N.D. Cent. Code § 11-11-19: When commissioners may purchase land without election

If, in the opinion of a majority of the members of the board of county commissioners, acquisition of land is, or may become, necessary for the courthouse or the jail, or for the purpose of beautifying county buildings, or to prevent the erection of other buildings so near to the courthouse and jail that the transaction of public business will be inconvenienced, the board, by a majority vote of its members, may purchase such land without submitting the question to a vote of the electors of the county. The money required for the purchase of the additional land shall be raised in the manner in which money is raised for general county purposes.