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LAWS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE. 95 



'fty-tivo to be notified ; the mayor shall notify the council of the pendency 

 of the petition, at its next regular meeting, or, if necessary, call a special 

 meeting of the council for that purpose ; and thereupon the council shall 

 appoint a committee of its members, or the engineer of the corporation, 

 or both, to meet the commissioners, at the time and place of their meeting 

 and view, and confer with them in regard to the improvement. 



SEC. 4487. [Penalties against officers for neglect of duty.] If 



an engineer or auditor, or a commissioner or probate judge, neglect "or 

 refuse to perform any duty imposed upon him by the provisions of this 

 chapter, he shall forfeit and pay a fine of twenty-five dollars for every 

 such neglect, to be recovered before any officer having competent jurisdic- 

 tion, in the name of the state, for the benefit of .the common schools of 

 he county, at the suit of any person aggrieved thereby. 



SEC. 4488. [Application when proposed ditch in more than one 

 county.] When a ditch or improvement is proposed, which will re- 

 quire a location in more than one county, application shall be made to 

 the commissioners of each of said counties, and the surveyor or engineer 

 shall make a report for each county; application for damages shall be 

 made, and appeals from the finding of the commissioners, in joint session, 

 locating and establishing such ditch, and from the assessment of damages 

 or compensation, shall be taken to the probate court of the county in which 

 the greatest length of such ditch or improvement is located ; and a 

 majority of the commissioners of each county, when in joint session, shall 

 be competent to locate and establish such ditch or improvement; but no 

 commissioner shall serve in any case in which he is personally interested ; 

 and any two commissioners may form a quorum for the transaction of 

 business under this chapter, of their respective counties ; provided, further, 

 that when any two or more commissioners of any county are personally 

 interested in any improvement upon which, or in the location and estab- 

 lishment of which, they are called upon to act, the auditor, probate judge 

 and recorder of said county shall appoint a suitable person to act in the 

 place of each commissioner so interested, and their acts shall have the 

 same force and effect in such cases, as though they were commissioners 

 of said county for which they are appointed to act, and the persons so 

 appointed shall receive the same ccr_:~2nsation as the county commission- 

 ers for like services. 



SEC. 4488a. [Joint county ditches; apportionment of cost.] If 



the commissioners in joint session find in favor of the proposed im- 

 provement, and are unable afterwards to agree as to the proportion of the 

 costs of location and constructing the improvement, which shall be assessed 

 in each of the counties, respectively, the board of commissioners of eithei 

 county may petition the court of common pleas of their county for the 

 appointment of three disinterested freeholders, not residents of either of 

 said counties who shall within thirty days thereafter, after being duly 

 sworn and upon actual view of said improvement, estimate and report 

 to said court the amount which should be charged to the land in each 

 county interested in said improvement respectively. The commissioners 

 making the application shall be plaintiffs, and the commissioners of the 

 other counties shall be defendants. The court wherein such petition is 

 first filed shall Have exclusive jurisdiction. Either of the parties may, 

 within ten. days after the filing of said report, file exceptions thereto, and 

 the court shall confirm, modify or set aside said report and appoint other 

 freeholders, as justice may require. Costs, including allowance to said 



