Notice to property owners to make connections with gas, water, sewer or other lines and conduits prior to the construction of permanent pavements or improvements may be made by service of notice upon the respective property owners or may be given by publication, in a newspaper published in the city, for two successive weeks, designating therein the streets along which the permanent improvements are to be made and if, after giving such notice, the property owner fails to install such connections within 30 days after notice is served or within 30 days after the first issue of notice appears in such newspaper, the city may put in the necessary connections, and the expense thereof shall be assessed against the abutting property and the owners thereof and placed in the hands of the City Collector and Treasurer for collection, and such expenses may be collected, with interest, as are taxes, and the costs shall be a lien upon such abutting property; provided, that the failure of the city to give notice in either form shall not release the property owners from the obligation of putting in connections prior to the construction of a permanent pavement or improvement. In no event shall any property owner be permitted to connect with or use any connections until the cost thereof has been paid to the city; but this last provision shall not release any property owner from the payment of the costs thereof even if he or she does not use such connection.
(1991 Code, § 18-12)