Any City official, elected by the people, shall be subject to
recall and removal from office by the qualified voters of the City
on grounds of incompetence, misconduct, or malfeasance in office.
Before the question of recall of such officer shall be submitted
to the qualified voters of the City, a petition demanding such questions
to be so submitted shall first be filed with the person performing
the duties of City Secretary; which said petition shall be signed
by qualified voters of the City equal in number to at least 25% of
the number of votes cast at the last regular municipal election of
the City, but in no event less than 250 such petitioners. Each signer
of such recall petition shall personally sign the signer’s name
thereto in ink or indelible pencil, and shall write after the signer’s
name the signer’s place of residence, giving name of street
and number, or place of residence, and shall also write thereon the
day, the month and year the signer’s signature was affixed.
The petitioner’s shall designate one contact person for communication
with the City and to receive all notices.
The recall petition mentioned above must be addressed to the
City Council of the City of Lake Worth, must distinctly and specifically
point out the ground or grounds upon which such petition for removal
is predicated and whether such ground or grounds are deemed to constitute
incompetence, misconduct, or malfeasance in office, and shall specifically
state each ground with such certainty as to give the officer sought
to be removed notice of the matters and things with which the officer
is charged. The signature shall be verified by oath in the following
form:
“STATE OF TEXAS
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COUNTY OF TARRANT”
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I,__________, being first duly sworn, on oath depose and say
that I am one of the signers of the above petition; and that the statements
made therein are true, and that each signature appearing thereto was
made in my presence on the day and date it purports to have been made,
and I do solemnly swear that the same is the genuine signature of
the person whose name it purports to be.
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____________________________________
Signature
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Mailing Address:
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____________________________________
____________________________________
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Sworn to and subscribed before me this _____ day of __________,
_____.
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____________________________________
Notary Public in and for Tarrant County, Texas
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The petition may consist of one or more copies, or subscription
lists, circulated separately, and the signature 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 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 signature to such petition shall remain effective
or be counted which was placed thereon more than forty-five (45) days
prior to the filing of such petition or petitions with the person
performing the duties of City Secretary. All papers comprising a recall
petition shall be filed with the person performing the duties of City
Secretary on the same day, and the said Secretary shall immediately
notify, in writing, the officer so sought to be removed, by mailing
such notice via certified mail to the officer’s mailing address.
(a) Review
by City Secretary. Upon the filing of a petition, the City Secretary
shall review the petition to determine the existence of the requisite
number of signatures of qualified voters and whether the form of the
petition complies with the provisions of this Charter and State law.
The City Secretary shall also review the petition to determine the
genuineness of the signatures.
(b) Within
ten (10) business days after the petition is filed, the City Secretary
shall complete a certificate as to its sufficiency, specifying, if
it is insufficient, the particulars wherein it is defective and shall
promptly send a copy of the certificate to the contact person for
the petitioners by certified mail as indicated in the oath for the
petition.
(c) If a
petition is certified sufficient and in compliance with the terms
of this Charter and State law, the City Secretary shall immediately
notify the Councilmember whose removal is sought and provide the Councilmember
with a copy of the petition.
Within twenty-one (21) days after the date of certifying the
petition of recall as sufficient, the person performing the duties
of the City Secretary shall present such petition to the City Council
of the City of Lake Worth at a regular meeting or special meeting
called for that purpose.
(Amended by Ordinance 1133 at an
election held on May 4, 2019, prop. H)
The officer whose removal is sought may, within five (5) business
days after such recall petition has been presented to the City Council,
request an opportunity to appear before the City Council at a meeting
to be held in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act or successor
law, to present facts pertinent to the charges specified in the recall
petition. In this event, the City Council shall hold said meeting
not less than five (5) business days nor more than fifteen (15) business
days after receiving the request for an open meeting.
If the officer whose removal is sought does not resign within
seven business (7) days after the certified petition is presented
to the Council or the date of the open meeting whichever occurs later,
the City Council, at its next regular meeting or at a specially called
meeting, shall order a recall election to be held on the first uniform
election date occurring on or after the 35th day after the date the
election is ordered.
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following
requirements:
(a) With
respect to each person whose removal is sought, the questions shall
be submitted:
“Shall (Name of Person) be removed from the office of
(Name of Office) by recall?”
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(b) Immediately
to the left of each such question there shall be printed the following
words, one above the other, in the order indicated:
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be
against the recall of the person named on the ballot, the officer
shall continue in office for the remainder of the officer’s
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, the officer 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.
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the
City of Lake Worth within six (6) months after the officer’s
election, nor within six (6) months 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 order such recall election, or 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 Tarrant County,
Texas, shall discharge any of such duties herein provided to be discharged
by the person performing the duties of City Secretary or by the City
Council.