§ 25. Streets, etc.

The mayor and city council of Fort Valley shall have full and complete control of the streets, alleys, sidewalks and squares of said city, and shall have power and authority to open, lay out, widen, straighten or otherwise change all streets, sidewalks, alleys and squares in said City of Fort Valley. Whenever the said mayor and city council of Fort Valley shall exercise the power herein delegated, and shall fail to agree with the owner or owners of the property taken or damaged as to the amount of damages, the said mayor and city council of Fort Valley shall choose one appraiser and the owner of the land to be taken or damaged shall choose another appraiser, and the two (2) thus chosen, if they fail to agree, shall select a third appraiser, and the three (3) appraisers thus chosen, after being sworn to do justice to the parties, shall fix the damages to the owner of the property caused by the opening or changing of such street, alley or square; and if the property owner, after five (5) days' notice, shall fail to name an appraiser, the clerk and treasurer shall appoint one for him; and in every case where two (2) appraisers chosen for the space of five (5) days fail to agree upon the third appraiser, the said clerk and treasurer shall appoint such appraiser, provided, the said appraisers, whether chosen by parties or appointed by the clerk and treasurer, shall be citizens of said city. The award of the appraisers shall be in writing, and shall be filed within five (5) days in the clerk's office of the superior court of Houston [now Peach] County and shall thereupon operate as a judgment, and execution may issue thereon. Either party may, within ten (10) days from the filing of the award, enter an appeal to the superior court of Houston [now Peach] County. All costs, including the fees of the appraisers, shall be paid by the city; and at any stage of the proceedings to condemn, before or after the final award, the mayor and city council of Fort Valley may, by paying to the property owner all expenses actually incurred by him, withdraw the proceedings and decline to take the property, or to make the change in such street, alley, sidewalk or square.

Editor's note

The procedure herein is perhaps superseded by, or is an alternative to, the procedure established in the act herein designated as section 25A.