Chap. 165.—An ACT to provide for the establishment of the South-
western lunatic asylum,

Approved November 29, 1884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
there shall be erected near the town of Marion in Smyth.
county, upon the site selected by the commissioners appointed
by act of the general assembly, approved March eighteenth,
eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled an act to provide
for the establishment of a lunatic asylum in Southwestern
Virginia, a commodious building suitable and necessary for
the proper reception and accommodation of white persons of
unsound mind. Said building shall be known as the South-
western Lunatic Asylum, and shall be a complete structure
within itself, upon a plan, however, susceptible of additions
thereto as the necessities of the state may hereafter require.

2. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this
act, Doctor Harvey Black, J. Hoge Tyler, Thomas J. Boyd,
D. D. Hull, Doctor John 8. Apperson, N. L. Look, and F. B.
Hurt, be and they are hereby appointed a committee to be
known as the building committee of the Southwestern luna-
tic asylum. Doctor Harvey Black shall be chairman of said
committee, and the committee shall elect a secretary and
treasurer from their own number. They shall keep a written
record of all their transactions, which shall be laid before the
general assembly at its next session, and shall make quarterly
reports to the board of public works. A majority of said com-
mittee shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of busi-
ness, but no order requiring the outlay of money shall be
valid without the concurrence of two-thirds of the committee,
to be ascertained by a recorded vote. Said committee shall
have power to fill any vacancy occurring therein or in the
officers thereof occasioned by death, resignation, or other-
wise, and shall receive for their services the actual expenses
incurred when engaged in and about their duties.

3. The said building committee, after having first ascer-
tained that a good and valid fee simple title to the lands,
rights of way, water supply, and all other property men-
tioned and specified in the report made to the general assem-
bly by said commissioners appointed under act of March eigh-
teenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, has been conveyed
to the commonwealth and properly recorded, according to the
laws of the state, shall obtain from competent architects upon
due public notice, by advertisement, competitive plans and
specifications for a building and the necessary offices, appur-
tenances and fixtures, exclusive of furniture, to accommodate
not less than two hundred persons of unsound mind, together
with the necessary officers, physicians, and attendants of the
asylum—such building to cost a sum not exceeding one hun-
dred thousand dollars; and no part of the appropriation other
than the two thousand dollars hereinafter mentioned, shall
be drawn from the treasury of the state, until the plans and
specifications of the building shall have been first submitted
to the board of public works of the state, and approved by
it, as not to cost when completed more than one hundred
thousand dollars. The committee is authorized to offer a
competitive prize or prizes to architects for such plans and
specifications. The architect whose plans and specifications
are adopted, shall furnish such guarantee as may be required
by the committee that the asylum can be erected at a sum
not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars. To enable the
committee to act intelligently in selecting a plan, they are
authorized to visit and inspect asylums for the insane located
in this or other states. For the purpose of carrying out the
provisions of this section, the building committee is author-
ized to expend a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars.

4. The building committee may let to one or more per-
sons, the contract for the building of said asylum, wholly or
in part ; each contractor shall give bond with good and suffi-
cient security, in double the amount of the sum agreed to be
paid him upon his contract, conditioned for the completion of
the work undertaken by him, within the time fixed upon by
his contract, in a good and workman-like manner, in such
style and quality as agreed upon, and according to the plan
and specifications. The building committee instead of build-
ing the asylum by the contract system, may in their discre-
tion, employ a superintendent, who shall under the direction
of said committee, buy material, employ workmen, and build
the asylum, wholly or in part. The said superintendent may
be removed by the committee at their pleasure, and another
appointed in his place, and they shall require of such super-
intendent, bond and security for the faithful discharge of his
duties in such penalty as they may deem proper. —

5. In making estimates for the payment of any contractor,
the committee shall only consider work actually done upon
the asylum, so as to become the property of the state, and
shall reserve fifteen per centum of such estimate until the
contract is fully completed.

6. For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this
act, the sum of twenty-seven thousand dollars is hereby ap-
propriated, to be drawn out of the treasury of the state, in
the manner and at the time hereinafter provided.

7. The building committee are authorized to order and
direct their treasurer to draw the money appropriated by this
act, as follows: The sum of five thousand on and after the
first day of January, eighteen hundred and eighty-five; the
sum of five thousand dollars on and after the first day of
May, eighteen hundred and eighty-five; the sum of five thou-
sand dollars on and after July first, eighteen hundred and
eighty-five, and so on, in bi-monthly instalments of five thou-
sand dollars each, until the appropriation shall be exhausted:
provided that the building committee shall only order the with-
drawal of said moneys from the public treasury as the same
may be needed for carrying out the provisions of this act.
The auditor of public accounts shall only issue his warrant
on the treasurer of the commonwealth for the said sums of
money to the treasurer of said building committee, upon the
order of said committee, made as provided in this act, a copy
of such order to be delivered to the said auditor signed by
the chairman of said building committee, and certified by the
secretary thereof.
8. This act shall be in force from its passage.