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Subject to the provisions hereof the city council may order improvements to be made on only one side of a highway or highways, or section or portion thereof, and may assess the cost or a portion thereof against the property and owners of property abutting on said side of said highway or highways or section or portion thereof.
The city council may provide that for that part of the cost which may be assessed against abutting property and its owners, the contractor to whom the work may be let shall look only to such property owners and their property, and that the city shall be relieved of liability for such portion of the cost. The city council may also authorize assignable certificates payable to the city or the purchaser thereof, against abutting property or property owners, or against persons, firms or corporations occupying highways with their tracks, to be issued to the contractor, and shall prescribe the form and terms of such certificates. The recital of such certificates that the proceedings with reference to making such improvements have been regularly had in compliance with the terms hereof, and that all prerequisites to the fixing of the lien and the claim of personal liability evidenced by such certificate have been performed, shall be prima facie evidence of the fact so recited and no other proof thereof shall be required, but in all courts the said proceedings and prerequisites shall, without further proof, be presumed to have been made or performed. Such certificates shall be executed by the mayor and attested by the city secretary with the corporate seal affixed thereto.
The city shall never be liable to any contractor or other person, firm or corporation doing work in connection with any street paving, or the opening and widening of streets, or the building of any drains or storm sewers, or the laying of sanitary sewers or any other character of public improvement, whereby a part or the whole of the cost thereof is to be paid for by special assessment, on account of the failure of any officer of the government or the members of the council to pass suitable ordinances or resolutions to take necessary steps to fix liens, or to make said assessments, or to issue certificates therefor, or to provide for reassessment on account of the invalidity of any lien attempted to be fixed, or any failure or omission with respect thereto.
As an alternate method of paving and improving streets, alleys, and sidewalks, the city shall have the power and authority to adopt plans and specifications for such improvements in accordance with the procedure prescribed in Chapter 313 of the Texas Transportation Code, as amended. The city shall also have the power to pay to the contractors, the successful bidder, that part of the cost that may be assessed against the owners and their property abutting on such improvements in cash, and the city may reimburse itself for the amount by levying an assessment against the abutting owners and their property, after a hearing and notice, as provided in Chapter 313 of the Texas Transportation Code, as amended, up to the amount of the enhancement in value represented by the benefits and permitted by that statute, and issue assignable certificates in favor of the city for the assessment. The certificates shall be enforceable in the same manner as provided by Chapter 313 of the Texas Transportation Code, as amended. The city shall likewise have the power to do the improvement by its own forces if, in the opinion of the city council, the work can be done more expeditiously or economically. (Amend. of 5-3-97, Prop. No. 9)
The provisions of Chapter 314 of the Texas Transportation Code, as amended, relative to condemnation for highways and the levying of special assessments to defray the cost thereof, are hereby adopted as an alternative method for the assessment and payment of such costs. (Amend. of 5-3-97, Prop. No. 9)
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