LEWISTON – Voters will see a new set of referendum rules on the ballot this spring, councilors agreed Tuesday.

The new rules would let 10 registered voters take out a petition challenging council decisions and circulate them around the city. They’d have 60 days to collect signatures and would have to collect roughly 1,200 signatures – 7 percent of the number of voters in the most recent gubernatorial election.

The current rules require registered voters to come to City Hall to sign the petition, and City Administrator Jim Bennett said last July they conflict with the City Charter and state election rules.

The issue came to a head 2006, after the city adopted a storm water utility fee to pay for culvert maintenance, street-sweeping and storm sewer-line projects. A group of 10 residents started a petition seeking to overturn the fee. The group failed to gather enough signatures to put the storm fee on the November 2006 ballot, however.

Councilors Tuesday unanimously approved the measure, and agreed to send it to voters. Bennett said councilors could schedule the election for May, when Lewiston schools could face a potential vote on their budget. Councilors could also schedule it for June, during Maine’s primaries

“Whichever works best, but sooner is certainly better,” Councilor Tom Peters said.

Bennett said councilors have until March to decide if the issue will be on the May ballot.

“We’ll know better if there will be a school election by then,” Bennett said.