A. Upon petition signed by qualified electors, not less in number than fifteen percent of the votes cast for the office of mayor at the last regular municipal election, filed with the municipal clerk and verified by the municipal clerk to contain a sufficient number of legal signatures, the governing body shall, within ten days of verification, adopt an election resolution calling for the holding of a special election on the question of organizing the municipality under the commission-manager form of government, or the governing body may submit to the qualified electors of the municipality the question of organizing the municipality under the commission-manager form of government. The election shall be held in June or July in odd-numbered years or July or August in even-numbered years in accordance with the provisions of the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978].

B. The question to be placed shall read substantially as follows:

"For the commission-manager form of government and providing for the election of five commissioners ____; and

Against the commission-manager form of government and providing for the election of five commissioners ____".

History: 1953 Comp., § 14-13-2, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 1985, ch. 208, § 110; 2018, ch. 79, § 55.

Cross references. — For examinations of signatures, purging and judicial review of petitions, see 3-1-5 NMSA 1978.

The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, provided when a special election on the question of organizing a municipality under the commission-manager form of government shall be held; in Subsection A, after "holding of a special election", deleted "within ninety days after the verification of the petition", and added the last sentence of the subsection.

The 1985 amendment, in Subsection A, inserted "and verified by the municipal clerk to contain a sufficient number of legal signatures" and "within ten days of verification adopt an election resolution calling" and substituted "for the holding of a special election, within ninety days after the verification of the petition" for "provide for the holding of an election, not less than thirty days nor more than sixty days after the filing of the petition".