Chap. 612.—An ACT to provide for working and keeping in repair the roads anc
bridges in Nansemond county.

Approved March 3, 1894.

l. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That on anc
after the first day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-four, it shal
be lawful for the county of Nansemond to work and keep in repai
the highways, roads and bridges of said county as herein provided

2. The board of supervisors of said county shall take charge o
and have worked and kept in repair all public roads and bridge:
heretofore and hereafter established, and shall make and prescrib
such specifications, restrictions, directions, rules and regulations a
they may deem best for the working, keeping in order and repairin;
the roads in the said county. They shall designate the principa
toads in the county upon which they shall, in their discretion, orde
more work to be done and more money expended than upon othe
toads of less importance.

3. The board of supervisors of said county shall hold monthl.
meetings at the court-house of the county for the discharge of the
duties under this act, on such a day of the month as they may selec
and may appoint and hold such other regular meetings and suc
special meeting at such othertimes and places as may be necessar
for that purpose, and be governed in their meetings and their dec:
sions by the same rules and laws that govern the board in the di:
charge of their duties as supervisors of the county.

4. It shall be the duty of each supervisor to go over the roads ¢
his district at least once in the months of February and August «
each year, and to keep himself informed as to the condition ,of tk
public roads and bridges in his magisterial district, the manner }
which they are worked and kept in repair, and whether or not tl
commissioners (as hereinafter designated) have fully performe
their duties, and make a written report thereon to the board of 81
pervisors at their first meeting in March and September in eac
year, which report shall be filed in the clerk’s office of the count
court of said county. Each supervisor shall receive for his services,
as specified under this act, an annual salary of fifty dollars, to be
paid by the treasurer of the county out of the general road levy,
upon the order of the board of supervisors.

5. The county judge of said county, upon the recommendation of
the board of supervisors, shall, at the May or June term of his court,
appoint one commissioner of roads for each magisterial district, who
shall qualify before the county court of said county on or before the
first day of July next after his appointment by taking the usual
oath of office, and each of them shall enter into and acknowledge a
bond before said court, with security to be approved by the court, in
the penalty of three thousand dollars. Such bond shall be payable
to the county, and with condition for the faithful performance of his
duties as such commissioner. The said commissioners shall hold
office for four years from the first day of July next after their ap-
pointment: provided the term of office of the first commissioners
appointed hereunder shall expire on the first day of July, eighteen
hundred and ninety-five; and the said commissioners may be re-
moved from office by the county judge for failure to discharge their
duties.

6. It shall be the duty of each commissioner to lay off all the
public roads in his district into sections, which he may designate
by numbers, but the length of such sections shall not exceed ten
miles. The commissioner shall each year ascertain the amount and
character of work to be done on each section in his district, and shall
prepare specifications thereof, which, after approval by the boardof
supervisors, shall be posted in three or more public places on the
section on which the work is to be performed, or otherwise published
as said board may direct, calling for bids for the same for the term
of one year, notices of which lettings shall be posted for at least ten
days. They shall require the bids to be in writing and signed by
the contractor, and shall deliver the same under seal to the board of
supervisors for their examination and approval or rejection at their
first meeting thereafter. Each contractor shall be required to give
bond with good security, in the penalty at least double the amount
of his bid, for the faithful performance of his contract, and a re-
covery may be had for any 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 securities.
The attorney for the commonwealth shall institute and prosecute
such motion. The said contracts and bonds shall be filed with the
county clerk of said county.

7. The commissioner in posting specifications of work to be done
on any section and advertising for bids for the same shall also state
in said notices the number of persons residing on said section who
may be liable to be called upon to work the roads under the general
road laws of the state providing for the working of roads, or of such
of said road laws as shall be in operation or binding at the time of
posting said notices. And the value at which the labor or work of
such persons is to be accepted by the contractor is to be stated in
his¥bid and to be deducted from the price he is to receive for the
work to be done under his contract. The commissioner shall require
the contractor for such work to execute a written agreement with the
county, setting forth all matters appertaining to the contract. When
the work contracted for shall have been completed, the commissioner
shall inspect the same, and if it shall appear to him to have been
performed in accordance with the terms of the contract, he shall
make report thereof to the board of supervisors, who shall issue their
warrant in the usual way upon the county treasurer for the amount
due him under the contract. All matters in controversy under such
contract shall be submitted to the board of supervisors and finally
settled by them. Each commissioner shall annually, at the meeting
of the board of supervisors in June, make to them a full report of
bis work as such commissioner for the past year, which report shall
be filed in the clerk’s office. Each commissioner of roads shall re-
ceive for his services an annual salary of one hundred and fifty dol-
lars, to be paid quarterly by the county treasurer out of the general
road levy, upon the order of the board of supervisors.

8. The board of supervisors of the county shall levy and appro-
priate for general road purposes under this act the capitation tax of
fifty cents on every male citizen in the county over twenty-one years
of age, as allowed under the constitution, and they shall levy along
with the county, and in addition to the capitation tax, a tax upon
the property, real and personal, assessed for taxation in the county,
which shall be applied to the working, keeping in order and repair-
ing the public roads and bridges, and the compensation of the officers
appointed under this act. Such tax shall not exceed twenty cents
upon every one hundred dollars in value of such property, and the
same shall be collected, accounted for and applied as road funds
under this act as if it were a county levy, except that the fund col-
lected from each magisterial district shall be kept separate by the
county treasurer: provided that the tax levied upon property in the
town of Suffolk shall be at such a rate as requested by the council
of Suffolk, not to exceed ten cents on the one hundred dollars of
the assessed value, and shall be collected by the treasurer of Suffolk
and expended under the direction of the council of Suffolk on the
public roads within one mile from the corporate limits of said
town. °

9. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of roads to give per-
sonal supervision to all the roads and bridges in his district; to see
that the contraetor is faithfully performing his contract, and to in-
stitute through the commonwealth’s attorney proceedings in the
county court of said county for any breach of said contract.

10. No member of the board of supervisors ur commissioners of
roads shall be directly or indirectly interested in any contract under
this act, and and any participation therein by either shall render
the contract null and void.

11. 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 as now provided by law.
12. The county judge shall have power at any time for good cause
to remove from office any commissioner of roads, and to appoint his
successor to fill his unexpired term.

13. The board of supervisors shall keep a book known as a road-
book, in which shall be kept an account of the road tax levied and
the amount collected therefor and how expended.

14. All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby re-
pealed.

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