Chap. 263.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to provide for
opening, building, and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges in Caroline
county.

Approved May 16, 1903.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the beard
of supervisors of Caroline county shall have original jurisdiction to cstab-
lish, alter, discontinue, and build all public roads and bridges in said
county, and for this purpose shall have all the powers now vested in the
county court, and the same proceedings shall be had therein as required
in said court, and all laws applicable in said court shall apply to said
board: provided, that any one feeling himself aggrieved hy an order of
said board establishing, discontinuing, or altering any road or bridge may
appeal to the county court or circuit court of Caroline county in the same
manner that appeals are now allowed from the decisions of the said board.

- 2. The said board of supervisors subject to the provisions of this act
shall take charge of and have kept in repair all public roads and bridges
heretofore and hereinafter established in said county, and for this purpose
it shall be lawful for said: board to hire or buy such teams, tools, or im-
plements as may be necessary for such work out of funds belonging to
said county and appropriate to the proper working of the same, the build-
ing of bridges, and payment of hires so much of the county levy as they
may deem expedient. Said board is further empowered and authorized to
levy annually a district road tax of not more than twenty-five cents on
the one hundred’ dollars’ valuation of all taxable property, and, in their
discretion, to require all persons who may use wagons, carts, or other vehi-
cles in said county to provide such wagons, carts, or other vehicle with
tires of such width as said board may prescribe, upon such conditions as
said board may prescribe, and may prescribe such penalty for the failure
of any person to comply with the said requirement or order as said hoard
may deem

3. The board of supervisors of the county shall, as soon as practicable
after the passage of this act, and not later than the first day of April,
hereafter proceed to lay off and divide (if not already done) all the pub-
lie roads of the county into sections of one or more miles in length, ac-
cording as their location and the difficulties of keeping in proper repair
may, in their judgment, suggest.

4. Immediately upon the completion of this work of dividing the
roads into sections, they shall meet at the courthouse and proceed to ap-
point one road commissioner for each precinct of the several townships.
The commissioners so appointed shall constitute the township board of
toad commissioners for their respective townships.

5. The commissioner of roads shall be an experienced road builder.
He shall be a resident and voter of the district from which appointed, and
subject to'removal at the pleasure of the board of supervisors; shall hold
office for the term of one year from date of his appointment. He shall,
prior to entering upon the discharge of the duties of his office, take before
the county clerk of Caroline the usual oath of office, and enter into end
acknowledge before such clerk a bond, with surety to be approved by the
board of supervisors, and payable to said board, with condition for the
faithful performance of his duty, and any recovery thereupon shall be for
the benefit of his road district.

6. The said board of road commissioners shall annually, in the month
of May, or as soon thereafter as practicable, let to contract to the lowest
suitable bidder the work of building and keeping in repair the roads and
bridges in their respective districts; notices of all public letting shall be
posted at each voting precinct and postoffice in the district, and otherwise
published, as said board may deem advisable. The lettings of said roads
may be for one or more sections, and shall be for the term of one year.
All bids shall be in writing and signed by the party, and delivered under
seal to the said board of road commissioners for their examination, sub-
ject to the approval or rejection of the board of supervisors at their
meeting for that purpose.

%. Each contractor shall be required to give bond, with good security,
in a penalty of at least double the amount of his bid, for the faithful
performance of his contract, which bond shall be subject to the approval
of the board of supervisors, and filed with the clerk of the board of euper-
visors, and the condition and width in which each section of road is to be
kept is to be incorporated in each bond and contract, and a recovery may
be had for the breach of said contract, in the name of the county for the
benefit of the road fund in the county court, by motion, after ten days’
notice to the contractor and his security or securities.

8. The board of road commissioners shall have the right at any time,
with the consent of the board of supervisors, to let privately any road
section, to reject any bid or revoke any contract and relet the same, vr to’
contract for the working of the road machine in any part of this dis-
trict; and no member of the board of road commissioners shall be directly
or indirectly interested in any contract made under this act, und any par-
ticipation shall render the contract null and void.

9. The member of the board of supervisors for the district shall Le ex-
officio chairman of such board. Each road commisioner shall be required
to give his personal supervision to all the roads and bridges within their
respective precincts; to see that the contractor is faithfully performing
his contract, and for any failure in carrying it out shall at once, through
the prosecuting attorney, institute proceedings for the recovery of dam-
ages for breach of said contract. It shall be his duty to go over the reads
of his precinct every month, to cause the roads in his precinct to be
cleared free from obstructions and encroachments and secure trom the
falling of dead timber thirty feet wide, unless otherwise ordered by the
board of supervisors, and in no case less than sixteen fet; ard where prac-
ticable to raise the bed of the road in the middle and slope it gradually
each way to the sides, where ditches sufficient to carry off the water shall
be made and kept open, and, if necessary, boxed; he shall report in per-
son or through the chairman of said road board to the board of super-
visors, at each meeting of said board, an account of all work that has
been done by him previous to the said report and not hefore reported by
him, and also what expenses have been incurred and what money ex-
pended in the maintenance of the roads and bridges and the polling of
hills in his district, and make report thereof to the said board; and also
state what amount of money may be needed by him for any necessary
work to be done. The said board of supervisors may, if, in their opinion,
the said work should be done, and the amount required be expended as re-
ported by him, provide the said amount out of the county levy, and pay
any amounts that may be due for the work so done by him; ail bills, how-
ever, to be approved by the board of supervisors and said road commis-
sioner as hereinbefore provided.

10. In case the commissioners in any precinct are unable to let to con-
tract any section, sections, or any of the roads in their respective districts,
the commissioner in that district shall appoint some person or persens to
put in repair such places as need putting in order, either at lowest bid-
der or by hire of labor, and an itemized account to be furnished fcr said
work, and endorsed by the commissioner, shall be presented to the next
meeting of the board of supervisors.

11. The members of the board of commissioners shall receive each for
their services a sum not exceeding two dollars per day for every day ser-
vices actually performed on the order of the chairman of thcir respective
road board. The commissioner of roads shall have the care and custody
of all teams, gear, harness, road machinery, road implements, and tools
now belonging to his road district, or that may hereafter be purchased or
provided by the board of supervisors for his district, and shall be responsi-
ble to the said board of supervisors for the proper care and handling
and return in good condition of the same (ordinary wear and tear ex-
cepted when such working of the road machine by him in such precinct
shall have been completed). The said commissioner of roads, subject
always. to the board of supervisors, shall have charge of the working and
building of all roads and bridges and the polling of all hills in his road
district, and to this end shall have authority to hire and employ all neces-
sary labor and teams in the discharge of his duties. The cost and ex-
penses of making, opening, and maintaining of roads, and repairing and
building of bridges and the polling of hills, shall be allowed by the board
of supervisors upon itemized accounts certified to be correct by the road
commissioner of the road district in which the work is done, such certifi-
cate to be made on the back of each account. Such accounts so itemized
shall be kept by the clerk, and, together with the entries of all receipts
and disbursements, in the minutes of the board, which likewise shail state
plainly for what given and from what received, shall be subject to the
examination and inspection of any citizen or tax-payer of the county.

12. The road commissioner may take from any convenient lands so
much wood, stone, gravel, or earth as may be necessary to be used in con-
structing 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 a town,
yard, or garden without the consent of the owner.

13. If the owner or tenant of any such lands shall think himself in-
jured thereby, a justice, upon application to him, shall issue a warrant to
freeholders, requiring them to view the said land and ascertain what is
a just compensation to such owner or tenant for the damage to him by
reason of anything done under the preceding section. The said free-
holders, after being sworn, shall accordingly ascertain such compensa-
tion and report the same to the board of supervisors, and allowance shall
be made in the next county levy. He shall have authority to forbid the
public from traveling on any road, or portion of road, while the same
is being built, improved or repaired and thereafter when such travel
would, by weather conditions, in the opinion of the board of supervisors,
greatly damage such road to require adjacent property holders to remove
all trees which may fall from their land into the road; to proceed by
warrant against parties ploughing up, moving, or otherwise encroaching
upon or obstricting the public road; and any party so convicted shall be
punished as for a misdemeanor and fined not less than five nor more than
twenty-five dollars.

14. The road commissioner shall be responsible for the condition of
the roads and bridges in his district and the failure to discharge his duty
shall be a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, upon a warrant be-
fore a justice of the peace, he shall pay a fine of not less than five dollars
nor more than twenty-five dollars. The road fund of each district shall
be kept separate, and shall be applied exclusively in such district: pro-
vided, that each annual district fund in the proportion that it bears to
the total annual road fund of the county and districts may be drawn
upon for the expenses of the county road board for the purchase of uten-
sils for use in all of the districts, or for any expenditure, the benefits of
which are shared by all the districts: and provided, further, that the road
fund in any district may, in such proportion as may be fixed by the
county road board, be drawn upon for its proportionate share of expendi-
ture made jointly with an adjacent district.
16. The Commonwealth’s attorney, on and after July first, nineteen
hundred and four, shall be ex-officio a member of the board of supervisors
of Caroline county, and shall have a vote on said board ir the event of a
tie. The board of supervisors are hereby authorized and empowered,
with the approval of the county judge, to give to the commissioner of
roads for employment all vagrants and convicted criminals confined in
the county jail.

1%. The general road law of the State, except so far as it is not in con-
flict with this act, shall be in full force in the county of Caroline, and
all special road laws for the said county heretofore enacted are hereby re-

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