Township of Plymouth, PA Citizen Participation

Council shall, by ordinance or resolution, create, modify or abolish Boards, Commissions, Authorities and other agencies and committees and prescribe their organization and functions consistent with this Charter and general law.

Council shall appoint citizens to such Boards, Commissions, Authorities, agencies or committees to serve for terms not to exceed five (5) years after appropriate announcement of openings at a public meeting. No citizen shall serve more than two (2) consecutive terms and the balance of one (1) unexpired term on the same Board, Commission, Authority, agency or committee. However, no citizen appointed or serving on such Boards, Commissions, Authorities, agencies or committees shall hold any other appointive or elective township office, except on a Government Study Commission created under Pennsylvania Act 62 of 1972.

A Chairman shall be elected by each Board, Commission, Authority, agency and committee from among its members who shall preside at all meetings and report at least monthly to Council in the manner which it directs. Other appropriate offices may be created and filled from the membership of the body.

Qualified voters of the Township shall have the following powers:

Initiative. To propose ordinances to Council which are consistent with this Charter and general law and to adopt or reject the same at a Township election if Council fails to adopt an ordinance so proposed without any change in substance; and

Referendum. To require reconsideration by Council of any adopted ordinance prior to its effective date and; if Council fails to repeal an ordinance so reconsidered, to approve or reject it at a Township election.

All petition papers circulated for the purpose of an initiative or referendum shall:

Contain the names and addresses of five (5) voters designated as the Committee of the Petitioners;

Contain the full text of the ordinance proposed or sought to be reconsidered;

Bear the signatures and addresses in ink of registered electors comprising at least twenty-five (25) per cent of the registered electors of each district of the Township;

Be filed with the Township Manager as one instrument, each page of which shall contain an affidavit executed by the circulator thereof stating that all signatures thereon are genuine and were affixed in his presence only after the signer had an opportunity to read the full text prior to signing.

The Township Manager shall, within twenty (20) days after a petition is filed, examine the petition for compliance with the provisions of this Charter, submit the petition to the Township Attorney for his written opinion as to legality and certify the results of his examination by registered mail to the Committee of the Petitioners and Council Chairman.

If the Manager certifies the petition is valid:

An initiative ordinance shall be presented at the next Council meeting and be subject to other provisions of this Charter.

The ordinance for which the referendum petition was filed shall be immediately suspended until:

(1)

The petition is withdrawn by the Committee of the Petitioners;

(2)

It is repealed by vote of Council; or,

(3)

It is approved or disapproved by the voters upon the certification of election results.

If the Manager certifies the petition is invalid he shall set forth in his certificate the particulars in which it is defective which may be corrected by amendment within ten (10) days after notification of insufficiency has been received.

If within sixty (60) days of the submission of a certified petition by the Manager to Council Chairman, Council shall fail to pass an ordinance requested by initiative petition in substantially the form requested or to repeal an ordinance as required by referendum petition, the Manager shall within ten (10) days thereafter, or the Committee of the Petitioners, if the Manager fails to act, file the petition with the Board of Elections of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, the proposed or referred ordinance to be voted upon by the Township electors at the next regular Township election. An initiative or referendum election shall be held in all respects in accordance with the provisions of the Pennsylvania Election Code relating to the conduct of special elections.

If a majority of the qualified electors voting on the proposed ordinance vote in favor thereof, such ordinance shall thereupon become a valid and binding ordinance of the Township upon certification of the election results. If the provisions of two (2) or more measures approved or adopted at the same election conflict, then the measure receiving the greatest affirmative vote shall control. If a majority of the qualified electors voting on a referred ordinance vote against it, the ordinance shall be considered repealed upon certification of the election results. Council may not consider reversing the results of an initiative or referendum vote for at least two (2) years following certification of such vote.

Initiative and Referendum powers shall not extend to the budget or capital programs in their entirety nor to any emergency ordinance or ordinance relating to the levy of taxes. Such exception, however, shall not apply to specific projects of the capital program.