Chap. 277.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled “an act to provide
for opening new roads, and building bridges, and working and keeping in
repair the public roads and bridges in Rockbridge county,” approved March
3, 1894, as amended by an act entitled “an act to amend and re-enact sections
12 and 15 of chapter 617 of acts of assembly 1893-94, entitled “an act to pro-
vide for opening new roads and building bridges, etcetera, in the county of
Rockbridge,” approved February 1, 1896.

Approved March 15, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act en-
titled “an act to provide for opening new roads and building bridges, and
working and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges in Rock-
bridge county,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-four,
as amended by an act entitled “an act to amend and re-enact sections
twelve and fifteen of chapter six hundred and seventeen of acts of assem-
bly eighteen hundred and ninety-three-ninety-four, entitled ‘an act to
provide for opening new roads and building bridges, etcetera, in the
county of Rockbridge,’”” approved February first, eighteen hundred and
ninety-six, be amended and re-enacted as follows:

§1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That on and
after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, the public
roads and bridges in the county of Rockbridge shall be repaired and kept
in order as follows: For each magisterial district in the county there is
hereby established a board consisting of the supervisor of the district, who
shall be chairman thereof, a road commissioner, and the commissioner of
the revenue of the district, who shall be treasurer and clerk of the board.
The said board shall be, and is hereby, declared to be a body politic and
corporate under the name and style of the board of road commissioners
for the —--—_——— magisterial district of the county of Rockbridge,
and by such name may sue and be sued.

§2. There shall be appointed by the board of supervisors, within sixty
days prior to the first day of July, nineteen hundred and seven, and
biennially thereafter, a road commissioner for each magisterial district
of the county, whose term of office shall begin on the first day of July
next succeeding his appointment. He shall qualify as other county and
district officers are required to qualify, except that he may qualify before
the county clerk; and a failure to qualify before the commencement of
his term shall vacate his office. He shall have general supervision of all
the roads and bridges in his district, and keep himself fully informed as
to the condition of the same; and he shall give such direction as to the
character, manner, and extent of repairs as he may deem necessary and
expedient. He shall examine all the roads in his district, in the months
of June and November of each year, and ascertain their condition, and if
any roads are found not in proper order, he shall have them repaired. He
shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the board of
supervisors, the district board of road commissioners, or required by law.
It shall be lawful for the board of supervisors to remove for cause any
road commissioner, after ten days’ notice, and appoint another to fill the
unexpired term; and also to fill any vacancy in such office, from what-
ever cause occurring. For any failure of dutv, the road commissioner
shall be subject to presentment by a grand jury, and on trial and con-
viction thereof he shall be fined not less than one dollar nor more than
ten dollars.

$3. The clerks and treasurers of the boards of road commissioners shall
each qualify and give bond, before the circuit court, in a penalty of not
less than double the amount of any sum that is likely to be in their hands
at any one time, and with security to be approved by the court; such
bonds to be executed before the first day of January succeeding their
election. It shall be their duty to keep all books, papers, and records
of the board, and to receive and pay all moneys, as the board of road
commissioners may direct or the law may prescribe. They shall settle
with the board of road commissioners in the months of June and Decem-
her of each year, and shall account for all money received by them as such
treasurers from any source whatever. - The clerk of the board of road
commissioners shall annually, in the month of June of each year, make a
report to the board of supervisors, as follows:

First. The amount of money received by the district from the county
at large for road purposes.

Second. The amount realized from district taxation for road purposes.

Third. How the same was expended—classifying the expenditures as
follows: For opening new roads, for repairing roads, for implements pur-
chased, for labor and teams, for material, and for applying labor and
material.

$4. The board of road commissioners of each magisterial district shall
annually, on or before the first dav of March of each year, make an esti-
mate of the amount necessary to open new roads and keep in order the
roads and bridges in their respective districts for one year, wader the pro-
visions of this law, and report the same to the board of supervisors.

$5. It shall be the duty of the board of supervisors, upon the coming
in of the estimates of the boards of road commissioners, to levy a specific
road tax, not exceeding twenty cents on every one hundred dollars of
the value of all real and personal property in each district. This tax
shall be assessed by the commissioners of the revenue and collected by the
county treasurer as other taxes are assessed and collected, and used by the
several boards of road commissioners in opening new roads, building
bridges, and repairing roads and bridges.

$6. It shall be the duty of the board of supervisors, in addition to the
levy provided for in the next preceding section, to set apart and appro-
priate for the purpose of repairing roads and bridges of the county, out
of the general county levy, not less than four thousand seven hundred and
forty-four dollars, which shall be apportioned among the several magis-
terial districts of the county, as may be in the judgment of the board of
supervisors just and right, having reference to the population, property.
inileage of roads, and needs of the districts.

$7. ‘The amounts realized from taxation in each district, as provided
in section five of this act, as well as the amounts apportioned to each
district under section six of this act, shall be placed by the county treas-
urer to the credit of the several boards of road commissioners of the
county, and disbursed by them on warrants issued by direction of said
boards of road commissioners.

§8. The boards of road commissioners shall annually, in the month of
June of cach year, audit, adjust, and settle their respective accounts with
the county treasurer for the preceding year. They shall charge the
treasurer with the full amount of road tax levied in their district, and
the amount of moncy apportioned thereto by the board of supervisors, and
shall credit him by his commissions, delinquents and all payments made
by him on warrants for which he has the proper receipt.

$9. Every petition to alter, change, or discontinue a public road, to
open a new road or build a bridge or establish a ferry must be referred
to the board of road commissioners of the district or districts in which
the came is to be located, who shall endorse thereon their approval or
disapproval and their reasons therefor. The petition shall be then pro-
ceeded with as prescribed by the pencral statutes in such cases made and
provided ; but the board of road commissioners may order and establish
any change in a road which does not involve the condemnation of land.
or payment of damage, not exceeding twenty-five dollars, upon agreement
with the landowner, to be paid out of the district fund.

$10. When the location of any road is or hereafter may be on a line
dividing two magisterial districts, the road commissioners of adjoining
districts shall equitably divide the expense of said roads between such
districts, or, upon their failure to agree, the board of supervisors shall
divide the same and direct what part of said road shall be kept in repair
hy each magisterial district.

$11. In opening new roads and building bridges costing less than three
hundred dollars, or in repairing bridges, such work may be done by con-
tract or otherwise. If by contract, any board of road commissioners may
prescribe such regulations and take such bonds and security of con-
tractors as may be deemed wise and best; but in building bridges cost-
ing three hundred dollars or more, and in repairs to bridges costing two
hundred dollars or more, the gencral statutes in such cases made and
provided shall apply.

$12. The board of supervisors shall, from time to time, prescribe and
note upon the record of their proceedings such plans, specifications, re-
strictions, and directions as they deem best for the working, keeping in
order and repairing the roads and bridges in the county, including any
special plans, specifications, restrictions, or directions which they may
prescribe for particular roads or bridges, and they shall from time to
time fix the price to be allowed and paid for the hire of foremen or over-
svers, hands, teams, plows, and other implements used on the public roads.

$13. It shall be the duty of each supervisor to keep himself informed as
to the condition of the public roads and bridges in his magisterial dis-
trict. the manner in which they are worked and kept in repair, and
whether or not the road commissioner of his district has fully performed
his duty; and in addition to the information incidentally received by
him, he shall carefully inspect all the roads and bridges in his district
at least once during the year, and report in writing to the board of super-
visors on the first Monday in December of each year their condition,
whether or not there has been any general improvement over the pre-
ceding year, and if the road commissioner has faithfully and judiciously
discharged his duty.

§14. The cost of working and repairing the public roads and of open-
ing new roads shall be borne by the respective districts in which they are
located, as also shall the building of bridges costing less than three hun-
dred dollars, and repairs to any bridge costing less than two hundred
dollars. But should any great or unforeseen damage casually occur by
extraordinary floods to any road or roads, and the road commissioners of
the district or districts affected thereby are unable, with the means at
their command, to repair such road or roads, the board of supervisors, or
a majority of them in meeting assembled, may appropriate such sums
from the county levy as may meet the exigency. All bridges costing three
hundred dollars or more shall be built by the county at large, and all
repairs to any bridge costing two hundred dollars or more shall also be
paid by the county.

§15. The board of supervisors shall require the county clerk to have
prepared and printed all blank forms of reports for supervisors and
clerks of boards of road commissioners, time and receipt books for road
overseers, and any other papers necessary for use in carrying out the
provisions of this act, the cost of which shall be paid out of the country
levy.

§16. The clerk of the county shall keep in his office a well-bound book
(properly indexed), in which he shall record the commissioners’ or
viewers’ report, the plat or diagram and order establishing any road.
whether the same be established by the board of supervisors or by any
board of road commissioners of the county, under section nine of this act.

§17. The pay of officers for services shall be as follows: The super-
visor, clerk of board of road commissioners and road commissioner shall
each receive one dollar and fifty cents per day for each meeting of the
board of road commissioners, not to exceed eight dollars each in any one
year; and the clerk of said board shall receive one dollar and fifty cents
per day, and not exceeding forty dollars in any one year, for all other
services which he may perform; the road commissioner, for locating and
opening new roads, one dollar and fifty cents per day, and for all other
services rendered by them, one dollar and fifty cents per day, not to ex-
ceed thirty dollars in Lexington district, forty dollars each in Buffalo
and Kerr’s creek districts, and fifty dollars each in Natural Bridge,
Walker’s creek, and South river districts in any year; supervisors, for
examining roads and bridges, and making annual reports of the condition
of the same, one dollar and fifty cents per day, each supervisor being
required to examine at least twenty miles of road per day; the viewers.
for locating roads, and the commissioners, for assessing land damages, one
dollar and fifty cents each per day; surveyors, two dollars and fifty cents
per day, and chain carriers, one dollar per day each, all of which shall be
paid by the county treasurer out of the county fund, on warrants issued
by the board of supervisors on itemized accounts, sworn to. And such
officers as are required to make reports shal] not receive their pay until
such reports are made and filed.
§18. The general road law of the State of Virginia, except in so far
as the same is in conflict with this act, shall be in force in the county of
Rockbridge; and nothing contained in this act shall be so construed to
ail with unexpired contracts for the working of roads in said
county.

§19. All special acts heretofore passed by the general assembly of Vir-
ginia, in reference to public roads and bridges in Rockbridge county, are
hereby repealed: provided, however, that the district boards of road com-
missioners, and the district road commissioners, as constituted, and hold-
ing office at the time of the passage of this act, shall continue to discharge
the duties of their offices, and be subject to the provisions of this act
until their successors shall be elected and appointed, and shall qualify
under the provisions of this act.

§20. As the time for working the public roads of the county commences
in the spring of the year, and in view of the emergency existing by reason
thereof, this act shall be in force from its passage.