opinion, sustain by the laying out, opening, altering or widening such highway, street, lane, alley or sidewalk, after making due allowance for any benefit which the said owner or owners may derive therefrom. The determination and award of the trustees shall be signed by them and filed in the office of the village clerk, and a copy served on the persons entitled to such award. If no appeal is made within twenty days from the time of such service, the determination and award of the said jury shall be final and conclusive on all persons interested.

damages for

11. No trustee who is interested in any lands Award of taken and appropriated for highways, streets, lanes, lands. alleys or sidewalks, shall act with the trustees when sitting as a board for summoning a jury to award the damages for taking such land; but the police justice in said village shall act instead of such trustee, and shall have, for the purposes of such meeting all the rights and powers of a trustee.

from deck

for.

312. Any person interested therein may, within Appeal twenty days after notice of the determination, award ston thereand assessment of the jury, appeal from the decision, by petition to any court of record, in the county of Rensselaer, or in any adjoining county in this State, praying for the appointment of three commissioners, residing in said village, to review the said determination, award and assessment of the jury, and all their proceedings, whether for irregularity or otherwise, in relation to taking the lands for which such award is made. The person appealing shall execute a bond to the village of Hart's Falls, in the penalty of two hundred and fifty dollars, conditioned for the payment of the fees of said commissioners, and costs of appeal, in case the award of the board of trustees shall not be increased twenty dollars by said commissioners. Such bond, and a copy of said petition, filed with the clerk of the village, with a notice of the time and place when the same will be presented to said court, shall operate as a stay of proceedings until the decision of the said commissioners thereon. All persons appealing from the award of the trustees for one single and continuous improvement, shall join in one petition, and may.

execute one joint and several bond to the village, and there shall be but one set or board of commissioners appointed to review such proceeding, and award the damages for such improvement. On presenting such petition to the said court, with proof of service of a copy thereof, and notice as aforesaid, any person interested may be heard in the matter. The said court shall, after hearing the parties, appoint three competent freeholders, residing in said village, not interested in the lands to be taken, nor of kin to the owner or owners thereof, nor a trustee of said village, commissioners to review the proceedings of said trustees, and ascertain, determine and award the damages sustained by reason of laying out, altering or widening such highway, street, lane, alley or sidewalk. In case the commissioners so appointed, or any of them, shall refuse to serve, or be disqualified, the said court may appoint other commissioners in like manner. The said commissioners shall meet within ten days after notice of their appointment; they shall give the president of the village five days' notice of the time and place of their meeting; they shall be sworn faithfully and impartially to execute their duty in reviewing the proceedings, and in ascertaining and awarding such damages according to their best judgment and ability; they shall carefully view and examine the premises, and hear the proofs and allegations of the parties, and shall review the whole proceedings of the trustees in relation to making said improvement. If they find the proceedings of the trustees to have been irregular, and not in accordance with the provisions of this act, they shall annul the same, and the whole proceedings shall be null and void, and the costs shall be paid by the village. If the proceedings have been regular, the said commissioners shall proceed to ascertain, determine and award to the owners of such land, such damages as they will, in their opinion, sustain by the laying out, opening or widening such highway, street, alley, lane or sidewalk. The determination and award of the commissioners shall be signed by them, and be returned by them to the president of the village, . within ten days after the first meeting of the com

missioners, and the said determination and award, which shall be filed with the village clerk, shall be final and conclusive on all persons interested, and the trustees may thereupon take possession of the said lands, and make the said improvement. The commissioners shall be entitled to one dollar and fifty cents per day for their services. The commissioners and the trustees, when acting as a board to award damages, shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses in the same manner as justices of the peace. In all cases of appeal under this section, the court to which the appeal is made shall, by order, provide for the appointment of guardians for the purposes of the proccedings, for any infant, lunatic, idot or inebriate person, and for the service of notice in all cases not provided for in this section.

award.

$ 13. Whenever a final award is made for the Final damages sustained by reason of laying out, opening, widening or altering any street, lane, alley or sidewalk in said village, which damages shall not, taken together, exceed the sum of three hundred dollars in any one year, the board of trustees shall, within twenty days after such final award, assess the amount of such damages upon the estate, real and personal, in said village, and shall make out an assessment roll of such damages, which assessment roll shall be signed by the president and filed with the clerk of the village, and shall be collected in the same manner as the annual tax roll is collected. And the trustees shall, within one year from the time of such final award and determination, pay or tender the amount of such damage to the persons to whom the same shall have been awarded; and in case such owner shall refuse the same, or be unknown, nonresidents of the village, infants, idiots, or lunatics, or the rights and interests of persons claiming the same shall be doubtful, it shall in such cases be lawful for the trustees to pay the amount of such damages into some bank in the county of Rensselaer, for the benefit of such person or persons, accompanied by a statement of the facts under which such payment is made.

$ 14. The board of trustees are authorized and

Powers of trustees in regard to sidewalks.

empowered to raise by assessment and by tax, upon the real and personal property in said village, in the same manner provided by this act, a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars in any one year, to be applied exclusively to the payment of damages for opening, straightening, or widening highways, streets, lanes, alleys and sidewalks in said village; but no sum shall be raised for such purpose unless the improvement shall have been determined on and the damages awarded by a final determination; and no such improvements shall be made in said village, the whole cost of which, taken together, shall exceed the sum of three hundred dollars in any one year, without the trustees being thereto especially authorized by a vote of the taxable inhabitants of said village, qualified to vote upon a resolution for raising money by tax. Nothing contained in this section shall be taken to authorize the raising of any sum in addition to the sum of three hundred dollars authorized to be raised by the last preceding section of this act, except for the erection of a lock-up or some other public building.

$ 15. The board of trustees are authorized and empowered to plank, flag, and repair the sidewalks in said village, and assess one-half the expense of such improvements upon each lot or parcel of land fronting upon or adjoining such sidewalk, and in case a sidewalk shall be made on one side only of any street, lane or alley, such portion of the expense thereof shall be assessed on the lots on the opposite side of such street, lane or alley as the trustees shall deem equitable.

$16. Upon the assessment being made under the preceding section, an assessment roll shall be made by the clerk, and signed by the president, and filed in the clerk's office, and a copy delivered to the collector, to be collected in the same manner as the annual tax roll.

$ 17. The board of trustees shall cause all the streets, highways, lanes and alleys hereafter laid out and opened in said village, to be surveyed, described, mapped and a description thereof recorded in a book to be kept by the clerk for that purpose.

$18. The board of trustees shall have power to cause such of the streets, lanes and alleys in said village as shall have been heretofore regularly laid out or dedicated, but not recorded or sufficiently described, and such as shall have been used as public for twenty years but not recorded, to be ascertained, described and entered of record in a book to be kept by the clerk in said village.

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

1351

against vil.

1. No account or claim against the village shall Claims be paid until it shall have been presented to the lage. board of trustees and audited and allowed by them at a regular meeting of the board. A trustee shall not be allowed to vote on the auditing of any claim in which he has any interest. No amount or claim. shall be audited or allowed by the trustees, until it shall have been made out in items, and shall be accompanied by an affidavit of the claimant, that the several items of such account or claim are correct, and that no part thereof has been paid.

$2. Nothing in the last preceding section shall be construed to prevent the said board from disallowing any account or claim, in whole or in part, nor from requiring other and further evidence of the correctness and reasonableness thereof.

53. The said village shall have no power to borrow money, nor shall it be liable to pay money borrowed on its account or advanced in its behalf by its officers, or by any other person; nor shall any of its moneys or property be applied to any such purpose; nor shall said village incur any debt or liability beyond the amount of taxes specially applicable to the payment of such debt or liabilities, which shall have been voted to be raised in said village according to the provisions of this act, exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars, which debt shall be paid out of the first money raised thereafter.

54. Any officer or person who shall assume to create a debt, or incur a liability, or appropriate any money or property of the village, contrary to the last section, shall be personally liable for such debt or

No power of borrow

village to

money.