CHARTER
OF THE
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, OHIO

ARTICLE IX - REFERENDUM

SECTION 54.   PETITION FOR REFERENDUM.

No ordinance passed by the city commission, unless it be an emergency measure or the annual appropriation ordinance, shall go into effect until fourteen (14) days after its final passage. If, at any time within said fourteen (14) days, a petition signed by ten percent (10%) of the total number of registered voters in the municipality at the last regular municipal election be filed with the clerk of the city commission, requesting that any such ordinance be repealed or amended as stated in the petition, it shall not become operative until the steps indicated herein have been taken.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 (5) electors as a committee to represent the petitioners.

Referendum petitions need not contain the text of the ordinance 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 Commission. Voting devices used in referendum elections shall conform in all respects to those provided for in Section 52 of this Charter.
(Amended 11-8-77.)

SECTION 55.   PROCEEDINGS THEREUNDER.

The clerk of the city commission shall, at its next meeting, present the petition to the city commission, which shall proceed to reconsider the ordinance. If, within thirty (30) days after the filing of such petition, the ordinance be not repealed or amended as requested, the city commission shall provide for submitting the proposed repeal or amendment to a vote of the electors provided a majority of the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 petitioners shall, by writing filed with the clerk of the city commission within twenty (20) days after the expiration of the said thirty (30) days, so require. In so doing the city commission shall be governed by Section 50 hereof respecting the time of submission 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 twenty-five percent (25%) of the registered voters in the municipality at the last regular municipal election; and excepting further that the city commission may call, and fix the time for, a special election for such purpose, if in its judgment the public interest wil 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 city; but, if any such amendment is clearly 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 efffect as though no referendum of any portion of the ordinance had been demanded.

SECTION 56.   REFERENDUM ON INITIATED ORDINANCES; CONFLICT

Ordinances submitted to the city commission by initiative petition and passed by the city commission without change, or passed in an amended form and not required to be submitted to a vote of the electors by the committee of the petitioners, shall be subject ot the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. If the provisions of two or more ordinances adopted or approved at the same election conflict, the ordinance receiving the highest affirmative vote shall prevail.

SECTION 57.   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 those 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 accordance with the ordinance of any expense incurred previous to the referendum vote thereon.

SECTION 58.   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 public improvement be submitted to a vote of the electors, all steps preliminary to such actual issuance of bonds, or actual execution of a contract for such improvement, may be taken prior to the election.

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