Any person holding an elective office of the Township, whether
by election, succession or appointment to fill a vacancy, shall be
subject to removal from office at a recall election in the manner
provided in this Part.
1.
A recall of an incumbent of an elective office shall be initiated
upon petition signed by 35% of the registered voters of the district
from which the incumbent was elected or, if the incumbent was elected
at large, then 35% of the registered voters of the Township at large.
Every recall petition shall name the office and officer against whom
it is directed.
2.
Each elector signing a recall petition shall add to his/her signature,
his/her occupation, his/her residence, his/her election district,
and the date of signing. Signatures on a recall petition may be on
separate sheets, but each sheet shall have appended to it the affidavit
of some person, not necessarily a signer of the petition, that to
the best of the affiant's knowledge and belief, the persons whose
signatures appear on the sheet are registered electors of the Township,
that they signed with full knowledge of the contents of the petition,
and that their residences are correctly given.
3.
A recall petition shall be tendered for filing to the Board of Electors
having jurisdiction over elections in the Township. No signature shall
be counted as valid which is dated more than 60 days prior to the
date the petition is tendered for filing. Upon tender to the Board
of Elections, the petition shall be available for examination by any
interested person. Within 15 days after tender of the petition, the
Board of Elections shall have authority to pass upon the validity
of the petition and the validity and number of signatures required
thereon. The decision of the Board of Elections shall be subject to
immediate review on appeal to the Court of Common Pleas.
As soon as the Board having jurisdiction over elections in the
Township has accepted a recall petition for filing and determined
its validity and sufficiency, the Chairman of the Board shall notify
the incumbent named in the petition that the petition has been filed.
Upon receipt of such notice, the incumbent may resign from his/her
office and thereupon the recall proceedings shall terminate.
1.
If the incumbent against whom a recall petition is directed does
not resign from his/her office within 10 days after notice of the
filing of such petition shall have been given to him/her, the Board
having jurisdiction over elections in the Township shall arrange a
recall election. If a regular or special election is to be held not
less than 30 days nor more than 90 days after the 10 days have expired,
the recall question shall be placed before the electors at such an
election. Otherwise a special recall election shall be fixed by such
Board for a date not earlier than 30 days nor later than 90 days after
the 10 days have expired. The incumbent against whom a recall petition
is directed may resign at any time prior to the recall election, and
thereupon the election shall not be held.
2.
The following question shall be presented to each elector in the
recall election: "Shall (name of officer) be recalled and removed
from the office of (name of office)?"
3.
The above question shall appear as to every officer whose recall
is to be voted upon and provisions shall be made for the elector to
vote "yes" or "no" on the question.
4.
If a majority of the registered electors who vote on a question at
a recall election shall vote "yes," the incumbent shall be deemed
recalled and removed from office. But if less than a majority of such
registered electors vote "yes," then he/she shall remain in office.
5.
Should the result of such election be affirmative, the date of the
removal and vacancy in the office shall be seven days subsequent to
the date when the results of election are certified by the Board having
jurisdiction thereon, unless such date is further postponed by order
of Court.
No person who has been removed from an elective office by a
recall election or who has resigned from such an elective office after
a recall petition directed to him/her has been filed, shall be eligible
for election or appointment to any office of the Township.
No recall petition shall be filed against any incumbent of an
elective office within the first year or the last nine months of the
term of his/her office or within nine months after an unsuccessful
recall election against him/her, but an officer who has been reelected
for a successive term shall be subject to recall also during the first
year of such term.
