Appeal
from Circuit Court, Worcester County; Robt. F. Duer and
Joseph L. Bailey, Judges.
"To
be officially reported."
Action
by the Mayor and Council of Berlin against George K. Jarvis.
Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Argued
before BOND, C.J., and PATTISON, URNER, ADKINS, OFFUTT
DIGGES, PARKE, and SLOAN, JJ.
ADKINS
J.
Under
an agreement made June 24, 1924, between the mayor and
council of Berlin and the county commissioners of Worcester
county, approved by the state roads commission, it was
arranged that the state roads commission should take charge
of and build for the town of Berlin certain streets in said
town, and that, when said roads were completed and ready for
use, there should be turned over to the mayor and council of
Berlin from the lateral roads funds available for use in
Worcester county during the year 1925 a sufficient amount to
compensate or reimburse said town for 50 per cent. of the
funds which may have been expended on the building of said
roads under the supervision of the state roads commission.
Whereupon the following ordinance was passed on October 6
1924, and approved by the mayor on October 9, 1924:
"Ordinance
No. 31.
An ordinance providing for the widening, straightening,
grading, improving and paving of Bay street from Main street
to the corporate limits of Berlin at the west end of the
state road from Trappe, and Broad street from Main street to
the corporate limits of Berlin at the east end of the old
county road from Libertytown and Powellville.
Whereas, the county commissioners of Worcester county and the
mayor and council of Berlin did on the twenty-fourth day of
June, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, enter into an
agreement whereby the said county commissioners of Worcester
county recommended to the state roads commission of the state
of Maryland that the state roads commission take charge of
and build for said town of Berlin the roads referred to in
the title of this ordinance, and that when the said roads
shall have been completed and ready for use there be
appropriated to the said mayor and council of Berlin
sufficient funds from the lateral road funds to be available
for
use in Worcester county, during the year nineteen hundred
and twenty-five, as will compensate or reimburse the mayor
and council of Berlin for fifty per cent. of the funds
which may have been expended in the building of said roads
in the town of Berlin under the supervision of the state
roads commission aforesaid; whereas, said agreement has
been approved by the said state roads commission and the
suggestion therein as to the building thereof under the
direction and supervision of the said state roads
commission accepted:
Section 1. Be it enacted and ordained by the mayor and
council of Berlin, that pursuant to the authority conferred
upon it by its charter and the agreement therein referred to,
the road bed of Bay street from Main street to the corporate
limits of Berlin at the west end of the state road from
Trappe, and of Broad street from Main street to the corporate
limits at the east end of the old county road from
Libertytown and Powellville, be widened, straightened,
graded, improved and paved, with concrete according to the
standard specifications of the Maryland state roads
commission, said roadbed to be laid on said street in
accordance with the blueprints hereto attached and made a
part hereof, marked Exhibits Plats 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, and
Grade Sheets 1 and 2.
Sec. 2. And be it enacted and ordained as aforesaid that
one-eighth of the cost of such work be assessed according to
the front foot rule of apportionment upon the respective
properties binding on the northerly side of said Bay street
and on the northerly side of said Broad street, and
one-eighth thereof also according to the front foot rule of
apportionment upon the respective properties binding on the
southerly side of said Bay street and on the southerly side
of said Broad street.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted and ordained that the said work
be done through the agency of the state roads commission of
Maryland, acting for and on behalf of and with the approval
of the mayor and council of Berlin, and in accordance with
the plans and specifications heretofore mentioned, and at the
least cost consistent with the proper quality of materials
and workmanship.
Sec. 4. Be it further enacted and ordained as aforesaid that
this ordinance shall take effect from the date of its
passage."
Subsequently,
on April 25, 1925, Ordinance No. 36 was passed and signed by
the mayor. It is entitled:
"Ordinance
No. 36.
An ordinance amending Ordinance No. 31 by changing the route
of the improved street therein described from the
intersection of Bay street and Pitts street so as to make
said improvement on Pitts street to Williams street to
connect with that part of Pitts street already improved from
Williams street to Main street, instead of to run on Bay
street from Pitts street to Main street; and providing for
the widening, straightening, grading, improving and paving of
said Pitts street from its intersection with Williams street
to its intersection with Bay street."
It
repeats the recital in Ordinance No. 31 and further recites
that, by reason of certain difficulties in the way of
improving Bay street from Main street to the intersection of
Pitts street, the said commission recommended a change of the
route of the improved street, so as to run on Pitts street to
Williams street to connect with that part of Pitts street
already improved, and that said proposed change has been
submitted to and approved by the county commissioners, and
then re-enacts Ordinance 31 as amended.
Subsequently,
on September 2, 1925, Ordinance No. 38 was passed:
"Ordinance
No. 38.
Whereas, by virtue of the authority of the General Assembly
of Maryland, and of ordinance heretofore passed, Pitts street
from Bay to Williams street, Bay street from Pitts street to
the west end of the state road leading from Trappe to Berlin,
Broad street from Main street to the corporate limits at the
east end of the old county road from Libertytown and
Powellville, Baker street from Main street to Harrison avenue
and West street from Main street to Broad street have been
widened, straightened, graded, improved and paved;
Whereas, it was duly determined and provided that certain
proportions of the cost of such work be assessed by the front
foot rule of apportionment upon the respective properties
along the line of said improvements, binding on each side of
said improved street, within the limits above mentioned:
Now, therefore:
Section 1. Be it enacted and ordained by the mayor and
council of Berlin, that the mayor and council meet in special
session at the council room in the town of Berlin, on the
16th day of September, 1925, at 7:30 o'clock p. m. for
the purpose of hearing all persons interested in the proposed
assessments and for the consideration of any objections
thereto, and that general notice of the time, place and
object of said meeting be given by publication in two
successive issues of some weekly newspaper published in
Worcester county, the first insertion to be at least one week
before the meeting, warning all persons interested in the
proposed assessments to appear at the time and place
aforesaid to be heard in the premises; and the secretary is
hereby directed to cause a copy of the said notice to be
served personally on such taxpayers proposed to be assessed,
as may be found within the corporate limits, and to mail such
notice to such taxpayers as are not found within the
corporate limits, addressed to their last post office
address, such personal service, or such mailing to be not
less than five days before the date fixed for such meeting.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted and ordained, as aforesaid,
that publication and service as aforesaid of a copy of this
ordinance shall be deemed sufficient notice.
Sec. 3. Be it further enacted and ordained, as aforesaid,
that this ordinance shall take effect from the date of its
passage."
Subsequently,
on September 22, 1925, Ordinance No. 39 was passed. It
recites that in pursuance of Ordinance No. 31 as amended by
Ordinance No. 36 the streets therein mentioned have been
improved as therein provided, and that by said Ordinance No.
31 as amended it was enacted and ordained that one-eighth of
the cost of the work be assessed
according to the front foot rule of apportionment upon the
respective properties binding on the northerly side of said
streets and one-eighth thereof upon the respective properties
binding on the southerly side of said streets, recites
Ordinance No. 38, and that the notices required thereby were
duly given, and that the mayor and council met in accordance
with said notices and heard all persons who appeared and
desired to be heard in regard to the proposed assessments and
received all written communications with regard thereto and
gave full consideration to both oral and written protests and
after such hearing and consideration determined that the
amounts properly assessable to the owners of the abutting
properties were as thereinafter set forth.
It then
enacts that one-eighth of the cost of said improvements be
assessed according to the front foot rule against the
respective properties binding on each side of the several
streets, and lists the several owners and the amounts with
which they are assessed, and enacts, further,...
