Chap. 961.—An ACT to provide for working and keeping in repair the public
roads and bridges of the county of Washington, and to authorize the board
of supervisors to borrow money by the issue of bonds and to build bridges
and macadamize the roads in said county, and to authorize the qualified
voters of said county to vote on the question.

Approved March 7, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
board of supervisors of the county of Washington be, and they are
hereby, constituted a road board for said county.

2. They shall annually levy, along with the county levy, a tax upon
all the property, real and personal, assessed for taxation in the several
magisterial districts of the county, which shall be apphed to working
and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges in said districts, and
the compensation of the engineer and others ‘provided for under the
provisions of this act. Such tax shall not be less than fifteen cents nor
more than twenty-five cents on every one hundred dollars valuation of
such property. The said levy shall be collected, accounted for, and
paid out on the warrant of the said board as if it were a county levy,
except that the levy for each magisterial district shall be kept separate
by ‘the county treasurer: prov ided, that each supervisor may draw on his
own warrant only the funds of his magisterial district. And a different
rate of taxation may be prescribed in ‘the different magisterial districts
in said county. And the amount collected in each magisterial district
shall be expended in the district it which it has been collected.

8. Said board of supervisors, at their first annual meeting, after
the passage of this act, or as soon thereafter as practicable, shall
appoint one tax-payer of said county, who shall be known as the “ road
engineer,” whose duty it shall be to superintend all roads in said county ;
and any application for a new road or change in grade of an old road
shall be made to the board of supervisors, and if considered of public
necessity, they shall order the said engineer to locate or relocate, as the
case may be, the said road, and make his report at their next meeting
of the probable cost of construction, the damages claimed, and any-
thing else pertinent that may be required by the said board: provided,
however, that no new road shall be located at a steeper grade than three
and one-half degrees, and no road already established shall receive
any of the public money after one year from the passage of this act,
unless it shall be regarded so as to conform to the same degree, unless
the engineer shall certify that it is impracticable to get the degree re-
quired by this act: provided further, that the county court shall have
the right to decide the question of the practicability or impracticability
ot the grade of any road upon evidence submitted on the report of said
engineer: provided further, the degree shall not be changed on the
road known as the Abingdon and Russell turnpike road. The board of
supervisors may reject or confirm the report of the engineer. If the
supervisor of a district in which a new road is located (or an old one
relocated, as the case may be) shall approve the report of the engineer,
then they shall confirm said report. And if the landowners through
whose land the road is proposed to be located or relocated, as the case
may be, cannot agree with the engineer as to the amount of damages,
or any other matter affecting their interest, then any landowner who
may feel aggrieved by the said report of the road engineer may have
the said report returned by the said board of supervisors to the next
term of the county court, where he may make exceptions thereto, and
then all the landowners shall be summoned to appear in court accord-
ing to the provisions of section nine hundred and forty-nine of the
code of Virginia, edition eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, in 50
far as it can be made applicable hereto, the county court considering
the report of the road engineer herein as if it were the report of the
viewers, contemplated in section nine hundred and forty-nine, and all
subsequent proceedings thereon shall be under the general provisions of
chapter forty-three of the said code, except that when any road shall
be ordered to be opened, made or altered, located or relocated, the same
shall be done by and under the supervision of the county road engineer
as herein provided: provided further, that the judge of the county
court shall, if he deems the said report of the road engineer insufficient
in any particular, recommit the said report to the said engineer for a
more full and explicit report, and in no case shall said report be acted
upon by said court until it has lain before the county court for ten days
after the landowners have been summoned, as herein provided, and any
proceeding under this act in the county court shall have precedence over
all other civil cases on the court docket, except unlawful detainer cases
on said docket.
The road engineer shall hold his office for two years from his ap-
pointment, unless sooner removed by said board for neglect of duty or
malfeasance in office. The said engineer shall receive such compensa-
tion for his services as said board shall allow, not to exceed three dollars
and fifty cents per day for the time actually employed by him in the
discharge of his official duties, to be paid out of the road fund of the
district in which the work has been done, by warrants drawn by the
said board on the treasurer of the county.

4. The engineer shall make annual reports to the board of super-
visors or oftener, as said board may direct, of the condition of the roads
and bridges in each magisterial district in said county, the progress
of any new work, the amount of money required to complete said work,
any change or changes necessary in any roads or bridges in the several
districts of the county, the probable cost of the same, and anything
else deemed pertinent by said board.

5. Each supervisor shall have charge of the roads under the direction
of the engineer of his district, and shall have power to appoint a suffi-
cient number of foremen to take charge of the hands in his district;
said foreman shall be able to read and write, and shall make reports
from time to time to the supervisors as he may direct. In case of
a road or bridge being on the line dividing two magisterial districts,
the road engineer and the supervisors of the adjoining districts shall
divide the road between each district in such a way as will equally divide
the expense of repairing said road.

If a bridge is to be built or repaired on the line, each district shall
bear one-half of the expense of building or repairing said bridge.
Each supervisor shall receive for his services, to be paid out of the
read fund of his district, one dollar and fiftv cents per day for each day
actually employed in looking after the roads in his district: provided,
he shall not receive more than thirty dollars for the same in any one
year. The foreman appointed under this act shall receive not less
than one dollar nor more than one dollar and twenty-five cents per
dav for the time actually emploved on their roads; and all hands
shall receive the usual price paid for hands in said county. The super-
visor of each district shall buy and keep in repair all the necessary
tools for working and keeping in repair said roads in his district. In the
event that expensive machinery is wanted, he mav combine with any or
all the other supervisors of the county in purchasing the same. In
case any foreman fails to keep his road in order, on the complaint of
any three tax-payers of his district he shall be fined not less than five
nor more than twenty dollars, if it can be shown that he has funds
at his command for repairing said roads. Said fine shall be recoverable
hefore any justice of the peace in said county. If any supervisor shall
fail or refuse to keep the roads in his district in repair, after being
notified by the road engineer to do so, and it can be shown that he
has money at his command, he shall be fined not less than fifty nor
more than one hundred dollars for each offense, said fine to be recover-
able before the county court of the county, and it is hereby made the
duty of the prosecuting attorney to prosecute said supervisor for such
failure.

6. All moneys expended on the roads under this act, except so
much as may be necessary to fix a bad place in road or break in bridze.
shall be expended between the first day of May and the last day ol
October of each year.

7. Be it further enacted, That for the purpose of macadamizing roads
and building new bridges in said county, the board of supervisors be,
and they are hereby, authorized to issue bonds in the name and on
behalf of the county of Washington, to be called “ bridge building and
road improvement bonds,” for a sum not exceeding one hundred thou-
sand dollars, and to sell the bonds under such conditions as are here-
inafter prescribed, and with the proceeds of such sale to build six steel
or iron bridges, two across the north fork, two across the middle fork,
and two across the south fork of Holston river, to be located by the
board of supervisors at the places most convenient for the people of
said county, and with the remainder of proceeds of sale of said bonds
to macadamize leading roads running at right angles from Norfolk and
western railroad to said bridges, beginning at the end on each road at
the said Norfolk and western railroad: provided further, that in the
Goodson district and in any magisterial district which does not touch
the Norfolk and western railroad, or any district having no bridge
built under the provisions of this act, such district may use its funds
from the sale of said bonds in macadamizing their leading roads desig-
nated by their supervisor and county engineer, macadamizing all roads
not less than nine feet wide of macadam under the most improved
plan for macadamizing, until the remainder of the proceeds of said
bonds has been expended.

8. That the bonds issued in pursuance of this act shall be coupon
bonds of not less in denomination than one hundred dollars nor more
than one thousand dollars each, payable in not less than ten vears
nor more than forty years from their date, and bearing interest payable
annually at a rate not exceeding six per centum per annum, the said
beard having the right to redeem anv of the said bonds after the expi-
ration of ten vears. The said bonds shall be issued in the name of
Washington county, Virginia, shall be signed by the chairman of the
board of supervisors of said county, attested by the clerk of the county
court thereof, and shall have affixed thereto the seal of the said board of
SUPeTVISOTS,

9. The said hoard of supervisors are hereby empowered to make sale
of said bonds, but no bond shall be sold for less than the par value
thereof, and the said bonds and coupons for interest thereon shall be
redeemable in Jawful money at maturity, and shall be receivable at
maturity for all taxes and other debts due the said county of Washing-
ton except school levies.

10. The form of said bonds and coupons shall be determined by said
beard of supervisors,

11. All monevs realized from the sale of said bonds shall be received
by the treasurer of the said county, and drawn out of his hands on
warrants issued by the board of supervisors: provided, that each super-
visor shall draw only the funds belonging to his own district.

12. The said bonds and coupons issued under this act shall be re-
deemable at the ollice of the treasurer of Washington county, and when
paid by him or received for taxes or other debts, shall be marked paid
and cancelled. Said bonds shall be exempt from all taxation of the
county.

13. The said board of supervisors shall create a sinking fund to be
applied to the redemption and payment of the bonds issued under this
act, and shall annually, until such bonds are paid, pay over to the
sinking fund commissioners provided for in this act a sum suflicient
to meet the interest annually, and pay off said bonds in forty years.

14. D. A. Duff, H. B. Roberts, and Wilham R. Kestner, and their
successors in office, are hereby appointed a board of sinking fund com-
missioners, who shall give bond to the board of supervisors, to be ap-
proved by them, in double the amount of money likely to come into
their hands, for the faithful performance of duty, whose duty it shall
be to receive said sinking fund from the board of supervisors, loan
same, or invest the same in road bonds of the county, and shall receive
for their services one per centum on all moneys so received and loaned.
Should either of said sinking fund commissioners fail or refuse to
qualify, or after qualifying resign or die, then said vacaney shall be
filled by the board of supervisors.

15. Provided further, that the board of supervisors shall not issue
anv bonds provided for in this act until it has ordered a special election
for the purpose, and submitted the question of issuing bonds under
this act to the qualified voters of Washington county. Thev shall fix
the time for holding such election, and cause a notice thereof to be
published at least four times in anv newspaper published in the eounty,
and to be posted at each voting place in the county, at least one month
before said election. Said election notices shall state the purposes for
which said election is held.

16. It shall be the duty of the officers charged with conducting elec-
tions in Washington county to hold an election, when so directed by
the board of supervisors, in accordance with the provisions of this act.
for the purpose of taking the sense of the qualified voters of said
county, upon the question of issuing the bonds authorized in this act.
Said election shall be bv ballot, and be conducted as other elections are
eondueted. Upon each ballot shall be printed the words “ for bonds,”
“aeainst bonds.” Hach voter shall be handed a ballot at the voting
place, and he shall express his choice by seratehing from the ballot the
words “for bonds.” if he desires to vote against the issue; “ against
bonds.” if he desires to vote for the issue.

17. The judges of each election preeinet shall ascertain the will of
the people by counting the ballots. and certify the result to the judge
of the county court in the manner and form of other elections.

18. The commissioners of election shall canvass the returns within
ten davs after the election and declare the results.

19. The bonds provided for in this act shall be issued if a majority
of those voting at such election shall vote for the issuance of the same
and if such majority shall include a majority of the frecholders votine
at such elections. But should a majority of the ballots be cast against
such issue. or should a majority of the ballots east by the freeholders
voting he cast against such issue, then the question shall not. without
further lecislative authoritv, be again submitted to the vote of the
people, and the bonds shall not be issued.
20. If the bonds provided for under this act shall be issued, the
county of Washington shall not issue any bonds for any other purposes
whatsoever, until at least one-half of the bonds herein provided for
have been paid.

21. Upon the submission of the propositon to the vote of the people,
if a majority should vote for “no bonds” and there shall be no bond
issue as hereinbefore provided, then it shall be lawful for the board
of supervisors to build bridges wherever the public necessity may
demand. Upon the recommendation of the supervisors of two adjoining
districts when they shall determine to build a bridge on the line between
said districts, or upon the recommendation of the supervisor of a district
when he shall decide to build a bridge in his own district, the board of
supervisors shall, by and with the advice of the county engineer, locate
said bridge and require said engineer to make a report to them, giving
plans and specifications and the probable cost of such bridge, and they
shall lay a local levy on said district or districts to pay for the building
of said bridge, and the district in which any bridge is built shall bear
the whole expense of such bridge, or if built between two districts
they shall bear each one-half of said expense, and the board of super-
visors shall issue certificates for the whole amount of said expense, pay-
able in one, two, three, and four years, bearing interest at the rate of
six per centum per annum, and the said certificates shall state upon
their face for what bridge thev are issued and out of what district levy
they shall be paid, and the terms of their payment.

22. The board of supervisors shall devise a system of bookkeeping
in order to carry out the intention of this act, and require by order.
the clerk of said board to keep said books as directed, and they shall
prescribe the method bv which the treasurer shall keep his books with
reference to the county and district road levy and the collection of
county and district road tax, and require said treasurer to follow said
plan, and if the treasurer or clerk of the board of supervisors shall
fail or refuse to so carry out the order of the board of supervisors,
they shall be fined for each offense not less than twenty-five dollars,
not more than fifty dollars, fine to be recoverable by motion after
reasonable notice in the cireuit court for the county of Washington.

23. It is further provided that the hoard of supervisors may let to
contract if they think proper, the building of anv of the bridges across
the said streams, or the macadamizing or keeping in repair any of the
roads provided for in this act, to the lowest responsible bidder, and have
the power to reject anv and all bids.

Specifications for said work shall be drawn by the road engineer, and
the work carried on under his supervision: provided further, that no
supervisor, road engineer. or foreman shall he personally interested,
either directly or indirectly, in anv contract for the building of anv
bridge or the making or altering of anv road.

24. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed.

25. This act shall he in force from its passage.