Chap. 407.—An ACT to provide forthe appointment of a road
commissioner in each magisterial district of Hanover county,
and to define his duties and powers.

Approved February 25, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the judge of the county court of Hanover county,
upon the recommendation of the board of supervisors of
his county, shall, at the May term of his court in the year
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and every two years
thereafter, appoint for each magisterial district in said
county one commissioner of roads, who shall, on taking
before the clerk of the court the usual oath of office re-
quired of other county or district officers, enter upon the
duties of his office on the first day of July following his ap-
pointment, and continue in office for a term of two years,
or until his successor is appointed and qualified: provi-
ded that such judge may, if he think proper, reject the
recommendations made in either or all of the districts in
said county, and unless the board of supervisors recom-
mend other persons suitable, in his opinion, for said office
within thirty days after their first recommendation has
been rejected, he shall fill the said office by his own ap-
pointment, in term time or in vacation. No recommenda-
tion, however, made by the board of supervisors shall be
rejected by the judge except for reasons entered of record.

2. Said road commissioner shall have a general super-
vision and control of the county roads and bridges in his
respective magisterial district, and see to the enfoce ment
of the road laws in force therein. It shall also be his
duty to personally inspect all the county roads and bridges
in his district at least once a year, or oftener, as he may
be required by the board of supervisors, and to direct, as
far as practicable, the road surveyors or overseers therein
in the repairing or mending the county roads, and to make
to the board of supervisors of the county from time to time
such recommendations as to how the roads or bridges in
his district should be repaired or kept in order as he may
deem advisable; and he shall also make full report to the
board of supervisors of the county at their November
meeting in each year, or at such other meeting as the
board may designate, of the condition of the roads and
bridges in his respective district, and if, in his judgment,
the roads in his district, or any part or parts thereof from
any cause should be let to contract, he shall so report to
the said board; and if, in his opinion, any road surveyor
or overseer in his district is incompetent or negligent in
the discharge of his duties, said commissioner shall report
this fact also.

3. It shall furthermore be the duty of the road commis-
sioner in the several districts in said county, in their re-
spective annual reports required by the preceding section,
to make such recommendations as he may deem advisable
as to the discontinuance, alteration, or opening of an
road in his district, and no road in his district shall be
discontinued, altered, or established, until said commis-
sioner has been examined by the court touching the same.

4, It shall be the duty of the road commissioner of
each magisterial district in said county to attend at the
November meeting of the board of supervisors of the
county, or at such other annual meeting as the board may
designate for the purpose of auditing the payment of the
accounts and claims of road surveyors or overseers and
other persons, for teams and material furnished on the
roads; and no account orclaim of any road surveyor or
overseer, or of any person for material or teams furnished
shall be ordered paid by the board unless the road com-
missioner of the district from which the claim is made,
by endorsement thereon, certify that he has, within sixty
days next preceding the date of his endorsement, person-
ally inspected the roads in such road surveyor or over-
seer’s precinct, and that to the best of his (said road com-
missioner) judgment and belief, the service claimed to
have been rendered, or the teams or material claimed to
have been furnished, in such account or claim, was ren-
dered or furnished. Suitable blanks for making out the
accounts or claims of road surveyors or overseers, or for
materials or teams furnished, with the necessary certifi-
cate of the road commissioner on the back thereof, shall
be provided by the said board of supervisors.

5. The road commissioner in each of the magisterial
districts of said county, shall do and perform such other
duties, consistent with the provisions of this act, as may
be required of him by the board of supervisors, and shall
receive for each day’s service rendered in the discharge of
his duties hereunder, or while attending before the board
of supervisors of his county, as herein required, the sum
of two dollars and fifty cents, to be paid out of the county
levy: provided that he shall not receive compensation for
more than forty days’ service in any one year.

6. If any road commissioner in said county falsely cer-
tify to the correctness of the claim or account of any
road surveyor or overseer, or other person, in the endorse-
ment required of him hereunder, he shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof before a
justice of the peace or the county court of said county,
be fined not less than twenty dollars, nor more than one
hundred dollars, and be forthwith removed from his of-
fice by the judge of said courts, and the office so vacated,
shall be filled by appointment of said judge for the un-
expired term thereof.

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