City elections are held in accordance with applicable state election laws. The city manager or manager's designee, pursuant to directions from the council, shall give at least ten days notice of each city election by posting notice thereof at a conspicuous place in the city hall and publishing notice at least once in a newspaper of general circulation in the area. The notice shall state the officers to be elected and the ballot Title of each measure to be voted upon.
The results of all elections shall be made a matter of record in the record of the proceedings of the council, which shall contain a statement of the total number of votes cast at each election, the votes cast for each person or proposition, the name of each person elected to office, the office to which they have been elected and a reference to each measure enacted or approved. The city manager or manager's designee shall make, sign and deliver a certificate of election for each person elected.
When two or more candidates for the same office have an equal and the highest number of votes, the city manager or manager's designee shall have the candidates meet publicly to decide by lot who is elected.
The term of office of each person elected to office at a city election commences at the first council meeting of the first January following the election.
Each officer, before entering into the duties of the office, shall swear or affirm that they will support the Constitution and laws of the United States, the State of Oregon and the City of Milwaukie and that they will faithfully perform the duties of the office.
A qualified elector who has resided in the city during the six months immediately preceding the election may be nominated for an elective city position. Nominations shall be made by petition. Such petition shall be signed by not fewer than 20 electors. The form of the petition and the gathering of signatures shall be in manner described by state law. No elector shall sign more than one petition for each position to be filled. If an elector does so, the elector's signature is valid only on the first sufficient petition filed for the position. All nomination papers comprising a petition shall be assembled and filed with the city manager or manager's designee as one instrument not earlier than 100 nor later than 70 days before the election. If the petition is not signed by the required number of qualified electors, the city manager or manager's designee shall notify the candidate and the person who filed the petition within five days after the filing. If the petition is insufficient in any other particular, the city manager or manager's designee shall return it immediately to the person who filed it, certifying in writing wherein the petition is insufficient. Such deficient petition may be amended and filed again as a new petition, or a substitute petition for the same candidate may be filed within the regular time for filing nomination petitions. The city manager or manager's designee shall notify an eligible person of their nomination, and such person shall file with the city manager or manager's designee a written acceptance of nomination and agreement to serve if elected within five days of notification of nomination. Upon receipt of the acceptance, the city manager or manager's designee shall cause the nominee's name to be printed on the ballots. The petition of nomination of a successful candidate at an election shall be preserved until the term of office for which the candidate was elected expires.