§ 2004. Notice of annual meeting in union free school district. 1. The clerk of each union free school district shall give notice of the availability of the statement of expenditures pursuant to the provisions of section seventeen hundred sixteen of this chapter and shall also give notice of the time and place of the annual meeting and the notice required by section seventeen hundred sixteen of this chapter by publishing a notice four times within the seven weeks next preceding such district meeting, the first publication to be at least forty-five days before said meeting, in two newspapers if there shall be two, or in one newspaper if there shall be but one, having general circulation within such district. But if no newspaper shall then have general circulation therein, the said notice shall be posted in at least twenty of the most public places in said district forty-five days before the time of such meeting.

2. Such notice shall also state that petitions nominating candidates for the office of member of the board of education must be filed in the office of the clerk of the district between the hours of nine a.m. and five p.m., not later than the thirtieth day preceding the school meeting or election at which the candidates so nominated are to be elected.

5. If the district has personal registration of voters pursuant to section two thousand fourteen of this chapter, and has not been divided into election districts pursuant to section two thousand seventeen of this chapter, such notice shall also state:

a. the place and hour or hours at which the board of registration shall meet to prepare the register of the school district and any person shall be entitled to have his name placed upon such register, provided that at such meeting of the board of registration, he is known or proven to the satisfaction of such board of registration, to be then or thereafter entitled to vote at the school meeting or election for which such register is prepared,

b. that the register prepared pursuant to section two thousand fourteen of this chapter will be filed in the office of the clerk of the district; that such register will be open for inspection by any qualified voter of the district and the hours during which such register will be open for inspection on each of the five days prior to and the day set for the meeting or election, except Sundays.

6. If the district has been divided into election districts pursuant to section two thousand seventeen of this chapter, such notice shall also state:

a. the place and hour or hours in each election district at which the members of the board of registration shall meet to prepare the register of the school district for each election district and any person shall be entitled to have his name placed upon such register, provided that at such meeting of the members of the board of registration he is known or proven to the satisfaction of such members to be then or thereafter entitled to vote at the school meeting or election for which such register is prepared,

b. the place in each election district where the meeting or election shall be held,

c. that the register prepared pursuant to section two thousand fourteen of this chapter will be filed in the office of the clerk of the district; that such register will be open for inspection by any qualified voter of the district and the hours during which such register will be open for inspection on each of the five days prior to and the day set for the meeting or election, except Sundays,

d. if the district is divided into election districts and voting machines are used, that a statement of estimated expenses for the ensuing year will be completed and copies made available at each schoolhouse in the district in which school is maintained during certain designated hours on each day other than a Saturday, Sunday or holiday during the fourteen days immediately preceding such meeting, together with the text of any resolution which will be presented to the voters.

7. Such notice shall also state that applications for absentee ballots for election of board members may be applied for at the office of the clerk of the district. Such notice, in such case, shall further state that a list of all persons to whom absentee ballots shall have been issued, will be available in the said office of the clerk on each of the five days prior to the day of the election except Sundays, and that such list will also be posted at the polling place or places at the election of members of the board of education.

8. Such notice and all other notices and reports required to be published in newspapers under the provisions of this chapter shall be printed at the rates and for the fees prescribed in section fifteen hundred fifty-one of the civil practice act. In the event that the publishers of one or both of the newspapers having general circulation in such district shall refuse to print and publish the notices or reports at the rates and for the fees so prescribed, publication in such newspaper or newspapers so refusing may be omitted, in which case the notices or reports shall be posted as required by this section in lieu of such publication.