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0117 (IMPROVEMENT LIENS )ORDINANCE NO.] /7. AN ORDINANCE REQUIRING ABUTTING PROPERTY OWNERS TO PAY A PART OF THE COST OF CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN HARD SURFACED ROADS OR STREETS UPON CERTAIN DESIGNATED STREETS, AVENUES, OR PARTS THEREOF, IN TiE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA; PROVIDING FOR THE LEYVING OR ASSESSING OF IMPROVEMENT LIENS AGAINST SUCH ABUTTING PROPERTY; AND PROVIDING FOR THE FORECLOSURE AND SALE THEREOF UPON THE FAILURE OF THE PROPERTY OWNERS TO PAY SAID ASSESSMENTS WHEN DUE AND PAYABLE; AND PRO- VIDING FOR THE APPLICATION OF ALL FUNDS REALIZED FROM THE COLLECTION OF SAID LIENS BY FORECLOSURE OR OTHER - IISE, AS AUTHORIZED UNDER SECTION 29, CHAPTER 8318, AND CHAPTER 8321, ACTS OF THE LEGISLATURE AT ITS SESSION, A. D. 1919. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF OKEECHOBEE, FLORIDA: Section One. That bursuant to law and the ordinances of the City of Okee- chobee, Florida, there has been constructed on the following named streets, avenues, alleys, or parts thereof, of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, hard surfaced roads or streets according to the plans and specifications of the City Engineer now on file in his office. The streets, or parts thereof, having been so paved are as fg1ows, Cherokee Street from South Park Street to Fifth Avenue. Hicpoehee Street from South Park Street to Seventh Aer.egitteSTrtEET Seminole Street from South Park Street to Sixth Street. Eighth Street from Parrott Avenue to Tallahassee Street. Miami Street, in South Okeechobee, from Second Street to Fifth Street. 4 Parrott Avenue from North Park Street to the alley between North Park Street and Eighth Street. North Park Street from Parrott Avenue to Tallahassee Street. Parrott Avenue from Ninth Street to Fourteenth Street. South Park Street from Canal Street to Osceola Street. Section Two. That the cost of the construction of said hard surfaced streets on the intersections of all avenues, or streets, or across any avenues, or street, or streets, shall be paid by the City of Okeechobee. That the remainder of the expense of such construction or improvement shall be charged or assessed by the City Council of the City of Okeechobee, Florida, against the property abutting upon each side of avenues, streets, or parts thereof hereinabove named in the proportion of one -third of the cost thereof against the abutting property on each side of said avenue, street, or part thereof, and the amounts assessed or charged to the owner of any lot or lots or parts thereof, if known, and if the owner is not known then to be assessed or charged as unknown; that portion against the abutting property to be charged or assessed in proportion to the frontage of the same upon said avenues, streets, or parts thereof, and which said lot or lots, or parcels, of land have been especially bene- fitted by said improvements; which said assessments shall be and are hereby made a lien upon said land and the improvements thereon, and shall be and is hereby made superior to all other liens, except taxes upon the same, and said liens shall bear interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from date thereof until fully paid. Section Three. That all said liens shall be recorded in the office of the Clerk of Circuit Court in and for Okeechobee County, Florida, without delay, shall be signed by the Mayor, counter - signed by the President of the City Council, and attested by the City Clerk, with the seal of the City affixed thereto. Section Four. That as soon as practicable and within sixty days from the passage of this ordinance the City Clerk shall have prepared a statement of the cost of such construction, such statement to be prepared by the City Engineer, and shall enter up in a book pre- pared for that purpose to be known as "Street Improvement Lien Book" a list of the lot or parcels of land abutting the said avenues, streets, or parts thereof, hereinabove designated, show- ing tie amount of frontage of each lot or parcel of land; said book shall also contain a statement of the total amount of the cost of the work upon each street, or avenue, and shall enter against each lot or parcel of land the amount or amounts to be charged or assessed against the same, respectively, in proportion to the frontage that each lot bears to the total so improved with the hard surfaced streets aforesaid, including the cost of the said portion charged to the City of Okeechobee; it hereby 0 . u s' being determined that in the discretion of the City G-1 ►k the front foot rule is a fair and just method for the determination of the amount of cost to be charged against the abutting pro- perty respectively. The said assessment shall be made against each city lot according to the recorded plans of the same, except where the property of one individual includes part of parts of other lots, then the assessment may be made as a whole against any group of contiguous lots or parts of lots belonging to the same individual at the time the lien is executed. Said book shall BE filed in the office of the City Clerk and kept open to public inspection during the usual office hours. Section Five. The City Clerk shall as soon as practicable after the passage of this ordinance publish a notice in The Okeechobee News, a newspaper published in the City of Okeechobee, Florida, of the fact that said work has been completed, such notice to contain the name or names of the avenues, streets, or parts thereof, so completed, the approximate date of completion of the same, which shall be notice to the owners of the lot or lots or parcels of land contiguous or abutting said avenue, street, streets, or parts thereof, that such assessments or liens have been entered in said Lien Book. Said notice to advise any person or persons owning any such part or parcel of land upon which lien is claimed that they may within thirty days after the pub- lication of such notice present in writing to the City Clerk any objection to the lien aforesaid setting forth the grounds of objections to the levying of such lien upon, said lands or to the amount of the same; such notice shall specify the name or names of each property owner, if known, together with the lot or lots against which assessments are made and the amount of the assess- ments against the same. Any person or persons owning any of such lots or parcels of land shall within said thirty days file objections in accordance therewith, which objections may be based upon any irregularities in the proceedings relating to the levying or the assessment of the liens, or to the amount of the assessment or lien against the particular property described. Section Six. Said notice above required to be published shall also specify a date upon which the City Council shall meet and con- sider all objections that may be filed to the amount, proceedings, 5 %A 4 or enforcement of any such lien; and upon such date the City Council shall meet and hear and consider such objections and shall make due and proper inquiry, and if it shall appear to their satisfaction that the cost as entered in said lien book exceeds the actual cost of the construction of such improve- ments, or has been erroneously entered then said City Council shall have the entry in said lien book corrected and shall fix the amount to be charged against said lot or lots, the amount not to exceed the actual one -third of the cost of the construc- tion of said street improvements, and the amount so fixed by the City Council shall stand as the amount of the lien and shall be conclusive. Any amount in excess of said one -third costs as set out above shall be paid by the City of Okeechobee. Section Seven. In any case where no objections have been filed as hereto- fore provided for /the amount entered in said street improvement lien book shall be conclusively considered as correct, and shall thereupon and thereafter stand as a lien upon and against the property therein described at the amount therein opposite said description of the same, which amount so fixed and determined shall be conclusive upon the property owners and not subject to attack. Section Eight. As soon as the assessments or liens against the lots or parcels of land aforesaid have been fixed according to the pro- visions of this ordinance it is hereby ordained that improvement liens against the land as finally fixed in the Street Improvement Lien Book shall be issued. Said assessments or liens shall be made payable in not more than ten equal payments, payable one- b.t M tenth of the principal each and every year after date, together with interest upon the whole at the rate of six per cent per annum until fully paid. Section Nine. That upon the failure of the property owners to pay any installment when it shall become due and payable for a space of ninety days after the same becomes due the whole amount of said lien shall become immediately due and payable, and shall be foreclosed and sold in the same manner as liens are foreclosed under the general law insofar as applicable, provided that suits to foreclose the liens as herein provided shall be filed not later than two years after the same shall become due and unpaid. Section Ten. Said liens are authorized under Section 29, Chapter 8318, and Chapter 8321, of the Acts of the Legislature at its session, A. D. 1919. All monies collected in payment of the aforesaid liens, after all costs and expenses have been paid, shall be deposited into the proper city depository or depositories, to the Interest and Sinking Funds for the retirement of the issue or issues of bonds or Time Warrants from the proceeds of which said paving was done or said improvements made. Section Eleven. That all ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith be and the same are hereby repealed. Section Twelve. This ordinance shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval by the Mayor. .0 w r Read a first time and by unanimous consent passed to a second reading. Read a second time and by unanimous consent passed to a third and final reading. Lead a third time and passed in open session of the City Council this 1st day of March, A. D. 1927. Attest: sY( Approved by me this / ` day of President of City Council.