Cities shall have power to issue general obligation bonds to pay the cost of any lands acquired and the dam or dams constructed thereon when authorized by a vote of a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question of the issuance of such bonds for such purpose at a general election, general city election or at any special election called and held for that purpose.

In lieu of the foregoing election requirement, the governing body of any city, except those located within a county having a population of more than 180,000 and less than 200,000, may by resolution declare its intention to acquire a site for and construct any such dam. Such resolution shall state the approximate location for the proposed dam and the approximate cost of such dam, such cost to include the site, engineering and architectural expense, and any other cost attributable to such dam. Such resolution shall be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in the official city paper of the city and shall contain a section notifying the qualified voters of the city that general obligation bonds will be issued for such dam unless a petition is filed in accordance with this section. Such petition shall be signed by electors equal in number to not less than 2% of the electors of the city who voted for the secretary of state at the last preceding general election at which the secretary of state was elected and shall be filed with the city clerk within 30 days following the last publication of the resolution. If no sufficient protest petition is filed within the time specified, the city may proceed to issue and sell the bonds and construct the dam in the manner provided by law. If there is a sufficient protest petition filed within the time specified, the bonds shall not be issued for the dam until the question of the issuance of such bonds for the construction of such dam is submitted to the qualified electors of such city in the manner provided by this section, and the question of the issuance of such bonds is approved by a majority of those voting on such question at such election.

Each dam shall be covered by a separate resolution, but bonds may be issued in a single issue or a series of bonds for several dams. Bonds issued under the authority of this act shall be in addition to and not subject to or within any bonded debt limitation prescribed by any other law of this state.