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3 ter eighteen, shall be amended as follows: The words "chief of 4 police" in line number one shall be striken out and the word 5 "clerk" substituted therefor.

Water Rents

Sec. 40. All water rents due said city shall be ascertained 2 from time to time as may now or hereafter be provided by coun3 cil by proper ordinance or order passed thereby, and the bills 4 for such water rent shall be prepared by the clerk and col5 lected by him. The clerk shall account to the treasurer for all 6 the collections.

Street Commissioner

Sec. 41. The chief of police shall be ex-officio street com2 missioner for said city, and he shall perform such duties as 3 may now or hereafter, by ordinance, be imposed upon him.

Sidewalks

Sec. 47. The council may lay out and establish sidewalks or 2 footways on the streets, avenues or alleys of the said city, and 3 may require the same to be paved with brick, stone or other suit4 able material, as the council may determine, under the direction 5 of the chief of police, by the owners respectively of the lots or 6 fractional parts of lots, facing or abutting on such sidewalks or 7 footways; and, if the owner of any such sidewalks or footwalk, 8 or of the real property next adjacent thereto, shall fail or re9 fuse to pave the same in the manner or within the time requir 10 ed by the council, it shall be the duty of the council to cause the 11 same to be done at the expense of the city, and to assess the 12 amount of such expense upon such owners, and if the said as13 sessment be not paid within thirty days from the date of said 14 notice, the clerk shall turn the same over to the city collec15 tor for collection, and said collection may be made in the same 16 manner as is now provided for the collection of city taxes, or 17 by an action in the circuit court of Marshall county, West 18 Virginia, or before any justice of the peace of said county 19 having jurisdiction in the matter, and a judgment obtained be20 fore said court of justice may be recorded in the office of the 21 clerk of the county court of Marshall county, West Virginia, in 22 the judgment lien docket and may be enforced in the same

23 manner as other judgments against real estate are now enforced. 24 The provisions of this section shall be applicable to needed 25 repairs to any of the sidewalks of the city, and to the sub26 stitution of new sidewalks for any which may have been here27 tofore, or which may be hereafter laid and completed, and 28 which may be deemed insufficient.

Street Paving.

Sec. 48. The council shall have authority to provide that 2 any street, avenue or alley, or any portion thereof, between the 3 curbstones, shall be macadamized or paved with brick, coble4 stones, or other suitable material, upon the lowest and best terms 5 obtainable, after advertisement for two weeks in one or more 6 newspapers in the city, for bids and proposals for the work; 7 and two-thirds of the cost of such macadamizing or paving, from 8 curb to curb of such streets, avenue, or alley, shall be assessed 9 to the owners of lots, or fractional parts of lots, fronting or 10 abutting on such street, avenue or alley, that is to say: The 11 property owners on each side of said street, avenue or alley 12 shall be assessed one-third of the cost of said improvements, to 13 each property owner or sum proportionate to the distance, or 14 extent in feet by him owned, and one-third of the sum so 15 assessed shall be paid by each property owner to the city 16 within thirty days after the completion of the work, and the 17 remainder in two equal installments in six and twelve months 18 thereafter, with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum 19 per annum, or at such other times as the council may prescribe. 20 The remaining one-third of such expense, as well as the ex21 pense of macadamizing or paving at the intersections of streets, 22 avenues and alleys shall be defrayed by the city. The council 23 shall cause a notice to be published for two weeks in some 24 newspaper published in said city, showing the owners of the 25 property and the number of feet fronting on said improve26 ments, as well as the time and the place where the said council 27 will proceed to fix said assessments as above provided, and giv28 ing notice to any person having an interest in said property to 29 appear and show cause, if any he can, why such assessment shall 30 not be made; and the council may, in making such assessments, 31 consider the petition of any person or corporation relative to 32 the inequality of said assessment, and may equalize and adjust 33 the same. And if the said installment be not paid within thirty

34 days from the date it falls due, the clerk of the said city shall 35 cause a memorandum showing the name of the owner of said 36 lot, a description of the lot, and the amount of the assessment, 37 to be filed in the office of the clerk of the county court of Mar38 shall county, which shall be entered of record in the judgment 39 lien docket in said office, and the same shall constitute a lien 40 on such property, which may be inforced by a suit in the name 41 of the said city, in the circuit court of Marshall county, as 42 other liens against real estate are enforced; and upon payment 43 of said installment, the clerk shall issue to the person entitled 44 thereto a release of said lien. The provisions of this section 45 shall also apply to needed repairs to any of the payments of 46 the said city, and to the substitution of new payments for any 47 which may have heretofore, or which may be hereafter laid, 48 and completed, and which may be deemed insufficient. The 49 council of said city may cause an additional levy, to be made 50 annually, of fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars valua51 tion of all the real and personal property within said city, or 52 subject to taxation, for the purpose of defraying the expense of 53 paving the streets, avenues and alleys of the said city as herein 54 provided; such levy shall be made at the time the general levy 55 is laid, and shall be collected in like manner, but a separate 56 account shall be kept of the receipts and expenditures of such 57 fund.

Bonds-Additional Levy

Sec. 51. Section fifty-one of chapter eighteen of the acts of 2 the legislature of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred and 3 fifteen, shall be amended as follows: The words "for four con4 secutive weeks" shall be striken out, in lines twenty and twen5 ty-one, and the words "for two consecutive weeks" substituted 6 therefor.

CHAPTER 69

(Senate Bill No. 103-Mr. White of Mingo)

AN ACT to amend and re-enact section twenty-eight of chapter fourteen of the acts of the regular session of the legislature of one thousand nine hundred and fifteen, and to add section twenty-eight-a to said chapter.

[Passed April 17, 1923. In effect from passage. Approved by the Governor April 26, 1923]

SEC.
28. Sidewalks, street paving, etc.
28-a. Petition of owners asking for

improvements; cost; how assessed; how collected; acts in conflict repealed.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia :

That section twenty-eight of chapter fourteen of the acts of the regular session of the legislature of one thousand nine hundred and fifteen be amended and re-enacted, and section twenty-eight-a be added thereto, as follows:

Section 28. If the owner or occupant of the real property 2 abutting on any sidewalk, footway or gutter in such city, shall 3 fail or refuse to curb, pave or keep the same clean, in the man4 ner or within the time required by the commission, it shall be 5 the duty of the commission to cause the same to be done at the 6 expense of the city, and to assess the amount of such expense 7 on such property, or upon the owner or occupant thereof, and 8 the same may be collected by the collector in the manner pro9 vided herein for the collection of city taxes.

10 The commission may, if it so elect, upon the refusal of the 11 owner or occupant to curb, pave or keep clean any sidewalk, 12 footway or gutter as aforesaid, let said work to contract, and 13 certificates may be issued for the amount of said assessments 14 which may be sold to the contractor doing the workk, or other 15 person, in full of the total cost of said work; provided, the city 16 in negotiating and selling such certificates shal not be held as 17 guarantor or in any way liable for payment thereof, except 18 upon the direct action of the commission as expressed by reso19 lution of record before such sale. Said certificates shall be in 20 such form and be payable at such time, with or without interest, 21 as the commission may, by ordinance, direct. If the said certi22 ficates remain unpaid for more than sixty days after they be23 come due and payable, it shall be the duty of the 24 clerk of the commission upon being requested so to do 25 by the owner of said certificates to certify said as26 sessments to the clerk of the county court of Mingo 27 county, who shall record and index the same as other 28 liens of like kind are recorded and indexed, and the same 29 shall be and remain a lien upon the real estate against which 30 said assessments are made; and, said assessments shall, in addi31 tion, be the personal obligation or debt of the owner or occu32 pant of said property, and said lien and said debt or obligation 33 may be enforced in the name of the owner of said certificates in 34 like manner as other liens and debts are enforced.

35

Before letting such work to contract the commission shall ad36 vertise for bids for a reasonable length of time to be fixed in 37 ordinance directing said work, and the same shall be awarded 38 to the lowest responsible bidder therefor. Such work shall be 39 done in accordance with plans and specifications made by the 40 city engineer and shall be done under the supervision of the 41 said engineer.

42 If the owner or occupant of any such lot or land shall 43 be required by the commission to curb, pave or keep clean any 44 sidewalks, footway or gutter in the city, written notice shall be 45 given such owner or occupant in a manner to be provided by 46 ordinance, and neglect or refusal of such owner or occupant to 47 do the work in the manner and within the time required by the 48 commission, as set out or referred to in said notice, shall be an 49 offense and may be punished as provided by ordinance.

Sec. 28-a. Upon the petition, in writing, of the persons 2 owning the greatest amount of frontage of the lots 3 abutting on any street or alley, between any two cross streets, 4 or between a cross street and an alley, the commission of the 5 city, by a lawful majority thereof, may order such part of any 6 street or alley to be paved between the sidewalks with cobble 7 stone, brick, belgian blocks, asphalt, or other suitable material, 8 from one of such cross streets or alleys to the other, under such 9 regulations as may be fixed by ordinance duly passed by the 10 commission; two-thirds of the cost of such paving shall be as11 sessed to the owners of the lots or fractional parts of lots 12 abutting on that part of the street or alley so paved in propor13 tion to the distance such lot or part of a lot abuts on such 14 street or alley, and the remaining one-third of the cost of such 15 paving shall be paid by the city. In making such assessments 16 the basis shall be the cost of paving that part of the street or 17 alley on which the property lies, included between the adjoin18 ing cross streets or alleys, and the amounts assessed against the 19 owners of each lot or fractional part of a lot, shall be in the pro20 portion which the frontage of such lot or part of lot bears to 21 the whole cost of paving said street or alley between said cross 22 streets or alleys as aforesaid; and the same may be collected in 23 in the manner provided herein for the collection of city taxes. 24 All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith, are hereby 25 repealed.

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