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 the office
by the qualified voters of the City.
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 the City Secretary; which said petition shall be signed
by qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least twenty
percent (20%) of the number of qualified voters as currently certified
to by the County Elections Administrator. Such petition shall contain
a general statement of the grounds for which the removal is sought.
A signature on a petition for recall is valid only if the petition
includes the following information with respect to each signer:
a)
the signer’s
residence address, including the county;
b)
the signer’s
date of birth or the signer’s voter registration number;
c)
the date
of signing; and
d)
the signer’s
printed name.
When filed, each paper of a petition shall have attached to
it an affidavit executed by the circulator thereof stating that he
or she personally circulated the paper, the number of signatures thereon,
that all the signatures were affixed in the circulator’s presence,
that the circulator believes them to be the genuine signatures of
the persons whose names they purport to be, and that the purpose of
the petition was explained to each signer.
(Amended May 6, 2017; Amended May 1, 2021)
Any qualified voters 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 officer(s) whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal. The City Secretary shall immediately notify in writing the officer(s) sought to be removed that the affidavit has been filed and shall inform the officer(s) 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 make available to the qualified 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 qualified voters to whom the petition blanks were issued and the number to said person.
The recall petition mentioned above must be addressed to the
City Council of the City of Hutto, must distinctly and specifically
state the ground(s) upon which such petition for removal is predicated,
and, if there be more than one ground, such as for violation of the
ethics ordinance, noncompliance with this Charter, misconduct or indictment
for crimes of moral turpitude 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 he or she is
charged. Each petition shall be in the form and validated in the manner
prescribed by state law for a petition to initiate a charter amendment.
(Amended May 1, 2021)
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 such
officer’s address.
The person performing the duties of City Secretary shall present
such certified petition to the City Council at the next regular City
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 to permit such 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.
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 in accordance with the applicable state law.
(Amended May 6, 2017)
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following
requirements:
a)
With respect
to each person whose removal is sought, the question 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 two following
propositions, one above the other, in order indicated:
“FOR”
“AGAINST”
(Amended May 6, 2017)
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be
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 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 shall be filled as vacancies
in the City Council are filled.
In no instance shall an officer removed from office by recall
election succeed himself or herself, or be appointed to board or commission
of the City, nor shall such officer’s name appear on a ballot
for elective office of the City within a period of five (5) years
following the date of the election at which such officer was removed
from office.
(Amended May 1, 2021)
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the
City within one-hundred eighty days (180) days after such officer’s
election or appointment, nor within one-hundred eighty (180) days
after an election for such officer’s recall.
In case 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 to order such recall election, or to discharge any other
duties imposed upon said City Council by the provisions of this Charter
with reference to such recall, then the County Judge of Williamson
County, Texas, or other judge of competent jurisdiction shall discharge
any such duties herein provided to be discharged by the person performing
the duties of City Secretary or by the City Council.
