Any holder of an elective office may be recalled and removed therefrom by the registered electors of the city as provided in this article.
Any registered elector of the city may make and file with the city clerk an affidavit containing the name of the officer sought to be removed, and a specific statement of the grounds of removal. The clerk shall thereupon deliver to the elector making such affidavit, a sufficient number of copies of petitions for such recall and removal, printed forms of which he shall keep on hand. Such petitions shall be issued by the clerk with his signature and official seal thereto attached; they shall be dated and addressed to the city council, shall contain the name of the person to whom issued, the number of forms so issued, the name of the person sought to be removed, the office from which said removal is sought, the grounds of such removal as stated in said affidavit, and shall demand the election of the successor to such office, a copy of which petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the office of said clerk. Any defect in said form or record shall not invalidate the same. Said recall petition must be returned and filed with said clerk within thirty days of its issuance. Said petitions before being returned and filed, shall be signed by registered electors equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the last preceding vote cast for all the candidates for Governor of the State of Colorado by the electors of the city, and to each such signature shall be attached his place of residence, giving the street and number. Such signatures need not all be on one paper. One of the signers of each such paper shall make an affidavit thereto that the statements therein contained are true, and that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be. All such papers for the recall of any one officer shall be fastened together and filed as one instrument, with the endorsements thereon of the names and addresses of three persons designated as filing the same.
Within ten days from the filing of said petition, the clerk shall ascertain by examination thereof and of the registration books and election returns, whether the petition is signed by the requisite number of registered electors, and shall attach thereto his certificate showing the result of such examination. He shall, if necessary, be allowed extra help by the council.
If his certificate shows the petition to be insufficient, he shall within said ten days so notify in writing one or more of the persons designated on the petition as filing the same; and the petition may be amended at any time within ten days from the filing of the certificate. The clerk shall, within ten days after such amendment, make like examination of the amended petition, and attach thereto his certificate of the result. If still insufficient, or if no amendment is made, he shall return the petition to one of the persons designated thereon as filing it, without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
If the petition or amended petition shall be found and certified by the clerk to be sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to the council without delay, and the council shall, if the officer sought to be removed does not resign within five days thereafter, thereupon order an election to be held on a Tuesday fixed by it, not less than thirty nor more than forty days from the date of the clerk’s certificate that a sufficient petition is filed; provided, however, that if any other municipal election is to occur within sixty days from the date of the clerk’s certificate, the council may, in its discretion, postpone the holding of the removal election to the date of such other municipal election. If a vacancy occurs in said office, after a removal election has been so ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as in this article provided.
Any officer sought to be removed may be a candidate to succeed himself, and unless he requests otherwise in writing, the clerk shall place his name on the official ballot without nomination. The nomination of other candidates, the publication of notice of such removal election, and the conduct of the same, shall all be in accord with the provisions of Article II hereof, relating to elections.
The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the removal election. If then elected, he shall continue in office for the balance of his term. If not then elected, he shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his successor, who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor fails to qualify within ten days after receiving notification of his election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.
No recall petition shall be filed against any officer until he has actually held his office for at least three months.
No person who has been removed from office by recall, or who has resigned from such office while recall proceedings were pending against him, shall be appointed to any office within one year after such removal by recall or resignation.