A petition, requesting that the city, from which territory has been detached, surrender its corporate rights and be reduced to a village, signed by at least one hundred citizens of the city, shall be presented to the legislative authority setting forth that by reason of the detachment of territory the population of the city has been reduced to less than five thousand, and that a majority of the citizens thereof desire to surrender its corporate rights, and requesting that it be reduced to a village. Such petition shall also contain a prayer that the legislative authority authorize the taking of a census in the city for the purpose of ascertaining its population.