CHAP. 240.—An ACT to provide for the working and keeping in
repair the public roads in the county of Shenandoah.

Approved February 16, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That -o and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred
and -.inety-two, the board of supervisors of Shenandoah
cou .ty shall take charge of and bave worked and kept in
repair all public roads and bridges heretofore or hereafter
-stablished within the limits of said county; and for this
purpose the said board of supervisors are authorized and
empowered to levy a road tax not exceeding in any year
thirty cents upon the one hundred dollars of assessed tax-
able values, including all railroad and telegraph compa-
nies in said county, and to adopt such regulations as do
not conflict with this law as may be necessary to secure
the proper working of roads in said county. Each dis-
trict shall retain the tax collected in its respective dis-
trict to be applied to roads and bridges of that district.
After the treasurer shall have collected the road tax for
any one year, and finds out what the net proceeds are for
each district, he shall notify the clerk of the board of su-
pervisors, who shall issue a warrant on the treasurer pay-
able to the road board of each district for the amount of
the net proceeds of said road tax within and for said dis-
trict, and which shall be expended in said district as here-
after stated. As large amount as possible shall be set
aside annually by the supervisors for the purpose of ma-
cadamizing certain specified roads in the respective dis-
tricts of the county, and the residue of the road tax to be
used for the repairs of roads, bridges, and so forth, as the
board of supervisors may direct.

2. The supervisors and commissioners of roads of each
magisterial district shall constitute a district board, and
shall meet in May of each year to advertise for letting to
contract for ensuing year.

3. The said commissioner of roads and supervisor of
that district, severally, shall, annually, at the meeting of
the board of supervisors, on the fourth Monday in July
of each year, let to contract to the lowest suitable bidder
or bidders, the work of keeping in repair the roads and
bridges in their districts, notice of which letting shall be
posted for ten days at each post-office and elsewhere in the
district; the said letting to be a whole or in sections, at
the discretion of the commissioner and supervisor of that
district, and for the year ending on the thirtieth day of
June of each year. They shall require the bids to be in
writing and signed by the contractor, and shall deliver the
same under seal to the supervisor of the district and com-
missioner of roads for their examination and approval or
rejection at their first meeting thereafter. Andif it shall
appear that no bid is accepted, then the commissioner of
roads and supervisors shall have worked said roads or
bridges built, as they shall deem best. Each contractor
shall be required to give bond, with good and acceptable
security, in a penalty of at least double the amount of his
bid, for the faithful performance of his contract, and in
any case not more than three-fourths of the money un-
der the contract shall be paid to any contractor until the
road, bridge, or work has been accepted and approved by the
commissioner of roads and supervisor in each district,
and a recovery may also be had for any breach of said con-
tract, in the name of the county, by motion, after ten days’
notice to the contractor and his securities. The attorney
for the commonwealth shall institute and prosecute such
motion. The said contracts and bonds shall be filed with
the clerk of the board of supervisors.

4. The contractors shall be entitled to the services for
not more than two days in each year, of all male persons
in the county of Shenandoah from sixteen years of age
to sixty, except those that have been exempted by the
county court of Shenandoah, and all those exempt accord-
ing to existing laws, as in all such cases made and pro-
vided, and the said contractor shall be entitled to all rem-
edies now existing for the collection of fines for failure
to work when duly summoned by him, against persons
liable for that duty according to section one thousand
and ten Virginia code, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
The road board shall assign hands to the roads, in so far
as practicable, nearest their respective places of residence.
Every contractor shall be a citizen of Shenandoah county.
5. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of roads to
yive personal supervision to all the roads and bridges
evithin their respective districts, to see that the contractor
is faithfully performing his contract, and for any failure
in carrying it out, the commissioner of the district shal]
at once institute, through the prosecuting attorney, pro-
ceedings for the recovery of damages for the breach of
said contract, and it shall be the duty of every such com-
missioner of roads to cause the roads in his district to be
kept cleared, smoothed of rocks and obstructions, of nec-
essary width, well drained, and otherwise in good order,
to secure from the falling of dead timber therein, and
across each stream, when it is necessary and practicable,
a sufficient bridge, bench, or log, for the accommodation
of foot passengers; and for every breach of duty under
this section, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

6. The commissioner of roads shall receive, as compen-
sation, not exceeding two dollars per day while actually
engaged, but in no case shall his compensation exceed
one hundred dollars per annum, to be paid by the county.

7. All levies made and collected under this act, shall
be collected and accounted for by the county treasurer as
other levies are, and shall be paid out on the order of the
district board.

8. No member of the board of supervisors or commis-
sioner of roads, ehall be directly or indirectly interested
in apy contract made under this act, and any participa-
tion therein by either, shall render the contract null and
void.

9. When the court shall order the opening of a new
road or the erection of a new bridge, the work of opening
or building the same shall be let to contract, according
to section three hereinbefore mentioned, by the commis-
sioner and supervisor of that district in which said road
or bridge is located, the contractor giving bond and secu-
rity, to be approved and accepted by the district board.
All petitions for roads shall be referred by the court if,
in the opinion of the court, they are believed to be meri-
torious, to the district board, when roads ought to be
changed or established, for their approval or disapproval,
who are directed to make report thereof, accompanied
with their reasons for said report, and shall also give any
and all the information necessary in enabling the court
to have an adequate apprehension of the matter, to which
report exceptions may be taken, if any, and the court, at
its discretion, may hear evidence, and if the opinion of
the court be against the opening of the road, the petition
shall be dismissed; but if favorable to the change or
opening of the road, then the land owners along the route
shall be duly summoned to show cause why the report
of the district board shall not be confirmed, and other
proceedings had upon said petition shall be, in every
instance, at the cost of the parties.

10. The board of supervisors shall fix the compensation
of commissioners of roads and all other powers necessary
to be employed in executing this act. For the additional
service required by this act, the supervisors shall receive
two dollars a day while actually engaged, but in no case
shall the compensation of any one of them exceed fifty
dollars per annum, to be paid by the county.

11. That at the regular election in May there shall be
elected in each magisterial district one commissioner of
roads, who shall reside in the district for which he is
elected, and whose term of office shall be for two years,
beginning on the first day of July next succeeding his
election. Each commissioner of roads, appointed or
elected, shall qualify at the time and in the manner pre-
scribed by law for the qualification of magisterial district
officers, and shall, at the time of his qualification, or be-
fore he enters upon the discharge of his duties, give bond
with good personal security in the sum of two hundred
dollars.

12. If the board of supervisors shall neglect or refuse
to perform any duty required of them by this act, the
county court may, upon the application of any person in-
terested by mandamus, compel said board to perform such
duty.

13. All acts and parts of acts, whether by special act or
not, inconsistent herewith are hereby expressly repealed ;
but such provisions of the general road law of the state,
as it appears in the code of Virginia eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven and any acts amendatory thereof, to the
time of approval of this act, as do not conflict with this
act, shall continue in force in the county of Shenandoah.

14. This act shal] be in force from and after the first
day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-two.