A. 
Initiative:
The qualified voters of the City shall have power to propose ordinances to the City Council and if the Council fails to adopt an ordinance so proposed without any change in substance, the voters shall adopt or reject it at a City election. Such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any ordinance relating to appropriation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of City officers or employees.
B. 
Referendum:
The qualified voters of the City shall have power to require reconsideration by the Council of any adopted ordinance and, if the Council fails to repeal an ordinance so reconsidered, the voters shall approve or reject it at a City election. Such power shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any emergency ordinance or ordinance relating to appropriation of money or levy of taxes.
C. 
Recall:
The qualified voters of the City shall have power to remove any official serving in an elective office.
A. 
Any ten (10) qualified voters may commence proceedings contemplated by this article by filing with the City Secretary an affidavit stating that they will constitute the petitioners committee. They will be responsible for preparing, printing and circulating the petition. They will file it in proper form and specify the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent. The affidavit shall set out in full the proposed initiative ordinance or cite the ordinance sought to be reconsidered, or in the case of recall, state the identity of the official whose recall is being sought.
B. 
In the case of recall, the City Secretary shall immediately notify in writing the officer(s) to be removed that the affidavit has been filed.
A. 
All petition blanks used for circulation by the members of the petitioners committee or their designees shall be numbered, dated and bear the signature of the City Secretary.
B. 
No petition may be circulated and no signatures obtained until after the affidavit is filed.
(Ordinance 861-2023 adopted 5/11/2023)
A. 
All pages of a petition shall be uniform in size and style and shall be assembled as one instrument for filing. Each signer of a petition must be a registered voter of the City of Joshua. The name of each signer of the petition shall be legibly printed and each signer shall personally sign his name thereto in ink or indelible pencil. The signer’s information shall include after the signer’s name, the signer’s place of residence by giving the name of the street and number, the signer’s voter registration certificate number or date of birth, and shall also include the day, the month and the year the signer’s signature was affixed. Petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered, or in the case of a recall petition, the identity of the official whose recall is being sought.
B. 
Each page of a petition shall have attached to it when filed an affidavit executed by the circulator thereof stating that the circulator 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 genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be, and that each signer had an opportunity before signing to read the full text of the ordinance proposed, or sought to be reconsidered, or the identity of the official whose recall is being sought.
C. 
Locations for twenty (20) signatures shall be provided on each blank petition.
A. 
A petition to the City Council for initiative or referendum, containing the signatures of qualified voters equal in number to fifteen percent (15%) of registered voters within the City of Joshua as of the date of the last general election for State officers, shall be filed with the City Secretary no later than thirty (30) days following the filing of the affidavit by the petitioners committee. Once the petition is filed, no signature may be withdrawn.
B. 
A petition to the City Council for recall, containing the signatures of qualified voters equal in number to fifteen (15) percent of registered voters within the City of Joshua as of the date of the last general election for State officers, shall be filed with the City Secretary no later than thirty (30) days following the filing of the affidavit by the petitioners committee. Once the petition is filed, no signature may be withdrawn.
(Ordinance 861-2023 adopted 5/11/2023)
When a referendum petition is filed with the City Secretary, the ordinance sought to be reconsidered shall be suspended from taking effect unless such suspension will create an immediate breach of public health and safety as determined by resolution of the City Council. Such Suspension shall terminate when:
1. 
There is a final determination of insufficiency of the petition, or
2. 
The City Council repeals the ordinance, or
3. 
Upon the certification of election results by the election officials.
A. 
Within ten (10) days after the petition is presented, the City Secretary shall complete a certificate of sufficiency or insufficiency. Sufficiency shall be determined by compliance to Section 10.03 of this Article.
B. 
If the petition is certified sufficient, the Secretary shall present the certificate to the council at the next regular City council meeting. City Council shall verify determination of sufficiency of the petition.
C. 
If a petition has been certified insufficient, the City Secretary shall send the committee a Certificate of Insufficiency by registered mail which shall include the particulars in which the petition is defective. The committee may, within five (5) working days after receiving the copy of such certificate, file a request that it be reviewed by the City Council. The City Council shall review the certificate at its next regular meeting following such a request and approve or disapprove it. Such determination shall then be final. If no City Council review is requested within five (5) working days, the City Secretary’s certification is final.
When an initiative or referendum petition has been finally determined sufficient, the City Council shall promptly consider the proposed initiative ordinance in the manner prescribed for enacting ordinances or reconsider the referred ordinance by voting its repeal. If the City Council fails to adopt a proposed initiative ordinance without any change in substance within sixty (60) days, or fails to repeal a referred ordinance within thirty (30) days after the date the petition was finally determined sufficient, it shall call an election and thereafter submit the proposed or referred ordinance to the voters of the City following the failure of the City Council to act as specified herein. Any election order so issued shall comply fully with the Texas Election Code.
A. 
Initiative.
Ordinances 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 it shall be a clear, concise statement, without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of such ordinance. Immediately below the ballot title shall be printed the following two (2) statements, one above the other, in the order indicated:
“For adoption of the ordinance” and “Against adoption of the ordinance”
Immediately below or to the left of each statement shall appear a square in which the voter may cast his vote by making a mark.
B. 
Repeal.
Ordinances being considered for repeal 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 ordinance and it shall be a clear, concise statement, without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of such ordinance. Immediately below the ballot title shall be printed the following two (2) statements, one above the other, in the order indicated:
“For adoption of the ordinance” and “Against adoption of the ordinance”
C. 
Recall.
Ballots used at recall elections shall, with respect to each person whose removal is sought, submit the question:
“Shall (name of person) be removed from the office (name of office) by recall?”
Immediately below each such question there shall be printed the two (2) following statements, one above the other, in the order indicated:
“For the removal of
by Recall”
“Against the removal of
by Recall”
Immediately below or to the left of each statement shall appear a square in which the voter may cast his vote by making a mark.
A. 
If a majority of qualified electors voting on a proposed initiative ordinance, vote in its favor, it shall be considered adopted upon certification of the election results and shall be treated in all respects in the same manner as ordinances of the same kind adopted by the City Council. If conflicting ordinances are approved at the same election, then one receiving the greater number of affirmative votes shall prevail.
B. 
An ordinance adopted by initiative may be repealed or amended at a time after the expiration of two (2) years by a majority vote or after one (1) year by a unanimous vote of all Councilmembers.
C. 
If a majority of the qualified electors on a referred ordinance vote against the ordinance, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on a referred ordinance vote for the ordinance, the ordinance shall be considered in effect.
D. 
An ordinance repealed by referendum may be reenacted at any time after the expiration of two (2) years by a majority vote or after one (1) year by unanimous vote of all Councilmembers.
E. 
If a majority of the votes cast on the question of recall at a recall election shall be against the removal of the elected official named on the ballot, he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before within the limitations of Section 10.11 below. If a majority of the votes cast on the question of recall at a recall election shall be for the removal of the elected official 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 in accordance with the provisions of this Charter for the filling of vacancies.
(Ordinance 861-2023 adopted 5/11/2023)
A. 
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the City within six (6) months after his election or within six (6) months of such a petition being filed and found insufficient. A new petition for recall cannot be resubmitted within one (1) year after an election for such officer’s recall.
B. 
In no instance shall an officer removed from office by recall election serve in an elective office of the City within a period of five (5) years following the date of the election at which he was removed from office.
C. 
Unless withdrawn, no petition shall again be filed on a proposed or referred ordinance of substantially the same content within a period of two (2) years of the failure of the petition at a City election.
In case all of the requirements of this Charter have been met and the City Council shall fail or refuse to receive an initiative, referendum or recall petition, or order such initiative, referendum or recall election, or discharge other duties imposed upon said City Council by the provisions of this Charter with reference to initiative, referendum or recall, then the District Judge may discharge any such duties herein provided to be discharged by the City Secretary or by the City Council. In addition, any qualified voter in the City may seek judicial relief to have any of the provisions of this Charter pertaining to initiative, referendum or recall carried out by the proper official.