[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.
Sewers — See Ch. 295.
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.