Section 231. Any city may, subject to the provisions of section 218 of this act, abandon its optional plan and revert to the form of government under which it was governed immediately prior thereto, upon the filing of a petition and referendum, as follows:
(1) Upon petition to the county board of elections of the registered voters of the city, signed by the same number thereof as required in section 201, for an election to submit the question of abandonment and reversion as herein provided, the county board of elections shall provide for submission of the question to the voters of the city at the first general election to be held not less than sixty days after the filing of the petition as provided in the Pennsylvania Election Code.
(2) The form of the question shall be as follows:
(name of city)
abandon its present form of government and revert to its prior
(popular name of plan)
as provided by The Third Class City Code?
(3) If a majority of those voting on the question vote in the affirmative, the city shall revert to its prior form of government on the first Monday of January following the next regular municipal election.
If a majority of those voting on the question vote in the negative, the question of abandonment and reversion shall not again be submitted for five years.
(4) The reversion to a prior form of government shall take effect as provided in Article VI. of this act for transition to an optional plan hereunder in so far as applicable.
(231 amended Sept. 17, 1965, P.L.526, No.268)