Section 6131.07. Notice and hearing on petition

When the petition authorized by section 6131.04 of the Revised Code is filed with the clerk of the board of county commissioners, the clerk shall give notice to the board of county commissioners and to the county engineer. The board shall, by an order upon its journal, fix a date and hour for the view of the proposed improvement, which shall be not fewer than twenty-five nor more than ninety days after the date on which the petition was filed with the clerk. The board shall designate a convenient place near the proposed improvement at which the view shall start. The board shall also fix a date and hour, not fewer than ten nor more than ninety days after the date set for the view, when it will hold its first hearing at a place designated by it. As soon as the dates for the view and first hearing have been fixed by the board, the clerk shall prepare and mail, at least twenty days prior to the date set for view, a written notice to the owners named in the petition and of legal record on the date of its filing, setting forth the pendency, substance, and prayer of the petition, that all costs of engineering, construction, and future maintenance will be assessed to the benefiting parcels of land, and the date, hour, and starting place of the view and the date, hour, and location of the first hearing. For each proposed improvement, all individual notices shall be sent by the same type of mail, either certified mail, return receipt requested, or first-class mail in a five-day return envelope. Whichever method the board chooses, the words "Legal Notice" shall be printed in plain view on the face of the envelope. When the owner is not a natural person, the notice shall be mailed to its chief officer or managing agent at the usual place of business in the county. If such an owner is a foreign or domestic railroad company, regardless of whether the charter thereof prescribes the manner or place of service of process thereon, the notice shall be addressed to the property owner of record as listed by the county auditor on the general tax list. If such an owner other than a railroad company does not maintain a regular place of business in the county, then the notice shall be mailed to the nearest regular place of business of such an owner. The clerk shall cause to be published a legal notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the proposed improvement, stating the name and number, if any, of the proposed improvement, the location and nature of the work proposed in the petition, and the date, time, and location of the view and first hearing. If the individual notices are sent by certified mail, the publication shall be in one issue of such newspaper, and shall not be less than thirteen days prior to the date of the view. If the individual notices are sent by first-class mail in five-day return envelopes, the publication of this newspaper notice shall be made in two issues of the newspaper, and the notice shall include a list of the names of all addressees whose individual notices were undelivered. The first such publication shall not be less than thirteen days prior to the date of the view, and the second publication shall not be less than six days prior to the date of the view. The publication shall serve as public notice to all owners of the pendency of the improvement whether or not they were individually named and notified.

Proof of notice by publication shall be verified by affidavit of the printer or other person knowing the fact, and the clerk of the board of county commissioners shall prepare a certificate showing the service of the notices by mail, both of which shall be filed with the clerk of the board of county commissioners on or before the day of the first hearing. Notices returned undelivered and receipts shall be kept on file by the clerk as part of the permanent record of the improvement.

Effective Date: 07-05-1983