SPIRO T. AGNEW, Governor                         699

tricts and shall be given by the Commission distinctive names, shall
be subject to all the provisions of this subtitle and shall be separate
taxing districts and the filing of said plat and resolution shall con-
stitute legal notice to the public of such action of the Commission.
After the exercise of the powers granted by this subsection, no new
sanitary districts shall be created under the provisions of Section
159 (b) of this subtitle within any area that has been divided by
resolution into sanitary districts.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That Sections 160, 161 and
162 (a) of the Code of Public Local Laws of St. Mary's County (1965
Edition, as amended, being Article 19 of the Code of Public Local
Laws of Maryland), title "St. Mary's County," subtitle "Sanitary
Districts," said Section 161 having been last amended by Chapter
175 of the Laws of Maryland of 1966, be, and they are hereby
repealed and re-enacted, with amendments to read as follows:

160.

(a) The Commission shall cause surveys, plans [, specifications]
and estimates to be made for water supply, sewerage and drainage
systems in those portions of St. Mary's County in which the Com-
mission 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 of installation and oper-
ation. Whenever, and as, such plans are completed, the Commission
shall give notice by publication in one newspaper published within
the County, for three weeks, and by handbills posted and circulated
in the localities where said improvements are contemplated, and
shall state in said notice the probable cost of the contemplated im-
provements, and shall further state therein that plans of the im-
provements may be inspected at the Commission's office and that
any person interested in said improvements will be heard by the
Commission at a time to be specified in the notice, but not less
than ten days after first publication thereof. If ten residents and
landowners in the sanitary district wherein the improvements are
contemplated shall thereupon, and within ten days after the last of
said publications of said notice, file a petition with the Commission
protesting against the proposed improvement, the Commission shall
grant them a hearing within ten days after such petition 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 advertisement 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 objections 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 pub-
lished in the same manner as notices are herein required to be
published 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 after the last publication of said order as afore-
said, an appeal to the County Commissioners of St. Mary's County,
who shall review the Commission's decision and decide as to the
necessity and propriety of the improvement contemplated and