SECTIONS 21000-21013 - California Statutes

PUBLIC CONTRACT CODE

SECTION 21000-21013

21000. The provisions of this article shall apply to contracts by
drainage districts as provided for in Chapter 354 of the Statutes of
1919.

21001. By resolution or resolutions the board of supervisors may
order the work to be done, and if it does so it shall fix a time for
receiving proposals or bids for doing the work, and shall direct the
clerk to give notice, inviting sealed proposals or bids. Such notice
shall include a statement that the work is to be done under the
provisions of the Drainage District Improvement Act of 1919 and
according to the plans and specifications on file, except insofar as
such plans and specifications were changed by the board of
supervisors in conclusion of the hearing on the resolution of
intention in said act provided; to which said act, to the resolution
of intention and all proceedings had thereunder the attention of
bidders is hereby directed, and which are by this reference made part
of said notice.

21002. The notice inviting sealed proposals or bids shall be
published by at least two insertions in the newspaper or newspapers
designated in the resolution of intention, and (though it need not be
simultaneously) a copy or copies of the same shall be posted and
kept posted for five days, at or near the chamber door of the board
of supervisors. All proposals or bids shall be accompanied by a
check, payable to the county, certified by a responsible bank in an
amount not less than 10 percent of the aggregate of the proposal or
bid, or by a bond in such amount running to the county, signed by the
bidder, with two sureties qualifying before an officer competent to
administer oaths, each in said amount over and above all statutory
exemptions, or executed by some bonding company acceptable to said
board of supervisors. Said proposals or bids shall be delivered to
the clerk of said board.

21003. The board shall, in open session, open and examine and
declare the same. No proposal or bid shall be considered unless
accompanied by such check or such bond in terms satisfactory to the
board. The board may reject any and all proposals or bids should it
deem it for the public good, and shall reject all proposals or bids
other than the lowest regular proposal or bid of any responsible
bidder, and may award the contract for said work to the lowest
responsible bidder at the price named in his or her bid.
A notice of such award, attested by the clerk of the board of
supervisors shall be transmitted to the successful bidder by mail by
the clerk of the board of supervisors, and shall also be published
and posted in a manner herein provided as to the notice inviting
proposals or bids.
The check or bond accompanying such accepted proposal or bid shall
be kept by the clerk of said board until the contract for doing said
work, as hereinafter provided, has been entered into. Checks or
bonds of unsuccessful bidders shall be returned by the clerk of said
board. If said successful bidder fails, neglects or refuses for 15
days after being awarded the contract to execute the same, the
certified check accompanying his bid, and the amount thereof shall be
declared forfeited to the county, and may be collected by it and
paid into the interest and sinking fund of the district, and any bond
forfeited may be prosecuted, and the amount thereof collected and
paid into said fund.
Before being entitled to a contract the bidder to whom the award
thereof has been made must advance and pay to the clerk of the board
of supervisors, the costs and expenses of publishing and posting the
resolutions, notices and orders required under this act to be made,
which have been made, given, posted, or published in the proceeding.

21004. Any person interested in the said proceeding may at any time
within 10 days from the first publication of the notice of award
file with the clerk of the board of supervisors a statement in
writing specifying any particulars in which he or she may be
aggrieved by the said proposed work and any and all objections he or
she may have to the regularity or legality of the proceedings
theretofore had or taken. The failure to file such written statement
shall constitute and be a complete waiving of each and every
objection to the proceedings theretofore had or taken and an estoppel
and bar to any and all claims that the same or any portion thereof
have been or are irregular, illegal, defective, erroneous, or faulty;
provided, that the resolution of intention provided for in Section 6
of Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919 has been adopted and
published.

21005. If for 20 days after the first publication of the notice of
award, the awardee fails, neglects, or refuses to execute a contract
for the same, the board of supervisors may direct the clerk of the
board to give notice as in the first instance, inviting sealed
proposals or bids, and thereupon after receiving bids shall award the
contract as in the first instance; and the said board shall proceed
in the same manner in the case of the default of a second or
subsequent awardee.

21006. The chairman of the board of supervisors is hereby
authorized, in the name of the county to execute the contract with
the awardee thereof, and to receive and approve all bonds required by
this act on the part of the awardee, and shall, by the terms of said
contract, fix the time for the beginning of the work, which shall
not be more than 20 days from the date thereof. The contract shall
provide that the work shall be prosecuted with diligence until
completed, and shall fix a time for such completion. Such time of
completion may be extended from time to time by the board of
supervisors, in its discretion, and by resolution, entered by the
clerk in the minutes of said board, a copy of which shall by said
clerk be endorsed upon or annexed to the contract.

21007. Before the execution of 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, unless surety companies, shall
qualify before an officer entitled to administer the oath, in a sum
aggregately equal to the amount of the bond, each surety in the
amount for which he or she becomes surety. Such bond shall be
conditioned for the faithful execution of the contract by the
contractor, and for the payment by him or her 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 that of the county.

21008. By said contract the county shall undertake 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 Drainage District Improvement Act of 1919 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 their payment, as in or by said act
prescribed. The contract shall state that in no case shall the county
be liable thereunder, nor any officer thereof be beholden thereunder
except for the discharge of official duty under the law.

21009. If the contractor shall fail to begin in good faith the work
provided for in said contract within the time in said contract set
forth, or shall fail thereafter to prosecute said work in a
workmanlike and diligent manner, or shall fail in any other respect
to carry out the terms of said contract, then the board of
supervisors shall cause written notice to be served upon said
contractor, specifying the particular areas in which he or she is not
fulfilling the requirements of said contract, and if for a period of
three days thereafter said contractor shall fail to remedy the
defects set forth in said notice, and to prosecute said work
thereafter with diligence and in a workmanlike manner, then the board
of supervisors shall either take over said contract and complete
said work, or shall relet said contract, without the necessity of
advertising for bids, and cause the work to be completed, and shall
declare the bond given by said contractor forfeited and order suit
brought thereon, and all moneys collected therefrom shall be paid
into the interest and sinking fund of the district.

21010. If the contractor fails to pay for any labor or material
furnished for or in the doing of said work by any person, such person
may within 90 days after the making of the final order hereinafter
referred to, file with the county treasurer a verified statement of
such facts, and such person may thereafter, within six months after
the filing of such statement, bring an action on said bond in his or
her own name, or if the person has assigned his or her 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 any such person to recover thereon;
provided, moreover, that if such statement shall be filed before the
expiration of 20 days from the making of such final order, then the
county treasurer shall be authorized to withhold from the contractor
sufficient of the bonds, issued as herein provided, to satisfy said
claim, and costs, which can reasonably be anticipated.

21011. (a) As soon as in good faith may be done, 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 cost of the proceedings inclusive of the estimated cost
of publishing the notice of final hearing hereinafter provided. The
aggregate amount of such items shall be stated, and also the amount
due under the contract; and also the gross sum for a bond issue
representing the entire amount thereof, as claimed by the contractor.
The said declaration and statements shall be signed and verified by
the engineer of construction and by the contractor or by some person
cognizant of the facts signing on his or her behalf and stating why
he or she, instead of the contractor, so signs and verifies. Either
signer may except from his or her signature and verification any
amount or item to which he or she does not assent. The chairman of
the board of supervisors shall fix a time for a hearing, to be known
as the final hearing, for the purpose of determining whether the work
shall be accepted as completed according to the contract, and for
determining the aggregate amount for which bonds shall be issued
representing the total costs of the work and the incidental costs and
expenses of the work and the proceedings, all of which have been
charged to and are payable by the contractor. Notice of such hearing
shall be given and may, in form, and shall, in substance be as
follows (filling the blanks):

NOTICE OF FINAL HEARING.
In the matter of Drainage District Improvement
No.
____.
Notice is hereby given that a final hearing in
the above named
matter will be had at the hour of ____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 with
_________________________________________________
under Resolution of Intention No. ____ in
Drainage
Improvement District No. ____ 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,
including the incidental
costs and expenses of the work and the
proceedings, 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.
__________________________________
_____ of the Board of Supervisors
of the County
of ________
Attest: __________________________________
Clerk of said Board of Supervisors

(b) Such notice shall be signed by the chairman 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 or newspapers
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 such publication shall be made by affidavit or
affidavits, and the same shall be filed. If a quorum is not present
at the time specified in the notice of the hearing, the members of
the board then present may continue the hearing; and at all stages
the hearing may, by resolution entered in the minutes, be continued
from time to time. At any time before the day in said notice
specified for the hearing any property owner may 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 work 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 shall be heard accordingly. Questions as to the
incidental costs or expenses of the work or the proceedings may be
raised orally by any property owner within the district. Evidence may
be adduced as to any of the matters to be determined, and in such
order as the board may 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 or her contract. On said continued hearing, the
objections to the work filed before the day of the first hearing
shall continue in force, and evidence shall 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, the
board is of the opinion 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 does order such second continuance, it
shall be ordered in the same manner, with like effect as upon the
first continuance, and likewise as to a second and any other or
further continuance. Objections to any item of incidental costs and
expenses shall pend and be heard on said day, or at any continued
hearing had as above in this section provided. Every continuance of
said hearing for the purpose of enabling the contractor to complete
his or her contract or the work shall continue or revive such powers
in the proceeding as the board of supervisors had under the
provisions of this act, at the time of the filing of the contractor's
declaration that the work was completed, as above provided, 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 performance of such contract as if
completed at the time of filing such declaration.

21012. Whenever upon the hearing in Section 21011 provided, whether
original or continued, the board shall be of the opinion 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 shall in said resolution declare that the work is accepted and
the amount of the contract price for doing the work and the amount of
the incidental costs and expenses of the work and proceedings and
the aggregate amount for which bonds are to be issued and shall make
final order that bonds be issued therefor as hereinafter provided.
The decision and determination of said board at the hearing provided
for in Section 21011 shall, as to all matters determined at said
hearing and as to all errors, informalities, irregularities, or
omissions which said board might have avoided or remedied during the
progress of the proceedings, or which it can at that time remedy, be
final and conclusive upon all persons entitled to be heard before
said board on said matters, and no assessment or tax levied for the
payment of the bonds, and the interest thereon, 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.

21013. (a) Whenever any court of competent jurisdiction shall
determine that any contract purporting to have been made, or any
proceedings, steps or actions purporting to have been taken, or any
bond or bonds issued under this act, is or are void, invalid or
unenforceable, or shall for any cause enjoin the issuance of any
bonds proposed to be issued under this act, or shall enjoin the
performance of the work or improvement or the making of an assessment
upon the lands within the district, or shall quiet title of any lot
or parcel of land against the lien of any such bonds or assessments,
said court shall also determine whether any work has been done or
improvements have been made in good faith by any contractor under
said invalid contract or proceeding or under any contract pursuant to
which bonds were issued, or are proposed to be issued, and if so
what part, if any, of said work or improvement was of such kind as
might have been ordered under the provisions of this act. If the
court shall find that any work or improvement of such kind as might
have been ordered under this act has been done or performed in good
faith by any contractor under or in pursuance to a contract
purporting to have been made under the provisions of this act, then
the said court shall direct the board of supervisors, who conducted
the proceeding, to take proceedings as in this section provided for
the issuing of new bonds to cover the reasonable value of said work
or improvement. The board of supervisors may also without any decree
of court, upon written application of a contractor, who may have done
or performed in good faith any work or improvement pursuant to a
contract purporting to have been made under this act, or of the
assignee of such contractor, after the work or improvement shall have
been accepted, determine that the proceeding authorizing said work
or improvement or the acceptance thereof are for any reason invalid,
and direct that new proceedings be initiated as provided in this
section for the issuance of bonds to cover the reasonable value of so
much of said work or improvement as is of a kind which might have
been ordered and performed under this act.
(b) It is hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning of
this section to make the cost and expenses of all work or
improvements made or to be made through an attempted compliance with
the provisions of this act payable by the lands benefited or to be
benefited by such work or improvement, by the issuance of new bonds
to defray the expenses thereof, but that all payments of principal or
interest on void or unenforceable assessments or bonds shall be
credited to the property against which they were assessed or
attempted to be assessed.
(c) Upon a decree of court or an order of the board of supervisors
having been made as above provided, said board shall cause to be
made by the county surveyor, or some other county officer or by some
other competent person appointed by it for that purpose, a report for
a proposed new bond issue. Said report shall set forth a description
of the work or improvement done or performed by said contractor or
his or her assignee pursuant to the contract referred to in said
decree of court or order of the board, which work or improvement has
been found by said court or said board to be of such kind as might
have been ordered under this act, and shall state the reasonable
value of said work or improvement (which shall not exceed the
aggregate of the original contract price for said work or
improvement, together with the incidental expenses of the original
proceedings for said work or improvement, and if the work or
improvement has been accepted it shall also include interest upon
said total from the date of the original acceptance of said work or
improvement by the board of supervisors at the same rate proposed for
the new bond issue). Said report shall contain a description of the
district benefited by said improvement. In the event that the
original proceedings contemplated an assessment upon lands within the
district in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of Chapter
354 of the Statutes of 1919 of this act then said report shall
contain a proposed assessment of each separate parcel of land within
the district benefited by said improvement, which assessment shall
conform as nearly as may be with the report required by Section 12 of
Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919 hereof, and shall be accompanied
by a map or plat as therein provided.
(d) In the event any payments have been made on the principal or
interest of any bonds previously issued, which have been declared
invalid, by the payment of any special assessment taxes, by the
owners of land within the assessment district, the amounts of such
payments shall be ascertained and deducted from the amount for which
new bonds are to be issued under this section and said report shall
set forth the amount of the payments made and state that a credit or
offset is to be made for said amount in the issuance of such new
bonds.
(e) Upon the filing of said report the board of supervisors shall
fix a day, hour, and place, for a hearing thereon, which time shall
not be less than 20 days after the time of filing said report, and
shall direct the clerk of the board to give notice of the filing of
the report and of the hearing. The clerk shall thereupon cause notice
of the time and place of such hearing to be given by publication in
the newspaper designated in the resolution of intention by at least
two insertions therein not more than eight days apart. When, before
the day of hearing specified in said notice, 20 days, including
Sundays and holidays, have elapsed since the first publication of
said notice the board of supervisors shall have acquired power to
proceed with such hearing. Said notice shall state the fact of the
filing of said report and shall contain (a) a general description of
the location and extent of the work or improvement sufficient to
identify the same; (b) a description of the district benefited by
said work or improvement as contained in said report; (c) either a
statement that said report contains an assessment proposed to be
levied on each separate parcel of land within said district to retire
the bonds proposed to be issued and to pay the interest thereon for
each year during which said assessment shall continue, or a
description of the zones, if any, into which such district is to be
divided, and a statement of the percentage to be raised from the land
in each of such zones each year for the payment of the installments
of principal and interest on the bonds proposed to be issued; (d) a
statement of the reasonable value of the work or improvement together
with the incidental expenses of the original proceedings and the
amount of interest, if any, upon said total; (e) the amount of the
payments of principal or interest made upon the bonds previously
issued, if any, and the credit or offset to be deducted in the
issuance of such new bonds; (f) the total amount of the proposed new
bond issue and a description of the bonds proposed to be issued,
which bonds shall be as nearly as possible the same as to maturity,
rate of interest, and other particulars as the bonds described in the
original proceedings for said work or improvement, correcting any
errors or irregularities, that may have existed in the bonds in said
original proceedings.
(f) Said notice shall advise all persons interested that at the
time fixed for the hearing of the report or at the time to which the
hearing may be continued any person may appear and be heard upon any
of the matters set forth in the report. The board of supervisors
shall have power to confirm said report and to revise, correct, or
modify the same in respect to any of the matters therein contained
either as to the amount or character of the work or improvement done
or the reasonable value thereof, the extent of the district to be
benefited thereby, the amount of assessment levied upon any
particular parcel of land within such district, the zones, if any,
into which said district is divided, the percentages to be raised in
each or any of said zones, the amount of deductions or offsets by
reason of payments of principal or interest upon previously issued
bonds, the amount of the bonds proposed to be issued, the maturity or
rate of the interest thereon, or as to any other matter set forth in
said report.
(g) At the conclusion of the hearing the board of supervisors
shall adopt a resolution declaring its findings and determinations in
the matter, which shall be final and conclusive upon all persons in
all proceedings as to all matters so found and determined. If no
changes are made in the matters set forth in said report it shall be
sufficient in said resolution to declare that said report is
confirmed and that bonds shall be issued as therein provided, but if
any changes are made such changes shall be set forth and it may be
declared that said report is confirmed as so modified by the changes
set forth. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall transmit an
attested copy of said resolution to the treasurer and upon receipt of
the same the treasurer shall immediately proceed to issue the bonds
as therein ordered, which said bonds shall be dated as of the date of
the adoption of said resolution. Said bonds shall be issued and
signed in all respects by the same officers and in the same manner
and form as if issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 16 of
Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919. Said bonds by their issuance
shall be conclusive evidence of the regularity of all proceedings
prior thereto under this act and after the same are issued no
assessment or tax levied or collected for the purpose of paying the
principal or interest on said bonds shall be held illegal or set
aside or refunded by reason of any error, informality, irregularity,
omission, or defect in any of the proceedings prior to the issuance
of said bonds, nor shall any action or proceedings be thereafter
commenced or maintained to cancel or set aside said bonds or prevent
the payment thereof or the levy, collection or enforcement of any
assessment or taxes for such payment.