CHAP. 395.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to
amend and re-enact an act entitled an act providing for the making,
changing, and working of roads in the county of Rockingham, ap-
proved March 2, 1888, as amended by an act of the general assembly
approved March 5, 1890, as further amended by an act of the gen-
eral assembly approved February 25, 1892, as further amended by
an act of the general assembly, approved March 2, 1894, and as fur-
ther amended by an act of the general assembly, approved February
26, 1896, approved March 15, 1904, as further amended by an act
approved March 10, 1910. (S. B. 437.)

Approved March 20, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act entitled an act providing for the making, changing and
working of roads in the county of Rockingham, approved March
second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, as amended by an
act of the general assembly approved March fifth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety, as further amended by an act of the general
assembly approved February twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred
and ninety-two, as further amended by an act of the general
assembly approved March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-
four, and as further amended by an act of the general assembly
approved February twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-
six, approved March fifteenth, nineteen hundred and four, as
further amended by an act approved March tenth, nineteen hun-
dred and ten, be amended and re-enacted so as to read ag
follows:

Section 1. For each magisterial district in the county of
Rockingham there is hereby created and established a board
consisting of the supervisor, a commissioner of roads and one
justice of the peace, unless and until a county superintendent of
roads is chosen as hereinafter provided in which latter event
such superintendent shall be ex-officio a member of said road
board instead of said justice of the peace. Said board shall
have exclusive control of all roads and bridges within its limits,
except as hereinafter provided and all district taxes levied for
road purposes and for building and repairing bridges, shall
be expended within the magisterial district in which it is so
evied.

Sec. 2. The justice of the peace constituting a member of
said board shall be chosen and designated by the three justices
of the peace elected and commissioned in each magisterial dis-
trict. He shall be clerk of said board, when he is a member of
the board. The designation of the justice who is to serve on said
board shall be in writing and shall be preserved and recorded
by the board of commissioners of roads. The commissioner of
roads provided for in this act shall be elected by the qualified
voters in each magisterial district at the regular November elec-
tion, when all the county and district officers are elected, and
shall hold his office for a term of four years, or until his suc-
cessor has qualified.

Sec. 3. The board hereby provided for shall be a body cor-
porate, and shall be known and designated as the “board of
commissioners of roads for ................ magisterial dis-
trict of Rockingham county,” and as such shall have the right
to contract, and be contracted with, sue and be sued.

Sec. 4. The commissioner of roads provided for in this act
shall reside in the district for which he is elected, and his term
of office shall begin on the first day of January next succeeding
his election; he shall qualify at the time and in the manner pro-
vided by law for the qualification of magisterial district officers,
and shall at the time of his qualification or before he enters
upon the discharge of his duties give bond for the faithful per-
formance of his duties, with security in the sum of one thou-
sand dollars.

Sec. 5. The commissioner of roads shall have charge of all
the roads and bridges in his magisterial district. His duties
shall be to see that all the roads in his district are of proper
width, and in all casés where they are not, to notify the persons
trespassing by written notice and if the obstructions are not
removed after reasonable notice, not to exceed ninety days, he
shall proceed to remove the fence or other obstructions, and may
recover the expense with costs from the trespasser upon judg-
ment obtained before a justice of the peace; provided, however,
that where there is a road of less than thirty feet now in use,
and a commissioner of roads is satisfied that no inconvenience
will result to the public on account of the width of said road
he may continue the same. He shall examine all the roads in his
district two or more times in each year, as directed by the road
board, to see that all roads and bridges are kept in good repair
as hereinafter provided for. He shall have charge of all tools
and machinery belonging to the district or county while in us¢e
in his district. When such tools and machinery are not being
used or operated he shall provide such means as shall be rea.
sonably necessary to protect such machinery and tools fron
injury and damage, and any expenses incurred by the commis-
sioner in so doing shall be paid out of the district fund on war-
rant of the board of commissioners of roads. His compensa-
tion shall be two dollars per day for each day he may be actu-
ally engaged in the discharge of his duties under the provisions
of this act, to be paid by the county treasurer in the manner
hereinafter prescribed. The duties and powers of said com-
missioner set out in this section are subject however, to be
changed by such rules or regulations as the board of supervisors
may adopt respecting the duties and powers of said commis-
sioner.

Sec. 6. Every petition to alter or change a public road must
first be presented to the commissioner of roads in the district
in which the road is located, who shall endorse thereon his ap
proval or disapproval of same, and his reasons therefor, which
petition and the commissioner’s report shall be laid: before the
board of supervisors at its next regular meeting, and the board
may appoint three discreet freeholders to view the ground of
any proposed change. The county or other surveyor shall ac-
company the viewers and if necessary survey and map the
route. The whole number of viewers must view, but a majority
may decide for or against the proposed change. They shall sub-
mit estimates of the cost of any change recommended or pro-
posed. They may report for a modification of the proposed
route, and submit estimates therefor.

Sec. 7. Notice of the time and place when and where the
viewers will meet shall be given by publication in a newspaper
at least five times before time of meeting. The viewers before
they proceed to discharge their duties shall be severally sworn
by the commissioner of roads, or some other person authorized
to administer oaths to perform their duties impartially to the
best of their judgment. If they decide there is public necessity
for a change they shall lay out the same, having respect for the
shortest distance and the best location. They shall assess the
damage to the land through which the road passes, taking into
consideration the advantage to be derived from the road pass-
ing through said land, and shall report in writing to the board
of supervisors at its next regular meeting. If any yard, garden
or orchard or any part thereof, shall be taken it shall be so
stated in said report.

ec The board of supervisors shall examine the report
of the viewers, and if it appears from said report that the pro-
posed change will not probably be to the public interest, the
board shall decline to make the proposed change, but if it ap-
pears to the board that such change will be to the public in-
terest, the board shall issue notice to the owner or owners
tenants of lands upon which said proposed road is to be located
directing such owners or tenants to appear before the board
at its next regular meeting to show cause, if any, why the pro-
posed change should not be made in accordance with said report
of the viewers.. At the meeting to which said owners or tenants
are so notified to appear the board shall hear such objections
to, and evidence as may be offered for or against said report,
and shall take final action upon said report, either by adopting,
amending or rejecting same, unless for good cause action there-
on is postponed for another meeting. Any person affected by
such decision may appeal from same within thirty days. If
change be made in such road the board shall order the damage
allowed to be paid out of the county levies, for roads and bridges.
Each viewer shall be allowed two dollars per day and expenses
not exceeding one dollar per day, where such viewer travels
over ten miles and the county or other surveyor shall receive two
dollars and fifty cents per day for accompanying said viewer
and making necessary survey and be paid in addition such sum
as the board shall determine, for any map of such change as
may be required of him. Said viewers and such expenses to be
paid by order of the board of supervisors out of the county levy
for roads and bridges.

Sec. 9. In case the change of a road shall place it on a line
dividing two magisterial districts, the commissioner of roads of
the adjoining districts shall divide equitably the expense of
maintaining said road between said districts. In case they
cannot agree the board of supervisors shall divide the same
and direct what part of said road shall be kept in repair by each
magisterial district.

Sec. 10. The board of commissioners of roads for each
magisterial district at its annual meeting on April first, or as
soon thereafter as convenient shall assess and levy a tax upon
all property, real and personal of the magisterial district as-
sessed for county or district purposes sufficient to pav the ex-
penses of keeping all public roads and bridges in its district in
good repair. Bridges across the rivers and the bridges of thirty
feet or more in length across the creeks shall be kept in repair
out of the general county levy for roads and bridges. The as-
sessment on property shall not be more in any one year than
twenty cents on the one hundred dollars, except as provided for
in section twenty-two of this act. The assessment shall be made
upon the same basis and subjects as that upon which county or
district revenues are levied.

Sec. 11. The board of commissioners of roads in each mag-
isterial district shall annually make an estimate of the probable
amount necessary to pay all the expenses of keeping in repair
the roads and bridges (except such bridges as are kept in re-
pair out of the county levy) and pay allowance to officers pro-
vided for in this act, and other expenses likely to arise under
the provisions of this act, and shall, before the first day of
August each year, furnish to the county treasurer a statement
of taxes assessed against each person in his district, which tax
said treasurer shall be required to collect, as other revenues are
collected, and for which he shall receive a like compensation.
The funds coming into the hands of the county treasurer under
the provisicns of this act shall be kept separate and shall be
held by him subject to the order of the board of commissioners
of roads to be expended in such manner as in its judgment is
for the best interest of the roads. Provided, however, that no
warrant shall be issued by said board nor paid by said treas-
urer except and unless it shall plainly show to whom and for
what the same was allowed and issued by said board and that
such warrant shall be signed by the chairman and secretary of
said board. All funds collected in any one district shall be ex-
pended in that district.

Sec. 12. No person shall be required to work on public
roads or bridges without compensation.

Sec. 13. It shall be lawful for the board hereby constituted
to take charge of and have worked and kept in good repair all
public roads and bridges heretofore or hereafter established
within their respective districts as herein provided (except
river and creek bridges referred to in section ten of this act).
The work may be done by the day under competent overseers,
who shall furnish the commissioner of roads with a statement
of account once a month. The said board may enter into con-
tract for the repair of any part or sections of roads if they deem
it to the best interest of the district so to do. Said road to
be kept clear of falling timber, loose stones, and to be raised in
the center and sloped on each side to ditches of sufficient width
and depth to carry off all surplus water, and all contracts made
for the maintenance or repair of said roads under this act shall
so provide, and shall be in writing and duly signed and filed
with the clerk of said board.

Sec. 14. The board of commissioners of roads shall have
the authority to purchase any necessary tools, machinery and
materials out of its respective district funds, for use in making
and repairing the roads and bridges in its district as herein
provided for.

Sec. 15. The board of supervisors in its discretion, may
purchase any necessary machinery and pay for same out of the
county levy for roads and bridges, for the purpose of aiding the
magisterial district in making and repairing the public roads
of the county and district. It may appropriate out of said
funds, or the general county levy, for the purpose of permanent
road improvement in any district or districts, such amount as
may be necessary to secure any State aid money available for
said district or districts, or to secure convict labor for said per-
manent improvement of said roads. In case the board of super-
visors declines to appropriate the necessary funds required by
the State law to secure State aid money or procure State con-
vict labor, then the board of commissioners of roads of each
magisterial district shall have the authority with the consent
of the board of supervisors, to make appropriations out of
district funds, or funds raised by private contributions such
amounts as are necessary to assure State aid money or convict
labor; provided, in such event the county shall not be charge-
able with any liability or expenses by reason of any district
thus procuring any State road improvement fund or convict
labor.

The cost of expenditure per mile in the permanent improve-
ment of the public road shall be determined by the State high-
way commissioner and the board of commissioners of the roads
in their district or districts in which the improvement is to be
made, except in such cases as require the action of the said
board of supervisors. The distribution of the State and county
aid may be made between the districts of the county, on such
basis as a majority of the board of supervisors in their judg-
ment may deem right and just; provided, that no part of the
State aid fund which would be due any district, upon an equit-
able distribution of same, based upon the tax paid into the
State treasury by said district, shall be taken from that dis-
trict and used elsewhere, unless the board of commissioners of
roads in said district declines to use same on roads in said dis-
trict, and gives its consent in writing, signed by a majority of
the board of that district, that said amount may be expended
elsewhere, said writing to be filed with and preserved as a part
of the records of the board of supervisors.

Sec. 16. The commissioner of roads is authorized and em-
powered to demand of either of the other members of his dis-
trict board to go to any point in the district, to assist in the
duties incumbent upon the board of the district, and each shall
have a compensation for such service of two dollars per day,
while in actual discharge of such duties, payable out of the dis-
trict fund.

Sec. 17. The majority of the entire board of supervisors
may adopt any part of the general road law not in conflict with
this act, and the majority of the entire board may also at any
time prior to the first day of January of any year appoint a
county road superintendent whose term of office shall be for a
period of two years from the first day of January following his
appointment. The said superintendent shall be a civil engi-
neer or a man well versed in practical road building, and who
is competent to establish grades and keep records as required
by law. The powers, duties and salaries or compensation of
such superintendent shall be fixed by said board of supervisors;
the salary or compensation to such superintendent to be paid
out of the county road fund. Such superintendent shall give
such bond as the board of supervisors may direct for the faith-
ful discharge of his duties.

Sec. 18. At the discretion of the board of commissioners
of roads and by order of said board the road commissioner shall
measure all roads in his district and divide them or any part
thereof, into such sections as in his judgment he may deem
best and most economical.

The road commissioner shall report to the board of commis-
sioners of roads of his district, by April first, or as soon there-
after as possible, the number of sections of roads and the num-
ber of miles in each section when said board may proceed to
apportion such amount to each section as in their judgment is
an equitable amount to each section, according to conditions
and needs, and may at the same time appoint a good and com-
petent overseer for each section thus worked who shall have
immediate supervision over the work to be done in this section.

Said board may have: worked the remaining sections in such
manner as in their judgment is best. The-overseer shall at
such time as directed by a road commissioner proceed to hire
hands and teams and work his road as directed by the road
commissioner, who shall have authority over contractors and
overseers, and when tools and materials are necessary the com-
missioner shall report to the board of commissioners of roads,
which may order him to purchase same. The board shall have
the right to remove an overseer or contractor at any time and
work the road otherwise if in its judgment it would be best.

Sec. 19. The road board shall meet as hereinafter pro-
vided from time to time, not to exceed twelve times in any one
year; its members shall be paid two dollars per day for each
day actually employed in the discharge of their duties and shall
be paid by warrant on the county treasurer issued by said board
as hereinafter prescribed.

Sec. 20. The supervisors of each district shall be ex-officio
chairman of the board of commissioners of roads for his district.

Sec. 21. Each overseer provided for in this act shall be
charged with all the tools and machinery furnished him by the
district road board giving his receipt for the same and on his
retirement shall turn them over to his successor, or to the com-
missioner of roads taking a receipt for same. The compensa-
tion of each overseer shall be fixed by the board of commis-
sioners of roads, not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents per day,
and he is to perform work on the roads with other hands.
laborers under such overseer shall have the compensation fixed
by the board not to exceed one dollar and twenty-five cents per
day for the time actually engaged in the discharge of their
duties under this act; not less than ten hours of actual work
shall be considered a day’s work.

Sec. 22. That the commissioner of roads, from each mag-
isterial district shall meet at the court house of the county with
the board of supervisors at a time to be fixed by the board of
supervisors and shall act with said board in the consideration
of the road question, and to make any changes within the limits
of the law they may deem best, for the making, changing and
working the public roads of Rockingham county, and by a
majority vote of all the supervisors and commissioners of roads
present may order the road levies of all the districts, or any of
the districts raised to an amount not to exceed forty cents on
one hundred dollars of assessed property, both real and per-
sonal, in any one year, and should it be determined that the
levy for any one year should be raised over twenty cents on the
one hundred dollars of assessed property, both real and per-
sonal, in any district or districts then there shall be not less
than ten cents nor more than fifteen cents of said levy on the
one hundred dollars used for the permanent road improvement.

Sec. 23. At the end of each fiscal year the settlement of
the accounts of each of said boards of commissioners showing
the receipts and disbursements of said board shall be made for
the fiscal year then ended. A statement in writing shall be
made at the time of this settlement by said board, signed by
each member of said board, itemizing in such statement all the
funds which during said year have been in the hands of the
treasurer of said county to the credit of said board and any
other funds which have been under the control of such board
and also itemizing the disbursements which have been made by
said board and setting forth, in their consecutive order, the
warrants issued by said board, the dates of same and to whom
issued and, briefly, for what debt or consideration. Attached to
said statement shall be a certificate signed by the treasurer of
said county, setting forth that the statement is true and correct,
so far as the same is shown by the records in his office. When
said statement is so prepared, with the said certificate of the
treasurer attached thereto, the same shall be submitted to the
board of supervisors accompanied by the paid warrants therein
referred to, and said board shall carefully examine said settle-
ment or statement, and ascertain whether the same is correct.
When found correct, the said statement shall be published in
such manner as said supervisors direct. If found incorrect the
board of supervisors shall by such proceedings as are in their
opinion appropriate, require the correction of same by the road
board. The costs of publication of annual statements or set-
tlements shall be paid out of the funds of the respective road
districts.

Sec. 24. The general road law of this State except so far
as the same is in conflict with this act, shall be in force in the
county of Rockingham.

Sec. 25. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act
are hereby repealed.