Chap. 735.—An ACT to provide for the working and repairing of the public
roads and bridges of Isle of Wight county.

Approved March 5, 1894.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
board of supervisors of Isle of Wight county shall, subject to the
approval of the county court of said county, from time to time di-
vide the said county into road districts, each containing one or more
magisterial districts, and shall, subject to the approval of said court,
appoint, at their annual meeting on the fourth Monday in July in
each year, a road commissioner for each of said road districts, to
hold office for one year, and his term to begin twenty days after his
appointment.

2. Such road commissioners shall, within their respective road
districts, be charged with the duty of supervising and superintend-
ing the working and repairing of public roads and bridges by the
road surveyors and other persons whose duty it may be to work and
keep in repair such roads and bridges; and he shall examine and di-
rect such working and repairing, and shal] examine and report upon
all the accounts and claims presented to such board or court by such
road surveyors or persons working such roads as aforesaid, and shall,
when directed to do so by said court, or judge thereof in vacation,
superintend and direct the opening of new roads, or alteration of
those in which changes are made, and the erection or repairing of
bridges ; and shall] further discharge such other duties in connection
with the working and repairing of such roads and bridges within
their respective districts as may be prescribed by said board, by
and with the approval of said court, or the judge thereof in vaca.
tion.

8. The said board may, from time to time, prescribe such plans.
specifications and directions as they may deem best for the working.
keeping in order and repairing the roads and bridges in the said
road districts, and may, in their discretion, let to contract the work-
ing, repairing and keeping in order of such roads and bridges in
any one or more of the road districts, or any part of any of them,
subject to such plans, specifications and restrictions as said board,
with the approval of the said county court, or the judge thereof in
vacation, may prescribe, and may assign to any person to whom any
such contract is let any statutory labor and hands who may be
legally assigned to the working of any road so let to contract, with
the right to enforce such labor on said road in the manner which
may be legally prescribed, taking from any such contractor such
bond as they may prescribe; and any such contractor may also be
appointed as and hold the position of special road surveyor as to
such roads and for such time as are embraced in his contract.

4, The judge of said court, in term time or in vacation, may, by
and with the consent of said board, by order or resolution spread on
their minutes, appoint as many special road surveyors for any one
or more of said road districts, or for any portion of any of them, as
may be deemed proper, and for such time as may be deemed proper,
who may, under the supervision and direction of said judge and of
the road commissioner of the district, buy or hire material, teams,
implements and tools, hire labor and superintend work ordered pur-
suant to this act; and said special surveyors shall, in addition, have
all the powers and duties of and be subject to all the penalties im-
posed upon other road surveyors according to law; and the pay-rolls,
accounts and vouchers of any such special surveyor shall be by him
submitted to the commissioner of the district in which the work
was done or expenditure was made, and if approved by such com-
missioner shall be certified to by him to said judge, who, if he ap-
prove the same, shall order their payment; and the amount of any
moneys to be expended by or allowed for services to any such spe-
cial surveyors, shall be fixed in advance by the said board anda
fund provided for their payment. Any road commissioner may act
as such special surveyor, and his accounts as such be settled as
aforesaid by the supervisor of the district in which the work was
done and the county judge, and their payment ordered by him; any
such special road surveyor may be removed from office at any time
by said board of supervisors or said county judge.

5. The said road commissioners shall inspect the roads and bridges
within their respective districts and make reports on the condition
of the same, under oath, to the first day of the July and December
courts of said county in each year, which report shall also show
whether the road surveyors within their districts have performed
their duty upon their respective roads with regard to working and
keeping the same in order, and said reports, if unfavorable to such
surveyors or any of them, shall be laid before the next grand jury
of such court, and shall be evidence upon which such grand jury
may make a presentment or find an indictment against any such
road surveyor for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. Such
reports shall be certified by said court to the said board of super-
visors.

6. Every road surveyor of said county shall be authorized to ap-
point a deputy, in whom all the powers and authority of the princi-
pal may be vested.

7. Every surveyor of a road not under contract shall be entitled to
compensation, at the discretion of the county court, to be certified by
it to the board of supervisors, and paid out of the road district levy,
hereinafter provided for, in the manner and subject to the condi-
tions hereinafter provided, not exceeding one dollar per day of ten
hours’ work; but special road surveyors, appointed by the county
court, may, at the discretion of said court, receive compensation to
an amount not exceeding two dollars per day for each day’s work, as
aforesaid: provided such increased compensation be first authorized
by the said board of supervisors.

8. The said road commissioners shall receive compensation for
their services at the rate of two dollars per day for the time during
which they shall be actually engaged in the duties of their office as
such commissioners, and the number of days for which they shall
respectively receive such compensation shall be limited by said
board of supervisors according to the number of days during which
it shall appear each commissioner should be employed in his dis-
trict, to be paid out of the road tax collected in his district; but no
such commissioner shall receive more than one hundred dollars in
any one year; and if said commissioner shall have served as special
surveyor, he shall not be paid twice for the same time employed in
both capacities.

9. Should any such road commissioner act also as special surveyor,
his work as such surveyor shall be supervised, inspected, and re-
ported on as aforesaid to the July and November courte by the super-
visor of the magisterial district in which the same is done; and such
supervisor shall receive compensation therefor, and also for extra
duties imposed upon him by this act, including such meetings as it
may be necessary to hold of said board for road purposes, at the rate
of three dollars per day for the time employed by him, not to exceed,
however, fifteen dollars in any one year.

10. Each road surveyor in said county shall annually, at a meeting
of the board of supervisors to be held for that purpose on the first
Monday in December in each year, or at such other time in each year
as the board of supervisors shall direct, report to them on oath the
general condition of the public roads and bridges in his road pre-
cinct, the amount of money, labor, or both (including also the hire
of teams), expended or performed on said roads and bridges, and
such other matters relative thereto as the board of supervisors shal]
suggest or require, and such reports shall be passed on and approved
or disapproved, in whole or in part, by the road commissioner of the
district, except when such commissioner may himself make the
same as special surveyor, in which case it shall be passed on and
approved or disapproved, as aforesaid, by the supervisor of the dis-
trict where the work was done.

11. Upon such report as is prescribed in the preceding section, and
after the semi-annual reports from the road commissioners or supervi-
sors hereinbefore required shall have been made as to the precinct of a
road surveyor and his account duly certified by the county court, or
judge thereof in vacation, and upon the said board of supervisors
being satisfied that such road surveyor has fully discharged his duty,
they shall issue proper warrant to him for the amount to which he
may be entitled. :

12. Every such road surveyor shall be liable to prosecution for any
neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, and upon conviction shall
be fined in each case not less than five nor more than fifty dollars.

13. The clerk of said board of supervisors and of said court shall
receive compensation for the duties he may be required to perform
under this act, to be allowed him by said board, not to exceed fifty
dollars in any one year.

14. The said board shall annually levy (along with the county
levy ) a tax upon all the property, real and personal, assessed for tax-
ation in the several road districts aforesaid, for the working, repair-
ing and keeping in order of the public roads and bridges under this
act, which tax shall not exceed twenty cents on the one hundred
dollars of such property, and such tax shall be laid separately upon
each road district, and may be at different rates in the different dis-
tricta, and of the moneys collected by the county treasurers in each
district a separate account shall be kept, and the same shall be ex-
pended in the district in which they were collected.

15. When bridges are across streams forming the boundary line
of two road districts, the cost of repairing the same, so far as charge-
able to the districts, shall be borne equally by them, and such repairs
shall be under the joint supervision of the road commissioners of
the two districts, except in those cases where the board of super-
visors may, with the approval of said judge, in term time or vaca-
tion, prescribe some different rule with regard to such repairs.

16. The said board of supervisors may, with the consent of said
county judge, appropriate a portion of the general county levy to-
wards working and repairing the roads and bridges of the county, or
any portion thereof.

17. The provisions of chapter forty-three of the code of Virginia,
of the edition of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in reference to
county roads, causeways, bridges, landings and wharves, shall apply
to and be in force in said county so far as not inconsistent with the
provisions of this act, and in so far as the matters therein contained
shall not have been otherwise provided for in this act, except that the
sections numbered from nine hundred and sixty-three to nine hun-
dred and eighty-three, inclusive, of said chapter shal] not have effect
or be in force in said county.
18. But this act shall not apply to or be in effect in said county «
le of Wight except and until the same shall be adopted as and fc
6 road Jaw of the county by a majority of the said board of supe
sors at some regular meeting of said board.

19. This act may also be adopted and declared to be in force i
e counties of Surry and Southampton, or either of them, by tk
ard of supervisors of said counties, respectively, and when ¢
lopted by either of said boards, at a regular meeting, it shall b
e road law for the county for which it is so adopted.

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