San Francisco County Municipal Code Art. 6 Street Improvement Procedure

Sec. 185. Definition of "Open Public Street," Etc. – Powers of Supervisors – Use of General Law Procedures. Sec. 186. Improvement – Classes Included. Sec. 187. Preliminary Order of Expediency. Sec. 188. Order Declaring Intention to Recommend. Sec. 189. Different Kinds of Work May be Included in One Proceeding. Sec. 190. Official Grade – Proceedings on Change. Sec. 191. Declaration of Intention Shall Designate District Benefited. Sec. 192. Portion of Expense Paid Out of Treasury. Sec. 193. Order Declaring Intention-Proceedings. Sec. 194. Protests – Decision of Director. Sec. 195. Action on Protest – Recommendation – Diagram. Sec. 196. Recommendation That Work be Done. Sec. 197. Proceedings by Supervisors – Delay, Extent of – Work Ordered by Ordinance. Sec. 198. Abandonment of Proceedings – Renewal. Sec. 199. Description of Assessment District Required. Sec. 199.1. Plans and Specifications Prepared. Sec. 200. Notice Inviting Bids – Procedure. Sec. 201. Bids and Award – Procedure. Sec. 202. Owners' Election to do Work. Sec. 203. Irregularities – Protest – Failure to Protest. Sec. 204. Failure of Awardee to Enter Into Contract. Sec. 205. Contract – Approval and Execution. Sec. 206. Contracts in Triplicate. Sec. 207. Noncompletion in Time – Re-Award – Liability. Sec. 208. Surety Bond. Sec. 209. Material and Labor Claims. Sec. 210. Liens – Enforcement. Sec. 211. Assignment Not to Defeat Claims. Sec. 212. Disputed Claim – Bond to Release. Sec. 213. Suits Against Surety. Sec. 214. Certificate of Completion – Supervision of Director. Sec. 215. Method of Assessment – Work Done by Owner. Sec. 216. Warrant – Form – Recordation – Lien. Sec. 217. Objection to Assessment. Sec. 218. Notice of Appeal. Sec. 219. Hearing of Appeal. Sec. 220. Jurisdiction of Supervisors. Sec. 221. Delivery of Warrant, Etc. Sec. 222. Warrant Authorizes Collection, Return Of. Sec. 223. Suit on Warrant – Parties – Time Limitations. Sec. 224. Suit to Void Assessment – Time Limitation. Sec. 225. Release of Assessment – Lost Warrant – Effect of Records. Sec. 226. Subdivision of Property – Proportionate Assessment. Sec. 227. Delinquent Assessments – Notification – Entry on Tax Bill. Sec. 228. Assessments Payable in Installments – Interest. Sec. 229. Installment Payments – Form of Bonds. Sec. 230. Effect of Failure to Execute Bond. Sec. 231. Bonds and Coupons – Recordation. Sec. 232. Deed to Purchaser if no Redemption. Sec. 233. Redemption – Disposition of Funds.

Sec. 234. Director to Keep Record of Bonds. Sec. 235. Nonexecution or Invalid Bond – Lien Rights. Sec. 236. Bond May be Executed after Expiration of Time. Sec. 237. Assessment Exceeding $200. Sec. 238. Reassessment – Circumstances Under Which Made. Sec. 239. Reassessment – Procedure. Sec. 240. Substitute for Director of Public Works or City Engineer. Sec. 241. Notices and Affidavits – Service – Publication. Sec. 242. Duty of Director Regarding Publication, Posting, Etc. Sec. 243. "Incidental Expenses," Definition of – Demands. Sec. 244. "Street" and "Places," Definitions of. Sec. 245. Postponements of Hearings not to Affect Jurisdiction – Notice. Sec. 246. Irregularities not to Invalidate Proceedings. Sec. 247. Pending Proceeding – Construction.

Exhibit Plan or Plans. When, in the judgment of the Director of Public Works of said City and County, public interest or convenience requires that any of the work mentioned in this Article be done, the expense of the whole or any part of which is to be assessed upon private property, and said Director deems the same expedient, he may by written order declare such expediency and briefly describe such work. Said Director shall cause to be preserved in the office of the Department of Public Works in permanent and appropriate form a written record of all acts pursuant to the procedure prescribed in this Article including all orders made by him hereunder, so that at all times during business hours there shall be open to the public a complete written record of all acts pursuant hereto. All orders of said Director pursuant hereto shall be identified by his signature. Upon making any such order of expediency, said Director shall cause to be prepared exhibit plan or plans, sufficient to give reasonable notice to the owners of the property liable to be assessed of the nature and extent of the proposed work. (Amended by Ord. 321-69, App. 11/10/69)

Said Director may include in one proceeding, under one order declaring his intention and in one contract, any of the different kinds of work mentioned in this Article on any number of public ways, contiguous or otherwise, and he may except therefrom any of such work already done.

The grade to which any work shall be done shall be such as may be shown on the exhibit plan or plans therefor, or it may be done on such a grade as may formally have been established by the Supervisors. If any official grade already has been established for any of the public ways proposed to be improved, it shall be lawful for the order of said Director declaring his intention, to provide that said work shall be done to new grades or grades different from those so established, and said order shall refer to exhibit plan or plans for the description of the grade at which the work is to be done. Any property owner whose property is to be assessed to pay the costs of the proposed work may at the time fixed in said order for hearing objections appear before said Director and object to the proposed grade or proposed modification of grade. A failure to make objection at such time shall be deemed to be a waiver of all objections to the proposed grade or proposed change of grade and shall operate as a bar to any claims for damages or any subsequent action looking to the prevention of the work or the recovery of damages on account of the performance of the work to such grade or changed grade. The provisions of this Section relative to grades are alternative and do not affect other provisions of law relative to change of grade. (Amended by Ord. 321-69, App. 11/10/69)

Said Director shall make the expense of such work chargeable upon the district in his opinion benefited by such work. In his said order declaring his intention he shall describe such district and declare it to be the district which will be benefited by such work. Such district may be described in such order by stating the exterior boundaries thereof, or by giving a description thereof according to any official or recorded map or maps, or by referring to the maps or block books customarily used by the Assessor and Tax Collector for City and County assessment or tax collection purposes, or by referring to a plat or map which shall be on file in the office of said Director at the time of making the order declaring his intention; said last mentioned plat or map shall indicate by a boundary line the extent of the territory included in the proposed district, and, if referred to as hereinabove provided for, shall govern for all details as to the extent of such assessment district. When two or more public ways, not contiguous or directly connected, are to be improved under the same proceeding, such number of districts may be provided for therein as shall be deemed by said Director to be expedient.

At any time before the day fixed in said order of said Director for action thereon by said Director, any owner of, or person interested in, property liable to be assessed for the proposed work, or the duly authorized representative of such owner, or other person, in his behalf, may make written protest against the same or to the extent of the district to be assessed therefor, or both, or make any other protest with regard thereto. Such protest must be in writing, contain a description of the property in which each signer thereof is interested, sufficient to identify the same, set forth the nature of his interest therein, and delivered to the Department of Public Works of said City and County, the Secretary or a clerk of which shall endorse thereon the date of receipt thereof. No other protests or objections shall be considered by said Director, except oral protests made at the time at which said Director conducts the hearing mentioned in his said order. At the time set for hearing protests said Director may publicly postpone action on his said order from time to time, and all persons interested shall be deemed to have notice of such postponement and shall be governed thereby. The decision of said Director on all such protests shall be final and conclusive except in case of appeal to the Supervisors as in this Article hereinafter provided for.

If any protest against such proposed work or proposed district or any other protest be sustained by said Director, he shall not thereby be prevented from commencing proceedings anew hereunder which shall embrace the same work and/or the same district or any part or parts of either or both thereof; and new proceedings may be had the same as if all such prior proceedings, no matter how many times

instituted, had never been commenced. If no protests be made against such proposed district, or if all protests made against the same be overruled by said Director, said Director shall accompany his recommendation to the Supervisors that the proposed work be ordered, with a diagram on which shall be delineated each separate parcel of land with the limits of such assessment district, the approximate dimensions of each such parcel, and its relative location to the work proposed to be done. The correctness of such diagram shall be certified by the City Engineer. Instead of said diagram said Director may accompany his said recommendation to the Supervisors with a description of such proposed district.

BY ORDINANCE. The Supervisors, if they do not deny such appeal, may by resolution delay further proceedings in relation to the proposed work for not more than one year from the date of the adoption of such resolution. Upon petition of the appellants the Supervisors may continue with the proceedings from time to time during said period of delay. Upon expiration of the period of delay so fixed by the Supervisors, said Director may again recommend to the Supervisors that the proposed work be done and the proposed district be confirmed, and thereupon the Supervisors, after notice to the appellants as provided for in Section 196 of this Article, shall order the work to be done and the boundaries of the proposed district confirmed or may declare an abandonment of all proceedings theretofore had in the manner. The ordering of any proposed work and confirmation of any proposed district shall be by ordinance.

Said Director, at any stage of the proceedings for any proposed work, prior to action by the Supervisors upon his recommendation that they order the same done, may by order abandon any or all proceedings theretofore had in relation to such proposed work; and said Director may commence said proceedings anew and continue the same from any part of said proceedings not so abandoned. If said Director abandons any or all proceedings after his making an order of recommendation and before action thereon by the Supervisors, he shall cause notice of such fact forthwith to be transmitted to the Supervisors, and the Supervisors shall take no action upon the recommendation in such case.

If the Supervisors pass an ordinance ordering any proposed work pursuant to this Article, they may upon recommendation of said Director repeal such ordinance ordering work. Said Director, from time to time after he has abandoned any proceedings for any proposed work pursuant to this Article, may institute and continue proceedings hereunder for the work theretofore proposed and abandoned, or for such work or modified work as he may determine the public interest or convenience requires, all in accordance with the procedure prescribed in this Article.

The ordinance ordering the work to be done and approving the assessment district shall contain a description of the assessment district similar to that contained in said order of said Director declaring his intention. In all other ordinances, resolutions, notices, orders and determinations, subsequent to said order of said Director declaring his intention and subsequent to the notices of hearing thereon, except the notices of recordation in the Department of Public Works of the assessment hereinafter provided for, it shall not be necessary to describe the assessment district, but it shall be sufficient to refer to said order of said Director declaring his intention for a description of the work and a description of the assessment district.

After the Supervisors, pursuant hereto, have passed an ordinance ordering work to be done, said Director shall cause specifications, or plans and specifications be prepared for the proposed work, as shown on the exhibit plan or plans. (Added by Ord. 321-69, App. 11/10/69)

The owners of at least ¾ of the assessable area of the assessment district shall not be required to present sealed proposals, but may upon making an oath that they are such owners, within 10 days after the publication of the notice of award, elect to enter into a written contract with said director to do the whole work specified in said award at the price or prices at which the same has been awarded. Should such owners not enter into such a contract for said work within said time the awardee to whom the contract has been awarded shall enter into a contract for said work within seven days after the expiration of the time within which said owners might have entered into a contract for the same.

At any time within five days from the date of the publication of the notice of award hereunder of a contract for work, any owner of, any other person having any interest in, any parcel of land liable to be assessed for such work, who claims that any of the previous acts or proceedings relating to said work are irregular, defective, erroneous or faulty, may file in the office of said Director of Public Works a written notice specifying in what respect or respects said acts or said proceedings are irregular, defective, erroneous or faulty. Said notice shall state that it is made pursuant to this Section, and shall contain the address of the person filing the same, and a description of the property owned by or in which he is interested sufficient to identify the same. All objections to any act or proceeding occurring prior to the time within such objections are permitted to be filed in relation to said work, not made in writing and in the manner and at the time aforesaid, shall be deemed waived.

If the original awardee fails or refuses, for 17 days after the publication of the notice of award, to enter into the contract, when the same in due form has been presented to him for execution by said Director, then said Director, without further proceedings shall again advertise for and receive bids, as in the first instance, and award the contract for the work to the then lowest reliable and responsible bidder. Should no bids be received in response to such second call, said Director may again advertise for and receive bids under the same proceedings at any time within six months from the time set for the first reception of bids, and let the contract to the then lowest reliable and responsible bidder, and such delay shall in no way affect the validity of any of the proceedings or assessments levied thereunder. The bids of all persons and the election of all owners aforesaid, who have failed to enter into a contract as in this Article provided, shall be rejected in or upon any bidding subsequent to the first bidding for such work.

Every contract in this Article referred to shall be executed by said Director on behalf of said City and County. The Chief Administrative Officer of said City and County shall also approve by his signature every such contract which involves the expenditure of over $2,000. Whenever in any such contract the City and County is obligated to pay any portion of the contract price, the Controller also shall approve such contract by his signature.

If the owners or the awardee, who have entered into such a contract, do not complete the same within the time limited in the contract, or such extended time as in this Article provided for, said Director may re-award the whole or the unfinished portion of said work, as the case may be, in accordance with the procedure in this Article prescribed for inviting proposals and awarding the contract. In such event, said owners or awardee shall be debarred from again entering into a contract to do said work or the unfinished portion thereof. If said owners or the awardee fail or refuse to complete the contract entered into, and said Director re-awards the whole work or the incomplete portion thereof at a price in the aggregate exceeding that at which the work was originally awarded, the bond for faithful performance of the contract, in this Article hereinbefore provided for, shall be liable for any excess, resulting from such failure or refusal, of any assessment levied against any parcel of land for the expense of the work over what it would have been, had the original contract been performed; provided the original contract has not been canceled by ordinance of the Supervisors.

Every contractor, including contracting owners, to whom is awarded a contract for street work hereunder, shall upon the execution of such contract file with said Director a bond, approved by him, in a sum not less than ½ of the total amount payable under the contract; such bond shall be executed by an authorized corporate surety able to justify in the manner provided by law; such bond must provide that if the contractor, or his, its or their sub-contractors, fail to pay for any materials or provisions, or the reasonable rental value of items, implements or machinery used in, upon, for or about the performance of the work contracted to be done, or for any work or labor of any kind done directly thereon or therefor, that the surety will pay the same, to an amount not exceeding the sum specified in such bond.

Any laborer, materialman, person, company or corporation furnishing any of the items mentioned in Section 208 of this Article used in, upon, for or about, or contributing to, the performance of the work contracted to be done, and whose claim has not been paid may, at any time within 10 days from the date of recordation of the assessment in the Department of Public Works, file in said department a verified statement of his, its or their claim, together with a statement that the same or some part thereof has not been paid.

Every person and corporation entitled to the benefit of Sections 208 and 209 of this Article shall severally have a first lien against the assessment, any partial assessment, any reassessment and any bonds issued to represent any such assessment or reassessment, which lien may be enforced in the Superior Court. in and for said City and County, according to the custom and practice of such court. Such action must be commenced within 30 days from the date of filing such verified statement.

No assignment by the contractor of the whole or any part of the money or of such assessment, partial assessment, reassessment and/or bonds due or to become due him under the contract, or for extras in connection therewith, whether made before or after such verified claim is filed, shall be held to take priority over claims filed under Sections 209 and 210, inclusive, of this Article, and all such assignments shall have no effect in so far as claims hereunder are concerned.

If any person or corporation against whom any such claim is filed shall dispute its correctness or validity said Director may permit the contractor to whom the contract was awarded by said Director, or his assignee, to deliver to him a bond executed by a corporation authorized to issue surety bonds in the State of California, in a penal sum equal to 1¼ times the amount of such claim; said bond shall guarantee the payment of whatever sum such claimant may recover in an action on said claim. Upon the filing of such a bond, said Director may release such moneys, assessments, partial assessments, reassessments and/or bonds to which such contractor, or his assignees, otherwise shall be entitled. The sureties upon such last mentioned bond shall be jointly and severally liable, with the sureties upon the bond mentioned in Section 208 of this Article to such claimant.

Suits against the surety or sureties on the bonds mentioned in Sections 208 to 212, inclusive, of this Article may be brought by any claimant or his assigns, at any time after the claimant has ceased to perform labor or furnish materials or both and until the expiration of 150 days after the period within which verified claims may be filed as in this Article provided. The filing of such a verified claim shall not be a condition precedent to the maintenance of an action against the surety or sureties on the bond mentioned in Section 208 of this Article and an action on said bond may be maintained independently of any other action whatsoever. Upon the trial of any action mentioned in Sections 208 to 213, inclusive, of this Article the court shall award to the prevailing party a reasonable attorney's fee to be taxed as costs.

All work in this Article provided for must be done under the supervision and to the satisfaction of said Director; and said Director shall require all materials used in such work to be in accordance with the specifications therefor; and all contracts provided for in this Article must contain a provision to the effect hereinbefore in this Section set forth, and also a provision to the effect that in no case, except where it is otherwise provided in this Article, or the Charter of said City and County, will said City and County or any department or official thereof, be liable for any portion of the expense of said work, or for any damages resulting in the course of the performance thereof, or for any delinquency of persons or of property assessed. When any such work shall have been completed to the satisfaction of said Director, he shall so declare by certificate, which shall be made a permanent part of the records of his office, and thereupon he shall cause to be delivered to the contractor a duplicate of such certificate.

If, however, appeal be made as in this Article provided for, the Supervisors, at the time and place specified in said notice, shall consider all the appeals, protests, grievances, claims and objections filed in the manner and within the time in this Article specified, and shall hear all evidence, statements and argument offered in support thereof. Such hearing may be postponed by said Supervisors from time to time, and all persons shall be deemed to have notice of all such postponements and shall be governed thereby.

Upon such appeal the Supervisors may remedy and correct any error or informality in the proceedings and revise and correct any of the acts or determinations of said Director relative to said work; may confirm, amend, set aside, alter, modify or correct the assessment in such a manner as to them shall seem just, and may require the work to be completed according to their directions, and may instruct and direct said Director to correct the warrant, assessment or diagram in any particular, or to make and issue a new warrant, assessment and diagram to conform to their decisions in relation thereto, at their option. All the decisions and determinations of the Supervisors, upon notice and hearing as in this Article provided for, shall be final and conclusive upon all persons as to all errors, informalities and irregularities whether they do or do not appear upon the face of the warrant, assessment or diagram. No assessment, warrant or diagram, after the issuance of the same, and no proceedings prior thereto, shall be held invalid by any court,

or otherwise, for any error, informality, or other defect in the same, when notice of the recordation in the office of the Department of Public Works of the assessment, diagram and warrant, and of hearing with regard thereto, has been actually published as provided in Sections 217 to 220, inclusive, of this Article.

When the time within which to appeal to the Supervisors, as in this Article provided for, has expired, said warrant, assessment and diagram shall be delivered to the contractor, or his agent or assigns, on demand, provided no appeal has been filed as in this Article provided for, but not until after the payment to said Director of the incidental expenses not previously paid. If an appeal to the Supervisors be taken within the time and in the manner in this Article provided for, then, upon the confirmation of a warrant, assessment and diagram, in connection with the work done, by the Supervisors, the same shall be delivered to the contractor, or his agents or assigns, on demand, after payment of the incidental expenses as provided in this Article. By virtue of said warrant so delivered said contractor, or his agents or assigns, shall be authorized to demand and receive the amounts of the several assessments made to cover the sum due for the work specified in the contract and assessment.

The warrant, after its delivery to the contractor or his assigns, shall constitute full authority to the contractor, his agent or assigns, to collect the said assessments, and they shall be free to make demands upon the owners by virtue of said warrant and to receive payment of said assessments and give receipts therefor. The warrant shall be returned to the Department of Public Works after its delivery to the contractor, or his assigns, with the written statement of all payments received upon the assessment, signed by the contractor, or his assigns, or some person on his or their behalf, and stating whether any of the assessment remains unpaid in whole or in part and the amount thereof. If the assessment is payable in installments as provided in Sections 225 to 236, inclusive, of this Article, then the fact that a bond has been given for such assessment shall be stated if such shall have been given. Thereupon the said Director shall cause the return so made to be recorded with the record of the warrant and assessment.

No suit or proceeding to set aside, avoid, annul or correct any assessment or reassessment, or to review any of the proceedings in connection therewith, or to question the validity thereof, or to enjoin the collection thereof, or the issuance of bonds representing, or secured by the same, shall be maintained unless it be commenced within 30 days after the recording of the warrant, diagram, and assessment or reassessment in the Department of Public Works, and thereafter all persons shall be barred from commencing any such action or from interposing as a defense any asserted invalidity of any such assessment or of bonds issued thereon or of any such reassessment or of bonds issued thereon. No proceedings had under this Article shall ever be held invalid on the ground that the public way, or any portion thereof, in, over or upon which the work or improvement, or any part thereof, is or shall be done, has not been, or shall not have been, lawfully dedicated or acquired, provided the same shall be lawfully dedicated or acquired, or an order of immediate possession and use thereof shall have been obtained, at any time before the entry of judgment in the suit involving such proceeding.

In case any parcel of land against which any assessment has been levied has been subdivided or partitioned among several owners thereof, said Director of Public Works, on the written application of any owner thereof, shall make a proportionate division of such assessment and may amend the original assessment by a proportionate distribution of the assessment upon the several subdivisions of the parcel of land originally described. Such proportionate division of an assessment shall be without prejudice to the contractor or his assigns as to any assessment made in pursuance of the provisions of this Article. Such amended assessment shall bear date the same as the original assessment.

The contractor shall within 90 days of the issuance of the assessment submit to the Director of Public Works a list of all unpaid assessments, and it shall be the duty of said Director to notify the Tax Collector of each assessment that is delinquent, and the lot and block number against which such assessment is levied, and it shall be the duty of the Tax Collector to note such delinquency on each annual tax bill, in accordance with Section 107 of the Charter of the City and County of San Francisco.

An assessment imposed under the provisions of this Article may, in and by the assessment provided for in Section 215 of this Article, be made payable in installments. Whenever assessments are made payable in installments as aforesaid, the assessment provided for in Section 215 of this Article shall state the number of annual installments in which the assessment may be paid and the rate of interest, not over the percentum per annum set by law by the State of California, to be charged on all deferred payments. The first installment shall be payable at the time provided for in Section 229 of this Article.

(Amended by Ord. 368-82, App. 7/30/82)

If such bond is not executed within the time and in the manner hereinabove provided for, then the whole of the assessment on which such bond would be based shall thereupon be immediately due and payable.

If the property sold, as provided in the above proceedings, be not redeemed within one year after the sale, said Director shall then issue to the party named in the original certificate, or his assignee, a deed of the property described in said certificate, which said deed shall refer, in general terms, to the proceedings under which the same is issued, and shall contain a description of the property, following the description in the certificate; the grantee in such deed is immediately upon receipt thereof entitled to possession of the property described therein.

At any time before the expiration of one year from the date of the certificate of sale, any property sold under the provisions of the preceding Sections may be redeemed by any person having an interest in the property sold, by the payment to said Director of the amount for which property was sold, with an additional penalty of one percent per month of the amount for which the same was sold; all such redemption money shall be paid over by said Director to the Treasurer with a statement indicating the specific bond to which such money shall be credited, and the Treasurer shall pay all such redemption money to the holder of the proper original certificate of sale,

upon delivering up the same and receipting for the amount received.

Said Director of Public Works shall cause to be kept a record of all bonds given as herein provided, wherein shall be entered the name of the person executing the same, a description of the land described therein, the number and amount of the installments, the time when the same are due, the date and the amount of all payments and the date of all payments to the City and County Treasurer for the holders of each bond.

In case it shall appear at any time that any bond made as herein provided has not been executed by the owner or owners of the property described therein, or that for any reason any such bond is invalid, or that a sale in accordance with its terms would not convey a full and clear title to such property, then the person entitled to collect and receipt for the payment of the original assessment, or his assigns, shall have the right to foreclose the lien thereof for any unpaid portion, as such lien was originally imposed and such lien shall continue until such original assessment is fully paid.

The bond provided for in Section 229 of this Article may be made, executed and filed in accordance with and subject to the requirements, terms and conditions in this Article prescribed for such bond, after the expiration of the time, as therein provided for, within which to make, execute and file such bond, if the contractor to whom an assessment, payable in installments, has been issued, or his assignee, or other owner of such assessment, shall consent to the making, executing and filing of such bond after such expiration of time, and such consent shall be expressed on the back or margin of such bond.

If the Director of Public Works, for any reason whatsoever, may not perform any of the duties or functions by this Article imposed upon him, or if it becomes inconvenient for him to perform any such duties or functions, then, in every such case, such duties and functions may be performed by the City Engineer in said Department of Public Works, as a substitute for said Director, or, in any such case, said duties and functions may be performed by anyone in said Department designated by the Chief Administrative Officer of said City and County. The duties and functions hereby imposed upon said City Engineer may be performed by anyone else in said Department designated by said Director. Whenever such a substitute shall act, either for said Director or for said City Engineer, the records of said Department shall include a written designation by said Chief Administrative Officer or said Director, as the case may be, appointing such substitute. Such designation shall indicate the period during which such substitute shall be authorized so to act. Such written designation shall be conclusive of all facts therein recited, and all acts of such substitutes, respectively, shall have the same validity as if they had been performed by said Director or said City Engineer, as the case may be.

Notice in writing required to be given by said Director may be served by any person over the age of 21 years, and the fact of such service may be verified by the oath of the person making it. Such oath may be taken before said Director or the acting Secretary of said Department of Public Works. All notices and resolutions required by this Article to be published shall be published in the official newspaper. All notices herein required to be served, whether by delivering, mailing or posting, may be so served by any citizen of the age of 21 years or over, and his affidavit thereof shall be prima facie evidence of such service. The affidavit of the publisher of the local newspaper or his clerk, of the publication of any notice required in this Article to be published, shall be prima facie evidence of such publishing.

Whenever any resolution, order, notice or determination is required to be published or posted, and the duty of posting or procuring the publication or posting of the same is not specifically enjoined upon any officer of the City and County, it shall be the duty of the Director of Public Works to procure the publication or posting, as the case may be. No proceeding or step herein shall be invalidated or affected by any error or mistake or departure herefrom as to the officer or person posting, or procuring the publication or posting, of any resolution, notice, order or determination hereunder when the same is actually published or posted for the time herein required.

The term "incidental expenses," as used in this Article, shall include the cost of engineering work; also, the cost of legal services; also, the cost of printing and advertising as provided in this Article, including the estimated cost of printing any bonds to be issued to represent or be secured by unpaid assessments: also the cost of superintendence of the work mentioned in this Article; also the expenses of making the assessment and of typing and preparing the resolutions, notices and other papers and proceedings for any work authorized by this Article; also the expenses of making any analysis and tests to determine that the work and any materials or appliances incorporated therein comply with the specifications; and any other expense incidental to the construction, completion and inspection of the work in the manner in this Article provided for. All demands for incidental expenses mentioned in this Section shall be presented to the Director of Public Works, by an itemized bill, duly verified by oath of the defendant. (Amended by Ord. 91-81, App. 2/20/81)

The word "street," as used in this Article, shall be deemed to, and is hereby declared to include avenues, highways, lanes, alleys, crossings or intersections, courts and places, which have been dedicated and accepted according to law or in common and undisputed use by the public for a period of not less than five years next preceding. The word "places," as used in this Article, shall be deemed to, and is hereby declared to include any public park or pleasure ground and common which has been dedicated and accepted according to law, and this Article shall include the improvement of a park, public pleasure ground and common.

NOTICE. Whenever in proceedings in this Article provided for, a time and place for hearing by the Director of Public Works or the Supervisors is fixed and, from any cause, the hearing is not then and there held or regularly adjourned to a time and place fixed, by the power of said Director or Supervisors in the premises shall not thereby be divested or lost, but said Director or Supervisors may proceed anew to fix a time and place for the hearing, and cause notice thereof to be given by publication by at least one insertion in the official newspaper, such publication to be at least five days before the date of the hearing, and thereupon said Director or Supervisors shall have power to act as in the first instance.

This Article shall be liberally construed to the end that its purposes may be effected. No error, irregularity, informality, and no neglect or omission of any officer of the City and County, in any procedure taken as in this Article provided, shall void or invalidate such proceeding or any assessment for the cost of work done as in this Article provided. The exclusive remedy of any person affected or aggrieved thereby shall be by appeal to the Supervisors as provided in this Article.

Any proceedings for street work heretofore commenced under any method or system provided by any Charter of said City and County,

or by act of the Legislature, or by ordinance of said City and County, shall not be affected by this Article but may be continued until completion by and under the method provided by the Charter, law or ordinance under which they were originally commenced, or they may be abandoned by order of said Director of Public Works and instituted under the proceedings provided for in this Article, in case no contract for the work or improvement has been entered into.