§ 51. Referendum.

No ordinance passed by the city council, as authorized by this charter, shall go into effect before fourteen days from the date of its publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, except when otherwise required by the general statutes or in case of a measure for the immediate preservation of public peace, health or safety, which contains a statement of its urgency. If, during such fourteen days, a petition signed by at least five per cent of the qualified electors, protesting against the passage of such ordinance, shall be presented to the city clerk, the same shall thereupon be suspended from operation and the council shall reconsider such measure, and, if it be not entirely repealed, the council shall submit such ordinance to the vote of the electors of the city, either at the general municipal election or at a special election to be called for that purpose, and such ordinance shall not go into effect unless a majority of the qualified electors voting thereon shall vote in favor thereof. The sufficiency of such petition shall be determined, the election ordered and conducted and the result declared as provided in section fifty hereof, so far as said provisions may be applicable.

(Amend. eff. 12-8-05)

Legislative history— Sp. No. 352, § 67, 1911; Sp. No. 280, 1915; Sp. No. 434, § 139, 1931; Sp. No. 489, § 53, 1939.