§ 4 — Objection to Petition

Section 4. - Objection to Petition.

Within ten days after the filing of petition, the incumbent whose removal is requested shall file with the City Secretary his objection in writing to the sufficiency of such petition, and he cannot thereafter contest its sufficiency upon any objection not so filed. Within ten days after exceptions have been filed, if the petition is filed to remove an appointee of the Council, then the City Council shall sit as a body to hear and determine the sufficiency of the objections, and the exceptions shall be sustained in the particulars in which the same are held to be sufficient, and the signers of said petition may amend said petition to meet the requirements of the ruling of the Council, and if the said objections go to the form and manner of the charge preferred it shall be necessary for said petition to be recirculated and signed anew, but if the objections go to the number of the signers, or the genuineness of the signatures, or the fact of the party signing being a qualified voter, and are sustained, then said petition shall be dismissed and the parties may immediately reinstitute a petition to remove said party. Any member or members of the City Council against whom a petition is directed shall not be eligible to act in the matter of the determination of the sufficiency of said objections, but the remainder of said Council, if constituting a majority shall serve and act therein, and a majority of the votes of those members of the Council acting on the sufficiency of the petition shall control; provided, that should the petition be directed against a majority of the members of the City Council then same shall be presented to and acted upon by one of the District Judges of Harris County, Texas, whose decision on the sufficiency of said petition shall be final, and who, if he shall sustain said petition shall order the Council to call a recall election to be held as provided in Section 7 hereof. Any exceptions or objections to the sufficiency of the petition must be specific and definite and no general objections will be entertained. (Added by amendment October 15, 1913)