The Commissioners of Hebron, Maryland, are hereby
authorized, empowered and directed to establish and construct a water
supply system for said town, within and without the town limits; to
do any and all work, including preliminary work and the employment
of an engineering and clerical force, necessary for the carrying out
of the provisions of this Article; and, for the purposes of this Article,
to issue bonds on the faith and credit of said town for the payment
of said water supply system and to acquire by purchase or condemnation
whatever property or rights-of-way within or outside the corporate
limits of said town that they may deem necessary and proper.
The Commissioners of Hebron, hereinafter designated
as the "authorities," shall proceed as soon as possible after June
1, 1947, to employ such engineering and other help as they deem necessary
for the purpose of preparing surveys, plans, specifications and estimates
for a water supply system for said town. Upon the completion of said
estimate, the authorities shall advertise in at least one (1) newspaper
in the County of Wicomico and one (1) newspaper in the City of Baltimore
for the receipt of bids for the construction of said water supply
system, either in whole or in part, as in their judgment may be deemed
proper. Said advertisement shall state the time and place for the
opening of bids, and all bids must be sent under seal, accompanied
by a certified check of such amount as the said authorities may deem
necessary and proper. The contract shall be awarded to the lowest
responsible bidder, and the authorities are empowered and authorized
to enter into such agreement or contract with said successful bidder
as to safely indemnify the Town of Hebron against any and all loss
which may ensue from the construction of said water supply system.
They shall demand bond of the successful bidder to whatever extent
they deem necessary and proper, but in no case shall the amount thereof
be less than the contract price.
[Amended 5-2-1979 by Res. No. 1, 1979]
For the purpose of providing funds for the construction,
establishment, improvement, enlargement, major maintenance and extension
of said water supply system and for the purchase or condemnation of
properties and rights-of-way, said authorities are authorized and
empowered to issue notes and bonds in such amounts as they may deem
necessary to carry on said work or any part of it. Said notes and
bonds may be of such type and denomination and bear such rate of interest
as said authorities may determine, provided that the interest on said
notes and bonds shall be payable semiannually and said notes and bonds
shall mature at a period not exceeding forty (40) years from date
of issuance; shall be forever exempt from state, county and municipal
taxation; and shall be a lien upon all assessable property within
the said Town of Hebron. The notes and bonds may be dated as the authorities
decide and may be either serial notes and bonds or sinking fund notes
and bonds, and the authorities are authorized and empowered to sell
the notes and bonds in any way they may deem proper, either locally,
over the counter or by advertising, to a responsible underwriter after
advertisement, if this latter method is elected. Said notes and bonds
may be sold to any agency of the State of Maryland or the United States
of America on such terms as the authorities may determine.
For the purpose of retiring the bonds issued under this Article and of paying interest thereon, said municipal authorities may raise the necessary funds to meet such obligations by levying a tax against all the assessable property within the municipality, served annually, so long as any of the said bonds are outstanding or may provide for the whole or any part by the levy of a front-foot assessment charge on all property abutting on a street, road, alley or right-of-way in which a water main is laid or may provide for both the levy of a tax and the levy of a front-foot assessment charge, as above-mentioned. The tax so levied shall be sufficient in amount to meet the interest on said bonds as it becomes due and to pay the principal thereof as they mature or such part of said amount as may not be raised by annual front-foot assessment as hereinafter provided in § HC9-5, said tax to be determined, levied and collected in the same manner as in the case of other municipal taxes. The taxes levied under this Article shall have the same priority rights, bear the same interest and penalties and in every respect be treated the same as other municipal taxes. In order that the prompt payment of interest and the proper provision for the payment of the principal of the bonds issued under this Article shall be assured, the prompt and proper performance of the duties imposed upon the tax-levying authorities is specifically enjoined, and any failure upon the part of any person or persons, body corporate or agent to perform the proper acts and duties in connection with the levy and collection of the necessary taxes or the use of any of the funds collected by virtue of this section for any purpose other than for the payment of the principal and interest on said bonds shall hereby be declared a misdemeanor and punishable as other misdemeanors are punishable by § HC9-16 of this Article.
For the payment of all or part of the interest on and all or part of the principal of the bonds as they mature and not provided for in the receipts as collected under the provisions of § HC9-4, the authorities may levy a front-foot assessment on all property abutting on a street, road, alley or right-of-way in which a water main is laid. Said assessments shall be payable annually during the life of the bonds and sufficient in aggregate amount to pay any part or all of the interest on outstanding bonds and to provide for their retirement. Said authorities may provide for the extinguishment by property owners of annual front-foot benefit charges upon such terms as they may deem wise, provided that any such arrangement shall provide properly for the necessary payments on the outstanding bonds. The municipal authorities may change the front-foot assessment rates from year to year as may become necessary, but the rate for any one (1) year shall be uniform for all property so assessed within the municipality. Said authorities shall notify in writing all assessed property owners as to the amount of their assessment, naming in said notice a time and place when and where said owners will be heard. The benefit charge assessed against any property shall be final, subject only to revision at said hearing. The authorities, in the case of corner lots, irregular-shaped lots and shallow lots fronting on more than one (1) street and also in the case of small acreage and agricultural property, may determine upon such lengths of frontage for assessment as they deem reasonable and fair. Front-foot assessment charges, as above-specified, shall be a first lien on property against which they are assessed, subject only to prior state and county charges, and, upon complaint of the authorities before the District Court of Wicomico County or the Circuit Court for Wicomico County in which said land is situated, shall be enforced by a judgment and usual execution thereon. No front-foot benefit charge shall continue as a lien for a period longer than two (2) years from the date upon which the same became in default, unless it is reduced to a judgment and duly recorded among the records of the Clerk's office in the county in which said land is situated. Said benefit charges shall be in default after sixty (60) days from the date of levy, and said levy and any judgment obtained as a result of the default of payment thereof shall bear interest at the rate of one percent (1%) per month from and after the time said levy is in default.
The authorities shall provide a water connection for each and every property abutting upon a street or right-of-way in which, under this Article, a water main is laid, which connection shall be extended, as required, from the water main to the property line of the abutting lot, said water connection to be constructed by and at the sole expense of said authorities. When any water main is declared by said authorities to be complete and ready for the delivery of water, every abutting property owner, after due notice, shall make connection of all water plumbing with said main within such reasonable time as may be prescribed by said authorities. Any violation of the provisions of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable under § HC9-16.
For the purpose of providing funds for maintaining,
repairing and operating the water system constructed under the provisions
of this Article, including overhead expense and power depreciation
allowance, the authorities shall have full power and authority to
make such service rates as they may deem necessary, chargeable against
all properties served by a water supply system under their ownership.
Service rates shall be subject to change from time to time as said
authorities deem necessary. Said rates shall be payable at such times
and shall be subject to such penalties for nonpayment as said authorities
may determine, and they shall be collectible against the owner of
the property served in the same manner as other debts are collectible
at law.
The authorities shall be empowered and authorized to formulate and cause to be effective such rules and regulations as they may deem necessary for maintaining and operating the water supply system under their control and may formulate and put into effect plumbing regulations which shall govern the installation and alteration of all plumbing arrangements on private property. Said authorities may require that no plumbing work be done on any private property without the receipt of a permit and without the payment of such charge as they may deem reasonable. Any violation of any rule or regulation promulgated under authority of this section shall be a misdemeanor punishable under § HC9-16.
Said authorities, whenever they deem it necessary,
may take or acquire any land, structures, buildings, watercourses,
water rights or other property, either within or outside the municipality,
either in fee or as an easement, for the construction, establishment,
extension, alteration, maintenance or operation of any part or appurtenance
of said water supply system, this to be done by the purchase of the
same from the owner or owners or, upon the failure to agree, by the
condemnation of the same proceedings in the Circuit Court for Wicomico
County as now provided for condemnation of land by public service
corporations in Article 33A of the Code of Public General Laws of
Maryland, and said authorities may, at the same time, condemn the
interest of any tenant, lessee or other person having an interest
in said property. At any time after ten (10) days after the return
and recordation of the verdict or award in said proceedings, the said
authorities may enter upon and take possession of said property so
condemned upon first paying to the Clerk of the Court the amount of
the said award and all costs and taxes to date, notwithstanding any
appeal of further proceedings upon the part of the defendant. At the
time of said payment, however, they shall give their corporate undertaking
to abide by and fulfill any judgment on such appearance or further
proceeding.
The authorities are authorized and empowered to take over, by purchase or condemnation, any privately owned water supply system. Such condemnation proceedings shall be in accordance with the provisions of § HC9-9. When any such private system is taken possession of, said authorities may extend or alter and maintain or operate said system in conjunction with their general system, and thereafter all properties along the lines of said privately owned systems so taken over shall stand in the same relation, bear the same benefit assessment and be subject to the same regulations and penalties as though the system so acquired had been constructed and put into operation by said authorities; provided, however, that said authorities may take into account and compensate for any portion of the cost of constructing the privately owned system that they may determine to have been paid by properties abutting upon any portion of said system. Whenever there is in existence a privately owned water supply system which, in the judgment of said authorities, is unfit as a whole or in part for incorporation into the general system established by said authorities, said authorities may disregard the existence of said system or unfit part thereof, and all the provisions of this Article relating to systems constructed by said authorities shall apply to said extensions.
Said authorities may enter upon any highway
for the purpose of installing, extending, altering, maintaining and
operating a water supply system and may construct or repair in any
such highway a water main or any appurtenance thereof upon the receipt
of a permit from the proper authorities, provided that, whenever any
highway is disturbed, said highway shall be repaired and left by said
authorities in the same or a not inferior condition to that existing
before entry, and provided further that all costs incident thereto
shall be borne by said authorities.
A.
All individuals, firms and corporations having buildings,
conduits, pipes, tracks or other physical obstructions in, over or
under the public road, streets or alleys of the county or municipality
which shall block or impede the progress of the municipal water supply
system while in process of construction, establishment, alteration
or repair shall, upon reasonable notice from the authorities of said
municipality, promptly so shift, adjust, accommodate or remove the
same at their own cost and expense as to fully meet exigencies occasioning
such notice; and, should the exigencies of any case involve the taking
in a constitutional sense of the franchise or right in the exercise
of which such obstruction had its origin, the municipality shall be
empowered to condemn an easement in said franchise or right.
B.
Any individual, firm or corporation, before laying
any pipe or conduit under the public highways in any municipality,
shall present to the proper municipal authorities adequate plans showing
the size, type and location of any pipe or conduit to be laid and
shall not lay any such pipe or conduit until said plans have been
approved and a permit issued by said authorities. Any such pipe or
conduit shall be laid in accordance with the approved plan.
C.
Any proposed deviation from said plans shall be subject
to the approval of said authorities.
D.
In case any new pipe or conduit is laid without the
receipt of a permit or not in accordance with the approved plan or
any approved deviation therefrom, the individual, firm or corporation
so laying said pipe or conduit shall, upon notice from said authorities,
remove it or readjust it to the satisfaction of said authorities,
but any conduits or pipes laid by individuals, firms or corporations
in accordance with approved plans and the terms of permits given under
this section, if they interfere with the construction of water mains
installed by said authorities, shall be removed or readjusted by said
authorities without cost to said individuals, firms or corporations.
Said authorities shall be empowered and authorized
to establish, and enforce compliance with such establishment, street
lines and grades wherever they may deem it necessary or expedient
so to do for the proper construction, establishment or extension of
a water supply system under their control. Street lines and grades
established by individuals, firms or corporations shall be approved
by said authorities wherever they deem it necessary for the proper
construction, establishment or extension of a water supply system
at the time of such establishment or at a future time, and, if any
street lines or grades are established by individuals, firms or corporations
without such approval, said authorities may refuse to give water service
to the properties abutting on streets the lines and grades of which
have been so established.
Any employee or agent of said authorities shall have the right of entry, at all reasonable hours, upon any private premises and into any building within their jurisdiction while in the pursuit of his official duties, and any restraint or hindrance offered to such entry by an owner or tenant or agent of said owner or tenant shall be a misdemeanor punishable under § HC9-16.
Said authorities shall have full power and authority
to enter into any contracts or agreements with other municipal authorities,
or with county, state or federal authorities with respect to obtaining
water supply sources or with respect to any other matter necessary
or advisable for the proper or economical construction, establishment,
maintenance or operation of a water supply system.
Every act or omission designated as a misdemeanor
in this Article, unless otherwise stated, shall be punishable before
the District Court of Wicomico County or the Circuit Court for Wicomico
County within which such offense is committed, that action being brought
by warrant or indictment upon the oath or information of any municipal
official or any agent or municipal authorities, and the offender shall,
upon conviction, be subject to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars
($100.) or thirty (30) days in the county jail, or both, in the discretion
of the Court. Where such act or omission is of a continuing nature
and is persisted in in violation of the provisions of this Article
or of any rule or regulation formulated thereunder, a conviction for
one (1) offense shall not be a bar to a conviction for a continuation
of such offense subsequent to the first or any succeeding conviction.
[Repealed 5-2-1979 by Res. No. 2, 1979]
Whenever the bonds of any part of the bonds authorized by this Article are sold, the Commissioners of Hebron may levy upon the assessable property of Hebron annually, so long as any of said bonds are outstanding, such sum of money in addition to the tax rate authorized by § HC6-1 hereof as may be necessary to pay the interest on the said bonds and to retire the said bonds at maturity.
All Acts and parts of Acts inconsistent with
the provisions of this Article be and the same are hereby repealed
to the extent of their inconsistency, provided that nothing herein
contained shall be taken as restricting any control which the State
Board of Health of Maryland is empowered to exercise.
