for the beginning of the work, which shall not be more than twenty days from the date thereof, and the contract shall provide that the work be prosecuted with diligence until completed, and a time for such completion shall be in the contract fixed. Such time of completion may be extended from time to time by the board of supervisors, in its discretion, and by resolution, which shall be entered by the clerk in the minutes of said board, a copy of which shall be by said clerk indorsed upon or annexed to the contract. Such extension of time may be made at any time before the expiration of three months after the time for completion fixed in the contract or by the last previous extension.

Bond of contractor. Before entering upon such contract, a bond shall be executed and filed, running to the county, in an amount not less than one-half of the contract price of the work, signed by the contractor and two or more sureties, who shall aggregately qualify before an officer entitled to administer oaths in a sum equal to the amount of the bond, each surety in the amount for which he becomes surety, or by one duly authorized corporate surety. Such bond shall be conditioned upon the faithful execution of the contract by the party contracting to do the work, and the payment by him for all labor and materials furnished for or in the doing of the work. The form and sufficiency of said bond shall be passed upon by some member of the board of supervisors, and such bond shall inure as well to the benefit of any and all persons furnishing labor or materials for the work as to the county.

Said contract shall undertake on behalf of the county that the board of supervisors will, upon the fulfillment and performance of the contract on the part of the contractor, and under the provisions of the "road district improvement act of 1907," take all steps in or by said act authorized to be taken, to effect the issuing by the county treasurer of the bonds in said act authorized to be issued, and provide a fund for the payment of the same, as in or by said act prescribed; and it shall be in such contract stated that in no case shall any officer of the county be thereunder holden except for the discharge of official duty under the law, nor shall the county be liable under the contract except for any materials or sums of money which the resolution of intention states will be furnished by the county.

§ 14. Purchase of materials by county. Whenever in the matter of any road district improvement the resolution of intention provides that the county will furnish materials to be used in the doing of the work, the execution of the contract for the doing of the work creates a liability on the part of the county to furnish the materials. If the county has a purchasing agent the materials shall be purchased by him. If the county has no purchasing agent the materials shall be purchased by the board of supervisors by contract let to the lowest responsible bidder after notice calling for bids has been published at least five days in a newspaper of general circulation in the county.

§ 15. Hearing on forfeiture of contract. New contract. Completion of work. If after the execution of the contract the contractor shall fail to begin the work in good faith within the time provided in said contract, or shall fail at any time thereafter to prosecute said work

diligently according to the terms of the contract, the superintendent of work shall make a report to the board of supervisors setting forth wherein the contractor is in default. Thereupon the board of supervisors shall cause written notice to be mailed to said contractor at his last known address that at a time, to be set in the notice and which must be not less than five days after the mailing of the notice, the board will hold a hearing to determine whether or not the contract shall be declared forfeited.

At the time set in said notice, or at any time to which the matter may be continued, the board shall determine whether or not the contractor is in default either in respect to beginning said work or in respect to its diligent prosecution. If the board determines that the contractor is in default it may declare the contract forfeited. In such event it shall either again call for bids and award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder as provided in sections nine and ten of this act, or it may declare the county the successor of the contractor.

New contract. If bids are again called for and a new contract entered into at a price greater than that in the contract declared forfeited, suit shall be brought on the bond of the original contractor for an amount equal to the excess of the second contract over the first, plus the cost of readvertising. The sum recovered shall be placed in the interest and sinking fund of the district.

Completion of work. If the county be declared the successor of the contractor, the work shall be completed under direction of the board of supervisors at the expense of the county either by contract or in any other method determined upon by the board. When the work is completed the declaration of completion required by section sixteen of this act shall be executed by the superintendent of work alone, and thereafter the proceedings prescribed by sections seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-one of this act shall be followed. When the bonds have been issued they shall be sold by the board and the proceeds applied to reimburse the county for all expenditures it has made in the premises, the balance to be paid to the original contractor. Should the proceeds realized from the bonds be insufficient to reimburse the county in full for its expenditures in completing the contract and its incidental expenditures, suit shall be brought on the bond of the original contractor, in an amount sufficient to reimburse the county.

§ 16. Lien against bonds issued to contractor. If the contractor shall fail to pay for any labor or material furnished for, or in the doing of said work, by any person, such person shall have and hold a lien against the bonds to be issued to cover the cost and expenses of said work subject to the conditions herein set forth. Such person may at any time prior to the issuance of said bonds file with the county treasurer a verified statement of the fact that he has not been paid for such labor or material, stating the nature and amount of such labor or material and the amount due him therefor. The county treasurer shall withhold from the contractor or any one claiming under him as assignee or otherwise, sufficient of said bonds to satisfy such claim, and costs which can reasonably be anticipated. If the person filing such statement shall within three months after the date for issuance of bonds in said proceeding commence an action to enforce his lien aforesaid

then the county treasurer shall keep the bonds so withheld, subject to the final judgment in such action; but if such action is not so filed the bonds so withheld shall be delivered to the contractor or his assignee. Such claimant, if he so elects, and if he has not received the said bonds, may as an alternative, at any time within six months after the filing of such statement bring an action on the bond of the sureties in his own name, or if he has assigned his claim, the action may be brought in the name of the assignee; provided, however, that the right of the county to recover on said bond shall be superior to the rights of such claimant to recover thereon.

§ 17. Declaration upon completion of contract. As soon as may be done in good faith, there shall be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors a declaration that the work has been completed according to the contract, together with an itemized statement of all the incidental costs and expenses of the work and the proceeding, inclusive of the estimated cost of publishing the notice of final hearing hereinafter mentioned and of issuing the bonds.

The aggregate of such items shall be stated, and, also, the amount due as of the contract price and the amount to be paid the contractor by county warrant, if any amount was set forth in the resolution of intention. The gross sum for a bond issue as claimed by the contractor shall also clearly appear. The said declaration and statements shall be signed and verified by the superintendent of work, and by the contractor or some person cognizant of the facts, signing on behalf of the contractor, and stating why he, instead of the contractor, so signs and verifies. Either signer may except from his signature and verification any amount or item to which he does not assent.

§ 18. Hearing on acceptance of work. The presiding officer of the board of supervisors is hereby authorized to fix a time and give a notice for a hearing for the purpose of determining whether the work shall be accepted as being completed according to the contract, and for determining the aggregate amounts for which bonds shall be issued.

Such hearing shall be known as the final hearing. The notice of such hearing may, in form, and shall, in substance, be (filling the blanks) as follows:

Notice of final hearing in the matter of road district improvement number

Notice of final hearing. Notice is hereby given that a final hearing of the above-named matter will be had at the hour or

M., on

the day of, 19, at the chamber of the board of supervisors of the county of, state of California, for the purpose of determining whether the work done under the contract made with under resolution of intention number in road improvement district number of the county of shall be accepted as being performed according to the contract, and for determining the aggregate amount for which bonds shall issue representing the cost of such work, inclusive of the incidental costs and expenses of the work and the proceeding, of which a statement has been filed with the clerk of

said board of supervisors of the county of

to which statement

the attention of all persons interested is hereby directed.

Attest:

of the board of supervisors of the county of

Clerk of said board of supervisors.

Such notice shall be signed by the presiding officer of the board of supervisors and attested by the clerk of the board of supervisors and published by at least two insertions in the newspaper designated in the resolution of intention, and a copy or copies thereof posted and kept posted for two days at or near the chamber door of the board of supervisors, the first day of such publication and that of such posting (they need not be simultaneous) to be not less than five days before the day in said notice specified for the hearing.

Proof of publication. Continuance of hearing. Proof of such publication shall be made by affidavit or affidavits, and the same shall be filed. If a quorum be not present at the time in the notice specified for the hearing, a member or members of the board then present may continue the hearing from day to day, and at all stages thereof the hearing may, by resolution, to be entered in the minutes, be continued from time to time.

§ 19. Objections to acceptance. At any time before the day in said notice specified for the hearing, any owner of property within the district, as finally established, may solely or with any other such owner or owners, file written objection to the acceptance of the work on the ground that the work has not been completed or done according to the contract, specifying in ordinary language the particulars in which the contract has not been so completed or done.

Any person interested in the proceeding, as of the interest of the contractor, shall be presumed to take issue with such objection, and be heard accordingly.

Questions going to any other matters to be determined at the hearing may be raised orally by any owner of property situated within the district.

Evidence may be adduced going to any of the matters to be determined, and in such order as the board may summarily direct.

If, when the matter has been fully heard, whether under or in the absence of objections, the board of supervisors is of the opinion that the work has not been completed or done according to the contract, it shall in writing specify what must be done in order to complete the work, and shall, by an order or resolution to be entered in its minutes, continue the further hearing of the whole matter to a specified day, expressly stating that such continuance is for the purpose of enabling the contractor to complete his contract.

On said continued hearing the objections filed before the day of the first hearing shall continue in force as against the work, and evidence be received, if offered, as to what has been done by way of completing the contract in the particulars specified in the order of the board on the said continuance of the hearing.

If, upon such continued hearing, it is the opinion of the board that the work is still uncompleted in the particulars as to which it was

ordered to be completed, it shall be discretional with said board to order or refuse a second continuance of the hearing. If the board do order such second continuance, it shall be ordered in the same manner and with like effect as provided aforesaid, upon the first continuance. And as provided aforesaid for a second continuance so of any other or further continuance.

All other objections shall pend and be heard on said day, or at any continued hearing had, as in this section aforesaid provided.

Every continuance of said hearing for the purpose of enabling the contractor to complete his contract or the work shall continue or revive such powers of the board of supervisors had, under the provisions of this act, in the proceeding, at the time of the filing of the contractor's declaration that the work was completed, as provided aforesaid, and also operate to extend the time for the completion of said contract in such manner that its completion within the time to which the hearing is continued, shall be as valid a performance of such contract as if completed at the time of filing such declaration or statement.

§ 20. Resolution accepting work. Whenever upon the hearing in section eighteen aforesaid provided, whether at the first or any continued hearing, it shall be the opinion of the board of supervisors that the work has been completed and done according to the contract, said board shall by resolution to be entered upon its minutes so declare, and that the work is accepted, and shall in said resolution state the amount of the contract price for the doing of the work specified and performed, and the amount of the incidental costs and expenses of the work and proceedings which are to be charged against and to be paid by the contractor and the sum, if any, to be paid the contractor by the county, and the aggregate amount for which bonds are to be issued as hereinafter provided. The decision and determination of said board of supervisors at the hearing provided for in sections eighteen and nineteen hereof shall be final and conclusive as to all matters determined at said hearing and as to all errors, informalities, irregularities, or omissions which said board of supervisors might have avoided or remedied during the progress of the proceedings, or which it can at that time remedy, upon all persons entitled to be heard before said board on said matters, and no bonds and assessments or tax thereafter levied for the payment of the bonds to be issued for said work and expenses shall be held invalid by any court for any error, informality, omission or other defect in the proceedings where the resolution of intention has been actually published as in this act provided, before the said board shall have ordered the work to be done.

§ 21. Payment by county. Whenever in the matter of any road district improvement the resolution of intention provides that the county will pay either a stated amount or a stated portion of the contract price, the liability of the county to pay arises upon the adoption of the resolution declaring that the work has been completed and done according to contract and that it is accepted. Immediately after the adoption of said order the amount which the county agreed to pay shall be paid to said contractor, less the amount of any incidental expense chargeable to and not paid by the contractor. Any amount