The mayor or any other member of the city council may be removed from office in the following manner:
Any qualified voter of the city may make and file with the city clerk an affidavit containing the name of any member of the city council whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal, provided only qualified voters within a council district may make and file an affidavit for recall for that council position.
The city clerk shall thereupon deliver to the qualified voter making such affidavit copies of petition blanks for demanding such a removal, printed forms of which he shall keep on hand.
Such blanks shall be issued by the city clerk with his signature thereto attached, and they shall be dated, addressed to the city council, indicate the person to whom issued, and state the name of the member whose removal is sought.
A copy of the petition shall be maintained in the office of the city clerk in accordance with state law.
A recall petition to be effective must be returned and filed with the city clerk within thirty (30) days after the filing of the affidavit, and must bear the signatures of registered voters of the city equal in number to at least five (5%) percent of the registered voters at the date of the last regular municipal election for that position, whether opposed or unopposed. Only registered voters within a council district may sign a recall petition for that council position.
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)
Signatures to a recall petition need not be appended to one paper, but to each such petition paper there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, stating that each signature thereto was made in his presence and is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
Each signer of a recall petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall comply with any other applicable requirements prescribed by law.
Recall petition papers provided by the city clerk shall be in form substantially as follows:
TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILORS OF THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS, TEXAS:
I, _____, City Clerk of the City of Wichita Falls, did hereby issue upon request to this blank form for a recall petition for the removal of _____ from the office of _____, Wichita Falls City Council.
Dated: ____________________
Signed: __________________________ City Clerk
RECALL PETITION
TO THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCILORS:
We, the undersigned electors of the City of Wichita Falls, hereby demand that the question of removing _____ from the city council be submitted to a vote of the electors.
Grounds for Removal: ____________________________________
VOTER’S PRINTED NAME
SIGNATURE
RESIDENCE ADDRESS
D.O.B.
V.R.#
DATE SIGNED
STATE OF TEXAS               )
Sec.
COUNTY OF WICHITA         )
Sec.
_____, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he/she is the circulator of the foregoing petition paper, and that the signatures appended thereto were made in his/her presence, and are the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
__________________________
Signed
Subscribed and sworn to before me this _____ day of _____ 20_____.
__________________________
Notary Public
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)
All papers and affidavits comprising a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the city clerk as one instrument, with a statement attached thereto giving the names and addresses of three (3) electors, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be officially regarded as filing the petition. Within thirty (30) days of the date of filing a recall petition, the city clerk shall determine the sufficiency thereof and attach thereto a certificate showing the result of his examination. If the city clerk shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the committee of the petitioners of his finding.
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)
A recall petition may be amended at any time within twenty (20) days after the making of the certificate of insufficiency by the city clerk, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers issued, signed and filed as provided herein for an original petition.
The city clerk shall, within thirty (30) days after such an amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition and, if his certificate shall show the petition still to be insufficient, he shall file the petition in his office and notify the committee of the petitioners of his finding. The finding of the insufficiency of a recall petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)
If a recall petition or amended petition shall be certified by the city clerk to be sufficient, he shall at once submit it to the city council with his certificate to that effect, and shall notify the member whose removal is sought of such action.
If the member whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) days after such notice, the city council shall thereupon order and fix a day for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held at the next uniform election day as specified by state law.
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)
The question of recalling any number of members of the city council may be submitted at the same election, but as to each member whose removal is sought a separate petition shall be filed and there shall be an entirely separate ballot.
The ballots used in a recall election shall submit the two following propositions in the order indicated:
“For the recall of (name of mayor or councilor).”
“Against the recall of (name of mayor or councilor).”
Except as provided in this section, ballots used in a recall election shall comply with the provisions of this Charter regarding ballots for a regular municipal election.
If a majority of the votes cast on the question of recalling the mayor or a councilor be against his recall he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term. If a majority of such votes be for the recall of the officer designated on the ballot he shall, regardless of any defects in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office. When the mayor or a councilor is removed from office by the recall, the place thus made vacant shall be filled as hereinbefore provided for filling vacancies arising from other causes.
(Ordinance 34-2020, sec. 4(Meas. 3), adopted 6/16/20, ref. 11/3/20)
If the mayor or a councilor in regard to whom sufficient recall petition is submitted to the city council shall resign within five (5) days after notice thereof, the place thus made vacant on the city council shall be filled as set out by section 23 of the Charter.
(Ordinance 35-2020, sec. 1(Meas. 9), adopted 6/16/20, ref. 11/3/20)
No recall petition shall be filed against the mayor or a councilor within three (3) months after he takes office. A mayor or councilor may be subject to only one recall election during a term of office.
(Ordinance 14-2006, sec. 2, adopted 2/21/06, ref. 5/13/06)