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 commission by a petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the number of votes cast at the last regular Municipal Election, or by 100 which ever [whichever] is the greater number.
The electors shall have power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the commission, or submitted by the commission to a vote of the electors, except as provided in Section 6, Article V, such power being known as the referendum. Ordinances submitted to the commission by initiative petition and passed by the commission without change shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. Within twenty days after the enactment by the commission of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the number of votes cast at the last preceding regular municipal election, but in no case by not less than 100 qualified electors, may be filed with the city secretary requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the electors.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 to 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 name in ink or indelible pencil and shall indicate after his name his 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 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, and he only, personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures, that all signatures appended thereto were made in his presence, and that he 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 twenty days after a 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 electors. 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. If a petition paper is found to be signed by fewer persons than the number certified, the signatures shall be accepted unless void on other grounds. After completing his examination of the petition, the city secretary shall certify the result thereof to the commission at its next regular meeting. If he shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in his certificate the particulars in which it is defective and shall at once notify the committee of the petitioners of his findings.
An initiative or referendum petition may be amended at any time within ten 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 days after such an amendment is filed, make examination of the amended petition and, if the petition be still insufficient, he shall file his certificate to that effect in his office and notify the committee of the petitioners of his 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, Article IX of this charter, 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 city commission 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 commission shall take final action on the ordinance not later than sixty days after the date on which such ordinance was submitted to the commission by the city secretary. A referred ordinance shall be reconsidered by the commission and its final vote upon such reconsideration shall be upon the question, “Shall the ordinance specified in the referendum petition be repealed?”
If the Commission shall fail to pass an ordinance proposed by initiative petition, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition therefor, or if the Commission fails to repeal a referred ordinance, the proposed or referred ordinance shall be submitted to the electors on the next available uniform election date for which the City may meet all statutory deadlines.
(Charter Prop. No. 15, ratified 6/7/2022)
Ordinances submitted to 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, [and] 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 voting machines are used, the ballot title of any ordinance shall have below it the same two propositions, one above the other or one preceding the other in the order indicated, and the elector shall be given an opportunity to vote for either of the two propositions and thereby to vote for or against the ordinances.
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 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. In case of a tie the city commission by ordinance shall resolve the conflict.
Initiative and referendum ordinances adopted or approved by the electors shall be published, and only after three years from the expiration of the date of their passage may they be amended or repealed by the commission.
Any elector of the City of Dumas 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 elector 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 commission, 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 office, the name of the elector 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 days after the filing of the affidavit required in Section 13, Article IX, and it must be signed by qualified electors of the city equal in number to at least fifty-one per cent (51%) of the total number of votes cast at the last general municipal election at which the mayor and two commissioners were elected; providing however, that the petition shall contain the signatures of at least seven hundred (700) qualified electors of the city, and shall conform to the provisions of Section 3, Article IX herein. No petition papers shall be accepted as part of a petition unless it bears the signature of the city secretary as required in Section 13, Article IX herein.
The City Secretary shall at once examine the recall petition and if he finds it sufficient and in compliance with the provisions of this article of the charter, he shall within five days submit it to the City Commission with his 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 with [within] five days after such notice the City Commission shall thereupon order and fix a date for holding a recall election on the next available uniform election date for which the City may meet all statutory deadlines.
(Charter Prop. No. 15, ratified 6/7/2022)
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 (name of office) by recall?”
(2) 
Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the two following propositions, one above the other, in the order indicated:
“For the recall and removal from office of (name of person)”
“Against the recall and removal from office 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 shall continue in office for the remainder of his 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 shall regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office and the vacancy shall be filled by the city commission as in other vacancies.
No recall petition shall be filed against the mayor or a commissioner within six months after he takes office nor in respect to an officer subjected to a recall election and not removed thereby, until at least six months after such election.
Should the city commission fail or refuse to order any of the elections as provided for in this article, when all 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 of the District Judges of Moore 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.
When the recall of a Quorum or more of the members of the City Commission appears on the ballot, then the first Proposition shall inquire separately whether to recall each of the named members, and the second Proposition shall contain replacement candidate name or names for each City Commission position subject to recall in the first Proposition, including Mayor if that office is also subject to recall at that election. The election of a replacement in the second Proposition is a nullity if the corresponding incumbent is not recalled in the first Proposition.
(Charter Prop. No. 16, ratified 6/7/2022)
When some but not all members of the Commission are subject to recall at an election, those members subject to recall shall not participate in the canvass of that election. The remaining member or members of the Commission who are not subject to recall shall constitute a quorum solely for the purposes of canvassing the vote and, if necessary for filling any vacancy, as provided in Article II, Sec. 5 of this Charter. A member who is not removed by such recall election may participate in the vote for filling a vacancy in another position.
(Charter Prop. No. 17, ratified 6/7/2022)
If an initiative petition results in the passage of a measure in an election, then there shall be no further initiative or referendum election called on that subject for a period of two (2) years. If an initiative or referendum measure fails to pass in an election, then there shall be no further election called on that subject for a period of four (4) years.
(Charter Prop. No. 18, ratified 6/7/2022)
The City Commission may, upon its own accord and by a three-fourths majority vote, order an election for a non-binding referendum on a measure without an initiative or referendum petition from citizens.
(Charter Prop. No. 19, ratified 6/7/2022)