[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Clairton 8-14-1973 by Ord. No.
1249 as Ch. 27 of the 1973 Code. Amendments noted
where applicable.]
CHARTER REFERENCES
Contracts — See Art. XIII.
GENERAL REFERENCES
Contractor certificates of indebtedness — See Ch.
21.
Contracts, deeds and agreements — See Ch.
25.
Financial policies — See Ch.
34.
Excavations — See Ch.
189.
Flood damage prevention — See Ch.
203.
Nuisances and dangerous structures — See Ch.
247.
Streets and sidewalks — See Ch.
303.
Subdivision and land development — See Ch.
307.
After the passage and approval of all ordinances for the grading,
paving and curbing of any public highway of the City, the cost and
expense of which is to be assessed upon the properties abutting thereon
according to the foot-front rule, the City Engineer shall prepare
all the necessary profiles, surveys, maps and specifications and other
necessary data for such improvements and all other conditions and
stipulations necessary for the proper performance of the work authorized,
all of which shall be exhibited in the office of the City Engineer
during the time for which bids are advertised.
[Amended 4-14-1992 by Ord. No. 1518]
The City Manager, immediately after the approval of the specifications
by the Council, shall advertise according to law in one or more newspapers
of the City, as well as in such additional newspapers of general circulation
as the Council of the City may deem expedient, for three successive
days or issues, for sealed proposals for the grading, paving and curbing
of the highway with materials authorized by ordinances and award the
work to the lowest responsible bidder, subject to the approval of
the Council.
[Amended 4-14-1992 by Ord. No. 1518]
The City Manager shall require the contractor to enter into
a bond, with at least two reliable sureties or a reliable surety company,
in a sum equal to 100% of the consideration of all terms and conditions
of the contract, which bond shall be approved by the City Attorney.
The City Engineer shall give notice by the specifications and
shall expressly stipulate therein that the contractor shall be paid
the cost of the improvements from amounts to be collected by the Financial
Officer from the property owners whose lands front or abut upon such
highway or part thereof proposed to be improved and that the City
shall under no circumstances be held responsible for the payments
of any part of the cost of the improvement, except the improvement
of intersections of streets and alleys, the improvement in front of
properties exempted by law from the payment of the cost of such improvements
in whole or in part and the amounts actually received from the assessments
by the Financial Officer, which specifications shall be submitted
to the Council for its approval.
[Amended 4-14-1992 by Ord. No. 1518]
The City Engineer shall carefully inspect and supervise all
improvements and work provided for under the contract in order to
ensure a proper compliance with the terms thereon. Such inspection
and supervision shall be under the general supervision and control
of the Director of the Department of Public Works.
The assessments for all improvements of any highway made under
the provisions of this chapter shall be made by the City Engineer,
upon completion of the contract and acceptance of the same by the
Council, by apportioning the entire cost of each highway separately
among all properties fronting or abutting on both sides of the highway
or part thereof, to be paid in proportion to the number of front feet
each property fronts or abuts on the highway, except the cost and
expense of the paving in front of nonassessable properties, the space
to be paid for by any street railway or traction company, the cost
of improving the street and alley intersections and the actual cost
of curbing or resetting curbing to properties, respectively, and subject
also to proper and suitable reductions from the frontage of lots or
property where, from the peculiar or pointed shape thereof, an assessment
for the full frontage would be inequitable or unequal.
No resolution for the assessment of the costs of any improvements
upon the abutting property owners shall be finally passed by the Council
until at least five days' notice of the time and place of the
presentation of such resolution shall have been given to all abutting
property owners in such manner as shall from time to time be provided
by law and a full opportunity given to all such interested property
owners to be present and be heard in relation thereto.
Upon the final passage of the resolution providing for the assessment
and within 30 days after the completion and acceptance of the improvement
by the Council, the City Engineer shall certify the assessments to
the Financial Officer and the Financial Officer shall give prompt
written notice to all persons so assessed that such assessments shall
be due and payable in 10 equal annual installments, the first of which
shall be due and payable 60 days after the date of assessment for
the work by the Council and the balance in nine equal installments
thereafter; the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth,
ninth and tenth installments shall bear interest at the rate of 6%
per annum, commencing at the date of the resolution of assessment
against the properties chargeable for the work and improvement; provided,
however, that if the first or any subsequent installment shall remain
unpaid for the space of two months after the same is due and payable,
the whole assessment remaining unpaid, with accrued interest and a
penalty of 5%, shall immediately become due and payable; provided
further that any person against whose property an assessment may have
been made may pay all or as many of the payments as he or she may
desire at any time an installment becomes due. It shall be the duty
of the Financial Officer promptly to collect the installments as the
same shall become due.
At the expiration of three months after the completion of the
improvements, the Financial Officer shall deliver to the City Attorney
a certified list of all unpaid assessments, together with a full description
of the properties and names of owners against which assessments have
been made and which remain unpaid thereon in whole or in part, and
the City Attorney shall thereupon enter liens for the unpaid assessments
and shall from time to time proceed to collect the assessments or
part thereof remaining unpaid according to law, together with accrued
interests and the penalties and costs imposed by law and this chapter.
[Amended 4-14-1992 by Ord. No. 1518]
At the expiration of three months after the completion of the
work and its approval and acceptance by the Director of the Department
of Public Works and the approval by the Council of the acceptance,
the Mayor, the Financial Officer and the City Manager shall and are
hereby declared to constitute the Sinking Fund Commissioners and shall
make and issue to the contractor improvement bonds and all coupons
attached for the amount of assessments outstanding, which bonds and
all transfers thereof shall be registered at the City depository and
shall be issued in denominations of $100, $200, $500 or $1,000, or
fractions thereof.
The contractor shall accept the bonds authorized in the preceding
section as cash, or he or she may at his or her election enter into
an agreement with the City to take an assignment of the assessments
as provided by law in payment of the amount due under his or her contract,
such assignments to be made to him or her by the City Attorney, in
which case the City shall not be otherwise liable under such contract.
The contractor shall designate in the contract whether he or she elects
to take the bonds or an assignment of the assessments in payment for
the costs of such improvements.
The improvement bonds provided for and to be issued for the
purpose of paying the contractor shall be numbered seriatim and shall
express upon their face that they bear interest at the rate of 6%
per annum, payable semiannually, and that the principal thereof and
the interest thereon rest alone upon and are payable only out of the
assessment and from no other fund.
The improvement bonds shall be called in and redeemed and retired
by the Financial Officer in the order in which they are issued whenever
a necessary amount is accumulated in the City treasury from such assessments
to pay one or more of such bonds prior to the date of their maturity.
It shall be the duty of the Financial Officer to advertise each
call of the bonds in the order in which the bonds were issued, giving
the number and amount thereof, in one or more newspapers published
or in general circulation in the City for three consecutive days or
by written notice, by mail, to the registered owner thereof where
their addresses are known, after which date fixed in the call the
bonds shall cease to bear interest, whether the same shall be presented
for payment or not.