Auditor General v. Wellman
Auditor General v. Wellman
Opinion of the Court
The defendants in this case, five in number, owners in severalty of six lots in the city of Port Huron, are appellants. The lots were assessed in 1905 for a paving tax. These assessments were not paid, and this proceeding is the auditor general’s petition for foreclosure of the State lien for taxes, with the objections of the defendants, which objections were overruled in the circuit court.
The questions discussed by defendants’ counsel, as shown by the brief, are:
(1) That the paving proceedings are invalid, for the reason that the council did not have any plans and specifications before it when it adopted the resolution that the work “was a necessary public improvement.”
(2) That the law under which the council acted con
(3) The resolution was insufficient for the reason that it omitted to state the kind of material for the pavement and curbing.
(4) The second resolution, declaring a necessity for a macadam street, superseded an earlier resolution for a pavement of brick, and therefore the adoption of and the assessment for a brick pavement were void.
(5) The law provides no notice to taxpayers, so that they may object to the proposed pavement before it is ordered.
The provisions of the charter (Act No. 542, Local Acts 1903, chap. 17, §§ 2-4) require:
(1) A petition filed with the council.
(2) Reference to the superintendent of public works.
(3) Report with estimates of cost and plans and specifications when needed (with recommendations). See Act No. 390, Local Acts 1885, chap. 13, § 4.
(4) Resolution of council of public necessity and fixing assessment district.
(5) Adoption and approval of plans and specifications with or without changes or amendment.
(6) Direction to superintendent of public works to advertise for proposals according to plans and specifications.
(7) Opening of bids and reports to council.
(8) Submission of question of raising amount required to board of estimates.
(9) Award of contract and order directing engineer to make roll.
The proceedings actually taken were as follows:
(1) A petition was filed; also a remonstrance.
(2) These were referred to the superintendent of public works.
(3) The superintendent made his report, accompanied by estimates for six kinds of pavement.
(4) A resolution was passed declaring the construction of a pavement a public necessity, ordering its construction 24 feet wide, with stone or cement curbing (width and thickness not specified in resolution) “ in accordance with plana and specifications prepared by the superintendent of public works and submitted to this council which are hereby adopted.” It also fixed the boundaries of the assess
(5) A similar resolution for the construction of a macadam pavement was adopted. All of the foregoing occurred at one and the same meeting of the common council held on May 15, 1905.
(6) At a meeting held June 8th the superintendent submitted a lengthy report, showing in detail the various bids of contractors on the different kinds of pavement; i. e., brick and macadam, etc.
(7) A resolution was passed that it was necessary to pave said street with Metropolitan brick, Berea (stone) curbing, and Medina (stone) radius, etc., and to raise $8,750 for the purpose, and that a meeting of the board of estimates be called and they requested to give their consent to raising said sum. At an adjourned meeting, another similar resolution, different only as to the method of assessment, was passed.
(8) Ata meeting of said board on June 23, 1905, its assent was given as requested.
(9) This was reported to the council at a meeting held July 5th.
(10) Contract was awarded, and mayor and clerk directed to execute same. This was at a special meeting, and similar action was repeated at a regular meeting held July 17th.
(11) Plans and specifications were made part of contract, which was duly executed, and the pavement has been constructed.
The decree is affirmed, with costs.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.