Any proposed ordinance may be submitted by petition, signed by qualified electors of the City, equal in number to the percentage hereinafter required. The procedure in respect to such petition shall be the same as provided in Sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Chapter Five except that petitions may be circulated for signature instead of being signed at the office of the City Clerk, with such modifications as the nature of the case requires, except that no blank form shall be furnished or preliminary affidavit made.
If the petition accompanying the proposed ordinance be signed by qualified electors equal in number to at least 15% of the electors voting at the last preceding general municipal election, and contains a request that said proposed ordinance be submitted to a vote of the people, the Clerk shall thereupon ascertain and certify its number of qualified signers, whereupon if such certificate shows the required number of qualified signers, the Commission shall within 20 days thereafter either,
(a)
Pass said ordinance without alteration (subject to the referendum provided by the Charter), or
(b)
Call a special election, to be held within 30 days, unless a general or special municipal election is to be held within 90 days thereafter, and at such general or special municipal election said proposed ordinance shall be submitted without alternation to the vote of the qualified electors of said City.
If the petition be signed by qualified electors equal in number to at least 5% but less than 15% of all the electors voting at the last preceding general municipal election, as shown in the manner hereinafter provided, and said proposed ordinance be not passed without alteration by the Commission within 20 days, as provided in the preceding section, then such proposed ordinance, without alteration, shall be submitted by the Commission to electoral vote at the next general municipal election that shall occur at any time after 30 days from the date of the Clerk's certificate of sufficiency attached to the petition accompanying such ordinance.
No ordinance, except an emergency ordinance, shall take effect before 10 days after its final passage. If, within said 10 days, 100 electors of the City shall file a notice in writing with the Clerk, of their intention to circulate a petition for submitting said ordinance to the electors for their adoption or rejection as herein provided, then said ordinance shall not become effective until 30 days after its final passage by the Commission; provided that if petitions containing the requisite number of signatures required are not filed in accordance with such written notice within said 30 days, then said ordinance shall become effective after the expiration of said thirty-day period. If within said 30 days, a petition signed by qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least 10% of all of the electors voting at the last preceding general municipal election, be presented to the Commission, protesting against such ordinance taking effect, the same thereupon and thereby be suspended from taking effect, the Commission shall immediately reconsider such ordinance, and if the same be not entirely repealed, the Commission shall submit it, by the method provided in this Charter, to a vote of the qualified electors of the City, either at the next general municipal election or at a special election, which may in their discretion be called by them for that purpose, and such ordinance shall not take effect unless a majority of the qualified electors voting on the same at such election, shall vote in favor thereof; provided, however, that the foregoing provisions shall not apply:
The procedure in respect to such referendum petition shall be the same as provided in Section 2, 3, 4, and 5, of Chapter Five of this Charter, with such modifications as the nature of the case may require, except that no blank forms shall be furnished or preliminary affidavit made, except as heretofore provided.
The Commission may, of its own motion, submit to electoral vote for adoption or rejection at a general or special municipal election, any proposed ordinance or measure, or a proposition for the repeal or amendment of any ordinance, in the same manner and with the same force and effect as provided in this Charter for submission on petition. If the provisions of two or more proposed ordinances, or measures adopted or approved at the same election are inconsistent, then the ordinance or measure receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail.
Whenever any proposed ordinance is required by the Charter to be submitted to the electors at any election, the Commission shall cause it to be published in a newspaper published and circulating in the City, once in each week for two successive weeks immediately preceding such election.
The ballots used when voting upon such ordinance shall state the nature of the ordinance in terms sufficiently to identify it, and on separate lines, the words, "For the Ordinance," and "Against the Ordinance." If the majority of the qualified electors voting on said proposed ordinance shall vote "For the Ordinance," the same shall thereupon become an ordinance of the City and shall take effect as provided in this Charter.
Provisions shall be made on separate ballots for voting upon all proposed ordinances.
Any ordinance adopted under this Charter, by electoral vote, cannot be repealed or amended, except by electoral vote.
The Commission may, by ordinance, make such regulations, not in conflict herewith, as it may deem necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
No franchise, grant, or license shall be submitted under the provisions of this Charter, to the electors at a special election, unless the expense of holding the election, as determined by the Commission, shall be paid to the Treasurer in advance of calling such election by the grantee in said franchise, grant, or license.
[Amended and adopted 11-4-1947]
The Zoning Ordinance of the City of Royal Oak, as now in effect, shall not be repealed without submitting the question of said repeal to a vote of the electors, as provided in Section 6 of this chapter, but the Zoning Ordinance may be amended at any time, in accordance with the provisions of the State Law governing such amendments.
