Title
Order: That the City submit to the legislature for passage An Act Relative to the Recall of Elected Officials in the City of Malden
Body
Ordered: That the City submit to the Massachusetts legislature for passage in substantially the following form:
An Act Relative to the Recall of Elected Officials in the City of Malden
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by authority of the same as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 24 of Chapter 169 of the Acts of 1881, as most recently amended by Chapter 114 of the Acts of 2011, is hereby further amended by adding a new section as follows:
24H. Recall of Elected Officials
(a) Application--Any elected city official, with more than six months remaining of the term of office, may be recalled from the office, by the voters, in the manner provided in this section.
(b) Recall Petitions--Twenty-five or more voters may file with the board of registrars of voters an affidavit containing the name of the officer whose recall is sought and a statement of the grounds upon which the petition is based. If the officer is elected at large, the names on the affidavit shall be from the city at large. If the officer is elected by and from a ward the names on the petition shall be voters of the said ward. The board of registrars of voters shall deliver to the said voters petition blanks demanding said recall, printed forms of which they shall keep available. Said forms shall be addressed to the city council and shall contain the names of the persons who have filed the affidavit and the grounds for recall as stated in the affidavit; they shall demand the election of a successor to the office; and they shall be dated and signed by the board of registrars of voters. A copy of the petition shall be kept on file by the board of registrars of voters.
The recall petitions shall be returned and filed in the office of the election commissioners within thirty days following the date the petitions were issued, signed by at least fifteen percent of the total number of persons registered to vote as of the date of the preceding city election, if the officer is elected at large or signed by at least fifteen percent of the total number of persons registered to vote in the ward as of the most recent city election, if the officer is elected from a ward.
The board of registrars shall forthwith certify thereon the number of signatures which are names of voters.
(c) Recall Election--If the petition shall be certified by the board of registrars to be sufficient, they shall forthwith submit the same to the city council. Upon its receipt of the certified petition, the city council shall forthwith give written notice of said petition and certificate to the person whose recall is sought. If said officer does not resign his office within five days following delivery of the said notice, the city council shall order an election to be held not less than thirty-five nor more than sixty days after the date of the certificate of the sufficiency of the petition; provided that if another city election is to occur within sixty days after the date of the said certificate, the city council shall hold the recall election on the date of such other election. If a vacancy occurs in the office after a recall election has been ordered, the election shall nevertheless proceed as provided in this section and only the ballots for candidates need be counted.
(d) Nomination of Candidates, Conduct of Election, Form and Content of --An officer whose recall is sought may not be a candidate to succeed himself if recalled at the recall election. Other candidates shall be entitled to have their names appear on the ballot at such recall election by filing the number of signatures required for nomination to that office in a regular municipal election and the conduct of the recall election shall be in accordance with all provisions of other law relating to regular municipal elections.
Ballots used at a recall election shall state the following propositions in the order indicated:
For the recall of (name of officer)
Against the recall of (name of officer)
Adjacent to each proposition, there shall be a place to vote for either of the said propositions. After the propositions shall appear the word "candidates" and the names of candidates arranged as they would appear in a regular municipal election.
If a majority of the votes cast upon the question of recall is in the affirmative, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected. If a majority of the votes on the question is in the negative, the votes for candidates need not be counted, except as provided in (c) above.
(f) The incumbent shall continue to perform the duties of his office until the recall election and, if not recalled, shall continue in office for the remainder of his unexpired term, subject to recall as before, except as provided in this section.
If the officer is recalled in the election, he shall be deemed removed upon the qualification of his successor who shall hold office during the unexpired term. If the successor fails to qualify within five days after receiving notification of his election, the incumbent shall thereupon be deemed removed and the office vacant.
(g) Repeat of Recall Petition--No recall petition shall be filed against an officer within three months after he takes office, or in the case of an officer subjected to a recall election and not recalled thereby, until at least six months after the election at which his recall was submitted to the voters.
SECTION 2. This act shall be submitted to the voters of the city of Malden at the regular municipal election to be held in the year 2017 in the form of the following question:
Shall an act passed by the general court relative to recall of elected officials in the city of Malden be accepted?
If a majority of the voters cast in answer to this question is in the affirmative, the act shall take effect, but not otherwise.