The electors shall have power to propose any ordinance except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the “initiative.” 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 fifteen (15) percent of the qualified voters in the City.
(Amended by Ordinance 823 at an election held on May 15, 2017, ex. B, sec. XIII)
The electors shall have 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, except in cases of bond, warrant and note ordinances and ordinances making the annual tax levy. 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 twenty (20) days after the enactment by the Council of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition signed by qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least fifteen (15) percent of the qualified voters in the City may be filed with the City Secretary requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the electors.
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures of initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one 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) qualified voters, 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.
All petition papers comprising an initiative or referendum petition shall be assembled and filed with the City Secretary as one instrument. Within ten (10) days after the petition is filed, the City Secretary shall determine whether each paper of the petition has a proper statement of the circulator and whether the petition is signed by a sufficient number of qualified voters. The City Secretary shall declare any petition paper entirely invalid which does not have attached thereto an affidavit signed by the circulator thereof. If a petition paper is found to be signed by more persons than the number of signatures certified by the circulator the last signatures in excess of the number certified shall be disregarded. After completing his or her examination of the petition, the City Secretary shall certify 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 committee of the petitioners of his or her findings.
(Amended by Ordinance 823 at an election held on May 15, 2017, ex. B, sec. XV)
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) 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 committee of petitioners 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.
When a referendum petition, or amended petition as defined in Section 5 of this Article [XV] 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 voters, 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 thirty (30) 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 at the next authorized election date that is more than thirty (30) days after the passage by the Council.
Ordinances submitted to vote of the electors in accordance with the initiative and referendum provisions of this Charter shall be submitted by the 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, if a paper ballot, shall have below the ballot title the following propositions, one above the other in the order indicated: “For The Ordinance,” and “Against The Ordinance.” 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 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 receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
No ordinance or resolution which may have been passed by the City Council upon a petition or adopted by popular vote under the provisions of this Article [XV] shall be repealed or amended except by the City Council in response to a referendum petition or by submission to popular vote.
Qualified voters of the City may make and file with the City Secretary an affidavit containing the name or names of the officer or officers 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 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 that officer and be addressed to the City Council, and shall be numbered, dated and indicate the name of the person to whom issued. The petition blanks when issued shall also indicate the number of such blanks issued and the name of the officer whose removal is sought. The City Secretary shall enter in a record to be kept in his or her office the name of the voter to whom the petition blanks were issued and the number issued to said person.
The recall petition to be effective must be returned and filed with the City Secretary within thirty (30) days after filing of the affidavit required in Sec. 13 of this Article [XV], and it must be signed by qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least fifteen (15) percent of the total number of qualified voters. No petition papers shall be accepted as part of a petition unless it bears the signature of the City Secretary as required in Sec. 13 of this Article [XV].
(Amended by Ordinance 823 at an election held on May 15, 2017, ex. B, sec. XIV)
The City Secretary shall at once examine the recall petition, and if he or she finds it sufficient and in compliance with the provisions of this Article of the Charter, he or she shall submit it to the City Council at its next meeting with his or her certificate to that effect and notify the officer sought to be recalled of such action. If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign within five (5) days after such notice the City Council shall thereupon order and fix a date for holding a recall election. Any such election shall be held at the next authorized election date that is more than thirty (30) days after the passage by the Council.
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following requirements.
(1) 
With respect to each person whose removal is sought the question shall be submitted “Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of Councilperson (Mayor) by recall?”
(2) 
Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the two following propositions (proposition), one above the other, in the order indicated:
“For the recall of (name of person)”
“Against the recall of (name of person)”
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be against the recall of the officer 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 officer 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 in accordance with law or this Charter.
No recall petition shall be filed against a Councilperson or Mayor within ninety (90) days after he or she takes office, nor within ninety (90) days of the time his or her term will expire.
Should the City Council fail or refuse to order any of the elections as provided for in this Article [XV], when all the requirements for such election have been complied with by the petitioning qualified voters in conformity with this Article of the Charter, then it shall be the duty of the District Judge of Lee 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.