Chap. 915.—An ACT to amend the road law of Prince George county.

Approved March 3, 1898.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
board of supervisors of the county of Prince George shall have, in the
manner hereinafter provided, the control of the improvement and repairs
of the roads and bridges of the county of Prince George, and of the
construction of the bridges therein, except such bridges as are required
by law to be constructed and kept in repair by the said county of Prince
George and adjoining counties.

It shall be the duty of the said board of superviscrs to sce that the
roads of the said county are kept cleared, smoothed of rocks and other
obstructions, of necessary width, and that the beds of said roads are
raised in the middle and sloped gradually each way to the sides, well
drained, and secure from the falling of dead timber thereon, and other-
wise in good order; and that suitable bridges be constructed and main-
tained over such streams and ravines as may need them; and where the
beds of said roads are encroached upon, it shall notify the persons tres-
passing, by written notice, to remove the obstruction, and if the same
be not done in ten days, it shall cause said obstructions to be removed,
and may recover the expense, with cost, before any justice of the peace
of said county.

It shall have authority to direct the surveyor of said county to define
the boundary of any road therein, and to alter the grade of any existing
road, and to perform such other service as, in the opinion of the board,
may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act: for which ser-
vice the said supervisors shall receive reasonable compensation from the
said board, payable out of the road funds.

2. The said board are authorized and empowered to let the improve-
ments and repairs to said roads and bridge to contract; to purchase for
the county, or for any one or more districts of the county, teams and
implements, and to hire force, to be operated under its direction, control,
and supervision, for said purpose; and for such of said roads as it may
deem practicable to let to contract, or improve and repair with the force
operated under its direction, it may lay off said county into road pre-
cincts, and appoint a surveyor for such of the roads therein as it may
designate, who shall keep the same in repair as hereinafter directed.
Any road surveyor so appointed may be removed by the said board of
supervisors, upon written notice given to said surveyor, and an oppor-
tunity given to said surveyor pursuant to said notice to appear before
and be heard by said board: provided said board consider cause for the
removal to exist.

3. When said board has determined to let any part of the railroads or
any bridges to contract, it shall be advertised a reasonable time, and in
such manner as it may prescribe, for proposals, and it shall determine
whether any, and if any, which of the said proposals shall be accepted.
The specifications of the contract shall be such as the board may pre-
scribe.

It shall enter into a contract with the person whose bid they shall
accept, and take from him bond, with good security, in a penalty double
the amount he is to receive under said contract, conditioned for the
faithful performance of his contract: provided, that no contract concern-
Ing said roads shall be entered into for a longer time than two years nor
for a less term than one year.

4. Every read surveyor appointed under this act shall superintend
such of the roads of his precinct as mav have been put under his charge,
and see that they are kept in the condition required by the first section;
and across any stream, where it may be necessary and practicable. a
suflicient bridge, bench or log shall be made for the accommodation of
foot passengers, ‘and when any more important bridge or causeway 1s
necessary, and it is practicable for him to have it made, he shall cause
the same to be made twelve feet broad at the least, and sife and conve-
nient.

Every bridge and causeway in his precinct, under his charge, shall be
kept in good order. For the purpose of keeping in order the roads of
his precinct under his charge, he shall summon, not oftener than three
times a year, all male persons in his precinct or district subject to road
duty under the provisions of this act, to attend with proper tools and
work the road of said precinct; but no person shall be required to work
upon said roads more than three days in any one year; and if such per-
son fail to attend in person or by sufficient substitute, for such day of
road failure there shall be paid to said surveyor, either by the person in
default, if of full age, or, if he be an infant, “by ‘his parent or guardian,
the sum of one dollar. If the money be not ‘paid within twenty days
after the date of the summons to work the road, the surveyor shall make
outa ticket against such delinquent party for ‘the amount of said fine,
with an addition of fiftv per centum, and place the said ticket or bill in
the hands of a constable or treasurer of the said county, respectively, for
colleetion.

The oflicer having charge of the collection of such fines may distrain
therefor in the same manner as for taxes and levies. He shall, within
gixty davs, account to the said board of supervisors for all fines collected,
and shall receive for his commission twenty per centum of the amount
collected, and the said surveyor shall receive for his services ten per
centum of the amount so collected. No person residing within the
bounds of any road precinct established by the board shall be exempt
from road duty therein by reason of the public road nearest him being
worked by contract, or by the force operating under the direction of the
board. If the surveyor of any precinct is unable, with the means and
labor at his disposal, to keep in order the roads of which he is surveyor,

the said board may authorize him to spend such sum ag it may deem
reasonable for the purpose of putting the samein good repair. The said
board shall require, upon such day as it may designate, said surveyors
to make such report to it as is required by the twenty-third and twenty-
seventh sections of the general road law. Each surveyor shall receive
for his compensation the sum of one dollar and fifty cents for each day
sworn to by him as actually employed, not to exceed ten days in any
one year.

5. All male persons residing in the county of Prince George shall be
compelled to work three days in each year on some public road therein,
as near as may be to their residences, with the following exceptions,
namely: ministers of the gospel; persons under eighteen and over sixty
years of age; any person who has lost a leg or an arm, also any other
person who is otherwise disabled may be exempt on certificate of the
county court of such disability; also any other person who pays a road
tax of five dollars or more per annum upon property in the county; also
any person who shall pay, before or when first summoned in each year
to work on the roads, either to the county treasurer or to the surveyor of
his road district or precinet, the sum of three dollars, taking a receipt
therefor as the evidence of his exemption from road work for that vear.

6. Leery owner or occupier of a mill over whose dam, pier-head, aqueduet,
ar waste-cut a road passes, shall keep such dam tn goud order, at least telve
feet wide at the top and also keep an good order a bridge and abutment lead-
ang thereto, of like width over the pier-head, aqueduct, floodgates, or any
waste-cut through or around the dam.

If he furl to comply with this section he shall be fined fire dollars for every
farlure of twenty-four hours; but the fine shall not exceed in any case fisty
gon ars

The board of supervisors, or any road contractor, or the surveyor
of | any road, may take from any convenient lands so much wood, stone,
gravel or earth as may be necessary to be used in constructing, Improv-
ing or repairing such road, or any bridge or causeway therein, and may,
for the purpose of draining the road, cause a ditch to be cut through
any lands adjoining the same: provided, such wood and other articles
be not taken from, and such ditch be not cut through, any lot in atown,
vard or garden without the consent of the owner. For any material or
ditch eut compensation shall be allowed only as provided in the twenty-

sixth section of the general road Jaw.

8. When, in the opinion of the board, the public convenience re-
quires the establishment of a road or landing, it shall cause a map or
diagram of the route of such road or landing to be prepared, and shall
cause notice to be served upon the proprietors and the tenants of the
land on which the same will be established, that it will move the court
of said county, upon some dav to be specified in the notice, to appoint
commissioners to ascertain a just compensation for the land to be used
for such road or landing. Upon the return of the said notice duly exe-
cuted any citizen may appear and oppose the establishment of said road
ot landing; and unless the eourt, upon hearing testimony, shall decide
tgaiust the establishment of such read or landing, it shall appoint five
disinterested freeholders of the county, any three of whom may act, for
the purpose of ascertaining a just compensation for the land to be used
for the said road or Janding. Said commissioners shall meet on the
land of the proprietors and tenants named in the order of the court, at
a certain place and day therein also specified, of which notice shall be
given by the sheriff to such proprictors and tenants, their agents or at-
torneys, except only that it need not be given to one present at the time
of making the order. Any one or more of the commissioners attending
on the land aforesaid may adjourn from time to time until the business
shall be finished. The said commissioners in the discharge of their
duties shall comply in all respects with the provisions of sections nine
and ten, and the proceedings thereinafter to be had shall conform to the
provisions of sections eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen and six-
teen of chapter fifty-six of ‘the code of Vi ircinia, edition of eighteen
hundred and seventy-three: provided, that the title for that part of the
land for which compensation is allowed shall not absolutely vest in said
board of supervisors in fee simple, but only a sufficient right of way
shall vest in said board of supervisors. From the action of the court
any person fecling himself aggrieved may appeal of right as under ex-
isting laws, and should the board of supervisors be the appellant no
security shall be required of it. Cases under this section shall have
precedence over any other civil ease upon the docket, and shall be de-
termined with all convenient speed. Nothing in this section shall be
construed as to deprive the court of said county from establishing or
altering the roads or landings of the county as now provided by law.

9. In executing the provisions of this act the said board of supervi-
sors shall equalize, as faras practicable, the work of improving said roads
and bridges among the several magisterial districts of the county.

10. The members of the board of supervisors and road surveyor, or
any inspector of roads appointed under this act, for a failure to perform
any duty required of them under this act, shall pay a fine of not less
than five nor more than thirty dollars.

11. The board of supervisors of the county, at its annual meeting on
the fourth Monday in July, shall, for the purposes of this act, embrace
in the levy there to be Jaid a sum not less than ten or more than twenty
cents on the one hundred dollars of the value of real and personal pro-
perty, and income listed for state taxes in said county, and shall, in ad-
dition thereto, set apart for and purpose the amount derived from the
tax imposed upon railroads for county purposes,

12. That each member of the board of supervisors shall, in addition
to his other duties inspect the road in his district at least three times in

each vear, In the months of September, January, and April, between
the fifte enth days of said months, and the first days of the next sue-
ceediog months, and report in writing to the board of supervisors at the
next ensuing meeting thereof the condition of said) roads, and particu-
larly whether, in his opinion, contracts as to working and repairing said
reads are being fulfilled according to their terms, with such recommenda-
tions and sugvestions as in his Judgment may be necessary; and that

each member of the board of supervisors in addition to the compe nsi-
tion now allowed by law, shall receive for the service required under this
act the sum of two dollars per diem for each day, sworn to by him as
actually employed, not to exceed twenty days in any one year, and no
charge shall be made by the said supervisors for mileage; and the clerk
of said board, for such additional service, shall receive such compensa-
tion as the board may prescribe, not to exceed the sum of one hundred
dollars in any one year.

13. That the general road law of this state, except so far as the same
is in conflict with the provisions of this act, shall be in force in the
county of Prince George.

14. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act be and are
hereby repealed.

15. This act shall be in foree from its passage.