McNally v. Tollander 302 N.W.2d 440 100 Wis.2d 490, 302 N.W.2d 440 (Cite as: 100 Wis.2d 490, 302 N.W.2d 440) ation of any county; and no county seat shall be changed except as provided in this section. "(2) If two-fifths of the legal voters of any county, to be determined by the poll lists of the last previous general election held therein, the names of which voters shall appear on some one of the poll lists of said election, shall present to the county board a petition signed by them asking a change of the county seat to some other place designated in such petition, such board shall submit the question of removal of the county seat to a vote of the qualified voters of the county. Such election shall be held only on the day of the general election, notice thereof shall be given and the same shall be conducted as in the case of the election of officers on that day, and the votes shall be canvassed, certified and returned in the same manner as other votes at such election. The question to be submitted shall be 'Shall the county seat of ... county be removed to ...,' and the ballots on such question shall be deposited in a separate ballot box. "(3) If a majority of all the votes cast at such election on that subject are in favor of the proposed change, the chairman of the county board shall certify the same, with the attestation of the county clerk, to the governor, who thereupon shall issue his proclamation to that effect and cause the same to be published in the official state paper, and from the date of such publication the place so designated shall be the county seat of such county, and the county board shall not again submit the question of removal within five years. "(4) However, when a county seat has been established in one place for a period of fifteen years or more, and the county has there erected permanent buildings of the value of not less than ten thousand dollars, the county seat shall not be removed, nor shall any application for its removal be submitted to a vote of the electors of the county unless a petition signed by at least one-half of the resident freeholders of the county as evidenced by the recorded deeds in the office of the register of deeds of the county, in favor of such removal, shall first be presented to the county board and filed in the office Page 2 of the county clerk; and no such election to change any county seat shall be held for a period of five years after the year in which a courthouse or other county building costing three thousand dollars or more was built at the county seat and occupied for county purposes." *492 "... a petition signed by at least one-half of the resident freeholders of the **442 county as evidenced by the *493 recorded deeds in the office of the register of deeds of the county, in favor of such removal, shall first be presented to the county board and filed in the office of the county clerk." On November 20, 1975, George Benson, a Siren attorney who chaired a citizen's group in favor of removal, presented such a petition with some 2,000 signatures urging removal of the county seat to Siren. On December 16, 1975, the county board established a "Petition Committee" to determine the number of resident freeholders in the county and the validity of signatures on the removal petition. Before the committee was appointed, the county finance committee and attorneys for a group opposed to the removal agreed that no names would be added or subtracted from the petition after November 20, 1975. This agreement was affirmed by the district attorney. The committee, once appointed, prepared a list of resident freeholders. The petition was obtained by the committee on July 23, 1976 and the signatures compared to the freeholder list.[FN2] The number of qualified signatures on the original petition was 2,486 of a total of 5,727 resident freeholders, or 43.4%. FN2. The county clerk on July 12, 1976, refused to turn the petition over to the committee without a release. Such a release was eventually signed by the members of the committee. Four more petitions containing additional signatures were filed on July 15, August 19 and August 27, 1976. Upon the advice of the district attorney that the agreed cutoff date was "improper," these petitions were joined with the original petition. In September of 1976, the committee © 2006 Thomson/West. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works. 325