[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.
Any number of proposed measures may be voted
upon at the same election in accordance with the provisions of this
§ 8.5.
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.
