Chap. 452.—An ACT to provide for working and keeping in repair the
public roads and bridges of Elizabeth City county.

Approved March 17, 1884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
it shall be lawtul for the county of Elizabeth City to work
and keep in order her highways, roads and bridges as fol-
lows:

2. That every male person in said county who has attained
the age of twenty-one years, not exonerated from taxation by
order of the county court of said county by reason of inabil-
ity from bodily intirmity, shall be compelled to work in per-
son four days in cach year on some public road in the said
county, to be designated by the superintendent of roads, here-
inafter provided for; or such person may, in lieu of such
work and in commutation thereof, pay to the treasurer of
the said county the sum of one dollar and sixty cents, to be
applied to the working and keeping in repair the hiehways,
roads and bridges of said county in mannerand form as here-
inafter prescribed: provided that the said sum be paid on or
before the fifteenth of August in each year: and provided
further, that ministers of the gospel in charge of churches
shall be exempt from work on the public roads and bridges
of said county, and the payment of said sum in lieu thereof.
The road-year for the said county shall commence on the first
day of April of cach year.

3. That in addition to the tax provided for in the proceed-
ing section, on every wheel-vehicle or conveyance in the said
county, a license tax shall be assessed as follows, namely:
On every cart, buggy, carriage, or other conveyance or
vehicle drawn by one house or other animal, and not run for
hire, a license tax, each year, of seventy-five cents; and on
every wagon or other vehicle, except a carrylog, drawn by
two or more horses or other animals, and on every vehicle
run for hire, a license tax, each year, of one dollar and fifty
cents; and on evcry vehicle known as a carrylog, a license
tax, each year, of five dollars.

4. That the commissioner of the revenue of said county
shall, on or before the first day of April in each year, furnish
to the treasurer of said county, and to the board of super-
visors, respectively, a list, to be headed, “A list of persons in
the county of Ilizabeth City, who are hable to road service
or tax,” which said list shall show the names, ages, and oc-
cupations of those persons liable to the service or tax imposed
by sections two and three of this act, and also the number
and character of wheel-vehicles of conveyances owned or
used by such persons, on which said list the tax imposed by
said sections shall be extended and set out. The said com-
missioner shall certify on oath, that the said list is correct; and
for the services required of him by this act, the said commis-
sioner shall be allowed by the board of supervisors, as com-
pensation therefor, a sum not exceeding five cents for each
hame appearing on said list. to be paid out of the road tax.
For his failure or neglect to prepare and deliver to the treas-
urer, the said list as herein provided, the commissioner shall
be liable to pay a fine of five dollars per day for each day
beyond the said first day of April, that he fails to deliver the
said list as berein required of him. The said fine may be re-
covered by judgement upon motion in the county court, after
ten days previous notice.

5. That the said treasurer shall. as soon as the said list is
delivered to him, proceed forthwith, to collect, by the same
means that other taxes are now collected, the tax provided
for in section three of this act, and will collect also from those
who desire to pay the same in lieu of work on said roads and
bridges, the said sum of one dollar and sixty cents: provided
for as commutation in section uwo ot this act, in lieu of said
work, and the said treasurer shall be allowed the period of
ninety days for the collection of the same. The said treas-
urer shall. on or before the fifteenth day of July in each vear,
prepare three separate lists of those persons who have failed
or refused to pay the said sum of one dollar and sixty cents
as commutation for work. The said list shall be desivnated
a list of persons in the county of Elizabeth City, who are
liable to work on public roads and bridges for the year com-
mencing on the first day of April, eiehteen hundred and
eighty 5 and the said treasurer shall certify on oath, that the
suid list is, he verily believes, correct and just. As goon as
the snid lists are prepared and certified, the said treasurer
shall deliver one of the same to the superintendent of roads,
hereinafter provided for, one to the board of supervisors, and
the third shall be filed with the records of the said treas-
urer’s office. For the services herein required of him, the

said treasurer shall receive the same compensation as is now
provided by law for the collection of other taxes; and for his
failure or neglect to pertorm the services required of him by
the provisions of this section, the said treasurer shall be sub-
ject to the same penalties as is now provided by law in like
cases, in reference to other taxes.

6. That there shall be appointed, on or before the first day
of April in the present year, and every two years thereafter,
by the board of supervisors, subject to the approval of the
judge of the county court, a competent and well qualified per-
son. to be known as superintendent of roads, whose term of
office shall commence on the first day of April succeeding his
appointment. He shall hold his office for the term of two
years, unless sooner removed for cause, and shall qualify be-
fore the judge of the county court, in term or vacation, by
taking and subscribing to the oaths now required by law of
other county officers. Thesaid superintendent of roads shall,
before be enters upon the duties of his said office, and within
thirty days from his appointment, execute a bond before the
judge of the county court, in term or vacation, with security
to be approved by the said judge, in a penalty not exceeding
five thousand dollars, and conditioned for the faithtul dis-
charge of all duties required of him by law as such officer.
The said officer shall be deemed to have forfeited his appoint-
ment unless the said bond shall be executed within the time
prescribed as aforesaid; and he shall be subject to removal
from said office in the same manner and for the same causes
as is now provided by law in reference to other county ofti-
cers.

@. It shall be the duty of the said superintendent of roads
to keep in good repair and in safe traveling order the pub-
lic roads and bridges of said county; and for this purpose
he is hereby authorized to purchase such material, and to
employ such Jaborers and teams under regulations hereinaf-
ter provided as may be necessary, to be paid out of the tax
hereinbetore provided for, and to work such persons on said
roads and bridves as shall be returned to him as failing or re-
fusing to pay the said sum of one dollar and sixty cents as
commutation for work on said roads and bridges, in manner
and form as hereinafter provided. For his services he shall
receive an annual salary of not more than five hundred dol-
lars, to be paid to him monthly, upon his warrant, by the
treasurer, out of the road tax. The amount of said annual
salary shall be fixed by the board of supervisors; and the

said officer shall be liable, on his official bond, to any person
suffering damages caused by the negligence of the said officer
in the discharge of his official duties.

8. The superintendent of roads shall purchase such tools
as may be necessary to work and keep in repair the said
roads and bridges; and he shall be liable for the proper care
and custody of said tools.

9. The said superintendent of roads shall, at each monty
mecting of the board of supervisors, make a written report,
showing the number and the names of laborers, and the num-
ber and the character of the teams employed by him, the
names of the owners of said teams, and the number ot days
said laborers and teams were employed during the month ;
also the quantity and character of the material, and the num-
ber and character of tools purchased by him during the said
month. As soon as the said report shall have been n approved
by the board of supervisors, the said superintendent of roads
shall issue his warrant upon the treasurer in favor of the par-
ties respectively entitled thereto, for the amouuts shown by
the said report to be due them ; and the treasurer, upon the
presentation of said warrants, shall pay the same out of any
funds in his hands to the credit of said road tax.

10. That every person whose name appears on the list of
those who have failed or refused to pay the commutation
hereinbetore provided for, shall be compelled to work four
days in each year, on some public road in said county, upon
being summoned by the superintendent of roads so to do;
and upon the failure or refusal of any such person to work
as aforesaid on such roads as the said superintendent may
require, such person shall pay to the said superintendent
within thirty days after being summoned, in licu of such work,
a fine of seventy-five cents for each day such person may fail
or refuse to work; but such person may at any time during
such period of thirty days. rclieve himself of such fine, by
paying the communtation of one dollar and sixty cents herein
provided for. If said fine be not paid within the time above
specitied, said superintendent shall make out a ticket against
such delinquent party, for the amount of said fine, w ith an
addition of twenty per centum for costs and commissions,
which ticket shall be put by him in the hands of any consta-
ble or the sheriff of said county for collection, and the said
ticket shall have all the force and operation of an execution
for a fine.

11. That the treasurer of the county and the superinten-
dent of roads shall each year, on or before the first of June,
submit annual reports to the board of supervisors, xcc¢om-
panied by proper vouchers, for all disbursements. The
treasurer’s report shall show the amount of tax collected,
and how disbursed. The superintendent’s report shall show
the number of days employed on said roads and bridges dur-

ing the year, and the amount paid therefor; the number and
character of teams employed, the owners of the s sie, and
the amount paid therefor; the number and character of the
tools, and the quantity and character of materials purchased,
and the amount paid for the same, and the number and char-
acter of the tools on hand, their condition and cash value.

12. That the warrants provide for in sections seven and
nine of this act, shall be in the following form, namely:

No. ———.
Office of Superintendent of Roads,
Klizabeth City County, ——— 188—.
The treasurer of Elizabeth City county, will pay to the
order of ——— the sum of ——— out of road tax for

)
the same having been approved by the board of supervisors.

, superintendent of Roads.

13. That the board of supervisors shall, at its monthly
meeting in April of each year, advertise for bids to furnish
tools and materials for one year, for use on said roads and
bridges, and shall award the contract for furnishing the same
to the lowest responsible bidder. In no case shall the super-
intendent of roads purchase tools and materials from any one
except such contractors. The board of supervisors shall also,
from time to time, prepare a schedule of maximum prices to
be paid for labor and the hire of teams; and the said board
shall also have the power to designate during what months
there shall be a general repair of the public roads of said
county; and the said board of supervisors shall also have the
power to designate the number of hired laborers that shall
ye employed from time to time on said roads and bridges.
14. That the said supcrintendent of roads shall have the
same powers, and be subject to the same duties as are now
conferred and imposed by law upon road surveyors, except
in so far as the said powers and duties may be inconsistent
with the provisions of this act.

15. That sections seventeen, eighteon, twenty-one, twenty-
two, twenty-four, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, forty-three,
and forty-four of an act entitled an act to provide for work-
ing and keeping in order the roads of the commonwealth,
approved March twentieth, one thousand eight hundred and
seventy-five, and section twenty-one of an act entitled an
act to amend and re-enact section twenty-one of chapter
one hundred and eighty-one of the Acts of cighteen hundred
and seventy-four—-seventy-five, and to amend and re-enact
section ten of chapter fitty-five of the Acts of cighteen hun-
dred and seventy-eight-nine, in relation to working public
roads, and keeping the same in repair, and so forth, so far as
the same relates to certain counties, approved March the third,
eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and all acts and parts of
acts inconsistent with the provisions of this act, are hereby
expressly repealed in so far as the same relate to the county
of Elizabeth City.

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