§ 13. Recall of elective officers.

(a)

Each incumbent of an elective office shall be subject to recall by the voters of this city, not inconsistent with state statutes. The procedure to effect such a removal from office shall be as follows: A petition signed by qualified electors equal in number to twenty per cent of the entire vote cast for mayor at the last preceding biennial election, demanding an election of a successor of the officer sought to be removed, shall be addressed to the city council and presented to the city clerk, and shall contain a statement of the reason for such demand. If the officer sought to be removed shall not resign within five days after the petition is filed, the council shall cause a special election to be held within thirty days thereafter, to determine whether the people will recall such officer. In the published call for the election shall be printed, in not more than two hundred words, the reasons for demanding the recall of such officer as set forth in the recall petition, and such officer may therein, in not more than two hundred words, justify his course in office.

(b)

The sufficiency of such petition shall be determined by the town clerk, subject to the right of any person who has signed it to appeal to the city council for final decision of its sufficiency. The officer sought to be removed shall be deemed a candidate, and his name shall appear as that of a candidate upon the voting machine or a printed ballot, as the case may be.

(c)

The nomination of other candidates and the election shall be in accordance with the provisions of this charter concerning nominations and elections, except that the result of the election under the recall shall be final, and the candidate receiving a plurality vote shall be elected for the remainder of the term, subject to subsequent recall. The officer sought to be removed shall, if he shall not resign, continue to perform the duties of his office until the election, whereupon if he shall fail of election, he shall be deemed to be removed from office.

(d)

No recall petition shall be filed against any officer, nor a recall election held, until such officer has actually held his office for at least four months, nor within ninety days of a general city election.

(e)

No person who has been recalled from an elective office, or who has resigned from such office while recall proceedings were pending against him, shall be appointed to any city office within two years after such recall or resignation.

(f)

The council may make such further provisions as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this section and the election may be ordered and conducted and the result declared in the same manner as is determined herein for the election of officers at biennial city elections.

Legislative history— Sp. No. 352, § 11, 1911; Sp. No. 434, § 22, 1931, Sp. No. 489, § 13, 1939.