WORCESTER COUNTY. 5311

way; they shall receive at least ten days' notice in one or more newspapers
published in said town of their purpose to lay out, open, extend, close up,
widen, straighten, grade or improve the street or alley, square, drain or
waterway so directed to be laid out, opened, extended, closed up, widened,
straightened, graded or improved, and the day, hour and place of meeting
for the said purpose, and they shall meet at the time and place mentioned
in the notice given by them, and proceed to exercise the powers and per-
form the duty assigned to and required of them, and to ascertain whether
any and what amount of value of damages will be caused thereby, for
which the owner or occupant of any right or interest claimed 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 there-
of, and ascertain what amount in value of benefit will accrue to any lot
or parcel of ground by or through which the same may pass, or improve-
ments made, or any other property, or to the owner or occupant thereof,
and which the said lot or parcel of ground or the owner or occupant there-
of ought to pay; they shall locate boundaries and prepare an explanatory
map, giving description of the street or alley opened, closed, extended,
widened, straightened or improved, with each separate lot or parcel of
ground deemed to have sustained damages or received benefits, and they
shall, within ten days, return to the Mayor and Council such map, to-
gether with the amount of damages awarded to such owners or occupants,
and the amount of benefits assessed to any lot or parcel of ground, or the
owner thereof, together with a certificate of their qualifications, 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 county papers
published in Snow Hill, 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 examiners; and said Mayor and Council shall act on said returns
within twenty days after expiration of said notice, and may issue a new
commission, as, in their judgment, may seem proper, and before actually
proceeding to open, widen, extend or close any such street or alley, the
Mayor and Council shall pay or tender to the person, his agent, guardian
or representative, the amount of damages so awarded; and if any one
should feel aggrieved by the decision of the Mayor and Council in any
matter relating to their decision, he, she or they may appeal to the Cir-
cuit Court of Worcester County, by giving written notice within twenty
days from said decision, filed with the secretary of the Council, of their
desire to appeal, and on the filing of said notice it shall be the duty of
the said secretary to deliver the papers connected therewith to the clerk
of said court, and the same proceedings shall be had in the appeal as in
the cases of appeals from judgments of Justices of the Peace; provided,
nevertheless, that the Mayor and Council may decline to open, lay out,
extend, widen, grade or straighten, any street, alley or highway, or any
square, waterway or drain, notwithstanding the decision of said court;
but in case of the refusal so to do, they shall be liable for all costs incurred,