(a) 
Initiative.
The qualified voters of the City shall have power to propose ordinances to the Council and, if the Council fails to adopt an ordinance so proposed without any change in substance, to adopt or reject it at a City election, provided that 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, to approve or reject it at a City election, provided that 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.
Any five (5) resident, qualified voters may commence initiative or referendum proceeding by filing with the City Secretary an affidavit stating they will constitute the petitioners’ committee and be responsible for circulating the petition and filing it in proper form, stating their names and addresses and specifying the address to which all notices to the committee are to be sent, and setting out in full the proposed initiative ordinance or citing the ordinance sought to be reconsidered.
Initiative and referendum petitions must be signed by qualified voters of the City equal in number to twenty-five (25%) per cent of the total number of votes cast at the last regular City election, or two hundred (200), whichever is greater. All papers of a petition shall be uniform in size and style and shall be assembled as one instrument for filing. Each signature shall be executed in indelible ink and shall be followed by the address of the person signing. Petitions shall contain or have attached thereto throughout their circulation the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered Each paper of a petition shall have attached to it when filed an affidavit executed by the circulator stating he or she personally circulated the paper, the number of signatures thereon, that all signatures were affixed in his or her presence, that he or she believes them to be the 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.
Initiative petitions may be filed at any time but referendum petitions must be filed within thirty (30) days after adoption by the Council of the ordinance sought to be reconsidered.
The petition for initiative or referendum shall be filed with the City Secretary, who shall, within twenty (20) days thereafter, determine whether the petition is sufficient in form and has been signed by the required number of voters. The City Secretary shall promptly notify the petitioners’ committee by certified mail, return receipt requested, of his or her finding. A petition certified insufficient for lack of the required number of valid signatures may be amended once if the petitioners’ committee files a notice of intention to amend with the City Secretary within four (4) days after notice of its insufficiency has been received and files a supplementary petition within fourteen (14) days after notice has been received.
When a referendum petition is filed with the City Secretary, the ordinance sought to be repealed shall be suspended from taking effect. Such suspension shall terminate when there is a final determination of insufficiency of the petition, the Council repeals the ordinance, or after canvass of votes of the referendum election.
When a petition as originally filed, or amended, is found to be sufficient, the City Secretary shall so certify to the Council at its next regular meeting. If the Council fails to adopt an ordinance proposed by initiative without change in substance or fails to repeal the referred ordinance within thirty (30) days after the petition was certified as sufficient, it shall submit the proposed ordinance or the referred ordinance to the qualified electors of the City for approval or rejection at a regular or special election in not less than thirty (30) nor more than sixty (60) days from the date of the final Council vote thereon.
Ordinances submitted to a vote of the electors under provision of this Article shall be submitted by ballot title, prepared in all cases by the City Attorney. The ballot title may be different from the legal title and shall be a clear, concise statement, descriptive of the substance of such ordinance. Immediately below the ballot title, the ballot shall contain the following propositions in the order indicated: “For the Ordinance,” and “Against the Ordinance.” Any number or ordinances may be voted on at the same election and may be submitted on the same ballot.
(a) 
If a majority of the 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 Council. If conflicting ordinances are approved at the same election, the one receiving the greatest number of affirmative votes shall prevail to the extent of such conflict.
(b) 
If a majority of the qualified electors voting on a referred ordinance vote against it, it shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results.
(c) 
No ordinance which has been initiated by petition and adopted at an election by the qualified voters shall be repealed or amended by the Council within one (1) year thereafter, and no ordinance enacted by the Council and thereafter rejected by the qualified voters in an election held on petition for referendum shall be re-enacted by the Council within one (1) year thereafter.
The citizens of the City shall have the power to remove any member or members of the Council from office by recall.
(a) 
For the offices of Mayor and the At-Large Council seat, the power of recall may be exercised by filing with the City Secretary a petition signed by qualified voters of the City equal in number to fifty (50%) per cent of the total number of votes cast at the last regular City election, or one thousand (1,000) whichever is greater.
(b) 
For the Council members elected from single geographical districts, the power of recall may be exercised by filing with the City Secretary a petition signed by qualified voters of the respective geographical district equal in number to fifty (50%) per cent of the total number of votes cast in that geographical district at the last regular City election, or three hundred (300), whichever is greater.
(c) 
The recall petition shall be initiated, signed, verified and filed in the same manner as initiative and referendum petitions. The petition must distinctly and specifically point out the grounds upon which the recall is predicated.
Within twenty (20) days after a recall petition has been filed, the City Secretary shall examine it, and if it is found to be sufficient, he or she shall notify the Council member (s) sought to be recalled of this action, by certified mail, return receipt requested. If the Council member (s) sought to be recalled do not resign within five (5) days after such notice, the City Secretary shall submit the recall petition to the Council with a certificate of sufficiency. The Council shall order a recall election to be held not less than thirty-five (35) nor more than sixty-five (65) days after the date the Council received certification of the recall petition.
Ballots used in a recall election shall submit with respect to each person whose removal is sought the question, “Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of council member by recall?” Immediately below each such question the two following propositions shall be listed, one above the other in the order indicated.
“For the removal of (name of person).” “Against the removal of (name of person).”
When a majority of the votes cast at a recall election shall be against the recall of an elected official, he or she shall continue in office for the remainder of his or her term. If a majority of the votes cast at such an election be for the recall of an elected official, he or she shall be deemed removed from office regardless of any technical defects in the recall petition and the vacancy shall be filled as provided in section 2.07. An official removed from office by recall shall not be eligible to succeed himself.
No elected official shall be subject to recall within six (6) months of his or her election to office and no elected official shall be subjected to more than one recall election during any two (2) year term in office. A recall election need not be ordered by the Council against any elected official on whom a petition is filed if his or her term of office is to office is to expire within one hundred eighty (180) days after the petition is filed with the City Secretary or his or her designee.
Should the Council refuse or fail to order any election provided for in this article, when all the requirements have been met by the petitioner’s committee it shall then be the duty of the Presiding Judge of the Judicial District of Cass County, upon application by the petitioners’ committee, to order such elections and to enforce carrying into effect the provisions of this article.