Chap. 173.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to provide
for working and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges, and to
regulate the manner of opening new roads in the county of Montgomery,
approved February 20, 1900, as amended by an act approved March §8,
1906.

Approved March 14, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Vireinia, That the board
of supervisors of Montgomery county shall annually levy a tax for road
purposes only upon the property, real and personal, assessed with taxa-
tion in the several magisterial districts of the county, not to exceed forty
cents on every one hundred dollars of such real and personal property,
which shall be collected and accounted for by the county treasurer, and
paid out on the warrant of said board as if it was the county levy; but
the tax so levied and collected in each district shal] be kept separate by
the said treasurer, and be used and applied exclusively in that respective
district, except the tax on railroads, telephone and telegraph companies
shall be divided equally among the four districts.

2. There shall be appointed by the board of supervisors at the March
meeting thereof in nineteen hundred and eleven, or as soon thereafter as
possible, and every two years thereafter, one road commissioner for each
district, who shall be a resident of said district, and shall hold his office
for two years, unless sooner removed by the board for malfeasance or
neglect of duty. Whenever a road commissioner dies, resigns, removes
from his district, or is removed from office, the said board shall appoint a
successor for the unexpired term. Before entering upon the discharge of
their duties, and within thirty days from the date of their appointment,
the said commissioners shall qualify before the clerk of the circuit court
by taking and subscribing the oaths prescribed by law for all officers,
and shall enter into and acknowledge a bond in such penalty as the
board of supervisors may prescribe, not less than five hundred dollars,
and failure to qualify and give bond as aforesaid, prior to the commence-
ment of his term, shall vacate his office. Such bond shall be pavable to
the county with condition for the faithful discharge of his duties. A
recovery on any such bond shall be for the benefit of the road fund of
the country.

The road commissioners now in office shall, until the expiration of
their terms, and after which the commissioners appointed as herein pro-
vided, together with the supervisor of the district, constitute a road com-
mission for said district, and shall have the general supervision over all
the roads and bridges in their respective districts.

Subject to the ratification of the board, said road commissioners shall
appoint as many road foremen as shall be necessary.

3. It shall be the duty of said foreman to oversee and to direct his
force of hands in the performance of their duty, and, in addition to such
overseeing and direction, shall also perform such manual labor as he im-
poses upon his hands. The road foreman shall employ as many hands
and teams as shal] be necessary to keep the roads in such repair as the
board of supervisors shall prescribe; and the board of supervisors shall
prescribe the price to be paid the road foreman and hands, and for
teams, wagons, plows, and other utensils which may be required for the
roads, and may alter the same from time to time. The road foreman
shall keep a strict itemized account, on forms provided for that pur-
pose, of the time actually worked by himself and his hands, and render
an account of the same to the road commissioner at such time as he may
require, and at least every six months, making affidavit to the correct-
ness of said account before some officer; the road commissioner shall
examine carefully said account, and, if found to be correct, approve the
same, and report it to the board of supervisors; and, when so presented
and approved by the board, warrants to each person entitled to pay for
the amounts due them, respectively, shall issue.

4. The board shall have the power to remove road commissioners for
cause, after notice. The road commissioner shall have power to remove
road foremen at any time, and appoint others in their places. The road
foremen shall have full control over their hands, and may discharge
them at any time, and employ others.

5. The board of supervisors are hereby authorized, when there is any
permanent roads built by the issuance of county bonds, to employ such
engineer to supervise the construction of the same as they may deter-
mine, or, if they so desire, may call upon the State highway commis-
sioner under the general law for the services of an engineer.

6. The road commissioner shall be allowed two dollars per dav for
sctual time employed, but the compensation of said commissioner shall
not exceed fifty dollars in any one year, but no allowance shall be made to
said commissioners unless an itemized account of the number of days em-
ployed by them in the discharge of their duties is presented to the board,
showing the days upon which the services were rendered and the character
of the service. In addition to the duties above imposed, it shall be the
duty of each road commissioner to see that the roads in his district are
kept of necessary width, well drained, and rounded up in the center, free
from loose stones and other impediments to travel, and secure from the
falling of timber thereon, and when such danger is apparent, shall order
the trees cut and removed, and when and wherever the roads are not of
Jawful width, shall order the foreman to remove al] fences and other ob-
structions. He shall see that all bridges are kept in proper repair. He
shall cause to be placed and kept at the fork and crossings of every road
a signboard, on which shall be stated, in plain letters, the most noted
places to which each road leads, and the distance, and across every
stream, where it is necessary and practicable, a sufficient bridge, bench,
or log, ‘for the accommodation of foot passengers.

7. Roads shall be established, altered and discontinued, and bridges
built as the general road law of the State may provide for such matters,
and the board of supervisors shall determine by what districts and in
what proportion the expense shall be paid. When a road is established
or ordered, the county clerk shall record the report in full, together with
the surveyor’s report, in a well-bound book kept for that purpose, and
index the same, for which he shall receive the same rate of fees that he
would for recording a deed. For every failure to record and index a
report within sixty days from the time the order establishing or ordering
the road is entered, he shall be fined not less than ten dollars nor more
than fifty dollars for each offense.
8. All costs attending application for opening or altering roads or
building bridges shall, when the petitioners do not prevail, be at the cost
of the applicant, and the county clerk shall be directed to tax the costs
and issue execution therefor as upon the Judgment of a court. The cost
attending the application shall be paid out of the road fund when the
applicant prevails.

9. The attorney for the Commonwealth for the county shall appear
before the board on all petitions for opening new roads, or altering or
changing established roads, or building bridges, to represent the county
in all such proceedings, and before the court, when an appeal is taken.

10. If the road commissioner of any district, or the board of super-
visors, or any member of said board, shall neglect to perform any of the
duties required of them by this act, or by the general road law of this
State, the circuit court may, upon the application of any citizen and tax-
payer, by mandamus, compel said road commissioner, or board of super-
visors or any member thereof, to perform said duties. Every officer who
shall violate or neglect to perform any duty required by this act shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof may be
fined not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars.

11. Any citizen or taxpayer shall have the right to examine the books,
reports and accounts, required by section three of this act, and if the
same is found to be incorrect, erroneous or improper, the party or parties
at fault shall be proceeded against, and shall be punished as provided in
section ten of this act.

12. The general road law of this State, except so far as it is in con-
flict with this act, shall be in full force in the county of Montgomery,
and all special road Jaws for the said county heretofore enacted are hereby
repealed.

13. On account of the inadequate road laws now in force in the county
of Montgomery an emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall be in
force from its passage.