Title 54, Highways, Bridges And Ferries

Section 54-12-154 is not intended to repeal any portion of this chapter, but is intended to furnish an additional method of proceeding, to bring the parties concerned before the court in seeking to establish a road improvement district, and to leave the petitioners for the distri…

(a) In any county where a road improvement district is sought to be established, the county clerk of the county shall provide a book to be known as the road improvement record and to be paid for by the county. (b) The clerk shall keep in the road improvement record a full and com…

The fees of the county clerk in proceedings under this chapter shall be the same as for similar services now allowed by law, and in such case the monthly county court may allow the clerk an additional sum for extra services or services not covered by existing fee bills or statute…

(a) The viewers and commissioners provided for by this part and part 2 of this chapter shall be paid at the rate of three dollars ($3.00) per day while engaged in the work, and, in addition, all actual expenses, including board paid for, itemized accounts for the expenses being r…

If any services are required of any person under this chapter, and the rate of pay is not provided within this chapter, then the monthly county court shall fix the amount, or rate of pay in those cases.

When the road improvement district has been located and established as provided for in part 1 of this chapter, the monthly county court shall appoint three (3) commissioners, one (1) of whom shall be a competent civil engineer and two (2) of whom shall be freeholders of the count…

The commissioners shall, as soon as practicable after their appointment, and after being duly sworn to perform their duties faithfully and impartially to the best of their abilities, inspect and classify all the lands benefited by the location and construction of the drainage or …

The commissioners shall make an equitable apportionment and assessment of the costs, expenses, cost of construction, fees, and damages assessed for the construction of any improvement, and make a report in writing to the monthly county court.

(a) In making the estimate and apportionment pursuant to [former] § 54-2-203 [repealed], the lands receiving the greatest benefit shall be marked on a scale of one hundred (100), and those benefited in a less degree shall be marked with a percentage of one hundred (100) as the be…

In making the classification, the commissioners are authorized to divide the land of one (1) owner lying in one (1) body into more than one (1) tract, and classify each subdivision of the tract, if they are of the opinion that portions of the entire tract will be more benefited t…

In the report of the commissioners, they shall specify each tract of land by reasonable description and the ownership of the tract, as the tract appears on the tax books of the county or as the tract has been previously adjudged in the proceeding.

Any objections to the assessment and apportionment shall be filed in writing with the county clerk on or before twelve o'clock (12:00) noon of the day the matter of the assessment and apportionment is set for hearing by the monthly county court.

The assessment may be made without notice, just as taxes are assessed without notice in such cases.

Publication shall be made in three (3) weekly newspapers published in the county where the proceeding is pending, if there are that number published in the county, otherwise in at least one (1), for two (2) consecutive weeks, notifying all parties concerned in any way, of the dat…

If the district lies in more than one (1) county, the publication need only be made in one (1) weekly newspaper published in each of the counties having land embraced within the district; and, if there are daily newspapers published in any county, and no weekly newspaper, it shal…

When the day set for hearing has arrived, and the hearing is not continued by the court for good reason, as it may be, and when the hearing is had, the monthly county court shall proceed to hear and determine all objections made and filed to the report, and may increase, diminish…

If the first assessment made by the monthly county court for the original cost of any improvement as provided in this part and part 1 of this chapter is insufficient, the court may make an additional assessment in the same ratio as the first.

If for any reason the monthly county court annuls in toto or sets aside the report of the commissioners, it shall order them to make a new report, or shall remove them and appoint new commissioners to act as in the first instance, if desired by the parties concerned.

(a) The assessments shall be levied upon the lands of the owners so benefited in the ratio mentioned in § 54-12-204, and shall be collected in the same manner as taxes for county purposes, except as specifically provided in this part. (b) The funds collected shall be kept as a se…

If, after the district has been created and the commissioners for the assessment of benefits have made their report, the report has been acted upon and confirmed by the monthly county court, the time for an appeal from the confirmation has elapsed and no appeal has been taken, an…

(a) The assessment shall be made and collected in the same manner, and the delinquencies, if any, shall be collected and enforced in the same manner as provided in §§ 54-12-412 — 54-12-421, and by law. (b) The compensation of a trustee for collecting and paying over the assessmen…

When the assessment is collected, it shall constitute a fund for the payment of the costs and expenses.

The trustee shall pay the amount collected to the county clerk, upon the order or warrant of the county mayor; and when the amount collected has been paid to the clerk, the clerk will pay out the amount collected to the parties entitled under the order of the monthly county court…

The trustee, before receiving the assessment book and proceeding to the collection of the assessments, and the county clerk, before receiving the funds from the trustee, shall, respectively, enter into a bond for double the amount that will come into their hands, respectively, pa…

An appeal may be taken within five (5) days to the circuit court of the county from the order of the monthly county court fixing the assessment of benefits upon the lands in the same manner and time as provided in §§ 54-12-141 — 54-12-149 for appeals from the assessment of damage…

(a) Any landowner, tenant, or encumbrancer who appeals from the order fixing the assessment of benefits shall execute bond, with security, for cost and damages. (b) The oath provided by law for poor persons shall not be allowed in lieu of the bonds.

The appeal shall not prevent the collection of the assessments, nor stay the collection in any way, if the district or any petitioner for the district executes a bond, with good security, payable to the appellant, and conditioned to hold the appellant harmless against loss and to…

The bond, if given by the district, may be executed before and accepted by the county clerk at any time after appeal is perfected by the landowner, tenant, or encumbrancer, and a certified copy of the bond shall be sent to the circuit court.

When an appeal is taken from any order of the monthly county court made in any proceedings before it under this chapter, the court may employ counsel to represent the interests of the road improvement district affected by appeal, on the trial of the order in the appellate courts,…

(a) Where any assessments made and levied under this part or part 1 of this chapter cannot for any reason be enforced, and part of the work has been done, the monthly county court shall proceed as to any or all lands benefited by the improvement in the same manner as if the appra…

(a) After a road improvement district has been located and established as provided for by parts 1 and 2 of this chapter, the monthly county court shall appoint two (2) directors for the district. (b) The directors shall be owners of land, or interested in land, in the district, a…

(a) If there is a vacancy in the office of the director appointed pursuant to § 54-12-301 because of death, resignation or any other reason, the monthly county court shall appoint another director of like qualifications to fill the vacancy until the end of the two-year term. (b) …

At the end of each two-year term, the office of the two (2) appointed directors shall be again filled by appointment by the monthly county court from among those owning or interested in lands in the district.

(a) The county mayor shall be chair of the board of directors. (b) The board shall elect one (1) of the other directors secretary and treasurer of the board, and as the treasurer shall give bond in the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) faithfully to account for all mo…

(a) The members of the board of directors shall receive as compensation for their services, in attending to their duties as directors, fifty cents (50¢) per hour for the time actually consumed in attending to their duties, but not to exceed twenty-five (25) hours in any one (1) m…

(a) No contracts for improvements to be done in the road improvement district shall be made until after the commissioners provided for by part 2 of this chapter have made their inspection, classifications, and apportionment as directed in part 2 of this chapter, nor until the que…

(a) Before entering into any contract for improvements, the board of directors of the improvement district shall cause notice to be given once a week for four (4) consecutive weeks in some newspaper published in the county in which the improvement is located, and additional publi…

The board of directors shall award a contract or contracts for each section of the work to the lowest responsible bidder or bidders, or may award the contract as a whole to the lowest responsible bidder, exercising its own discretion as to the letting of the work as a whole or in…

(a) Each person bidding for the work shall deposit with the treasurer of the board of directors in cash or certified check a sum equal to ten percent (10%) of the amount of the bid, not in any event, however, to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). (b) The deposit shall be retu…

The successful bidder shall be required to execute a bond, with sufficient sureties, payable to the county, for the use and benefit of the improvement district, in an amount equal to twenty-five percent (25%) of the estimated cost of the work, so let or that amount may be deposit…

(a) The board of directors shall employ a competent engineer to have charge and supervision of the construction of the improvement work, contract for compensation for the engineer's services in a sum or at a rate that may be agreed upon, and to be paid as other expenses of the di…

The board of directors shall require the engineer to give bond in a sum that it deems proper for the faithful performance of the engineer's duties, the bond to be payable to the county or state, for the use of the improvement district, and filed with the county clerk and recorded…

An engineer employed by a board of directors of an improvement district to supervise the work, etc., shall be paid for services a salary or sums that may be agreed upon between the engineer and the board of directors.

The engineer in charge of the construction shall furnish to the contractor monthly estimates of the amount of work done on each section, and upon filing the estimates with the county clerk, the county mayor shall draw a warrant in favor of the contractor for eighty percent (80%) …

When the work is completed to the satisfaction of the board of directors and the engineer, so certified by both, and the certificate is filed with the county clerk, then the county mayor shall draw a warrant in favor of the contractor for the balance due.

The warrants shall be drawn upon the county trustee or treasurer as ordinary county warrants are drawn, but shall be payable only out of the fund provided for the road improvement district, and shall so state upon their face.