§ 101. Permissive referendum. 1. A resolution of the board of supervisors which is subject to a permissive referendum shall be subject to referendum on petition. Within ten days after the adoption by the board of supervisors of any resolution which is subject to a permissive referendum, the clerk of the board of supervisors, in the same manner as provided for notice of a special election, shall cause a notice to be published at least once in the official newspapers and in such other newspapers as the board may designate. Such notice shall contain the number, date of adoption, a true copy of the resolution and a statement that such resolution is subject to a permissive referendum.

2. A resolution of the board of supervisors which is subject to a permissive referendum shall not take effect until forty-five days after its adoption; nor unless it is approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting on a proposition therefor, if within forty-five days after its adoption there be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors a petition signed by qualified electors of the county in number of not less than ten per centum of the total vote cast for governor in said county at the last general election held for the election of state officers. Such petition shall state that a referendum vote is requested on such resolution, describing the same by its number and date of adoption, and shall contain an abstract of the text. The petition may consist of separate sheets and the signatures to each sheet shall be authenticated in the manner provided by the election law for the authentication of a designating petition. The several sheets so signed and authenticated when fastened together and offered for filing shall be deemed to constitute one petition. The clerk of the county legislature shall examine each such petition so filed with him and shall not later than thirty days after the date of its filing transmit to the board of supervisors a certificate that he has examined it and has found that it complies or does not comply, as the case may be, with all the requirements of law.

3. Proceedings may be instituted and maintained to contest the sufficiency and validity of any petition provided for in this article, in the manner provided by the election law, as though such petition were a designating petition. If the petition be sufficient and valid, a proposition for the approval of such resolution shall be submitted at an election pursuant to subdivision four of this section.

4. Within thirty days after the adoption of a resolution which is subject to a permissive referendum, the board of supervisors may of its own motion by resolution provide that such resolution be submitted to a vote of the qualified electors of the county to be held at a general or special election held not less than sixty days after the adoption of the resolution providing for such special or general election. A resolution adopted pursuant to the preceding sentence may not thereafter be rescinded. Any proposition required to be submitted pursuant to subdivision three of this section shall be submitted at the next general election of state or county government officers held in such county not less than sixty days after the filing of the petition requesting the referendum, unless the petition requests and the board of supervisors adopts a resolution submitting such proposition at a special election held not less than sixty days after the adoption of the resolution providing for such special election.