21013
. (a) Whenever any court of competent jurisdiction shall
determine that any contract purporting to have been made, or any
proceedings, steps or actions purporting to have been taken, or any
bond or bonds issued under this act, is or are void, invalid or
unenforceable, or shall for any cause enjoin the issuance of any
bonds proposed to be issued under this act, or shall enjoin the
performance of the work or improvement or the making of an assessment
upon the lands within the district, or shall quiet title of any lot
or parcel of land against the lien of any such bonds or assessments,
said court shall also determine whether any work has been done or
improvements have been made in good faith by any contractor under
said invalid contract or proceeding or under any contract pursuant to
which bonds were issued, or are proposed to be issued, and if so
what part, if any, of said work or improvement was of such kind as
might have been ordered under the provisions of this act. If the
court shall find that any work or improvement of such kind as might
have been ordered under this act has been done or performed in good
faith by any contractor under or in pursuance to a contract
purporting to have been made under the provisions of this act, then
the said court shall direct the board of supervisors, who conducted
the proceeding, to take proceedings as in this section provided for
the issuing of new bonds to cover the reasonable value of said work
or improvement. The board of supervisors may also without any decree
of court, upon written application of a contractor, who may have done
or performed in good faith any work or improvement pursuant to a
contract purporting to have been made under this act, or of the
assignee of such contractor, after the work or improvement shall have
been accepted, determine that the proceeding authorizing said work
or improvement or the acceptance thereof are for any reason invalid,
and direct that new proceedings be initiated as provided in this
section for the issuance of bonds to cover the reasonable value of so
much of said work or improvement as is of a kind which might have
been ordered and performed under this act.
(b) It is hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning of
this section to make the cost and expenses of all work or
improvements made or to be made through an attempted compliance with
the provisions of this act payable by the lands benefited or to be
benefited by such work or improvement, by the issuance of new bonds
to defray the expenses thereof, but that all payments of principal or
interest on void or unenforceable assessments or bonds shall be
credited to the property against which they were assessed or
attempted to be assessed.
(c) Upon a decree of court or an order of the board of supervisors
having been made as above provided, said board shall cause to be
made by the county surveyor, or some other county officer or by some
other competent person appointed by it for that purpose, a report for
a proposed new bond issue. Said report shall set forth a description
of the work or improvement done or performed by said contractor or
his or her assignee pursuant to the contract referred to in said
decree of court or order of the board, which work or improvement has
been found by said court or said board to be of such kind as might
have been ordered under this act, and shall state the reasonable
value of said work or improvement (which shall not exceed the
aggregate of the original contract price for said work or
improvement, together with the incidental expenses of the original
proceedings for said work or improvement, and if the work or
improvement has been accepted it shall also include interest upon
said total from the date of the original acceptance of said work or
improvement by the board of supervisors at the same rate proposed for
the new bond issue). Said report shall contain a description of the
district benefited by said improvement. In the event that the
original proceedings contemplated an assessment upon lands within the
district in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of Chapter
354 of the Statutes of 1919 of this act then said report shall
contain a proposed assessment of each separate parcel of land within
the district benefited by said improvement, which assessment shall
conform as nearly as may be with the report required by Section 12 of
Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919 hereof, and shall be accompanied
by a map or plat as therein provided.
(d) In the event any payments have been made on the principal or
interest of any bonds previously issued, which have been declared
invalid, by the payment of any special assessment taxes, by the
owners of land within the assessment district, the amounts of such
payments shall be ascertained and deducted from the amount for which
new bonds are to be issued under this section and said report shall
set forth the amount of the payments made and state that a credit or
offset is to be made for said amount in the issuance of such new
bonds.
(e) Upon the filing of said report the board of supervisors shall
fix a day, hour, and place, for a hearing thereon, which time shall
not be less than 20 days after the time of filing said report, and
shall direct the clerk of the board to give notice of the filing of
the report and of the hearing. The clerk shall thereupon cause notice
of the time and place of such hearing to be given by publication in
the newspaper designated in the resolution of intention by at least
two insertions therein not more than eight days apart. When, before
the day of hearing specified in said notice, 20 days, including
Sundays and holidays, have elapsed since the first publication of
said notice the board of supervisors shall have acquired power to
proceed with such hearing. Said notice shall state the fact of the
filing of said report and shall contain (a) a general description of
the location and extent of the work or improvement sufficient to
identify the same; (b) a description of the district benefited by
said work or improvement as contained in said report; (c) either a
statement that said report contains an assessment proposed to be
levied on each separate parcel of land within said district to retire
the bonds proposed to be issued and to pay the interest thereon for
each year during which said assessment shall continue, or a
description of the zones, if any, into which such district is to be
divided, and a statement of the percentage to be raised from the land
in each of such zones each year for the payment of the installments
of principal and interest on the bonds proposed to be issued; (d) a
statement of the reasonable value of the work or improvement together
with the incidental expenses of the original proceedings and the
amount of interest, if any, upon said total; (e) the amount of the
payments of principal or interest made upon the bonds previously
issued, if any, and the credit or offset to be deducted in the
issuance of such new bonds; (f) the total amount of the proposed new
bond issue and a description of the bonds proposed to be issued,
which bonds shall be as nearly as possible the same as to maturity,
rate of interest, and other particulars as the bonds described in the
original proceedings for said work or improvement, correcting any
errors or irregularities, that may have existed in the bonds in said
original proceedings.
(f) Said notice shall advise all persons interested that at the
time fixed for the hearing of the report or at the time to which the
hearing may be continued any person may appear and be heard upon any
of the matters set forth in the report. The board of supervisors
shall have power to confirm said report and to revise, correct, or
modify the same in respect to any of the matters therein contained
either as to the amount or character of the work or improvement done
or the reasonable value thereof, the extent of the district to be
benefited thereby, the amount of assessment levied upon any
particular parcel of land within such district, the zones, if any,
into which said district is divided, the percentages to be raised in
each or any of said zones, the amount of deductions or offsets by
reason of payments of principal or interest upon previously issued
bonds, the amount of the bonds proposed to be issued, the maturity or
rate of the interest thereon, or as to any other matter set forth in
said report.
(g) At the conclusion of the hearing the board of supervisors
shall adopt a resolution declaring its findings and determinations in
the matter, which shall be final and conclusive upon all persons in
all proceedings as to all matters so found and determined. If no
changes are made in the matters set forth in said report it shall be
sufficient in said resolution to declare that said report is
confirmed and that bonds shall be issued as therein provided, but if
any changes are made such changes shall be set forth and it may be
declared that said report is confirmed as so modified by the changes
set forth. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall transmit an
attested copy of said resolution to the treasurer and upon receipt of
the same the treasurer shall immediately proceed to issue the bonds
as therein ordered, which said bonds shall be dated as of the date of
the adoption of said resolution. Said bonds shall be issued and
signed in all respects by the same officers and in the same manner
and form as if issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 16 of
Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919. Said bonds by their issuance
shall be conclusive evidence of the regularity of all proceedings
prior thereto under this act and after the same are issued no
assessment or tax levied or collected for the purpose of paying the
principal or interest on said bonds shall be held illegal or set
aside or refunded by reason of any error, informality, irregularity,
omission, or defect in any of the proceedings prior to the issuance
of said bonds, nor shall any action or proceedings be thereafter
commenced or maintained to cancel or set aside said bonds or prevent
the payment thereof or the levy, collection or enforcement of any
assessment or taxes for such payment.