WM. PRESTON LANE, JR., GOVERNOR. 1749

212. PROPOSAL BY MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL.
Amendments may be proposed by a majority vote of all the
members of the Mayor and City Council. The ordinance pro-
posing an amendment shall provide for an expression of the
will of the qualified voters at a special or the next succeeding
municipal general election.

213. PROPOSAL BY PETITION. Amendments to the
Charter may be proposed by petition signed by a number of
qualified voters of Cumberland equal to ten per cent of those
voting for candidates for the office of Mayor at the last pre-
ceding regular municipal general election. Such petition shall
contain the street address of each signer and shall be pre-
sented to the Mayor, who shall verify the signatures and make
public announcement to the effect that the signatures are au-
thentic, or are not authentic, within thirty days from the time
of receiving such petition. If the Mayor announces that the
signatures in his opinion are not authentic, he shall make
public his specific reasons for so doing, and he shall explain
how the defects in the petition can be remedied.

214. AUTHENTICATION. When the Mayor shall have
announced that the signatures on the amendment petition
appear to be authentic, the Mayor and City Council shall then
provide within sixty days for the submission of the said
amendment, without change and as stated in the original
petition, at a special election before the next succeeding
municipal general election or at the next succeeding munici-
pal general election. The Mayor and City Council shall not
have power, on its own motion, to propose an amendment on
the subject matter covered by an amendment petition after
such petition has been filed with the Mayor, until such time
as the Mayor shall have refused to authenticate the signa-
tures on the petition, or the voters shall have accepted or re-
jected the petition amendment.

215. CHARTER COMMISSION. The Mayor and City
Council may by ordinance appoint a Charter Commission to
revise or amend this Charter or to propose a New Charter.
The Mayor and City Council may also be authorized and
directed to appoint a Charter Commission, by a petition
signed by a number of qualified voters of Cumberland equal
to ten per cent of those voting for candidates for the office
of Mayor at the last preceding municipal general election;
provided, however, that the Mayor shall have thirty days in
which to authenticate the signatures on the petition, which
shall contain the street address of each signer, and there shall
be allowed an additional thirty days in which to appoint
the Charter Commission.