[Amended 11-4-2008]
Any member or members of the Council may be recalled and removed therefrom by the electors of the voting district or districts by which he or they were elected, as herein provided. Any committee of three electors may make and file with the Town Clerk an affidavit containing the name of the member or members whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal. The Town Clerk shall thereupon deliver to the electors making such affidavit copies of petition blanks for such removal, printed forms of which he or she shall keep on hand. Such blanks shall be issued by the Clerk with his or her signature and official seal affixed thereto. Such blanks shall be dated and addressed to the Council and shall contain the name of the electors to whom issued, the number of blanks so issued, the name of the member or members whose removal is sought and a statement of the grounds for removal. A copy of the petition shall be entered in a record book to be kept in the Office of the Town Clerk. The recall petition, to be effective, shall be returned and filed with the Town Clerk within thirty (30) days after issuance of the petition blanks. The petition before being returned and filed shall be signed by the electors of the district or districts to the number of at least fifteen (15%) per centum of the number of electors who were entitled to cast, in said district or districts, their votes in the last preceding regular Town election.
All such recall papers shall be filed as one instrument, with the endorsement thereon of the names and addresses of three persons designated as filing the same.
If the petition or amended petition shall be certified by the Town Clerk to be sufficient, he or she shall submit the same with his certificate to the Council at its next meeting and shall notify the member or members whose removal is sought of such action. The Council shall, within ten (10) days of the receipt of the Town Clerk's certificate, unless the member or members whose removal is sought shall have resigned, order an election to be held not less than thirty (30) nor more than forty-five (45) days thereafter within and for the district or districts from which the member or members whose removal is sought was elected, provided, if any other regular town election is to occur within sixty (60) days alter the receipt of said certificate, the Council may in its discretion provide for the holding of the removal election on the date of such other election.
The form of the ballot at such election shall be as nearly as may be: "Shall A be recalled?" the name of the member whose recall is sought being inserted in place of A, and the ballot shall also contain the names of the candidates for election in place of the man recalled, as follows:"Candidates for the place of A, if recalled," but the member whose recall is sought shall not himself be a candidate upon such ballot. In case a majority of those voting for and against the recall of any member shall vote in favor of recalling such official, he shall thereby be removed, and in that event the candidate who receives the highest number of votes for his place shall be elected thereto for the balance of the unexpired term. Should the Council fail or refuse to order an election as herein provided within the time required, such election may be ordered by any court of general jurisdiction in the county in which said town is situated.
The electors shall have the power at their option to propose ordinances and other measures and to adopt the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative.
A petition signed by at least fifteen (15%) per centum or twenty-five (25%) per centum, as the case may be, of the total number of electors who were entitled to cast their votes at the last preceding regular town election and otherwise meeting the requirements hereinafter provided and requesting the Council to pass an ordinance, resolution, order or vote (all of these four terms being hereinafter included in the term "measure" therein set forth or designated) shall be termed an initiative petition and shall be acted upon as hereinafter provided.
If the petition shall be found to be sufficient, the Town Clerk shall so certify and submit the proposed measure to the Council, who shall at once read and refer the same to an appropriate committee, which may be a committee of the whole. Provision shall be made for public hearings upon the proposed measure before the committee to which it is referred. Thereafter the committee shall report the proposed measure to the council, with its recommendation thereon, not later than sixty (60) days after the date upon which such measure was submitted to the Council by the Town Clerk. Upon receiving the proposed measure from the committee, the Council shall at once proceed to consider it and shall take final action thereon within thirty (30) days from the date of such committee report.
If the Council shall fail to pass the proposed measure, or shall pass it in a form different from that set forth in the petition, then if the petition was a "twenty-five (25%) per centum petition," the proposed measure shall be submitted by the Council to the vote of the electors at the next town election occurring not less than thirty (30) days after the date of the final action by the Council, and if no election is to be held within six (6) months from such date, then the Council shall call a special election to be held not less than thirty (30) nor more than forty-five (45) days from such date.
But if the petition was a "fifteen (15%) per centum petition," the proposed measure shall be submitted as in the case of a "twenty-five (25%) per centum petition," except that no special election shall be called. if within thirty (30) days after the final action by the Council on the proposed measure a supplementary petition shall be filed with the Town Clerk signed by a sufficient number of additional electors asking for the submission of the proposed measure, the original petition combined with such supplementary petition shall become a "twenty-five (25%) per centum petition."
In case such supplementary petition is filed and no regular town election is to be held within six months thereafter, the Council shall call a special election to be held not less than thirty (30) nor more than forty-five (45) days after receipt of the Town Clerk's certificate that a sufficient supplementary petition has been filed. The sufficiency of any such supplementary petition shall be determined, and it may be amended in the manner provided for original petitions.
When submitted, the measure shall be either in its original form, or with any proposed change or addition which was presented in writing by the committee of the petitioners at the public hearing before the committee of the Council to which such proposed measure was referred, or during the consideration thereof by the Council. Said committee of petitioners shall certify to the Town Clerk the requirement of submission and the proposed measure in the form desired within ten (10) days after the date of final action on such measure by the Council. Upon receipt of the certificate and certified copy of the measure, the Town Clerk shall certify such fact to the Council at its next meeting and such measure shall be submitted by the Council to the vote of the electors in a regular or special Town election as hereinafter provided.
The electors shall have the power at their option to approve or reject at the polls, any measure, resolution, order or vote passed by the Council or submitted by the council to a vote of the electors, excepting measures levying a tax for or appropriating money to defray the general expenses of the town government or any existing department thereof; also measures ordering the construction of public or local improvements and levying assessments on the property specially benefited thereby for the payment thereof.
Such powers shall be known as the referendum, which power shall be invoked and exercised as herein provided.
All measures, save those hereinabove specifically excepted, submitted to the Council by initiative petition and passed by the Council without change or passed in an amended form and not required by the committee of the petitioners to be submitted to a vote of the electors, shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other measures.
No further action shall be taken by authority of such measure, if, within thirty (30) days after the final passage of any measure by the Council, a petition signed by the electors of the Town to the number of at least ten (10%) per centum of the electors who were entitled to cast their vote at the last preceding regular town election shall be filed with the Town Clerk, requesting that any such measure, or any part thereof, be repealed or be submitted to a vote of the electors.
If the petition be found sufficient, the Council shall proceed to reconsider such measure or such part thereof as the petitioner shall specify. If upon such reconsideration such measure or part thereof be not repealed or amended as demanded in the petition, the Council shall provide for submitting the same, by the method herein provided, to a vote of the electors at the next Town election occurring not less than thirty (30) days after the receipt by the Council of the Town Clerk's certificate, and such measure or such part thereof shall thereupon be suspended from going into effect until said election and shall then be deemed repealed unless approved by a majority of those voting thereon. The Council, by an affirmative vote of seven (7) members, may submit such measure or part thereof with like effect to the electors at a special election to be called by said Council not less than thirty (30) days after the receipt of said Town Clerk's certificate.
The measure shall not become operative until the steps indicated herein have been taken, provided such measure shall be deemed sufficient authority for any payment made or expense incurred in accordance with such measure previous to the filing of such petition. If, when submitted to a vote of the electors, such measure be not approved by a majority of those voting thereon, it shall be considered repealed as regards any further action thereunder and all rights and privileges conferred by it shall thereafter be null and void.
Signatures on recall, initiative or referendum petitions need not be all on one paper, provided each paper shall carry the designation of the purpose for which the paper is circulated, but the circulator of every such paper shall make an affidavit that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be.
With each signature shall be stated the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number or other description sufficient to identify the place. All such papers pertaining to any one purpose shall have written thereon the names and addresses of the electors who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose herein named.
A committee shall be three (3) electors for a recall petition, at least five (5) electors for a referendum petition, at least five (5) electors for an initiative petition.
All such papers shall be filed in the office of the Town Clerk as one instrument. Attached to every such instrument shall be a certificate signed by the committee of petitioners or a majority of them stating whether the petition is intended to be a "ten (10%) per centum petition" or a "fifteen (15%) per centum petition" or a "twenty-five (25%) per centum petition."
Within ten (10) days after the filing of any recall, initiative or referendum petition the Town Clerk shall ascertain whether or not the petition is signed by the requisite number of electors who were entitled to cast their votes at the last preceding regular town election and shall attach to such petition his certificate showing the result of such examination.
If, by the Town Clerk's certificate, of which notice in writing shall be given to one or more of the persons designated, the petition is shown to be insufficient, it may be amended within ten (10) days from the date of said certificate by filing supplementary petition papers with additional signatures.
The Town Clerk shall within ten (10) days after such amendment make like examination of the amended petition and if his or her certificate shall show the same to be sufficient he or she shall file the petition in his or her office and shall notify each member of the committee of the fact. The final finding of the insufficiency of a petition shall not prejudice the filing of a new petition for the same purpose.
Proposed measures shall be submitted by ballot title. There shall appear upon the official ballot, a ballot title which may be distinct from the legal title of any such proposed measure and which shall be a clear, concise statement, without argument or prejudice, descriptive of the substance of the measure. The ballot title shall be prepared by the committee of the petitioners if for an initiative or a referendum measure, or by a committee of the Council when submitted by the Council.
The ballots used when voting upon such proposed measure shall set forth the ballot title and beneath the title shall set forth the two propositions: "For the measure" and "Against the measure."
If the majority of the electors voting on any such measure shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon become an ordinance, resolution, order of vote of the town, as the case may be.
If two or more measures adopted or approved at the same election conflict in respect to any of their provisions, they shall go into effect in respect to such of their provisions as are not in conflict, and the one receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail.
The Town Clerk, at least fifteen (15) days before any election at which any measure is to be submitted, shall post a certified copy of such measure or measures on the Town signpost and cause the same to be printed at least twice in a newspaper having a circulation in said town of Stratford. The text of every measure shall also be displayed in a conspicuous place at the polling booths used at such election.