§16-13B-5. Notice to property owners before creation of assessment district and construction of project; form of notice; affidavit of publication.

(a) Before the adoption or enactment of an order or ordinance creating an assessment district, the governing body shall cause notice to be given to the owners of property abutting a proposed wastewater or water project, or to the owners of property to be protected by a proposed flood relief project, that such ordinance or order will be considered for adoption or enactment, as the case may be, at a public meeting of the governing body at a date, time and place named in the notice and that all persons at that meeting, or any adjournment thereof, shall be given an opportunity to protest or be heard concerning the adoption, enactment or rejection of the order or ordinance. At or after the meeting the governing body may amend, revise or otherwise modify the plans, drawings and specifications for the assessment district and project as it may deem appropriate after taking into account any comments received at such meeting.

(b) The notice required in this section shall be published at least thirty days prior to the date of the meeting as a Class II-O legal advertisement in compliance with the provisions of article three, chapter fifty-nine of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county or municipality in which the proposed assessment district is located. The notice shall be in the form of, or substantially in the form of, the following notice:

"NOTICE TO ALL PERSONS OWNING PROPERTY LOCATED WITHIN ................... (here describe the boundaries of the proposed assessment district) IN THE ...................... (county or municipality) OF .............. (name of county or municipality):

A proposal has been made to the ............................ (county commission, city council or other governing body) of the ................ (county or municipality) of .............. (name of county or municipality) to establish a community improvement assessment district under chapter sixteen, article thirteen-b of the Code of West Virginia to permanently improve ................ (here describe the portion of the public ways both within and outside of the proposed assessment district to be improved, in the case of wastewater or water project, or the lots or parcels of land which may be protected, in the case of a flood relief project) in ................. (name of county or municipality) by ............... (here provide general description of the project) as the ................ (county commission, city council or other governing body) may deem proper, and to assess the total cost (or, if the assessments are only necessary to pay for part of the total cost, the approximate percentage of the total cost) of such improvement on ............ (in the case of a wastewater or water project, the property abutting said portion of the public ways within the proposed assessment district, or, in the case of a flood relief project, the lots or parcels of land on which the project may be constructed or may protect).

The proposal to create an assessment district and to make such improvements, and the plans, drawings, specifications and estimates therefor, will be considered by the ................... (county commission, city council or other governing body) at a public meeting to be held on the ....... day of ................, .................., at .......m. at ............................. Any owner of property who may be affected by the creation of the above-described assessment district, and any person whose property is not located within said assessment district but wishes his property to be included, will be given an opportunity to protest or be heard at said meeting or any adjournment thereof:

............................ (name of clerk or recorder)

.................................. (official position)."

(c) An affidavit of publication of the notice made by the newspaper publisher, or a person authorized to do so on behalf of such publisher, and a copy of the notice shall be made part of the minutes of the governing body and spread on its records of the meeting described in the notice. The service of said notice upon all persons owning any interest in any property located within the proposed assessment district shall conclusively be deemed to have been given upon the completion of such newspaper publication.