Chap. 494.—An ACT to amend the 3d, 15th and 19th sections, and to repeal and
re-enact sections 14 and 17 of an act passed March 2, 1892, entitled an act to
provide for opening and keeping in repair the public roadsof Pulaskicounty.

Approved February 27, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
third, fifteenth, sixteenth and nineteenth sections of an act passed
March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, entitled an act to
provide for opening and keeping in repair the public roads of Pulaski
county, be, and the same are hereby, amended and re-enacted, and
that sections fourteen and seventeen of said act be, and the same are
hereby, repealed and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 3. That the commissions hereby created shall have full power
to open, work, change, or discontinue roads in the district in which
they reside, and shall have control also of the road funds and the
appointment and removal of county engineer and the fixing of his
salary. Each and every commissioner under this act shall qualify
as other district officers are required by law to qualify, and upon his
qualification shall execute a good and sufficient bond, before the
court or judge before whom he qualifies, with surety to be approved
by such judge or court, in the penalty equal to the total road fund
that can be collected in any one year. Such bond shall be payable
to the board of supervisors of said county, and with condition for
the faithful accounting of all moneys that shall come into the
county road fund and the faithful discharge of his duties imposed
under this act.

§ 14. That it shall be the duty of each road commission, immedi-
ately after entering upon its duties of office, to divide the roads and
bridges of their several districts into sections, a record of which
divisions shal] be filed with the clerk of the board of supervisors,
and appoint a surveyor for such section or sections, whose duty it
shall be to superintend and direct the opening, repairing and keep-
ing in order of the county roads and to make or repair all county
bridges of their respective districts for which they are appointed in
such manner and under such regulations and restrictions as may be
prescribed by said commission. The term of office of such road survey-
ors shal] be one year, commencing on the first day of August next
succeeding their appointment. Said surveyors shall qualify as other
district officers are required by law to qualify, and each of them shall
enter into and acknowledge bond before the court or judge before whom
he qualifies with surety, to be approved by such judge or court, in the
penalty of five hundred dollars. Such bond shall be payable to the
board of supervisors of said county, and with condition for the faith-
ful discharge of his duties imposed under thisact. A vacancy in the
office of road surveyor shall be filled by the road commission of the
district wherein the vacancy occurs. A recovery on any such bond
shall be for the benefit of his road district. Itshall he the duty of such
surveyors to have charge of, and take proper care of, all tools, imple-
ments and machines which may be placed in their charge by the road
commissions, and at the end of his term of office, or whenever di-
rected so to do by the road commission of his district, to deliver the
same to his successor in office or to such other person as the said com-
mission may direct, and file a receipt therefor with the said commis-
sion. Such surveyors shall be authorized to hire horses or mules by
the day at a rate not to exceed one dollar per day while actually en-
gaged in work, when necessary. They shall be authorized, and it
shall be their duty, to employ all necessary labor by the month or
or by the day, or both, as the said road commissions shall deem best,
and such day laborers shall be paid at a rate not to exceed ten cents
per hour for the time actually engaged in work.

§ 15. Said commissions shall give personal supervision to all the
roads and bridges within their respective districts. They shall see
that the surveyors are faithfully performing their duties, and for
any failure so to do any road surveyor so appointed may be removed
by said road commission of his district upon written notice given
to said surveyor and an opportunity given to said surveyor pursuant
to said notice to appear and be heard by said commission: provided
said commission consider cause for the removal to exist. And it
shall be the duty of each commission to cause the roads in his dis-
trict to be kept cleared, smoothed of rocks and obstructions, of
necessary width, and the middle or bed of the road raised and sloped
gradually each way from the middle to the sides, well drained, and
otherwise in good order, and secured from the falling of dead
timber therein; at the fork or crossing of every road shall keep
erected sign-boards, on which shall be stated in plain letters the
most noted places to which each road leads, and across each stream
when it is necessary and practical a sufficient bridge, bench or log
for the accommodation of foot passengers; and for each breach of
duty under any of the sections of this act said commission shall be
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined
in each case not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars.

§ 16. It shall be the duty of each road commission to furnish neces-
sary tools or implements and machines for the use of surveyors
working roads under this act, buying such as are necessary only upon
the order of the chairman. They shall furnish vouchers for all ex-
penditures, whether for tools, materials, pay to surveyors, to laborers
hired by surveyors to work on the roads, engineers, and their own
compensation quarterly, which, being approved by the board of
supervisors, shall be paid from the county road funds. The said
road commissions shall determine what compensation shall be paid
to such surveyors and for what time, and may fix such compensation
at one rate for one month and at a different rate for a different
month, so that such compensation shall not at any time exceed the
sum of fifty dollars per month, or if the road commissions shall
deem it advisable that such compensation shall be by the day, not
to exceed the sum of two dollars per day for each day of ten hours
of actual work upon said roads; and any surveyor appointed under
this act shall be paid the amount so fixed by the road commissions,
but no surveyor shall receive any compensation until he shall have
been shown to have fully discharged the duties imposed upon sur-
veyors under this act, and also fully complied with the provisions of
the general road law of the state thereto applying for which no pro-
vision has been made under this act.

8 17. Said provisions of chapter forty-three of the code of Vir-
ginia, as to all matters not specially provided for by this act, sball
be in force in the county of Pulaski so far as the same are applica-
ble thereto and not in conflict with this act.

§ 19. That the commissioners hereby created shall hold a meeting
annually on the first Monday in July in each year at the court-house,
for the purpose of dividing the roads and bridges of their several
districts into sections, electing an engineer, the appointment of sur-
veyors, fixing the compensation of each, the amount which shall be
paid for the hire of horses or mules and teams, the manner in which
laborers shall be employed to work on roads, and the amount to be
paid for such labor, but the compensation for any such purposes shall
not be at a greater rate than is specified under this act, and for the
transaction of such other business as may properly come before them.
They may also hold such special meetings, when necessary, at such
times and places as they may find convenient, and shall have power
to adjourn from time to time as they may deem necessary; and at
any meeting a majority of the commissioners shall constitute a quo-
rum.

2. This act shall be in force from its passage, and all acts or parts
of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act are hereby re-
pealed.