Sec. 4. Petition for referendum.

548 words·~2 min read·/il/chapter-70/act-1105/4

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(a)Any 200 legal voters residing within the limits of a proposed district may petition the circuit court of the county in which the proposed district lies for an order to submit the question to the electors of the proposed district whether or not it shall be organized as a museum district under this Act.

(b)The petition must contain a definite description of the territory to be included within the district, the proposed name of the district, the name of each municipality within the district, and a description of each historical site within the district.

(c)Upon filing the petition in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the territory lies, the circuit court shall fix a day and hour for a hearing on the petition, which shall be at least 15 days after the filing of the petition. The clerk of the circuit court shall cause a notice of the time and place of hearing to be published 3 successive days in a newspaper having a general circulation in the territory of the proposed district. The date of the last publication of the notice must be at least 5 days before the time set for the hearing.

(d)At the hearing on the petition the court shall hear any person owning property or residing within the proposed district who desires to be heard. If the court finds that all of the provisions of this Act have been complied with, the court shall enter an order fixing and defining the boundaries and the name of the proposed district in accordance with the prayer of the petition.

(e)If any other petition for the organization of a museum district in the same county is filed under this Act before the time fixed for the hearing of the first petition, the court shall postpone the hearing on the first petition, and the hearing on all petitions shall be set for the same day and hour. All petitions filed after the first petition shall be assigned to the judge to whom the first petition is assigned so that all petitions may be heard by the same judge. If 2 or more petitions are filed under this Act and come on for hearing at the same time and the court finds that any of the territory included within any one of the petitions is included within or contiguous to the territory included in any other petition, the court may include all of the territory described in the petitions in one district and shall fix the name proposed in the petition first filed as the name of the district.

(f)After the entry of the order fixing and defining the boundaries and the name of a proposed district, the circuit court shall order that the question of organization of the proposed district be submitted to the electors of the proposed district. The clerk of the circuit court shall certify the order and the question to the proper election officials, who shall submit the question to the electors of the proposed district in accordance with the general election law. Notice of the referendum shall contain a definite description of the territory of the district and the proposed name of the district.