Any member of the city council or the mayor may be removed from
office by a recall election held in accordance with this chapter.
(a)
Petition.
Any qualified voter of the city may make and file with the city
secretary an affidavit containing the name of the mayor or any member
of the city council whose removal is sought and a statement of the
grounds for removal. The secretary shall thereupon deliver to the
voter making such affidavit copies of petition blanks for demanding
such removal, printed forms of which he shall keep on hand. Such blanks
shall be issued by the secretary with his or her signature thereto
attached, and they shall be dated and 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 recorded
in a record book for that purpose to be kept in the office of the
secretary. A recall petition to be effective must be returned and
filed with the secretary within thirty (30) days after the filing
of the affidavit, must bear the signature of qualified voters of the
city equal in number to at least forty percent (40%) of those who
were qualified voters on the date of the last regular municipal election.
(b)
Signatures.
Signatures to a recall petition need not all 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 place after
his name the date when his signature was made and his residence by
street and number, or other description to identify the place, and
the signer’s voter registration number. Recall petition papers
provided by the city secretary shall be in form substantially as follows:
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We, the undersigned qualified voters of the City of River Oaks,
hereby demand that the question of removing __________ from the office
of __________ be submitted to a vote of the qualified voters.
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Name
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Address
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Date
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Voter Registration #
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STATE OF TEXAS
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COUNTY OF
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TARRANT
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__________, being duly sworn, deposes and says that he is the
circulator of the foregoing petition paper and that the signatures
appended thereto were made in his presence and are genuine signatures
of the persons whose names they purport to be.
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Signed __________________________________
Notary Public in and for Tarrant County, Texas
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(a)
Certification
by the city secretary.
All papers and affidavits comprising
a recall petition shall be assembled and filed with the secretary
as one instrument, with a statement attached thereto giving the names
and addresses of three qualified voters, who, as a committee of the
petitioners, shall be officially regarded as filing the petition.
The committee shall designate one person to be the chair and spokesperson
for the committee. Within ten (10) days after the date of filing a
recall petition, the secretary shall determine the sufficiency thereof
and attach thereto a certificate showing the result of his examination.
If he or she certifies that the petition is insufficient, the city
secretary shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in which
it is defective and shall at once notify the committee of the petitioners
of the findings.
(b)
Amendment.
A recall petition may be amended at any time within twenty (20)
days after the making of the certificate of insufficiency by the city
secretary by filing a supplementary petition upon additional papers
issued, signed and filed as provided herein for an original petition.
The secretary shall within five (5) days after such an amendment is
filed, make examination of the amended petition and, if the petition
is determined to still be insufficient, he shall file the paper 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.
(c)
Resignation
or recall of officer.
If a recall petition, or amended
petition shall be certified by the secretary to be sufficient he shall
at once submit it to the city council with his certificate to that
effect and shall notify the officer whose removal is sought of such
action. If the member whose removal is sought does not resign within
five (5) days of such notice, the city council shall, at the next
scheduled city council meeting, thereupon order and fix a date for
holding a recall election. The election shall be held on the next
authorized uniform election date in accordance with state law.
The question of any number of members of said 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 proposition.
If a majority of the votes cast on the question of recalling
the mayor or a city council member be against recall, the officer
shall continue in office for the remainder of the unexpired term,
but subject to recall as before. If a majority of such votes be for
the recall of the officer on the ballot, the officer shall, regardless
of any defects in the recall petition, be deemed immediately removed
from office, and shall not holdover in office until a successor is
duly qualified and sworn in.
Vacancies shall be filled by special election in the manner
required by law.
No recall shall be filed against the mayor or councilman within
three (3) months after he takes office, or in the case of a mayor
or council members subjected to a recall election and not removed
thereby until at least six (6) months after that election.
Should the council fail or refuse to order an election as herein
provided for the recall of any elective officer or officers when all
the requirements for such election have been complied with by the
petitioning citizens, in conformity with this chapter of the charter,
then it shall be the duty of any one of the district judges of Tarrant
County, Texas, upon proper application being made therefor, to order
such election and to enforce the carrying into effect of the provisions
of this chapter of the charter.
