Chap. 617.—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.

1. Be it enacted by the géneral 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. The road commissioner shall be appointed
by the judge of the county court as hereinafter provided. The said
board shall have control of al] the roads and bridges within the dis-
trict and the disbursing of all taxes imposed and money appropri-
ated for keeping in order and repairing the same.

2. At the May term of the county court, in the year eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-four, there shall be appointed by the judge of the
court for each magisterial district one road commissioner, whose
first term of office shall be for one year, beginning on the first day
of July next succeeding his appointment, and at the May term of
said court, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and every
two years thereafter, there shall be appointed by the judge of said
court a road commissioner for each magisterial district, whose term
of office shall be for two years, beginning on the first day of July
next succeeding his appointment. He shall have general supervi-
sion of all the roads and bridges in his district, and the overseers of
his district shall be under his authority and subject to his orders in

accordance with the regulations and requirements of the board of
road commissioners of the district. He shall keep himself fully
informed as to the condition of the roads, and shall give such directions
to the overseers of roads as to the character, manner and extent of
repairs as he may regard necessary and expedient. If any over-
seer shall be found delinquent or inefficient, he shall promptly
report the same to the board of road commissioners, who shall
take such action as they may deem wise and proper. He shall
examine generally all the roads in his district in the month of
June and November of each year, and ascertain particularly their
condition; and if any roads are found not in proper order, he shall
require the overseers of such roads to have them repaired. He shall
perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the board of road
commissioners or required by law. It shall be lawful for the county
court to remove, for cause, any commissioner of roads at any time
after thirty days’ notice, and to appoint another in his stead to fill
the unexpired term, and to fill all vacancies in the office of road
commissioner, from whatever cause occurring. For any failure of
duty, the road commissioner shall be subject to indictment by the
grand jury, and, on conviction thereof, 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 county court, in a pen-
alty 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 ap-
proved by the court; such bonds to be executed before the first day
of July next for their present term of office, and afterwards before
the first day of July succeeding their election. It shall be their
duty to keep all books, papers and records of the board, and to re-
ceive 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 November 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 Novem-
ber of each year, make a report to the board of supervisors, as fol-
lows:

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 pur-

oses.

, Third. How the same was expended—classifying the expenditures
as follows: for opening new roads, for repairing roads, for_imple-
ments purchased, for labor and teams, for material, and for applying
labor and material.

4, The boards of road commissioners shall, as often as they may
deem expedient, divide into precincts the public roads of their magis-
terial district, so that no precinct will embrace less than ten nor more
than thirty miles of road, and appoint an overseer for each precinct,
who shall hold his office until bis successor is appointed, and shall
have charge of the roads of his precinct, and shall keep the same in
lawful repair, as prescribed by the general road law. Before enter-
ing upon the duties of his office, he shall give bond before such
board of road commissioners, payable to his magisterial district,
in such penalty as may be prescribed by the board of road com-
missioners of his district, and conditioned for the faithful per-
formance of his duties, as prescribed by law. The overseers
of roads shall make settlements with the board of road com-
missioners of their district, in the months of June and November
of each and every year, producing receipts for all disbursements.
The said board of road commissioners shall have power, at any time
on five days’ notice, to remove from office, for any cause, any over-
seer, and appoint another in his place and stead, and also to fill all
vacancies in the office of road overseers.

5. The board of road commissioners of each magisterial district
shall annually, on or before the first day of March of each year, be-
ginning with the year eighteen hundred and ninety-four, make an
estimate of the amount necessary to open new roads and keep in
order the roads and bridges in their respective districts for one year,
under the provisions of this law, and report the same to the board of
supervisors.

6. It shall be the duty of the board of supervisors, upon the coming
in of the estimates of the boards of road commissioners, to leyy 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.

7. 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
appropriate for the purpose of repairing roads and bridges of the
county, out of the general county levy, the sum of four thousand
seven hundred and forty-four dollars, which shall be apportioned
among the several magisterial districts of the county, as may be in
the judgment of the board of supervisors just and right, having
reference to the population, property, mileage of roads and needs of
the districts.

8. The amounts realized from taxation in each district, as pro-
vided in section six of this act, as well as the amounts apportioned
to each district under section seven of this act, shall be placed by
the county treasurer to the credit of the several boards of road com-
missioners of the county, and disbursed by them on warrants issued
by direction of said boards of road commissioners.

9. The boards of road commissioners shall annually, in the month
of June of each year, audit, adjust and settle their respective ac-
counts 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 money 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
peoper receipt.
10. 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 re-
ferred to the board of road commissioners of the district or districts
in which the same is to be located, who shall endorse thereon their
approval or disapproval and their reasons therefor. The petition
shall be then presented to the county court and proceeded with as
prescribed by the general 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 damages as when the land-owner consents.

11. When the location of any road is, or hereafter may be, in 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 county
court shall divide the same and direct what part of said road shall
be kept in repair by each magisterial district.

12. In opening new roads and building bridges costing less than
three hundred dollars, or in repairing bridges, such work may be
done by contract or otherwise. If by contract, any board of road
commissioners may prescribe such regulations and take such bonds
and security of contractors as may be deemed wise and best, but in
building bridges costing three hundred dollars or more the general
statutes in such cases made and provided shall apply.

13. The general system for working and repairing roads in Rock-
bridge county shall be the overseer system, and not the contract sys-
tem, but should any board of road commissioners of the county
deem it more advantageous to let to contract any short sections of
roads, such board may do so, adopting such regulations as to mode of
letting, bonds and security required of contractors and manner of re-
ceiving roads and paying contractors as may be deemed judicious.

14. It shall be the duty of each supervisor to keep himself in-
formed as to the condition of the public roads and bridges in his
magisterial district, 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 supervisors on the first Monday in Decem-
ber of each year their condition, whether or not there has been any
general improvement over the preceding year, and if the road com-
missioner has faithfully and judiciously discharged his duty.

15. The cost of working and repairing the public roads and of
opening new roads shall be borne by the respective districts in
which they are located, as also shall the building of bridges cost-
ing less than three hundred dollars, and repairs to any bridge
costing two hundred dollars or less, except the contribution
made by the county under section seven of this act. Butshould any
great or unforeseen damage casually occur by extraordinary floods to
any road or roads, and the road commissioner of the district or dis-
tricts affected thereby are unable, with the means and labor at their
command, to repair such road or roads, he or they may apply to the
county court, and the court, with the concurrence of the board of su
pervisors, or a majority of them, in meeting assembled, may appro
priate such sums from the county levy as may meetthe exigency. Al
bridges costing three hundred dollars or more shall be built by the
county at large, and all repairs to any bridge in excess of two hun
dred dollars shall also be paid by the county.

16. No public road or change in a road where the cost to the
county for land damages or cost to the district for construction ex.
ceeds three hundred dollars shall be established by the court unti
the same is certified to and approved by the board of supervisors o!
the county.

17. It shall be lawful for the board of supervisors to adopt suck
other regulations not inconsistent with the provisions of this act ag
may be, in their judgment, necessary and proper to effectuate the
objects of this law and insure the successful operation of the road
system hereby provided for. It shall be the duty of the road com.
missioners, the boards of road commissioners, overseers of roads and
all other persons interested to conform to and carry out such regula-
tions as may be prescribed by the board of supervisors under the
provisions of this act.

18. The board of supervisors shall require the county court clerk
to have prepared and printed all blank forms of reports for supervi-
sors 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 county levy.

19. The clerk of the county court shall keep in his office a well-
bound book (properly indexed), in which he shall record the com-
missioners’ or viewers’ report, the plat or diagram and order estab-
lishing any road, whether the same be established by the court or
by any board of road commissioners of the county, under section ten
of this act. |

20. No person shall hereafter be required to perform road-labor
tax on the public roads of Rockbridge county.

21. 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 meet-
ing 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 exceed thirty dollars in Lex-
ington district, forty dollars each in Buffalo and Kerr’s Creek dis-
tricts, 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 re-
quired to examine at least twenty miles of road per day; the view-
ers, for locating roads, and the commissioners, for assessing land
lamages, one dollar and fifty cents each per day; surveyors, two
lollars and fifty cents per day, and chain carriers one dollar per
lay each, all which shall be paid by the county treasurer out of the
ounty fund, on warrants issued by the board of supervisors on
temized accounts, sworn to. And such officers as are required to
nake reports shall not receive their pay until such reports are
nade and filed. Road overseers shall each receive one dollar and
ifty cents per day, provided they work eight or more hands; less
han that number, one dollar per day—which shall be paid by their
listricts.

22. The general road law of the state of Virginia, except in so far
is 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 as to interfere with unexpired contracts for the working
»f roads in said county.

23. All special acts heretofore passed by the general assembly of
Virginia in reference to public roads and bridges in Rockbridge
county are hereby repealed.

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