOR the removal of _____ by recall."
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"AGAINST the removal of _____ by recall."
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If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be
against the recall of the person named on the ballot, that person
shall continue in office for the remainder of the unexpired term,
subject to recall as before. If a majority of the votes cast at such
an election be for the recall of the person named on the ballot, the
person shall, regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition,
be deemed removed from office and the vacancy shall be filled as vacancies
in the city council are filled.
In no instance shall an officer(s) removed from office by recall
election succeed himself or herself, nor shall his or her names appear
on a ballot for elective office of the City of Hillsboro within a
period of two (2) years following the date of the election at which
the officer or officers were removed from office.
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the
City of Hillsboro within three (3) months after his election or appointment,
or within three (3) months after an election for such officer's recall.
No recall election shall be called if the term of office of the officer
being recalled expires on the next date authorized hereunder or by
law for such election.
In cases where all of the requirements of this charter shall
have been met and the city council shall fail or refuse to receive
the recall petition, or order such recall election, or discharge any
other duties imposed upon said city council by the provisions of this
charter with reference to such recall, then the district judge of
Hill County, Texas, shall discharge any such duties herein provided
to be discharged by the person performing the duties of city secretary
or by the city council.
