Chap. 179.—An ACT to provide for establishing, working, and keeping in re
pair the roads and building and repairing the bridges in the county of
Prince George. .

~ Approved March 14, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the act ap-
proved March twelfth, nineteen hundred and four, entitled an act t
amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to amend the road law of!
Prince George county, approved March third, eighteen hundred and
ninety-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

$1. The board of supervisors of Prince George county shall have origi-
nal jurisdiction to open, establish, alter, change, discontinue, and build
all roads and bridges in the county of Prince George.

$2. Every petition to open, establish, alter, or change any public road.
must first be presented to the supervisor of the district in which the road
is, or is proposed to be located, who shall endorse thereon his approval
or disapproval of the same and his reasons therefor, which petition and
the supervisor’s report, shall be laid before the board of supervisors at
its next meeting, and the board shall have authority, in its discretion, to
appoint five discreet freeholders of the county, any three of whom may
act, to view and examine such roads or routes and report upon the eyx-
pediency of changing or altering the location of any road or of opening
or establishing anv new road. The said viewers shall submit estimates
of the cost of changing or altering such road or of opening or establish-
ing such new road, including the building of any bridge or bridges that
may be necessary, and they may recommend a new or different route or a
modification of the route or change proposed, and submit estimate:
therefor.

$3. At least five days’ notice of the time and place, when and where.
the said viewers will meet, and the purpose of such meeting, shall be
given by posting notices at three or more suitable places in the vicinity
of the proposed new road or of the road which it is proposed to change
or alter. The viewers before they proceed to discharge their duties
shall be severally sworn to perform their duties impartially and to the
best of their judgment. The supervisor of the district in which the
new road is proposed to be established or the road altered or changed.
shall have authority to administer said oaths to the said viewers.
If the viewers decide that the public convenience requires the establish.
ment of such new road or the alteration or change of such old road, they
shall lay out the same, having respect for the shortest distance and the
best location, and shall assess the damage done to land through which the
road passes, taking into consideration the advantage to be derived from
the road passing through the land, and the said viewers shall make re-
port in writing to the board of supervisors at its next meeting, giving
the names of the proprietors and tenants of the lands on which it is
proposed to establish or alter such road, which of the proprietors and
tenants require compensation, and what will be a just compensation tc
each of the proprietors and tenants requiring compensation, but in nc
case shall any yard, garden, or orchard, or any part thereof, be taken
without the consent of the owner.

Tn all cases where further notice and the service of process or summons
have been waived in writing, by each of the said proprietors and tenants.
or in person or by attorney before the board, the board, in its discretion.
may at the same meeting to which said report is returned, determine the
question of establishing or altering such road, and in its discretion, hear
testimony and fix upon a just compensation to the proprietors and tenants
for the land proposed to be taken and the damage accruing therefrom.
But in the event that further notice and the service of process or sum-
mons have not been waived as above provided, unless the opinion of the
board be against establishing or altering such road, the board shall re-
quire its clerk to issue process to summons the proprietors and tenants
of the lands on which it is proposed to establish or alter such road to the
next meeting of the board to show cause against establishing or altering
such road. if any they can, but such process shall not be necessary as to
any proprietors or tenants who have in the manner hereinbefore provided
waived or acknowledged service of such process. Upon the return of
said process, duly executed as to all of said proprietors and tenants who
have not waived or acknowledged service of the same, defense may be
made to the said proceedings by any party, and the board of supervisors
inay, in its discretion, hear testimony touching the expediency of estab-
lishing or altering the road. Upon such hearing, unless the board be
of opinion that the road ought not to be established or altered, in which
vase it shall so order, it shall proceed to fix upon a just compensation to
the proprietors and tenants for the land proposed to be taken and the
damage accruing therefrom. But if any tenant or proprietor desire it,
or the board see cause for so doing, it may, in its discretion, appoint five
disinterested freeholders of the county as commissioners (any three of
whom may act), for the purpose of ascertaining a just compensation for
the land to be used for such road, after which the same proceedings shall
be had as provided for the commissioners for a like purpose under the
general road law of the State.

$4. The board of supervisors of Prince George county shall have gen-
eral supervision, control, and charge of working and keeping in repair
the roads and buildings and repairing the bridges of said county, and
for this purpose may purchase such teams, tools, implements, and ma-
chinery as in its discretion it may deem proper or necessary.
It shall have authority to direct the county surveyor of said county to
«dlefine the boundary of any road therein, and to alter the grade of anv
existing road, and to perform such other service as in the opinion of the
hoard may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act, for which
service the said surveyor shall receive reasonable compensation from the
said board, payable out of the road funds. Each supervisor of the sev-
eral magisterial districts of the said county shall give personal super-
vision to and shall have immediate charge and control of the roads and
bridges in their respective districts. It shall be the duty of such super-
visor to see that the roads in his district are kept cleared, smoothed of
rocks and other obstructions, of necessary width, and that the beds of the
roads are raised in the middle and sloped gradually each way, to the
sides, well drained, and secure from the falling of dead timber thereon.
and otherwise in good order; that a suitable sign-board is placed and
kept at every important fork or crossing, on which shall be stated in
plain letters the most noted place to which each road leads; and that
suitable bridges be constructed and maintained in a safe, substantial con-
dition over such streams and ravines as may need them; and that across
any stream or ravine where it may be necessary or practicable a sufficient
bridge, bench or log shall be made for the accommodation of foot passen-
gers, which shall always be kept in a safe condition; and where the bed-
of said roads are encroached upon such supervisor shall notify the per-
sons trespassing by written notice to remove the obstruction, and if the
same he not done in ten days, he shall cause said obstruction to be re-
moved and may recover the expense, with cost, before any justice of the
peace of said county.

$5. The supervisor of each magisterial district of the said county, in
the discharge of his duties, is hereby authorized and empowered to let the
working, improvement, and repairs of any road or roads, or the building
or repair of anv bridge or bridges in his district, to contract; may lay
off the roads of his district into sections and appoint or employ road
overseers for such sections; may employ or hire laborers, hands, teams.
implements, and machinery for the purpose of working and repairing the
roads and building and repairing the bridges in his district, and appoint
or employ foremen, who shall have charge of the same, and may adopt
such other methods, rules, specifications, and regulations as he may
deem necessary, proper, or expedient for working and repairing the roads
and building and repairing the bridges in his district, except that such
supervisor shall not purchase for the county, or for his district, anv
teams. implements, or machinery without first obtaining the consent of
the board of supervisors.

Whenever work is paid for by the day, not less than eight hours shall
constitute a day's work, and the pay per diem of such overseer or fore-
man shall be regulated in accordance with the number of hands, laborers.
teams, implements, or machinery actually under the charge of such over-
seer or foreman and worked or used by him.

$6. Each overseer or foreman appointed or employed under the pro-
visions of this act shall make out an itemized account of all work done by
him or under his charge or direction, showing the teams, tools, imple
ments, and* machinery used, and the number and names of the laborers
emploved, the dates on which the work was done, the number of hours
emploved each day, and the amount charged by each laborer for each day
or part of a day, shall make oath to the correctness thereof, before the
supervisor of the district in which the work was done, who is authorized
to administer oath for this particular purpose, or before any officer au-
thorized by law to administer oaths, and present the same to the super-
visor of said district.

It shall be the duty of the supervisor to whom such account is pre-
sented to inspect and examine the roads and bridges for the working, re-
pairing, or building of which the account is presented, and make report
thereof to the board, returning with such report as vouchers the said
account filed with him by the overseers and foreman as aforesaid, in
which report the said supervisor shall recommend the allowance or dis-
allowance of all such claims or accounts. If such supervisor is satisfied
that the claim or account should be allowed, he shall state in his said
report that he has made the inspection and examination hereinbefore
provided, the amount to which each overseer or foreman is entitled, that
each claim is just and a reasonable charge for the work done, and shall
recommend the payment of the same. It shall be the duty of the board
of supervisors to examine said report, and if the same is approved, it shall
order pavment to each of the overseers or foreman of the several amounts
to which each is entitled: provided, there is money in the county treas-
ury to the credit fund out of which such account should be paid.

§t. It shall be the duty of each supervisor to go over the roads in his
district at least twice a year, inspect said roads, and ascertain whether
or not said roads are properly worked and kept in proper condition and
repair, and whether or not the bridges in his district are in good repair
and in a safe condition, for which service the said supervisor shall re-
ceive the sum of two dollars per day: provided, however, he shall not be
paid for more than twenty days in any one year: provided, further, that
after the first day of January, nineteen hundred and eight, he may be
paid for not more than thirty days in any one year.

The clerk of the said board shall receive such compensation as the
board may prescribe not to exceed the sum of one hundred dollars in
any one year.

$8. Each member of the board of supervisors for a failure to perform
any duty required of him under this act, shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and shall pay a fine of not less than ten or more than one hun-
dred dollars, said fine to be applied to the public roads in the district in
which the failure to perform the duty occurs.

$9. The said supervisor, or any person appointed or employed to work
on the roads or build or repair the bridges as herein provided, may take
from any convenient lands so much wood, stone, gravel, or earth as may
be necessary to be used in constructing, improving, or repairing such
toad or any bridge or causeway thereon, and may for the purpose of
draining said road, cause a ditch to be cut through any lands adjoining
the same: provided, such wood and other articles 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.

On
For any material taken or ditch cut compensation shall -be allowe
only as provided by the general road law of the State.

§10. Wherever the cost of erecting, building, or repairing any bridg
in the said county amounts to the sum of twenty dollars or more, th
board of supervisors is authorized in its discretion to order that the sam
he paid out of the county levy.

$11. The board of supervisors of the county shall, for the purposes c
this act, annually levy, along with the county levy, a road tax, upon th
property, real and personal, assessed for taxation in the several magi:
terial districts of the county. Such tax shall conform to the gener
statute law governing such cases.

$12. The board of supervisors, in addition to the road tax herein prc
vided, shall have the authority to appropriate to the road fund provide
by this act any balance that may remain at the end of any fiscal year t
the credit of the county fund or levy, or so much of said balance as sai
board may deem wise or expedient to appropriate; and in addition 1
the road tax herein provided, the said board may, in its discretion, ay
propriate to the road fund the amount derived from taxes upon railroad
telegraph, and telephone companies, or so much thereof as the board ma
in its discretion determine to appropriate.

§13. Every owner or occupier of a mill over whose dam, pier-head
aqueduct, or waste-cut, a road passes, shall keep such dam in good orde1
at least twelve feet wide at the top, and also keep in good order a bridg
and abutment leading thereto, of like width, over the pier-head, aqueduct
floodgates, or waste-cut, through or around the dam. If he wilfully o
negligently fail to comply with this section, he shall be guilty of a mis
demeanor, and shall be fined five dollars for every failure of twenty-fou
hours, but the fine shall not exceed in any case fifty dollars.

Said fines to be applied to the road fund in the district in which th
mill is situated.

§14. The general road law of this State may be, or may become i1
force, at the time this act goes into effect, except so far as the same i
in conflict with the provisions of this act, shall be in full force in th
county of Prince George, and all special laws for the said county hereto
fore enacted are hereby repealed.