(A) The owner of any lot or ground fronting on any street or alley in this city and where the sidewalks are not paved, shall, within 20 days from the time a notice shall be served upon such owner by the Street Commissioner at the instance of the Common Council, requiring him or her so to do, properly pave the whole of the sidewalk in front of his or her property, whether curbing shall exist or shall have been set along the same or not, in such manner as to comply with the requirements of the standards and specifications of the Street Commissioner as approved by the Common Council; but the Council may, on account of freezing weather or for other good cause, by a resolution adopted by it, extend for a definite period, not exceeding 30 days, the time within which such paving may be done.
(B) Whenever the owner of any lot of ground shall fail or refuse to cause such sidewalk to be paved as required by division (A) above, within the time therein mentioned, or within the time limited by the Common Council if the Council shall have granted an extension of time, it shall be the duty of the Council to cause the sidewalk to be paved, in conformity with the city standards and specifications, upon the most reasonable terms obtainable, and to deliver to the City Clerk a statement of the cost of such pavement, and also to deliver to such property owner or his or her agent a copy of such statement.
(C) Whenever in the opinion of the Common Council the pavement of any sidewalk in the city shall need any repair, it shall give notice to the owner of the adjacent property or, in case the owner have an agent for the management of the property, to either the owner or the agent, or if neither such owner or agent be found in the city, then to any tenant of the premises, requiring such pavement to be repaired in a manner and to an extent to be reasonable, described in the notice, within a time to be specified in the notice, and if such repairs be not made within the time and in the manner required by the notice, it shall be the duty of the Common Council to cause such repairs to be made and to assess the actual cost thereof upon such owner and to deliver a statement of such assessment of the actual cost to the City Clerk and a copy thereof to such owner, his or her agent or tenant.
(D) Any statement of costs and expenses as is mentioned in this section shall be a special tax or assessment in favor of the city against such owner; and the provision requiring the delivery of a copy of such assessment of the actual cost to the owner, his or her agent or tenant, is intended to facilitate the collection of the assessment, and a failure to deliver it shall in nowise invalidate the assessment or delay the collection by distress or levy.
(E) (1) If within ten days after the receipt of such statement by the City Clerk there be not filed therewith the receipt of the City Treasurer for the amount thereof, the City Clerk shall deliver a statement thereof to the Chief of Police, and charge the same to him or her in his or her account with the city as an additional or supplemental assessment to be credited to the General Fund of the city.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Chief of Police to collect the amount of any and all such bills from the owner of such grounds or from the persons in the possession or occupancy thereof, by distress and sale, in the manner in which other taxes levied for the benefit of the city are or may be collected.
(Prior Code, § 25-19)
Statutory reference:
As to pavement and repair of sidewalks by city at expense of owners, see W. Va. Code 8-18-1