Chap. 594.—An ACT providing for the working, opening and keepin
the roads in the county of Cumberland, and for the building and
repair the bridges in said county.

Approved March 8, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, Th
be the duty of the board of supervisors of the county of
land at its annual meeting in July in each year to levy a t
exceeding twenty cents on the one hundred dollars’ va
property in the said county, real and personal, which tax
known as the road tax; and said tax, in each magisterial |
said county, shall be kept separate, and the amount rece’
each district shall be expended in said district in the mann
after provided.2. The judge of the county court, at its April or May term in eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-six, shall appoint a suitable person of said
county as superintendent of the roads and bridges of said county,
or in his discretion may appoint one superintendent for each magis-
terial district, who shall have the same powers that the superinten-
dent of the county would have; and in like manner thereafter the
county court shall annually, at its July term, make said appoint-
ments; but the superintendent or superintendents first appointed
under this act shall hold office until the first day of August, eighteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and those annually appointed thereafter
shall hold office for twelve months from the first day of August
succeeding the appointment.

3. The superintendent or superintendents so appointed shal! qual-
ify at the term of the court at which he or they are appointed by tak-
ing an oath faithfully to discharge the duties of the office, and by
giving bond for that purpose in the penalty of at least double the
amount of the compensation ; said bond to be payable to the county
of Cumberland, with surety to be approved by the county court.
The said bond shall contain a waiver of the homestead exemption
and shall be recorded as other official bonds are now required to be
recorded. The said superintendent or superintendents may be re-
moved at any time by the judge of the county court for cause, but
the said superintendent or superintendents, in case of removal by
said court, shall have an appeal from the decision as of right to the
judge of the circuit court, whose decision in the matter shall be final.
In case of death or removal of said superintendent or superinten-
dents, the vacancy for the unexpired term shall be fixed in the same
manner that the original appointment is made.

4. It shall be the duty of the superintendent or superintendents
to take charge of the maintenance, repair and construction of the
public roads and bridges of said county or districts; shal] keep and
maintain the same in as safe condition for public travel as the
means furnished him by the board of supervisors will permit. He
or they shall have all the rights to take from convenient lands such
material as he or they may deem necessary for use on said roads or
bridges, and to make such use of said lands for draining purposes as
are conferred by existing laws upon road surveyors.

5. Said superintendent or superintendents shall have charge of
and provide for all mules, horses, oxen, implements, tools or ma-
chines, which may be placed in his or their charge by the board of
supervisors, and he or they may be authorized by said judge of the
county court to hire teams for carrying on the work at any time, at
such rates per day as the judge of the county court may from time
to time determine. He or they shall be authorized by the court, and
it shall be his or their duty, to employ all necessary labor by the day,
week or month, as the court may direct, at a compensation to be fix-
ed by said court from time to time.

6. The superintendent or superintendents shall act for the county
in all cases where the existing law requires commissioners to be
appointed by the county court, to report upon and award contracts,
to repair or build bridges, or open or repair roads and to receive the
same, and to see that the work is done in such cases after such con-
tracts are awarded in accordance with such contracts, and his acts
in such premises shall have the same force and effect as the act of
commissioners if they were appointed under the existing law.

7. Said superintendent or superintendents, as the case may be,
shall make report every two months to the county court of his trans-
actions as such, furnishing itemized statements of the amounts ex-
pended, under oath, and to whom due. The court shall certify the
same to the board of supervisors, who shall issue warrants payable
to the parties named.

8. Whenever the superintendent or superintendents deem it neces-
sary to call to his assistance a civil engineer.or surveyor in order to
construct a road or bridge, he may do so with the consent of the
judge of the county court, and at a compensation to be fixed by him.

9. The board of supervisors shall purchase for the superintendent
or superintendents such horses, mules, teams, wagons, carts, scrapers,
machines and implements as they may think necessary for carrying
on the operations aforesaid, and shall take his receipt for the same
when delivered to him.

10. The compensation of the superintendent for the county shall
be four hundred dollars: provided that should the judge appoint a
superintendent for each magisterial district, said four hundred dol-
lars shall be divided equally between the several superintendents.
The judge of the county court shall fix the time for the payment of
the same, may make the same uniform during the year, or otherwise,
and may compensate him by the month while he is engaged in the
work if he deem advisable, which shall be paid out of the general
county levy, and not from the road tax levied under this act.

11. The judge of the county court shall, as soon as practicable
after the passage of this act, ascertain and determine what roads in
each magisterial district shall be worked under the provisions of
this act; and shall also determine what bridges in said county shall
be paid for out of the tax levied for roads and bridges in each dis-
trict, and what bridges shall be paid for out of the general county
levy; and a copy of the lists of said roads in each magisterial dis-
trict to be worked by said superintendent or superintendents, as the
case may be, shall be furnished him by the clerk of the board of
supervisors, as well as a list of the bridges in each district that are
to be kept in repair or rebuilt out of the road tax, and of the bridges
to be repaired or rebuilt out of the general levy. And the judge of
the county court shall have entire control of the letting to contract
the building or rebuilding and keeping in repair the bridges in the
district that are to be paid for out of the said road tax, and shall let
the building, rebuilding or repairing of the bridges to be paid for
out of the general county levy in the manner now provided by law,
except that the superintendent or superintendents shall act as a
commissioner, as heretofore provided in this act; and whenever the
superintendent shall report to the judge of the county court in va-
cation that any of the bridges that are to be kept in repair, built or
rebuilt out of the general county levy, need repairing or rebuilding,
it shall be the duty of said judge to enter a vacation order directing
said superintendents to receive proposals for the work; and it shall
be the duty of the county judge, and he is hereby authorized, to
confirm the reports of the superintendent letting the work to con-
tract in vacation, if, in the judgment of the said judge, it is neces-
sary or proper that it be done, and shall direct the work to proceed ;
and it shall be the duty of the said superintendent to keepa gen-
eral supervision over the bridges in said county or district, and re-
port, when any of the bridges which are to be paid for out of the
road tax as aforesaid need rebuilding or repairing, to the county
court or judge in vacation when any of the bridges to be paid for
out of the general county levy need repairing or rebuilding.

12. The said judge of the county court shall have power, and he
is hereby authorized, to employ upon the county roads, or any por-
tion thereof, all vagrants and criminals confined in the county jail,
and all persons confined in said jail in default of the payment of
fines imposed upon them, said parties to be worked under the super-
vision of said superintendent, under such rules and regulations as
the judge of the county court may prescribe. But in such cases the
board, maintenance and costs of guarding such persons, where
necessary, shall be paid for out of the road tax for the district for
which they are worked for the time being, and shall not be charged
upon the state, as now provided by law, in case they remain in jail
and are not worked upon roads as aforesaid.

13. The road tax levied for the year eighteen hundred and ninety-
six shall be used and expended by said board of supervisors in ac-
cordance with the provisiobs of this act.

14. The existing laws regarding the foregoing subjects shall be,
and they are hereby, repealed in so far as they are applicable to the
county of Cumberland.

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