Issue 22: City of Maumee charter amendment on recall of the Mayor and Council members

The question, as printed on the ballot

Shall Article IX, Section 3 of the Charter of the City of Maumee be amended or rewritten as follows? SECTION 3 REMOVAL OF OFFICER BY RECALL PETITION BY ELECTORS A. Petitions For Removal of Elected Officer by Electors Any elected or appointed Council Member or Mayor provided for in this Charter may be removed or recalled from office by the following procedure: A petition for the removal or recall of an elected or appointed Council Member or Mayor, containing a statement in not more than two hundred (200) words of the grounds for the removal or recall, may be circulated once in any calendar year within a circulation period not to exceed ninety (90) days, and shall be filed with the Clerk of Council. Such petition to be sufficient, shall be signed by at least that number of electors, which equals twenty-five percent (25%) of the total number of electors voting at the last regular municipal election. Within ten (10) days after the day on which such petition shall have been timely filed, the Clerk, if the petition meets the other requirements set forth herein, shall forward the petition to the Board of Elections for the Board of Elections to determine whether the petition meets the signature requirements hereof. If the Board of Elections finds the petition insufficient, the Clerk shall notify the petitioner that their petition has been rejected and will not be considered at the next general election. If the Board of Elections finds the petition sufficient, the Clerk shall promptly deliver a copy of such certificate to the Council Member or Mayor whose removal is sought and shall make a record of such delivery. If such Council Member or Mayor shall not resign within five (5) days after the day on which such delivery shall have been made, the election authorities thereupon fix a day for holding the recall election at the next general election occurring more than ninety (90) days after the expiration of the period of five (5) days last mentioned. No petition to remove or recall an elected official shall be circulated or filed within one (1) year after a Council Member or Mayor takes office. No more than three (3) elected officials may be recalled or removed in a general election. If more than three (3) petitions are circulated, the first three (3) petitions filed and certified shall be presented to the electors at the next general election as defined by the Ohio Revised Code. The election authorities shall publish notice and make all arrangements for holding the election, which shall be conducted and the result thereof returned and declared in all respects as are the results of regular municipal elections. B. Nominations The nomination of candidates to succeed each Council Member or Mayor sought to be recalled or removed shall be made, without the intervention of a primary election, by filing with the election authorities, at least sixty (60) days before the such general election, a petition proposing a person for each such office, signed by electors equal in number to ten percent (10%) of the total votes cast at the most recent regular municipal election for the head of the ticket. C. Ballots The ballots at such recall election shall conform to the following requirements: With respect to each elected official whose removal is sought, the question shall be submitted: Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of (title of office) by recall. Immediately following each such question there shall be printed on the ballots the two propositions in the order herein set forth: For the recall of (name of person); Against the recall of (name of person). Immediately to the left of the proposition shall be placed a square in which the electors may vote for either of the propositions. Under each of the questions shall be placed the names of candidates to fill the vacancy. The name of the officer whose removal is sought shall not appear on the ballot as a candidate to succeed the officer's self. D. Filling of Vacancies Created by Recall In any recall election, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of removal are affirmative, the elected official whose removal is sought shall be removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of that election, and the candidate receiving the plurality of the votes for candidates for that office shall be declared elected. The successor of any person so removed shall hold office during the unexpired term of the successor's predecessor. If the elected official is not recalled or removed from office by the voters, that elected official shall not be subject to a further recall or removal procedure by the voters during the term of office to which they were elected. E. Expenses If, at any such recall election, the incumbent whose removal is sought is not recalled, the incumbent shall be repaid the incumbent's actual and legitimate expenses for the election from the treasury of the municipal corporation, but such sum shall not exceed five thousand (5,000) dollars.