Upon the filing with the clerk of the board of county commissioners of the reports, plans, and schedules by the county engineer as provided in section 6131.14 of the Revised Code, the board of county commissioners shall fix a date not fewer than twenty-five nor more than ninety days thereafter when a final hearing on the report shall be held. Upon the fixing of the date, the clerk shall immediately give notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by first-class mail in a five-day return envelope. For each improvement, all individual notices shall be sent by the same type of mail. Whichever method the board chooses, the words "Legal Notice" shall be printed in plain view on the face of the envelope. Notice shall be sent to all the owners whose names appear in the engineer's schedules of assessments and damages. The notice shall be mailed to each address as given in the petition or to such address as the clerk learns to be the correct address, as provided in section 6131.07 of the Revised Code. If the schedule of assessments or the schedule of damages filed by the engineer contains the names of owners other than those mentioned in the petition, notices shall also be mailed to those owners. The clerk shall cause to be published a legal notice in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the area affected by the 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 final hearing. The publication of this notice shall be made in one issue of the newspaper if the individual notices are sent by certified mail. 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 publication shall be not fewer than thirteen days prior to the date of the final hearing. The publication shall serve as public notice to all owners of the substance of the proposed improvement and of the pendency of the final hearing of the board of county commissioners in the proceedings to authorize the construction of the proposed improvement whether or not they were individually named and notified.

The mailed legal notice shall notify the owners of the assessment or the estimated damages, if any, and of compensation for any land or other property necessary to be taken on each tract of land owned by the owner, as estimated and described in the schedules, shall notify the owners of the date of the final hearing by the board on the report of the engineer and on the proceedings for the improvement, and shall notify all owners that all claims for compensation or damages must be filed with the clerk of the board of county commissioners before that date fixed for the final hearing. The notice shall further state that if bonds or notes are to be issued, the owner must give written notice within twenty-one days after the final hearing of his intention to pay in cash. The clerk shall include with the legal notice to the owner a form prescribed by the board of county commissioners that the owner shall use to notify the board of his intention to pay in cash. If he does not give notice of his intention to pay in cash within twenty-one days, the installments will be payable with the interest added at the same rate that the bonds or notes bear interest.

Proof of notice by publication shall be verified by affidavit of the printer or other person knowing that 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 final hearing. Notices returned undelivered and receipts shall be kept on file as a permanent record of the improvement.

Effective Date: 07-05-1983 .