The electors shall have power to propose any ordinance which is legislative in character, such power to be known as the initiative, but such power may not be exercised to (i) appropriate or budget money, (ii) authorize the issuance of general or special obligations of the city payable from taxation or the revenues of a revenue producing facility, (iii) levy taxes, or (iv) establish rates and charges for the use of services supplied by the city. 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 twenty-five percent (25%) of the number of votes cast at the last regular municipal election; provided, however, in any event the number of signatures shall not be less than three hundred (300).
(Prop. No. 8, 1992)
The electors shall have the 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, but such power may not be exercised with respect to ordinances which (i) appropriate or budget money, (ii) authorize the issuance of general or special obligations for the city payable from taxation or the revenues for the revenue producing facility, (iii) levy taxes, or (iv) establish rates and charges for the use of services supplied by the city. Ordinances submitted to the Council by initiative petition and passed by the Council without change shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. Within six months (180 days) after the enactment by the City Council of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to vote of the electors may be filed with the City Secretary. Such petition must be signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least twenty-five percent (25%) of the number of votes cast at the last preceding regular municipal election; provided, however, in any event the number or signatures shall not be less than three hundred (300).
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. No. 19, 2013)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. For a petition to be valid, a petition must (1) contain in addition to the signature: a) the signer’s printed name; b) the signer’s voter registration number; c) the signer’s residence address; and d) the date of signing; and (2) comply with any other applicable requirements prescribed by law. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one (1) 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 and 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, and 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.
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. No. 2, 2000)
All petition papers comprising an initiative or referendum petition shall be assembled and filed with the City Secretary as one (1) instrument. Within twenty (20) working/business days after the petition is filed, the City Secretary shall determine whether the petition contains the requisite number of valid signatures and is in compliance with Section 101. If a petition paper is found to be signed by fewer persons than the number required, the signatures shall be accepted unless void on other grounds. After completing his or her examination of the petition, the City Secretary shall verify the result thereof to the Council at its next regular meeting. If he or she shall certify that the petition is insufficient he or she shall set forth in his or her certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the person or persons who submitted the petition of his or her findings.
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. Nos. 2, 24, 2000)
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 City Secretary, by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers signed and filed as provided in case of an original petition. The City Secretary shall, within five (5) working/business 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 notify the person or persons who submitted the petition 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.
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. Nos. 2, 25, 2000)
When a referendum petition, or amended petition as defined in Section 103 of this article, has been certified as sufficient by the City Secretary, 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 Council receives a certified initiative or referendum petition from the City Secretary, it shall proceed at once to consider such petition. A proposed initiative ordinance shall be read and provision 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 City Secretary. 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 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 on the next succeeding uniform election date authorized by state law.
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. No. 11, 2000)
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. A paper ballot shall include, below the ballot title, one (1) above the other in the order indicated, the following propositions: “For," and "Against." 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 thereon 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 (1) above the other or one (1) 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.
(Prop. F, 2018)
If a majority of the electors voting on a proposed initiative ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon be an ordinance of the city. A referred ordinance which is not approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon shall thereupon be deemed repealed. If the conflicting ordinances are approved by the electors at the same election, the one (1) receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
Initiative and referendum ordinances adopted or approved by the electors shall be published, and may be amended or repealed by the Council, as in the case of other ordinances.
Any elected city official shall be subject to recall and removal from office by the qualified voters of the city on grounds of incompetence, misconduct or malfeasance in office.
(Prop. No. 11, 1984)
Before the question of recall of an elected officer shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the city, a petition demanding the question to be so submitted shall first be filed with the City Secretary. The petition shall be signed by qualified voters of the city equal in number to fifty-one percent (51%) of the number of votes cast at the last regular municipal election of the city, or seven hundred (700) petitioners, whichever is greater. Each signer of the recall petition shall personally sign his or her name legible in ink or indelible pencil, and shall write after his or her name, his or her place of residence, and shall also write the day, the month, and year his or her signature was affixed.
The recall petition must be addressed to the City Council of the City of Greenville, must distinctly and specifically point out the ground or grounds upon which the petition for removal is predicated, and if there is more than one ground for removal, the petition shall specifically state each ground clearly. The signature of the person presenting the petition to the City Secretary shall be verified by oath in the following form:
THE STATE OF
},
TEXAS
 
COUNTY OF HUNT
}
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 thereon 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 person whose name it purports to be.
Sworn and subscribed to before me this _____ day of __________, 20
Notary Public in and for the State of Texas
The petition may consist of one (1) or more copies circulated separately, and the signatures thereon must be upon the paper or papers containing the form of petition. Verifications may be made by one (1) or more petitioners, and several parts of copies of the petition may be filed separately and by different persons; any signatures placed on the petition more than thirty (30) days prior to the filing of such petition shall be ineffective and not be counted. All papers comprising a recall petition shall be filed with the City Secretary on the same day, and the City Secretary shall immediately notify, in writing, the officer sought to be removed, by mailing notice to his or her residence address.
Within ten (10) days after the date of the filing of the papers constituting the recall petition, the City Secretary shall present the petition to the City Council of the City of Greenville.
(Prop. No. 11, 1984; Prop. No. 2, 2000)
The officer whose removal is sought may, within five (5) working/business days after the recall petition has been presented to the City Council, request that a public hearing be held to permit him or her to present facts pertinent to the charges specified in the recall petition. In this event, the City Council shall order the public hearing to be held, not less than five (5) working/business days nor more than fifteen (15) days after receiving the request for a public hearing.
(Prop. No. 11, 1984; Prop. Nos. 2, 27, 2000)
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 a recall election, the election shall be held on the next succeeding uniform election date authorized by state law for which the required notice of election may be given.
(Prop. No. 8, 1992; Prop. No. 12, 2000)
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 (name of office) by recall?"
(b) 
Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the following words, one above the other, in the order indicated:
"YES"
"NO"
(Prop. No. 11, 1984)
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be "No," that is, against the recall of the person named on the ballot, he or she shall continue in office for the remainder of his or her unexpired term, subject to recall as before. If a majority of the votes cast at such an election be "Yes," that is, for the recall of the person named on the ballot, he or she shall, regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office and the vacancy will be filled as vacancies in the City Council are filled.
(Prop. No. 11, 1984; Prop. No. 2, 2000)
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the City of Greenville within six (6) months after his or her election, nor within six (6) months after an election for such officer’s recall.
(Prop. No. 11, 1984; Prop. No. 2, 2000)
Should the City Council fail to 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 it shall be the duty of any one (1) of the district judges of Hunt County, Texas, upon proper application being made therefor, to order such elections and to enforce the carrying into effect of the provisions of this article of the charter.