§ 654. Advance notice of petition; effect. Any elector of the county
may file with the clerk of the board of supervisors advance notice of
his intention to prepare, circulate and file a petition for the
submission of any question authorized by this chapter. Any such notice
shall specify the alternative form of county government proposed,
together with any variations and shall be accompanied by a deposit of
twenty-five dollars. If the board of supervisors shall have adopted a
resolution initiating a proceeding for the adoption of an alternative
form of county government, with or without variations, within ten days
after the filing of such an advance notice, then and in that event such
advance notice shall have no further force and effect and the
twenty-five dollars deposited shall be refunded to the person making the
deposit. In the event that no such resolution is adopted by the board of
supervisors within such period of ten days after the filing of such an
advance notice, then and in that event if one-third of the number of
signatures required for the submission of the question are filed with
such clerk within twenty days and the remaining two-thirds within forty
days after the filing of the notice, the twenty-five dollars shall be
refunded to the person making the deposit and no other petition or
advance notice shall be filed or accepted for filing, or resolution of
the board of supervisors adopted, for the submission of any question
under this chapter, until the question proposed in the advance notice
shall have been submitted to the electors of the county in accordance
with the provisions of this chapter. The several parts of the petition
filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors under this section,
when complete, shall constitute one petition, which shall be deemed to
be filed for the purposes of this chapter on the date the last portion
is filed. If the required number of signatures is not filed within the
twenty day period, or the forty day period aforesaid, the notice of
intention to file a petition shall be deemed withdrawn and shall have no
further force or effect and the deposit of twenty-five dollars shall be
paid into the general fund of the county treasury.