Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, January 25, 1919, Page 6

' PAGE SIX . CHARTER OF THE CITY OF BEMIDJI, MINNESOTA (Continued from Page 3) N O R U ST S S s sl I S number of voters in the ward at the previous municipal election. Candidates for all other elective City offices shall be nominated by petition signed by electors of the municipality equal in number to ten per cent of the total number of voters in the city at the previous municipal election. The name of any elector of the city shall be printed upon the ballot if there is filed with the City Clerk a petition in accordance with the following provi- gions, to-wit: z : (a) Such petitions shall state the name and place of resi- " dence of each person whose name is presented for a place upon the ballot and the name of the office for which he is a candidate. (b) Each elector signing a petition shall add to his signa- ture his place of residence, with street and number, voting pre- cinct, and date of signing, and may subscribe to one nomination for each of the places to be filled, and no more. All signatures shall be made with ink or indelible pencil. ’ _(e) The signatures of all the petitioners need not be ap- pended to one paper, but to each separate paper there shall be attached an affidavit of the circulator thereof, stating the num- ber of signers thereto, that each person signed in his presence on the date mentioned, and that the signature is that of the person whose name it purports to be. (d) Such petitions shall not be signed by any elector more than thirty days prior to the day of such election and such peti- tion shall be filed with the election authorities not less than twen- ty days previous to the day of such election. Sec. 44. ACCEPTANCE :—Any person whose name has been submitted for candidacy by any such petition shall file his acceptance of such candidacy with the election authorities not later than fifteen days previous to such election; otherwise his name shall not appear upon the ballot. Sec. 45. GENERAL LAWS TO APPLY:—All elections shall be conducted, and the results canvassed and certified, by the City-Commission who shall constitute the election authorities, except as otherwise provided by this charter or by ordinances or resolutions of the city commission hereafter enacted, the gen: eral election laws shall control in all such elections. The Initiative s Sec. 46. PROPOSED PETITION :—Any proposed ordin- ances, including ordinances’for the repeal or amendment of an ordinance then in effect, may be submitted to the city commission by petition signed by at least five per cent of the total number of registered voters in the municipality. All petitions circulated with respect to any proposed ordinance shall be uniform in char- acter, shall contain the proposed ordinance in full, and shall have printed or written thereon the names and addresses of at purpose hereinafter Samed. / Each signer of a petition shall sign his name in ink or indel- ible pencil and shall place on the petition, opposite his name, the date of his signature and his place of residence by voting precinct and by street number. The signatures to any such peti- tion need not all be appended to oxfe paper, but to each such paper there ‘shall be attached an affidavit by the circulator thereof, ; that each signature appended to the paper is the genuine signa- ture of the person whose name it purports to be, and that it was made in the presence of the affiant and on the date indicated. Sec. 47. TIME OF FILING :—All papers comprising a pe- tition shall be assembled and filed with the clerk of the city com- the first signature thereon, and when so filed, the clerk shall sub- ed ordinance. Sec. 48. PETITION FOR ELECTION :—The city commis- sion shall at once proceed to consider such petition and shall take final action thereon within thirty days from the date of submis- gion. If the city commission rejects the proposed ordinance, or passes it in a different form from that set forth in the petition, or fails to act finally upon it within the time stated, the commit- tee of the petitioners, by written demand filed with the clerk of the city commission not later than twenty days after final ac- ‘tion -or: inaction by the city commission, may require that the proposed ordinance be submitted to a vote of. the electorsin its original form, if, with or ‘prior to such demand, a petition for such election, signed after the final action or inaction of the city commission;; is filed with such clerk, bearing additional signa- tures of twenty per ceent of the electors of the city, none of whom were signers of the first petition. Such clerk shall forthwith cause notice of the filing of such demand and petition ‘to be published in some newspaper of general circulation in the city, and shall also within five days certify to the City Clerk the posed ordinance, stating whether or not a special election is demanded in the petitions, the percentage of registered voters who signed the two petitions in the aggregate, and the date on which he published the notice last.mentioned. ., Sec. 49. 'TIME QF HOLDING ELECTION :—If an elec- tion is to be held not more than three months nor less than thir- ty days after the publication of such notice by the clerk, such proposed ordinance shall be submitted to a vote of the electors at such election. If no election is to be held within the time afore- mid, the election officers shall provide:for: submitting:the: pro- posed ordinance to the electors at a special electionto ‘be held not later than sixty days nor earlier than thircty days after ‘the publication of such notice, if the petition for such ordinance and the petition for such election so demand, and if the signers.of the two petitions amount in- the aggregate o at least twenty-five per cent of the registered voters of the city; otherwise the same ten days before any such election 1 shall cause Such proposed ordinance to be published. { Sec. 50. BAEROTS:—Thesballots;nsed.when voting upon such proposed ordinance shall state the title of the ordinance to be voted on and below it the two propositions, “For the: Ordin- ance” and ‘Against the Ordinance.” . Immediately,at.the right of each proposition: there shall be a square in“which-by-making & voter may vote for or against the proposed or- TS Thak & croms (X), the e SRV ke least five electors-who shall be officially regarded as filing the! petition and shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the! stating the number of signers to such part of the petition and; mission as one instrument, within thirty days from the date of| mit the same to the city commission at its next regular meeting| and provision shall be made for public hearings upon the propos-. THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 25, 1919 dinance. If a majority of the electors voting on any such pm'the time provided. He shall cause such petition to be placed on posed ordinance shall vote in favor thereof, it shall thereupon|file in his office, and provide facilities for there signing the same, become an ordinance of the city. Sec. 51. DUTY OF CITY ATTORNEY :—Before any. or- dinance o proposed shall be submitted to the city commission; it shall first be approved as to its form by the city attorney, whose duty it shall be to draft such proposed ordinance in proper legal language, and to render such other service to persons desiring to propose such ordinance as shall be necessary to make the same proper for consideration by the city commission. : Sec. 52. AMENDMENTS AND REPEALS:—An ordi- nance to repeal or amend an initiative ordinance may, by reso- lution of the city commission, be submitted to ‘an’ elec- toral vote at any regular election, or at ‘any special municipal election called for some other purpose, pro- vided notice of the intention so to do be published by the city commission not more than sixty nor less than thirty days prior to such election, in the manner required for the publication of or- dinances. If an amendment is so proposed, such notice shall con- tain the proposed amendment in full. Such submission shall be in the sanme manner, and the vote shall have the same effect, as in cases of ordinances submitted to an election by popular petition. The Referendum / Sec. 53. PETITION FOR REFERENDUM :—No ordin- ance passed by the city commission unless it be an emergency measure or the annual appropriation ordinance, shall go into effect until thirty days after its final passage. 'If, at any time within said thirty days, g petition signed by fifteen per cent of the total number of registered voters in the municipality be filed with the clerk of the city commission, requesting that any such ordinance be repealed or amended as stated in the petition, it shall not become operative until the steps indicated herein have been taken. Such petition shall have stated therein the names and addresses of at least five electors as a committee to represent the petitioners. 4 3 . Referendum petitions need not contain the text of the or- dinance or ordinances the repeal of which is sought; but shall contain the proposed amendment, if an amendment is demanded, and shall be subject in all other respects to the requirements for petitions submitting proposed ordinances to the city commis- sion. - Ballots used in referendum elections shall conform in all respects to those provided for in section fifty of this charter. Sec. 54. PROCEEDINGS THEREUNDER :—The clerk of the city commission shall, at its next meeting, present the peti- tion to the city commission, which shall proceed to reconsider the ordinance. If, within thirty days after the filing of such petition, the ordinance be not repealed or amended as requested, the city commission shall provide for submitting the proposed repeal or amendment to a vote of the electors, provided a majority of the committee named in the petition to represent the petitions shall, by writing filed with the clerk of the city commission” within |twenty days after the expiration of the said thirty days, so re- quire. In so doing, tlie city commission shall be goversied by the provisiofis of section foftynine hereof respecting the time of sub- mission and the manner’’of voting on ordinances proposed to the city commission by petition; excepting that the question of | calling a special election:for such purpose shall be determined by the demand+*and number of signers of the petition requesting the repeal or amendment of such ordinance, which number. shall be itwenty-five per cent of registered voters; and excepting further that the city commission ‘may call; and fix the time for a-special election for such purposej if:inits judgment the public interest will be prejudiced by delay. If, when submitted: to’a vote of the electors, such repeal or | amendment be approved by-a majority of those voting thereon, it ‘shall thereupon go into effect as an ordinance of the ecity; but if any such-amendment is ¢tearly separable from the remainder of the ordinance and does not materially affect the other provisions of such ordinance, all sections of the ordinance except that Sought to be amended and those dependent thereon, shall take ef- {fect as though no referendum of any portion of the ordinance 'had been demanded. : Sec. 55. REFERENDUM ON INITIATED ORDIN- | ANCES—CONFLICT :— -Ordinances submitted to the city lcommission by initiative petition and passed by the city commis- | sion without change, or passed in an amended form and not re- quired to be submitted to a-vote of the electors by tlie committee of the petitioners, shall be subject, to the referenlum in the same manner as other ordinances. If the provisions of two or more or- dinances adopted or approved at the same election conflict, the ordinance receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail. Sec. 56. . EMERGENCY MEASURES :—Ordinances, passed as emergency measures shall be subject to referendum in like manner as other ordinances, except that they shall go into effect at the time indicated in such ordinances. If, when submitted to a vote of the electors, an emergency measure be not approved by a majority. of thoge voting thereon it shall be considered repealed as regards any further action thereunder; but such measure so repealed shall be-deemed sufficient authority for payment in aec- cordance with the ordinance of any expense incurred previous to the referendum vote thereon. e See, 57. PRELIMINARY ACTION:—In case a petition be filed requiring that.a measure passed by the city commission providing for an expenditure of money a bond issue or a public improvement be submitted to'a vote of the electors, all steps pre- liminary to such actual expenditure, actual issuance of bonds, or actual execution of a contract for such improvement, may be taken prior to the election. - The Recall Sec. 58. RECALL PETITION =-Any or all members of the city commission may be remeved from office by the electors by the following procedure: A petition for the recall of the commig- sioner .-or,. ‘commissioners. designated, . ‘signed by at least one hundred of the electors. of the city, and containing Olerk, who shall forthwith notify the commissioner or! commissioners sought ‘to be: removed; andhe or they, within five days after such notice, may file with such clerk a defensivejupon conviction, be fined in any Sum not to exceed one hun statement, ininot;exeeeding two:hundred-words. The «clerk shail atoneeupon the expiration of said five days eause a copy of such The city clerk shall immediately cause notice to be published in .. some newspaper of general circulation in the city of the placing of such petition for signatures. 'Such petition shall remain on file for the period of thirty days, during which time it may be signed by any clector of the city in person, but not by agent or at- torney. Kach signer of the petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil, and shall place thereafter his residence by voting precinct, and by street and number. Sec. 59. NOTICE :—At the expiration of said period of thir- ty days the city clerk shall examine the same and ascertain and certify thereon whether the signatures thereto amount to at least twenty-five percent of the registered voters of the city..If such sig- tures do amount to such per cent, he shall at once serve notice of that fact upon the commissioner or commissioners designated in the petition, and also deliver to the election authorities a copy of the original petition with his certificate as to the percentage - v of registered voters who signed the same, and a certificate as to the date of his last mentioned notice to the commissioner or com- missioners designated in the petition. - . Sec. 60. RECALL ELECTION:—If the commissioner or commissioners, or any of them, designated in the petition, file with the city clerk within five days after the last mentioned notice his or their written resignation, the city clerk shall at once notify the election authorities of that fact; and such resignation’ shall be irrevocable, and the city commission shall proceed to fill the vacancy. In the absence of any such resignation the electio authorities shall forthwith order and fix a day for holding a re-~2 call election” for the removal of those not resigning. Any such election shall be held not less than thirty nor mére than sixty days after the expiration of the period of five days last mentioned, and at the same time as any other general or special-election held within such period; but if no such election be held within such period the election authorities shall call a special recall election to be held within the period aforesaid. . Sec. 61. BALLOTS:—The ballots at such recall election shall conform to the following requirements. With respect to each person whose removal is sought, the question ‘shall be sub- mitted: “Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of City Commissioner by recall?” Immediately following each such question.there shall be printed on the ballots the two propositions in the order here set forth : ; “For therecall of (name of person).” : “Against the recall of (name of person).” Immediately to the right of each of the propositions shall be placed a square in which the electors, by making a cross mark 4. (X), may vote for either of such propositions. ) . Sec. 62. TILLING OF VACANCIES:—In any such elec- tion, if a majority of the votes cast on the question of removal 9f any commissioner are affirmative the person whose removal is sought shall thereupon be deemed removed from office upon the announcement of the official canvass of that election, and the vacancy caused by such recall shall be filed-by the remainder of the city commission according to the provisions of section four of this.charter. If, hqwever, an ¢lection is held for the recall of more than,two commissioners,. candidates to ~succeed them for their unexpired terms shall be voted upo;l'at the same.elec- tion, and shall be nonrinated by petitions signed, dated and veri- fied in- the manner required for petitions presenting names of candidates for nomination at an election, and similar in form to such petitions, but signed by electors equal in number to at least ten percent of the registered voters of the city, and filed with - the election authorities at least thirty days prior to such recall. election. But no such nominating petition shall be signed or cir- culated until after the time has expired for signing the copies of the petition for the recall, and any signatures thercon antedating such time shall not be counted. g e Sec. 63. COUNTING THE VOTE :—Candidates shall né& be nominated to succeed any particular commissioner; but if only one commissioner is removed at such election, the candidate at such election receéiving the highest number of votes shall be de- clared elected to fill the vacancy; and if more than one commis- sioner is removed at such election, such candidates equal in num- ber to the number of commissioners removed shall be declared elected to fill the vacancies; and among the successful candi- dates, those receiving the greatest number of votes shall be de- clared elected for-the longer terms. Cases of ties, and all other matters not herein specifically provided for, shall be determined by the rules governing elections generally: A Sec. 64. EFFECT OF RESIGNATIONS :—No preceeding for the recall of all of the members of the city commission at the same election shall be defeated in whole or in part by the resigna- tion of any or all of them, but upon the resignation of any of them the city commission shall have the power to fill the vacancy until a successor is elected, and the proceedings for. the recall and the election of successors shall continue and have e same - effect as though there had been no resignation. Sec. 65. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS :—Except:as- herein otherwise provided, no petition to recall any commissioner’ shall be filed within six months after he takes office. No,person removed by recall shall. be eligible to be elected or appointed for a period of two years after date of such recall. The city clerk shall preserve in his office all papers co:hprisiné .or. con- nected with a petition for.a recall for the period of one year after ge ;:!x were flle;l, fl;l‘he method of removal herein provided-is -addition to such-other methods as are, or : i General law. i it l:ayr l:>e, grovtded’ w: Sec..66. OFFENSES RELATING TO PETITIONS :— No person’’ shall’ falsely - impersonate. another, :or; purpose- ly. write his- name: or: residence falsely, in the sigringof any ‘petition for initiative, referendum or recall, or forge any mame, thereto, or sign any such-paper with knowledge that he i3] ot a qualified elector of the city, No person shall sign, or know- ingly permit to. be signed any-petition ‘for recall ‘at any ,place other than the place hereinbefore designated for the signing of such. petitions. Nor shall any.-person employ or.pay anether, or shall be submitted at the next regular or special eléction. At least|a statement in not more than two hundred words offaccept employment or payment, for circulating any-initiative or the clerk of the city commission|the grounds of the recall,»shall be filed with the city|retérendum petition upon the basis of the number of signatures procured thereto. - Any person’ violating any. of .the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of misdemeanor and shall, dollars ‘and the costs of prosecution. The foregoing provi shall not be held:to be’ exclusive of, but in addition to, all-laws petition, without the signatures, to be made, and he shall attach{of the state prescribing penalties for the same offenses or fo: LAl |a copy of such defensive statement, if one is furnished him within other offenses relating to the same matter. ‘ g it ¥