be found, provided that the penalty enforced shall in no case exceed imprisonment for ninety (90) days or of a fine of two hundred ($$200.00) dollars. They shall have power to remit fines and commute sentences imposed by the Municipal Judge, and in addition to the powers hereinbefore enumerated, the City Council shall have all the powers and perform all the duties imposed upon them by the laws of Florida now in force, or which may be hereafter enacted, providing for the government of cities and towns, not inconsistent with the provisions of this act; and the Mayor, Municipal Judge, City Marshal, or Chief of Police, Clerk and Collector, Treasurer and Assessor, and other officers, shall have all, the powers and perform all the duties imposed upon them by general laws.

The City Council shall have the power to fix and estab lish a fire limit within said city, and to prescribe rules and regulations for the erection and repair of buildings in said city; Provided, That the fire limit as established in the municipality to which the municipality hereby organized is a successor, shall not be decreased, except by the unanimous consent of all persons owning property in any block to be taken from such fire limits.

The City Council shall also pass such ordinances as may be necessary to protect and preserve peace and order upon all property owned, leased, managed or controlled by said city, outside of the city, and enforce the same by penalties.

The City Council shall have power to equalize tax assessments, for raising or lowering tax assessments, and shall sit as a board of equalization; to have exclusive power and control of the construction, repair, grading and improving of all streets, alleys, avenues and lanes, public wharves, landings, market houses, spaces, bridges, sewers, trenches, ditches, culverts, canals, streams, watercourses, dock-lines, and the estimation of such dock-lines, sidewalks, curbing, public buildings and to fix and establish the grades of all streets, avenues, alleys and thoroughfares.

Said Council shall have exclusive power, supervision and control over the construction and repairing of all public buildings and all public improvements of the city.

1907.

property to

Sec. 21. Whenever any street, park, alley or other highway which shall have been heretofore or may hereafter be paved, graded, curbed, laid out, opened, repaired or other Abutting wise improved by the City of Miami, except sidewalks, in- be assessed. cluding works and improvements now in process of construction, or whenever such park, street, alley or other highway shall have been or may hereafter be paved, graded, laid out, opened, repaired or otherwise improved, except sidewalks, or whenever any sewer or drain shall have been heretofore or may hereafter be constructed or repaired, in the City of Miami, the City Council shall, as soon as the cost of such improvement shall have been ascertained, assess against the abutting property, two-thirds of the cost of such improvement, in proportion to the length of such abutting property on such street, also the park or highway so improved, provided, that when the sewer is laid, no greater amount of the cost thereof shall be assessed against the abutting property than two-thirds of the cost of laying an eight-inch sewer; Provided, Proviso. further, that the entire cost of improvements at the intersection of streets shall be paid by the city.

Sec. 22. All such assessments for such improvements Liens. heretofore made, or which may hereafter be made, including those now in process of construction, shall constitute a prior lien to all other liens, except taxes, and those for construction or repair of sidewalks, with which liens they shall have equal dignity upon the real estate assessed. The amount of said assessment shall bear interest at a rate Interest. not greater than eight (8) per cent. per annum, to be fixed by the City Council from the date of the issuance of the certificate of indebtedness hereinafter provided, and shall be payable in one year, but the owner of the estate so assessed shall have the right to pay such assessment with accrued interest at any time before suit, and the certificate issued against the property shall thereupon be released and canceled. If suit has been instituted and payment i; tendered after suit, the costs and attorney's fees herein pr vided for must be included in the amount so paid.

Attorney's

Improving

Sec. 23. When at any time the City Council of the said streets, etc., city shall decide to pave, grade, curb, lay out, open, or by contract. otherwise improve any street, alley, park, or public highway, or any part thereof, or to construct any sewers, the

1907.

Improving

the streets

etc.

said City Council shall pass a resolution or ordinance, ordering the same done, and thereupon, the City Council shall advertise for bids once in a daily newspaper pubby contract, lished in the City of Miami, for making such improvements. Said advertisements shall contain, among other things, a description of the material to be used, width of paving, if the street is to be paved, and shall designate with reasonable certainty the limits within which such work is to be done, and the nature thereof, in which advertisement the City Council may reserve the right to reject any and all bids. In advertising the street paving, the City Council may, within their discretion, advertise for bids on grading, curbing, paving and enter into separate contracts therefor. Whenever the City Council has accepted any bid or bids for any of the said above mentioned improvements, as soon as the said improvements have been completed under the terms of said contract, and the same have been accepted by the City Council after duly advertising and giving a public hearing hereinafter mentioned, the said City Council at its next regular meeting, or at a special meeting called for this purpose, prior to the regular meeting, shall assess two-thirds of the cost of the same against the property abutting on each side of said street, alley, park, or other public highway, in proportion to the frontage on said street, alley, park or other public highway; provided that in any street where there may be a street-railroad or other railroad track or tracks, two-thirds of the amount of the cost of any such improvement on the said street required to be paved by the said railroad, shall be deducted from the amount assessed against the abutting property.

Certificates of indebtedness.

Sec. 24. The City Council, as soon as said assessment is made, shall issue certificates of indebtedness for the amount so assessed against the abutting property, a separate certificate to be issued against each tract of land assessed, containing a description of the improvements and the amount of the assessment, together with the general nature of the improvements for which the assessment was made and the date thereof. Such certificate shall be payable to bearer in one year with interest to be fixed by the City Council at a rate not greater than eight (8) per cent. per annum, payable annually from the date of the issuance of the certificate of indebtedness, the payment

of indebted

of which said certificate and annual interest shall be 1907. guaranteed by the City of Miami, and in case of nonpayment of annual interest or principal at maturity, by Certificates the property owner, the same shall be redeemed by the city ness. at the option of the holder thereof, but such redemption by the city shall not discharge the lien or assessment against the abutting property, and in case of non-payment of interest, it shall be optional with the holder thereof to consider the whole of said principal sum expressed in said certificate as immediately due and payable with interest to date. The certificates, when issued, shall be turned over to the City Treasurer, who shall sell or dispose of the same in payment of such work or improvement, or for cash at his discretion, and all certificates or indebtedness constituting a lien upon abutting property, shall be payable at the City Treasury of the City of Miami.

Powers of
Council by

Sec. 25. The City Council shall have the power by resolution to prescribe the width of every sidewalk in said resolution. city and the materials of which the same shall be constructed. They shall also have power on such notice aş may be prescribed by resolution, to require owners of property to lay, construct, or repair sidewalks in front of their property, and if the owner shall not lay, construct or repair the same within the time limited in the resolution, the City Council shall have the same done and shall assess such cost against the abutting property for paving or for other improvements, which assessment shall be payable in one year and shall bear interest at a rate not greater than eight (8) per cent. per annum. to be fixed by the City Council, for which assessment, certificates of indebtedness shall be issued in the manner herein provided for the is suance of certificates of indebtedness in other cases, and said assessment, when so made, shall constitute a lien prior to all other liens, except taxes and those for work or other improvements hereinbefore provided for, with which they shall be of equal dignity, upon the property in front of which such sidewalk shall have been laid, from the date of said assessment, which lien shall be enforced in the manner herein provided for the enforcement of liens in other cases; Provided, however, that the owner of the Proviso. property abutting the sidewalk shall have the option to pay the entire amount of assessment in cash upon notice of his intention so to do, given before the completion

1907.

Notice of costs of impovements to be pub

of the work, in which event, the certificates heretofore is sued for said assessment shall be redeemed and canceled.

Sec. 26. In all cases provided in this act for the paving, lished., etc. grading, curbing, laying out, opening, repairing, or otherwise improving streets, parks, alleys, or other highways within the limits of the City of Miami, including the laying, constructing or repairing of sidewalks, in front of any property within the limits of the City of Miami, as soon as said work shall have been completed, and prior to its acceptance by the City Council in the event the same is done under contract, said City Council shall cause to be published once in a daily newspaper in Miami a notice of the completion of said work, which notice shall contain a statement of the total cost of the work and of the total frontage of lots liable to liens therefor, and the amount of lien per front foot claimed by the city, but in such said notice, the names of the owner or owners or other persons interested in said land need not appear, but only a sufficient description of the lands as to make it capable of identification shall be necessary, and such notice shall set a time for a hearing of all complaints which the owner or owners or other persons interested in such improvements may desire to make against the cost of such improvements. After the date of such hearing, if no legal reason is shown why the cost of the said improvements shall not be assessed as provided by this act, the City Council shall, after the acceptance of said work, in the event the same is done under contract, assess the said cost against the abutting property in the manner herein before provided.

Street Im

provement

certificatea,

etc.

Sec. 27. As soon as practicable and within thirty (30) Lien Book, days after the issuance by the City Council, of any certreatment of tificate of indebtedness, as herein provided, the City Coun cil shall cause to be entered in a book kept for that pur pose, known as the Street Improvement Lien Book, the date of each certificate, the lot upon which the lien is claimed, the amount or amounts due, according to the terms of said certificate, and when due, and such other information as the Council shall deem advisable. Upon the payment of any certificate so entered in said Street Improvement Lien Book, the holder of such certificate shall produce the certificate for cancellation, and it shall be the