(a) Whenever Council deems it necessary, as a sanitary regulation, that sewer connections or laterals be installed, Council shall cause written notice thereof to be given to the owner of each lot or parcel of land to which such connections are to be made or in which sewer laterals are to be installed to serve unimproved parcels, which notice shall state the number and the character of connections required.
(b) The notice shall be served by the Clerk of Council upon the owners of the lots or parcels of land to which such connections are to be made by certified mail addressed to such owner at his or her last known address or to the address to which tax bills are sent, or by a combination of the foregoing methods. If it appears by the return of service or the return of the certified mail notice that one or more of such owners cannot be found, such owners shall be served by publication of the notice once in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. The returned receipt for notice forwarded by certified mail accepted by the addressee or anyone purporting to act for the addressee shall be prima-facie evidence of the service of notice under this section.
(c) If said connections are not installed within ninety days from the date of service of such notice, the work may be done by the City and the cost thereof, together with a forfeiture of five percent, shall be assessed against the lots and lands for which such connections are made. Any costs incurred by the City for the installation of laterals and sewer connections as required by this section for parcels of land on opposite sides of the City sewer shall be divided equally between the owners of said parcels.
(d) Upon completion of construction of the sewer, the total costs of such construction, as defined in Ohio R.C. 727.08, shall be determined and reported to Council by the City Engineer, and Council shall prepare a list of estimated assessments. Such list shall contain the total cost of construction to each lot or land abutting upon such construction or installation and shall be filed with the office of the Clerk of Council, and shall be available for public inspection.
(e) Notice that such list of estimated assessments has been made and is on file with the office of the Clerk of Council for inspection shall be published for three consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the City.
(f) Objections to any assessment shall be filed in writing with the Clerk of Council within two weeks after the expiration of notice set forth herein, and the Clerk shall deliver the objections to Council. Council shall review the written objections and shall adopt an ordinance levying assessments upon lots and lands enumerated in the list of estimated assessments the amount set forth on such list with such changes or corrections as Council shall determine to be proper after consideration of the written objections filed herein.
(g) The ordinance levying assessments shall state the number of annual installments, over which the assessments shall be payable, and shall establish a period of time during which assessments may be paid in cash.
(Ord. 45-99. Passed 5-24-99; Ord. 122-22. Passed 11-14-22.)