Chap. 829.—An ACT to provide for the working, opening, and keeping in repair
the roads in the county of Patrick, and for the building and keeping in repair
the bridges in the same county.

Approved March 3, 1898.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That it shall be
the duty of the board of supervisors of Patrick county, at their annual
meetings in July of each year, to levy a tax of not less than fifteen and
not to exceed twenty cents on the one hundred dollars’ value, on the
property, real and person], in the said county, which tax shall be known
as the road tax; and said tax in each magisterial district of said county
shall be expended in said district in the manner hereinafter provided,
except, however, that the road tax collected from the Danville and
Western railroad shall be equally expended among the several districts
of the county.

2. The board of supervisors shall, as soon as practicable after the
passage of this act, recommend to the county court of said county a
suitable person for each magisterial district of said county as superin-
tendent of roads and bridges of their respective districts: provided, that
it shall be lawful for the said board to adopt the provisions of section
seventeen of this act as to any one or more of the said magisterial dis-
tricts.

3. It shall be the duty of the county court of said county, upon the
receipt of such recommendations (which shall be certified to said court
by the clerk of said board), to appoint such persons as such superin-
tendents; and in like manner thereafter, upon like recommendations of
the board of supervisors, the said county court shall annually, at its
October term, make such appointments.

4. The superintendents first appointed under this act shall hold office
until the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety-nine, and
those annually appointed thereafter shall hold office for one year from
the first day of January succeeding their appointments.

5. The superintendents so appointed shall qualify at the term of court
at which they are appointed, by taking an oath faithfully to discharge
the duties of their offices, as well as the general oath of office prescribed
by law, and by giving bonds, conditioned for the faithful performance
of the duties of their offices, in the penalty of five hundred dollars, with
surety to be approved by the county court; said bonds to be payable to
said magisterial districts respectively. The said bonds shall contain a
waiver of the homestead exemption, and shall be recorded as other ofli-
cial bonds are required by law to be recorded.

6. In case of vacancy occurring by reason of the death, removal or
resignation of any such superintendents, or for any other cause, such va-
cancy for the unexpired term shall be filled in the same manner as pro-
vided for the original appointment.

7. Itshall be the duty of the said superintendents of roads and bridges
to take charge of the opening, working and repairing of the public roads,
and the building, construction and repairing of the bridges in their re-
spective districts, except as hereinafter provided as to the opening of
new roads, and as to the building and repairing of those bridges, the
opening, building and repairing of which are, by sections nineteen and
twenty of this act, made charges upon the county levy. They shall, as
far as practicable with the means furnished them hy the board of super-
Visors, cause the said roads to be kept cleared, smoothed of rocks and
obstructions, of necessary width, well drained, and otherwise in good
order, and secure from the falling of the dead timber therein; they shall
cause to he placed and kept at the crossing or fork of every road a sign-
board, on which shall be stated in plain letters the most noted place and
distance to which each road leads; they shall cause the said bridges to be
kept in a safe condition for public travel; and shall cause a sufficient
bench, bridge or log to be placed across every stream when necessary for
the accommodation of foot passengers.

8. The said superintendents shall, within their respective districts,
perform all the duties in the opening of new roads and in the building
and repairing of bridges, which are required of viewers and commis-
sioners appointed by the county courts under the provisions of chapter
forty-three of the code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.

0. Said superintendent shall have charge of and provide for all horses,
mules, oxen, Implements, tools and machines which the said board of
supervisors, Whenever it deems it expedient, is hereby authorized to buy
for the several magisterial districts, and deliver to said superintendents,

taking their receipts therefor.

10. The board of supervisors may authorize the said superintendents
to hire hands, teams and implements for carrying on the work by the
dav, weck or month, and at a cost to be fixed by the board from time to
time

The superintendents may take from any convenient lands go
much wood, stone, gravel or earth as may be necessary to be used in
constructing or repairing any road, bridge or causeway, and may, for
the purpose of draining the road, ‘out a ditch through any lands ad-
joining the same, the owner or tenant of such lands to be compensated
therefor as provided in section nine hundred and eighty-six, code of
Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven: provided, such wood,
stone, gravel or earth be not taken from, and such ditch be not cut
through, any lot in a town, yard or garden without the consent of the
owner.

12. Whenever any superintendent deems it necessary he may, with
the consent of the board of supervisors and for a compensation to be
fixed bv said board, engage a civil engineer or surveyor to assist in the
construction of any road or bridge.

13. For the purpose of defraying the expenses incurred by the super-
intendents in performing the duties prescribed by this act, the board of
supervisors shall, from time to time, place in the hands of said super-
intendent such sums of money, derived from the road tax of their re-
spective districts, as may be necessary, not to exceed two hundred
dollars at one time.

14. The said superintendents shall make reports in writing to the
board of supervisors at the regular meeting of or whenever required by
the said board, showing their transactions as such superintendents and
the general conditions of the roads and bridges within their respective
distriets, and furnishing itemized statements of the money received by
them and their disbursements thereof, which reports shall be sworn tv
by the superintendents, and shall be supported by proper vouchers.
The said superintendent shall be subject to the general direction of the
board of supervisors, and the said board is hereby authorized to pre-
scribe any system or regulations for working the roads that it may deem
expedient.

15. It shall be the duty of the several supervisors from time to time to
inspect the roads and bridges in their respective districts, and ascertain
and report at the regular meetings of the board whether or not the said
superintendents have faithfully performed their duties. The reports so
made by the several supervisors shall be sworn to by them and filed by
the clerk of said board in his office. For rendering the services pre-
scribed by this section the said supervisors shall receive out of the road
fund of their respective districts a compensation at the rate of two dol-
lars per day for the time they may be actually engaged, not to exceed
ten days.

16. The board of supervisors shall determine what compensation shall
be allowed the said superintendents and fix the time of payment of the
same, and may either make such compensation uniform during the year
or compensate said superintendents by the day, week, or month, as the
said board shall determine. But no compensation shall be allowed any
superintendent except at a regular meeting of the board, nor unless the
supervisor of his district shall have filed a report as required by the pre-
ceding section, and it shall appear from said report that such superin-
tendent has faithfully performed his duties.

17. The board of supervisors may, if it deem proper, let to contract
the working, repairing, and supervision of the roads and bridges in any
magisterial district of said county, or in different parts or sections of such
districts; such contracts, however, not to include the actual building or
repairing of any bridge the building or repairing of which are, by section
nineteen of this act, made a charge upon the county levy. And for that
purpose the said board shall adopt specifications for the working, repair-
ing, and supervision of such reads and bridges, fix the terms upon which
the contractors shall be paid, and the time for which such contracts will
be entered into, and shall direct the supervisors of the districts to which
the provisions of this section shall be applied to receive proposals for the
opening, working, repairing, and supervision of the roads and bridges in
such districts, or in such parts or sections thereof as may be determined
upon by the said board. It shall thereupon be the duty of the said su-
pervisors to post notices in writing, for at least ten diys, at three or more
public places in the said districts, that such proposals will be received;
such notices shall specify the time and place at which such proposals
will be received; shall state the specifications adopted by the said board, the
length of time for which such contracts will be entered into and the terms
of payment, and shall show that the contractors will be required to per-
form the duties prescribed by section twenty of this act. The supervi-
sors, after receiving such proposals, shall report the same to the board of
supervisors, and such proposals as the board of supervisors shall approve
shall be certified to the county court of said county. It shall thereupon
be the duty of said court to direct the said supervisors to reduce to
writing contracts between their respective districts and the contractors,
which shall be signed by the supervisors, on behalf of their respective dis-
tricts and thesaid contractors; and the court shall also require such con-
tractors to enter into bonds, payable to the district with which they shall
have contracted, in penalties and with sureties to be fixed and approved
by the court. Upon the execution of such bonds the said contracts shall
be binding upon the said districts and the said contractors: provided,
that no person who is ineligible to the office of superintendent of roads
and bridges under section two of this act, and no member of the board
of supervisors shall, directly or indirectly, become a contractor under
this section. The bonds executed by such contractors shall be recorded
as other oflicial bonds are required by law to be recorded.

18. It shall be the duty of the several supervisors to inspect the work
done by the said contractors in the same manner and for the same com-
pensation as is provided in section fifteen of this act, and file at the re-
gular mectings of the board of supervisors like reports as to the manner
in which such contractors have discharged their duties; and no com-
pensation shall be allowed any contractor unless the supervisors of the
district with which he contracted shall report that he has faithfully dis-
charged his duties under such contract.

19. The said board of supervisors shall, as soon as practicable after
the passage of this act, make outa list of the bridges in the said county,
and of those over streams constituting the boundary lines of said county,
the building, rebuilding, and repairing of which shall be paid for out of
the county levy. And the building, rebuilding, and repairing of all
other bridges not included in such list shall be paid for out of the district
road tax of the district in which they are located.

20. The county court of said county shall let the building, rebuilding,
and repairing of all bridges to be paid for out of the county levy under
the preceding section, and the opening of new roads, in the manner pro-
vided for in chapter forty-three, code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and
eluhty-seven, except that the district superintendents of roads and bridges
of the several districts, or the contractors appointed under section seven-
teen of this act, as the case may be, shall, within their respective dis-
tricts, or parts of district, perform all the duties of viewers and commis-
sioners prescribed by said chapter. And whenever any superintendent
or contractor shall report to the said county court, or to the judge thereof
in vacation, that any of the bridges that are to be kept in repair, built,
or rebuilt out of the county levy need repairing or rebuilding, it shall
be the duty of the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, to enter
an order directing the said superintendent or contractor, as the case may
be, to receive proposals for the work; and the said judge is hereby au-
thorized to confirm, in vacation, the report of any superintendent or
contractor letting such work when said judge deems it necessary, and to
direct the work to proceed or refer the matter to the board of supervisors,
as the law provides in such cases. And it shall be the duty of the said
superintendent or contractors, ag the case may be, to report to the said
court, or the judge thereof in vacation, when any of the bridges to be
paid for out of the county levy need repairing or rebuilding.

21. The board of supervisors, with the consent of the county court,
or the Judye thereof in vacation, shall have power, and the said board
is hereby authorized, to employ upon the county roads or any portion
thereof, all vagrants and convicted criminals confined in the county jail,
and all persons confined in the said jail in default of the payment of
fines imposed upon them; said persons to be worked under the super-
vision of the said superintendents of roads and bridges of the several
districts, subject to such rules and regulations as the said board may
prescribe. But in such case the board, maintenance, and cost of guard-
ing such persons, where necessary, shall be paid for out of the road tax
of the district in which they may be worked.

22. All laws or parts of laws inconsistent with the provisions of this
act, or in conflict therewith, are hereby repealed so far as it applies to
Patrick county.

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