CnChap. 330.—An ACT to improve the main thoroughfares of Rappahannock
county.

Approved February 22, 19804.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
board of supervisors of Rappahannock county are hereby authorized
to levy a tax of not exceeding ten cents on the hundred dollars’
worth of real and personal property of said county, to be collected
as other taxes are now collected—said tax to be in addition to the
district or any special tax now authorized by the general road law;
and said tax to be kept as a separate fund and to be expended in the
improvement of not exceeding eighty-five miles of the main tho-
roughfares of Rappahannock county, and the amount to be expended
upon each mile of said thoroughfares shall not exceed the sum of
seventy-five dollars per mile, and the said thoroughfares to be se-
lected in the manner hereinafter provided.

2. Three disinterested freeholders of Rappahannock, one being
skilled in road-making or improvement of roads, shall be appointed
by the board of supervisors on or before the first day of December,
eighteen hundred and ninety-four, the said three disinterested
freeholders to be residents of the said county and living in different
sections of said county. The said three disinterested freeholders
shall select the said eighty-five miles of main thoroughfares which
are to be improved—twenty-two miles of the said eighty-five miles
shall be in Wakefield township, inasmuch as the tax paid by Wake-
field township is more than half of that paid by the residue of the
county, and when the amount of tax paid by said Wakefield town-
ship is reduced, should that be the case at any time, the number of
miles to be worked in said township shall be correspondingly re-
duced—and shall divide the said eighty-five miles into sections not
exceeding ten miles in length, and they shall let the said sections to
the lowest bidder, after having advertised the time, terms and place
of letting for thirty days in some newspaper circulating in said
county, or by handbills, as to them may seem best. They shall
have the power to reject any or all bids, and the person to whom the
contract for improving any of the said sections of main thorough-
fares may be awarded shall execute bond, with good security, in the
penalty of at least the amount of his bid, and conditione dfor the
faithful performance of his duty in improving said thoroughfares.
Upon the completion of the section or sections for which any person
may have taken the contract, the said disinterested freeholders, if
satisfied that the contract of said bidder has been fully complied
with and the road improved in accordance with the contract and
specifications, shall give a warrant for the amount due to said con-
tractor on account of the improvement of said main thoroughfares,
directed to the treasurer of Rappahannock county, who shall duly
honor the same when signed by all of said disinterested freehold-
ers.

3. The said three disinterested freeholders shall be knuwn as the
board of road commissioners of Rappahannock county, and all
contracts made with them under this designation shal! be lawful and
binding ; and under such designation they shall have the power to
sue and be sued, to make contracts and to discharge all duties apper-
taining to them in the improvement of said eighty-five miles of
main thoroughfares of Rappahannock county.

4. The said board of road commissioners of Rappahannock county
shall select one of their members as chairman, and one as clerk,
who shall keep a record of all their proceedings, which record, when
all of their duties shall have been discharged and ended under this
act, shall be returned to and filed in the county court clerk’s office
of Rappahannock county, and be there received and filed as a record
in said office, open to the inspection of the public.

5. The said board of road commissioners of Rappahannock county
shall, for their services under this act, receive for every day’s actual
service in the discharge of their duty as said road commissioners
the sum of two dollars each. The sum, however, received by said
commissioners shall not, in any one year, exceed the sum of fifty
dollars each. None of the said board of road commissioners herein-
before mentioned shall in any wise be directly or indirectly inter-
ested in any contract for the improvement of said sections of main
thoroughfare, or any portion or portions thereof.

6. The first tax levied under this act shall be for the year com-
mencing on the first day of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-
five, and a tax shall likewise be levied at the rate of ten cents on
the hundred dollars’ worth of property, as provided in the first sec-
tion of this act, for the year commencing on the first day of Febru-
ary, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and also for the year com-
mencing on the first day of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-
seven, after which there shall be no furtber levy of any tax under
this act for the improvement of said main thoroughfares of said
county.

7. The said eighty-five miles of road to be improved under the
authority of this act shall be divided into three parts, working one-
third of said eighty-five miles during the year commencing on the
first of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and working the
second third during the year commencing on the first day of Febru-
ary, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and working the final third of
said eighty-five miles during the year Gommencing on the first day
of February, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven. And the said
road commissioners shall have the power to designate which of said
eighty-five miles of road shall be improved during said years here-
inbefore mentioned.

8. Should any controversy arise between the said road commis-
sioners and any contractor for the improvement of any of said tho-
roughfares, the matters in controversy shall be referred without
pleadings to the board of supervisors, who shall weigh the whole
matter in controversy and decide all differences; and should the
road commissioners or the contractor be dissatisfied or aggrieved by
the decision of the said board of supervisors they shall be entitled to
an appeal to the county court of Rappahannock county, who shall
hear and decide the matters in controversy without formal plead-
ings, and the decision of the county court upon the matters in con-
troversy shall be final, from which there shall be no appeal.

9. The said road commissioners shall have supervision over the
improvement of said roads and observe the manner in which the
contractors carry on their improvement of said main thoroughfares ;
and they shall watch the progress of the work and see that it is per-
formed in accordance with the contract and specifications which
may have been entered into in regard to the same by the contractor
or contractors.

10. The said road commissioners shall, on or before the -first day
of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, select and designate
by stones, stakes or otherwise, the said eighty-five miles of road
which are to be improved; and they shall publish in some paper
circulating in Rappahannock county, by a general description, the
said eighty-five miles of road which are to be improved; and they
shall advertise for proposals to improve said roads on or before the
first day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, giving in their
advertisement for said proposals specifications of the character of
the work to be done by the contractors for the improvement of said
394 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

roads. And the said commissioners shall use their best judgment
and discretion in making out the specifications for the imprdévement
of said roads, having regard to the character of said roads and the
amount to be expended in the improvement of the same.

11. In construing the amount of not more than seventy-five dollars
to be expended upon each mile of said main thoroughfares, it is
hereby declared to be the intent of this act that the average for each
section shall not exceed the sum of seventy-five dollars per mile;
and on any mile of said sections a greater or lesser sum than seventy-
five dollars may be expended, as the character of the roads may in-
dicate, the total average not to be greater than seventy-five dollars
per mile for any section.

12. The bonds executed by the contractors for the faithful per-
formance of their duties for the improvement of said sections shall
be payable to the road commissioners of Rappahannock county, and,
in case of default, action thereupon shall be had in the circuit court
of Rappahannock county; and in all other differences between the
said board of road commissioners of Rappahannock county and said
contractors, except default as herein mentioned, jurisdiction for the
determination of the same shall be, as hereinbefore provided, in the
board of supervisors, with appeal to the county court.

13. The contracts for the improvement of the first one-third of
the said eighty-five miles of main thoroughfares shall be let on or
before the first day of March, eighteen hundred and ninety-five, and
for the second one-third of said eighty-five miles of main thorough-
fares the contract shall be let on or before the first day of March,
eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and for the remaining one-third
of said eighty-five miles of main thoroughfares the contract shall
be let on or before the first day of March, eighteen hundred and
ninety-seven; and the contractors shall be required to complete
their contracts for the improvement of the sections for which they
have contracted within nine months from the first day of March of
the year in which the contracts may have been let.

14. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of the revenue for
Rappahannock county to extend the special tax provided for in this
act upon his books; and the said special tax shall be collected by
the treasurer of Rappahannock county, who shall add the same to
the tax-bills for said county and collect the said special tax at the
same time that the other taxes for said county are collected; and
for his services in collecting the said special road tax, he shall re-
ceive the same commission as is now provided by law for collecting
the county and state revenue in said county. All expenses incurred
in the execution of this act shall be paid out of the special road levy
herein provided for.

15. The sense of the qualified voters of Rappahannock county on
the adoption or rejection of this act shall be taken at the election to
be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, eigh-
teen hundred and ninety-four; and to this end there shall be pro-
vided at the several voting precincts in the said county a separate
ballot-box, in which shall] be deposited the ballots of the qualified
voters of said county, upon which said ballots there shall be written
or printed the following words: “For the special road tax levy,”
“Against the special road tax levy’; and in case a majority of the
zaid qualified voters of said county shall vote for the special road
levy, this act shall be in force and virtue from and after the ratifi-
cation of the same by the qualified voters of said county; and in
case a majority of the qualified voters of said county vote to reject
this act, it shall be of no effect.

16. No contractor who takes a contract for the improvement of any
section of road under this act shall be allowed to employ convict
labor in the improvement of the same.

17. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed ; but this special act is not intended to
interfere in any way with the law governing the working of roads in
Rappahannock county, but is intended merely to provide for the
improvement of the eighty-five miles of main thoroughfares herein
mentioned.