Petitions

Initiative is a procedure under which local voters directly propose (initiate) legislation. Citizen lawmaking through the initiative process allows local voters to circumvent the Village Council by direct ballot box action on new ordinances that have some level of support in the community, but which the council declines to enact.

The initiative process begins with circulation of a petition setting forth the text of the desired ordinance. The petitioners must then obtain the number of voter signatures needed to compel the Village Council to submit the ordinance to the people at a Village-wide election. The Village Clerk must check the completed petition and certify it if it meets all charter requirements. If so, the Village Council has only two options: (1) adopt the proposed ordinance; or (2) call an election on the ordinance. If, at the election, the proposed ordinance passes by majority vote, the ordinance is put into effect.

Referendum is a procedure under which local voters can repeal existing ordinances that the council declines to rescind by its own action. The procedures for compelling the Village Council to call a referendum election are the same as for initiative elections: a petition calling for an election to repeal a certain ordinance is circulated, the petition is checked and certified if it is sufficient, and the Village Council must then either repeal the ordinance by its own action or call an election at which the people can vote to repeal it.

A municipal charter is the basic document that defines the organization, powers, functions and essential procedures of the Village government. The Charter may be amended by ordinance initiated by the Village Council, by a petition of the voters, or by action initiated by the Charter Revision Commission.

Under Article 6 of the Village’s Charter(PDF, 1MB), citizens can compel the Village Council to call an election on a proposed charter amendment. The charter amendment process requires a petition signed by electors of the Village equal in number to at least ten percent (10%) of the total number of electors registered to vote at the last regular Village election.

The Village Charter sets the method by which the Village Clerk calculates required numbers of signatures for particular petitions. For initiative, referendum and charter amendment, the Village Clerk’s office does the following:

Step 1: Contacts the voter registrar in Miami-Dade County to obtain the number of registered voters that were registered to vote at the last general Village election.

Step 2: Multiplies the number of registered voter times the percentage required (10%) to obtain the number of valid signatures, which must be on that petition.