SOMERSET COUNTY. 4401

or improved, or any property adjacent thereto or any other property in-
jured or benefited by said street, alley, drain, square or watercourse; they
shall give at least ten days' notice, in one or more newspapers published
in said city of their purpose to lay out, open, extend, close up, widen,
straighten, grade or improve the street or alley, square, drain or water-
course so directed to be laid out, opened, extended, closed up, widened,
straightened, graded, or improved, and of the day, hour and place of meet-
ing for the said purpose; and they shall meet at the time and place men-
tioned in said notice given by them, and to proceed to exercise the power
and perform the duties assigned to and required of them, and to ascer-
tain whether any and what amount in value of damages will be caused
thereby, for which the owner or occupant of any right or interest in any
ground or improvement ought to be compensated over and above the
amount in value of benefit which will thereby accrue to such owner or
occupant thereof, and ascertain what amount in value of benefit will there-
by accrue to any lot or parcel of land by or through which the same may
pass or improvements be made, or any other property, or to the owner or
occupant thereof, which the said lot or parcel of land, or the owner or
occupant thereof ought to pay. They shall locate boundaries and prepare
an explanatory map, giving descriptions of the street or alley opened,
closed, extended, widened, straightened or improved, with each separate
lot or parcel of land deemed to have sustained damages or received benefits
and they shall within twenty days return to the Mayor and City Council
such maps, together with the amount of damages awarded to such owner
or occupants and the amounts of benefits assessed to any lot or parcel of
ground, or the owner thereof, together with a certificate of their qualifica-
tions, which may be ratified, or rejected, or altered and amended, in
whole or in part by said Mayor and Council; provided that the Mayor
and Council shall give ten days' notice, at least, by publication in one
of the newspapers published in said city, or by ten days' notice, at least,
in writing to each property owner so interested, of the time set for final
action on return of said examiner; and said Mayor and Council shall act
on said return within twenty clays after the expiration of said notice, and
may issue a new commission as in their judgment may deem proper, and
before actually proceeding to open, widen, extend, straighten or close any
such street or alley the Mayor and Council shall pay or tender to the
person, his agent, or guardian or representative the amount of damage so
awarded; and if any one should feel aggrieved by the decision of the
Mayor and Council in any matter affected by their decision, he may appeal
to the Circuit Court for Somerset County by giving written notice within
twenty days from said decision filed with the Clerk of the Council of his
desire to appeal; and on the filing of said notice it shall be the duty of
the said Clerk to deliver the papers connected therewith to the Clerk of
the said Court, and the same proceedings shall be had on appeal as in the
case of appeal from judgments of justices of the peace; provided, never-
theless, that the Mayor and Council may decline to open, lay out, extend,
widen, grade or straighten any street, alley or highway or any square,