Petition circulators have 60 days to gather signatures, at which point all sections of the petition must be filed with the City Clerk.

• The City Clerk approved the petition form and circulation began on May 30, which set the due date to July 29.

The number of signatures required on an initiative petition depends on the type of election requested. If the petition representatives are willing to have the initiative placed on a regularly-scheduled election (held in November of odd-numbered years), the petition must contain valid signatures equal in number to 10% of the total ballots cast in the last regular city election. If the petition requests a special election, the number of signatures must equal 15% of the total ballots cast in the last regular city election. 

• This initiative calls for a special election, therefore it requires 15% of the 50,699 total ballots cast at the 2023 November election, putting the required number of valid signatures at 7,605.

Once the petition is filed with the City Clerk, the Clerk has five working days to examine the petitions to determine if the petition is signed by the requisite number of registered electors and that the petition contains the required particulars and affidavits.

After examination has concluded, the Clerk will deem the petition sufficient or insufficient.

If an initiative petition is deemed insufficient after the examination or following protest proceedings (described below), the City Clerk will prepare a certificate of insufficiency, specifying the particulars of insufficiency, and will notify all of the petition representatives of such insufficiency, both verbally and by providing copies of the certificate of insufficiency. An insufficient petition may be amended by the submission of additional signatures collected after the City Clerk approved the form of the petition and within 15 days of the date of the Clerk’s certificate of insufficiency. Such signatures must be collected consistent with the requirements for collecting petition signatures as described in Article X of the City Charter. Within 5 days of the filing of an amended petition, the Clerk must examine the amended petition and certify the results. If the amended petition is still insufficient, or if no amendment was made before the expiration of the time permitted for amendment, the petition shall be null and void without prejudice to the filing of a new petition for the same purpose. 

When a petition or amended petition is deemed sufficient, whether following the sufficiency determination by the City Clerk in the absence of a protest, or following protest proceedings, the City Clerk is required to certify and present the certified petition to the City Council at the next regularly scheduled meeting. The Clerk’s certification is the final determination as to the sufficiency of the petition, subject only to the protest procedure described below.

Any registered elector may protest a determination by the City Clerk that a petition is either sufficient or insufficient by filing a written protest, under oath, in the City Clerk’s office within 10 days of the original filing of the petition. The protest must set forth with particularity the grounds of protest and the names and defects in form protested.

If a protest is filed, the City Clerk must set a hearing date within 7 days of filing of the protest. At least 5 days prior to the hearing, the Clerk is required to mail a copy of the protest to all of the designated petition representatives, together with a notice of the time for hearing.

The City Manager will appoint a hearing officer for all protest hearings, who has the power to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witness and the production of documents. All records and hearings are public, and all testimony must be given under oath. The hearing must be summary in nature, and concluded within 30 days after the petition was filed. Within 10 days after the hearing is concluded, the hearing officer must decide and certify the results of the hearing. The City Clerk will make the final determination regarding the sufficiency or insufficiency of a petition and will base such determination on the protest hearing results certified by the hearing officer. 

If the results of the protest hearing result in the petition being deemed insufficient, the petition representatives have an opportunity to amend the petition as described above under “Insufficient Petition”.