CHAP. 259.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act to provide for
working and keeping in order the public roads in the county of
Russell, approved February 25, 1884, and to amend and re-enact an
act to amend and re-enact sections 4, 8 and g of chapter 56 of the
Acts of the general assembly of 1883-’84, in regard to the working
of roads in Russell county, Virginia, approved August 26, 1884.

Approved February 26, 1886.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawful for the county of Russell, after the first day
of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, to locate, open,
change and repair highways, roads and bridges, as,follows:

2. It shall be the duty of the county judge of Russell county,
at the regular term of the court in May, eighteen hundred and
eighty-four, and every two years thereafter, to appoint one
commissioner of roads in each magisterial district in said
county, who shall qualify within thirty days thereafter, and

ive bond with sufficient security before said court, in the sum
of five hundred dollars, for the faithful performance of the du-
ties of road commissioner in his district. Said commissioner
shall reside in his district, and his term of office shall be for
two years, and until his successor is appointed and qualified.

3. It shall be the duty of said road commissioner, besides
the other duties hereinafter described, to visit and inspect all
the roads in his district at least once every three months, and
oftener if necessary, and to see that the roads and bridges are
in good repair and free from obstructions. His compensation
shall be one dollar per diem for each day actually engaged, to
be paid out of the county treasury, on the approval and war-
rant of the board of supervisors, and it shall be his duty to
present to said board a sworn statement of the actual time em-
ployed by him in attending to the duties of his office, at the
regular meeting of said board.

4. Said commissioner shall, on or before the first day of July,
after giving twenty days’ notice, by written or printed posters,
at ten public places in his magisterial district, of the time and
place of letting, let each precinct to the lowest bidder for the
term of one year from the first day of July in each year, re-
quiring each contractor to give bond and sufficient security in
a sum not less than fifty dollars, payable to the county, and as
the law directs; which bond shall be filed with the clerk of the
board of supervisors, and recorded by him in a book kept for
that purpose. There shall not be more than three days con-
sumed in the letting of said contracts, and upon failure to let
any precinct or precincts, or if, in his judgment, no one is wil-
ling to take such precinct at a reasonable price, then he may
make private contracts for the working of the same, requiring
bond and security as in other cases, or he may employ some
ene to work said hands, and he may also employ labor with
any money liable or belonging to said road: provided said
commissioner shall not be interested in any road contract, di-
rectly or indirectly.

5. Changes and modifications in any public road, and the
establishment of new roads, shall be as provided in the general
road law of the state, but the expense in opening and working
of same shall be by contract, as in other cases.

6. For each magisterial district in the county there is hereby
constituted a district road board, consisting of the road com-
missioner for said district, the supervisor, and one of the jus-
tices of the district, to be designated by said road commissioner
in writing. The term of office of said board shall be the same
as that of the road commissioner. Each member of said board
shall be allowed one dollar per day for each day actually em-
ployed in 4nd about the roads of his district, to be paid in the
same manner as 1s prescribed for the pay of the road commis-
sioner in section three of this act.

7. It shall be the duty of each of said district boards, after
being duly sworn, to lay off the roads of their respective dis-
tricts into precincts, and to assign to each road precinct those
hands most convenient, having regard to the amount of labor
necessary to keeping up said precinct; and said board shall
have power to change said precincts at the end of each year,
and to change the hands at any time they may think proper.
It shall be the duty of the said district road boards in. their re-
spective districts to ascertain with as much certainty as possi-
ble, the condition of the roads and bridges in their districts,
and to decide what roads or sections of roads, if any, shall
have a larger proportion, and what road or section of road
shall have a smaller proportion of work applied to it, by reason
of its general usefulness to the people of the district, and of
the county generally, or by reason of its being harder to keep
in repair; and it shall be the duty of the commissioner in let-
ting the roads to contract, or hiring labor, to apply the funds
as near as practicable as designated by said board. The dis-
trict road boards of the several districts may dispense with the
letting to contract any road or all the roads of their respective
districts, if in their opinion it can be done more economically,
or will better secure the application of the funds to the im-
provement of said roads; and if they so decide, it shall be the
duty of the road commissioner of such district to employ some
competent person or persons as overseers, subject to the ap-
proval and ratification of the said board, under a contract, re-
vocable at the pleasure of the board for good cause, whose
duty it shall be to take charge of the road or roads under the
direction of the road commissioner, and may hire such hands
or teams as may be necessary to work the roads, and shall as-
sist in working in person as well as overlook all work required
to be done, and shall report to the commissioner the time each
laborer or team may be employed by him, and the rate of
wages agreed upon shall in no case be more than the rate of
wages authorized by the commissioners and approved by the
district road board. He shall require all hands subject to road
duty to work on the road to which such person has been as-
signed, and report such, or failure to work, to the treasurer of
the county.

8. All persons now held and lable to work on the public
roads, shall hereafter be compelled to work one day in each
year on same, with such implements as the road contractor
may designate, and upon notice to be given by him, and on
failure to do so, he or they shall forfeit the sum of one dollar,
to be collected by the county treasurer as other taxes to be
levied for road purposes, and be added to the road fund; the
failure of any hand to work when notified, shall be reported to
the treasurer by the road contractor: provided, that ten hours
shall constitute a day’s labor, under any of the provisions in
this chapter.

9g. The board of supervisors of said county shall, at their
regular meeting, prior to the first of July in each year, lay a
levy on all the taxable real and personal estate in said county,
sufficient to keep all of said roads in the condition and repair
in which the law requires the same to be kept: provided, that
the tax shall in no case exceed twenty cents on the hundred
dollars in any one year, which levy, when collected, shall be
placed by the treasurer to the credit of the road commissioners.
The board of supervisors of said county, after laying the levy
for the road tax as above provided, shall proceed to make an
estimate of the amount the levy will yield, taking the land and
property books of the preceding year as a basis, and after in-
forming themselves, by the road commissioner’s reports, as to
the number of miles of roads in each district, and the number
of hands liable under the law to work on roads, and the proba-
ble amount of money it will require after working the hands
as the law directs to keep the roads in repair, and upon such
information they may apportion the road funds as to them may
appear just to each district.

10, Every contractor of roads shall give credit for all labor
performed in his precinct by the hands assigned thereto, at the
rate of one dollar per day, and the remainder of the same due
him shall be paid by.the county treasurer upon the order of the
road commissioner of his district, and which shall be paid in
quarterly instalments: provided: the commissioner, in no case
shall draw on the treasurer for more than the amount appor-
tioned to his district by the supervisors.

11. The county treasurer shall keep record of all the road
tax, fines, penalties and forfeitures received by him and dis-
bursed, for which he shall be liable, and shall receive the same
commissions as for the collection of other county taxes, and
shall make a report in full, and shall settle with the board of
supervisors prior to the laying of the county levy in each

ear.

” 12, Each commissioner of roads appointed by this act shall
report to the board of supervisors of said county, at. their an-
nual meeting, prior to the first day of July of each year, in
writing, the condition of the roads of his district, and if the con-
tractors have or have not complied with their contracts; the
number of miles of road; the number of hands, and their
names, that have been returned delinquent by the contractors
or overseers of his district; the number of hands in his district
liable under the law to work on roads; and the probable
amount of money necessary to keep the roads in repair for the
ensuing year; and also an itemized account of all receipts as
from the county treasurer, and disbursements by and through
him; giving an itemized account of all receipts and disburse-
ments made by his authority under this act; to whom paid; the
amount paid to each person; and for what paid; and a voucher
for each expenditures; and for any failure of any commissioner
or contractor to perform any duty required of them by this act,
then and in that event said commissioner or contractor so fail-
ing to discharge his duty shall be liable to presentment or in-
dictment by the grand jury, in the mode and manner pre-
scribed in the general road law, approved March twentieth,
eighteen hundred and seventy-five, as against surveyors of
roads, and any commissioner or contractor who shall fail to per-
form any duty required of him in this act, shall pay a fine of
not less than five nor more than thirty dollars; and for any
damages to the. county for failure to perform any duty under
this act, he shall be proceeded against by motion, after ten
days’ notice, in the county court, on his bond, and damages
shall be ascertained and recovered in the mode and manner
prescribed by law.

13. All acts in conflict with this act are hereby repealed,
but the general road law, so far as the same is not in conflict
with this act, shall be applicable to the county of Russell.

14. This act shall be in force from its passage.