Theodore R. McKeldin, Governor                    459

welfare and safety of the residents residing therein, then said Com-
mission shall cause plats of such area to be made under the super-
vision of its chief engineer showing the proposed water and/or
sewerage system, one copy of which plat shall be filed in the office
of the Commission, one in the office of the County Commissioners
and erne in a plat book indexed "Cecil County Metropolitan Com-
mission" in the office where the Land Records of Cecil County are
kept, and upon the filing of said plat and the approval thereof by
the County Commissioners of said County and the Commission, such
sanitary district or districts shown on said plat shall be and the
same is hereby designated and constituted for the purpose of this
sub-title to be a separate sanitary district and shall be given by the
Commission a distinctive name and shall be subject to all of the pro-
visions of this sub-title, and the filing of said plat shall constitute
legal notice to the public of such action of the Commission. For the
purpose of providing for the organization and preliminary expenses
of any newly constituted sanitary district or districts, the County
Commissioners shall furnish the Commission a sum not exceeding
Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) which shall be repaid
out of the first bond issue or income of the particular district.

397. The Commission shall cause surveys, plans, specifications and
estimates to be made for water supply, sewerage, sewage treatment
and drainage systems in those portions of Cecil County in which
the Commission exercises authority, and shall divide each sanitary
district into water, sewerage and drainage districts in such way as
shall, in its judgment, best serve the needs of the various communities,
and shall promote convenience and economy in the installation and
operation. Whenever, and as, such plans are completed, the Com-
mission shall give notice by publication in one newspaper published
within the County, for three weeks, and by handbills posted and cir-
culated in the localities where said improvements are contemplated,
and shall state in said notice the probable cost of the contemplated
improvements, and shall further state therein that plans of the
improvements may be inspected at the Commission's office or such
other place in said County as the Commission may designate and that
any person interested in said improvement will be heard by the Com-
mission at a time to be specified in the notice, but not less than ten
days after the first publication thereof. If [twenty-five] fifty resi-
dents and landowners in the sanitary district wherein the improve-
ments are contemplated shall thereupon, and within ten days after
the last of said publications of said notice, file a petition with the Com-
mission protesting against the proposed improvement, the Commis-
sion shall grant them a hearing within fifteen days after such peti-
tion is filed in the office of the Commission and after not less than
five days notice of the time and place of said hearing by advertise-
ment published in one newspaper published within the County, and
by personal notices addressed to any one or more persons whose
names are signed to said petition. After due hearing as aforesaid,
the Commission shall decide upon the reasonableness of the objec-
tions stated in the petition; and shall dispose of the same by written
order concurred in by a majority of the Commissioners, which order
shall be published in the same manner as herein required to be pub-
lished and a copy of which shall be mailed to any one or more of the
petitioners. If the petitioners are not satisfied with the Commission's
decision, they shall have the right to take and enter, within ten days