Any elected City Official, whether elected to office by the voters of the City or appointed by City Council to fill a vacancy, shall be subject to recall and removal from office by the registered voters of the City after the council member has received notice and has been afforded a fair and reasonable opportunity to present his or her explanation, defense and argument. Grounds for such recall and removal shall be the following:
(a) 
knowingly and intentionally violating a specific provision of this Charter;
(b) 
official misconduct, which shall be defined as intentional unlawful behavior relating to official duties, including corrupt failure, refusal, or neglect to perform a duty imposed by law;
(c) 
incompetency, which shall be defined as gross ignorance of official duties; gross carelessness in the discharge of official duties; or inability or unfitness to promptly and properly discharge official duties because of a serious mental or physical defect that did not exist at the time of the officer’s elections;
(d) 
intoxication while performing the duties of office by consuming alcoholic beverages or other chemical substances that cause intoxication.
The Council may adopt an ordinance or resolution further specifying the procedure for the acceptance of the recall petition; notice to the council person and public hearing.
Before the question of recall of such officer shall be submitted to the registered voters of the City, a petition demanding such question to be so submitted shall first be filed with the City Secretary; which petition shall be signed by registered voters of the City equal in number to at least thirty percent (30%) of the number of votes cast at the last regular municipal election of the City, but in no event less than one hundred fifty (150) such petitioners.
Each signer of such recall petition shall personally sign in ink or indelible pencil. For a petition signature to be valid, it must comply with the requirements of state law, which require in addition to the signature:
(a) 
the signer’s printed name,
(b) 
the signer’s date of birth or voter registration number,
(c) 
the signer’s residence address,
(d) 
the date of signing, and comply with any other applicable requirements prescribed by law.
The recall petition must be addressed to the City Council, City of Forest Hill, shall state that it is a petition for the recall of a single officer named in such petition, shall state the specific acts of that officer that are grounds for the officer’s removal, and shall include each voter’s signature. For a petition signature to be valid, it must comply with the requirements of state law, which require in addition to the signature:
a. 
the signer’s printed name,
b. 
the signer’s date of birth or voter registration number,
c. 
the signer’s residence address,
d. 
the date of signing, and comply with any other applicable requirements prescribed by law.
The signature on each separate copy of the petition, or subscription list, shall be verified by oath by the petitioner or petitioners who circulated such copy in the following manner:
“STATE OF TEXAS
COUNTY OF TARRANT
I, _____, being first duly sworn, on oath depose and say that each signature appearing thereto was made in my presence on the day and date it purports to have been made, and I solemnly swear that the same is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
____________ Signature of Verifier
SWORN AND SUBSCRIBED TO BEFORE ME this _____ day of _____, 20 _____. _____ Notary Public, State of Texas”
The petition may consist of one or more copies, or subscription lists, circulated separately, and the signatures 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 preceding section of this Article may be made by one or more petitioners, and the several parts of copies of the petition may be filed separately and by different persons; but no signatures to such petition shall remain effective or be counted which were placed thereon more than forty-five (45) days prior to the filing of such petition or petitions with the City Secretary.
All papers comprising a recall petition shall be filed with the 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 to his Forest Hill address.
The City Secretary shall count the signatures and compare residence addresses with those in county records for the voter registration numbers on the petition. The City Secretary shall count only those signatures which are of registered voters residing in the City of Forest Hill at the latest date for which county voter registration records are available. The City Secretary shall not count signatures which lack the date of signature or which are unverified or which were obtained more than 45 days prior to the filing date. Within ten days after such petition was filed, the City Secretary shall notify the filer in writing as to whether sufficient signatures were on such petition and, if there were sufficient signatures, certify such to the City Council at the next City Council meeting for which there is sufficient time to post an agenda item under the Open Meetings law for the Council’s action thereon.
At the meeting at which the City Secretary certifies that a sufficient number of signatures are contained in such petition, if the officer whose removal is sought does not resign, then it shall become the duty of the City Council to order an election to be held on the next available uniform election date.
Ballots used at recall elections shall conform to the following requirements:
(a) 
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?”
(b) 
Immediately below each such question, there shall be printed the following words, one above the other, in the order indicated:
“Yes”
“No”
If a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be “No,” that is against the recall of the person named on the ballot, he shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before. If a majority off [of] the votes cast at such an election be “Yes,” that is for the recall of the person named on the ballot, he shall, regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition, be deemed removed from office, and the vacancy be filled as vacancies in the City Council are filled, as heretofore provided in this Charter. A Council person thus removed shall not be a candidate to succeed himself/herself in an election to fill the vacancy thereby created.
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer of the City of Forest Hill within six (6) months after his election, nor within six (6) months after an election for such officer’s recall. No Council person shall be subject to more than 2 recall elections during a term of office.
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 a court of proper jurisdiction of Tarrant County, Texas shall discharge any of such duties herein provided to be discharged by the City Secretary or by the City Council.
The failure of a Council member to vote affirmatively to place on the ballot a petition for recall that meets all requirements of law shall be guilty of malfeasance in office and subject to the penalties contained in Section 13.06, entitled “Violation of Charter Provisions or Laws of the State of Texas, of the Charter of the City of Forest Hill.”
(Ordinance 2012-02-003 adopted 2/23/12, props. 9, 10)