Howard County                                   2739

be prepared a Plat of the Metropolitan District as heretofore created and
enlarged and the same shall be recorded and copies of said plat shall be
filed in the manner set forth hereinafter.

Whenever thirty (30) property owners or the majority of property
owners residing in any locality in Howard County (joint owners of a single
piece of property shall be counted as one owner for purposes of the same)
shall in writing petition the Director of Public Works to have said locality,
the boundaries whereof shall be definitely stated in said petition, incor-
porated within said Metropolitan District, the Director of Public Works
shall have prepared an appropriate Council Bill to effect the said locality
as an addition to the Metropolitan District, and the Director of Public
Works shall cause a plat of the locality to be made. After such plat has
been completed and the said Council Bill introduced, the Director of Public
Works shall give notice by publication in at least one newspaper published
in the County for each of three consecutive weeks and by handbills posted
in such locality which is proposed to be incorporated in the Metropolitan
District, and the notice shall state the proposed boundaries of said locality
to be incorporated in the Metropolitan District and shall further state
therein that a plat of the proposed locality may be inspected at the office
of the Director of Public Works and that any person interested in the
proposed incorporation of the locality into the Metropolitan District will
be heard by the County Council, pursuant to its rules and regulations, at
a time specified in said notice. Upon the passage of the Ordinance by the
County Council, the Director of Public Works shall cause final plats of the
locality to be made. One copy of said plat shall be filed in the Office of the
Director of Public Works, one in a plat book entitled "Howard County
Metropolitan District", in the office where the records of Howard County
are kept; and upon the effective date of said County Council Ordinance,
the said locality as shown on said plat shall be and the same is hereby
designated and constituted for the purposes for this subtitle to be incor-
porated into the Metropolitan District and shall be subject to all of the
provisions of those sections affecting special taxes as to the Metropolitan
District.

17.202—Procedure for Establishment or extension of existing Water and
Sewer service—Initiation by Department of Public Works.

(a)    The Director of the Department of Public Works AND PUBLIC
WORKS BOARD shall prepare annually and shall present to the Public
Works Board a five-year planning objective survey for the orderly extension
of water and sewer service within the Metropolitan District FOR EACH
YEAR'S CURRENT PROGRAM. The Director of the Department of
Public Works shall make or have made preliminary surveys, preliminary
plans, and estimates for the establishment or extension of water and
sewer systems in those portions of Metropolitan District wherein such
systems are necessary. Whenever such preliminary plans are completed
and construction or extension of such system is contemplated the Director
of Public Works shall give notice by publication as provided in Section
17.218 of a public hearing to be held by the Public Works Board.

(b)    The said notice by publication shall state the extent of the
improvements, the proposed area to be served, the probable cost thereof,
and that the preliminary plans and cost estimates of the improvements
are available for public inspection at the office of the Department of Public
Works during regular business hours, and also specifying a time and place
for a public hearing before the Public Works Board when persons interested
in the improvements may appear and be heard for or against the proposed
extensions.