Chap. 515.—An ACT to work and keep in repair roads and bridges in the county
of Stafford.

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That on and
after the first day of June, nineteen hundred: and two, it shall be lawful
for the county of Stafford to work and keep in repair highways, roads,
and bridges as follows: The board of supervisors of said county shall
take charge of and have worked and kept in repair all public roads and
bridges heretofore and hereafter established, and for this purpose are
authorized and empowered to levy a road tax, not exceeding in any one
year twenty cents upon the one hundred dollars of taxable values in
said county, unless a petition should be presented to said board signed
by a majority of the freeholders of any district in said county requesting
an increase in said tax in said district, which said petition shall show
the rate of tax asked for in said district.

2. The said board of supervisors shall annually, at a meeting to be
held on the fourth Monday in June, let to contract to the lowest bidder
the work of keeping in repair such roads and bridges in their county as,
in their judgment, should be put to contract in sections of not more than
four miles, notices of which letting shall be posted for ten days prior to
the day of letting at each postoffice, and otherwise published at the dis-
cretion of the board of supervisors. It shall be stated in said notices
that the contractors shall employ hands to work said sections adjacent
600 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

to the sections for which he contracts. The said letting shall be for one
or three years, in the discretion of the board of supervisors, all contracts
to terminate on the thirtieth day of June. Said bids shall be in writ-
ing, signed by the contractor, and delivered to the clerk of the board of
supervisors for approval or rejection of said board at their annual meet-
ing. Each contractor shall be required to give bond, with good security,
in a penalty of at least double the amount of his bid, for the faithful
performance of his contract, which bond shall be filed with the clerk of
the board of supervisors. A recovery may be had for any breach of said
contract in the name of the county for the benefit of the road fund in
the county or circuit court by motion after ten days’ notice to the con-
tractor and his surety or sureties.

3. It shall be the duty of the supervisors of each of the magisterial dis-
tricta to give personal supervision to all the roads and bridges in their
respective districts, and to see that the roads worked: by contract or other-
wise are properly worked, and where there is violation of any of said
contracts by contractors, he shall at once institute proceedings, through
the attorney for the Commonwealth, in the name of the board of super-
visors, for the recovery of damages for any breach of contract. The said
supervisors shall each receive as compensation for such services the sum
of ten dollars per annum, to be paid out of the county levy.

4. The board of supervisors shall provide for all costs of roads and
bridges now in existence, and for opening and altering new roads, and
building new bridges or rebuilding old ones, to be levied, collected, and
paid out according to provisions of law, which work shall be let to con-
tract in such way and manner as the said board shall prescribe: pro-
vided, that all expenses for bridges that cost over twenty-five dollars for
building or repairing, the same shall be paid out of the county levy, but
the said board shall not expend in any year more than the amount of the
levy for said fiscal year, unless they shall accumulate money out of pre-
vious levies, in which case they are authorized to expend said money so
accumulated.

5. No member of the board of supervisors shall, directly or indirectly,
be interested in any contract made under this act.

6. All levies made under this act shall be extended by the commis-
sioners of the revenue upon their books separate and apart from other
levies, and only to be expended in the districts in which they are as-
sessed.

7. Roads not put to contract as hereinbefore stated shall be divided
into sections, not to exceed six miles, and numbered consecutively into
sub-districts, for which overseers are to be appoint ted by the board ‘of su-
pervisors. for a term of two years at their said meeting on the fourth
Monday in June, and the funds to work the «::me are to he apportioned
by said board at said meeting among the sui districts aforesaid. The
said overseers, in working said roads, are to lire hands who reside ad-
jacent to the same, and, unless absolutely necessary, shall not hire one
hand more than two days in any one year, beginning the first day of
July. The said overseers shall receive one dollar per day for each day
they shall work with the hands on said roads; their accounts, when pre-
sented to the board of supervisors, shall be itemized and sworn to, and
where there is doubt as to the correctness of a claim, proof shall be de-
manded by creditable witnesses who were personally cognizant that the
labor was performed.

SCHEDULE.

8. One day’s work under this act shall be ten hours. Two-horse team
per day, with driver, two dollars; two-ox team per day, with driver, one
dollar and seventy-five centa; one-horse team per day, with driver, one
dollar and fifty cents. For each hand, seventy-five cents per day: pro-
vided, he is over sixteen years of age. Fifty cents per hundred shall be
paid for poles, and none shall be purchased by overseers of a less diameter
than three inches at the small end.

9. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act be, and the same
are hereby, repealed.

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