Chap. 283.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to amend
and re-enact an act approved March 7, 1900, entitled an act to provide for
wogking and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges in 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 April 2, 1902, as amended and re-enacted by an act ap-
proved May 15, 1903, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
15, 1906.

Approved March 13, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled, “an act to amend and re-enact an act approved March seventh,
nineteen hundred, entitled 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 April second, nineteen hundred and _ two,
and amended by an act approved May fifteenth, nineteen hundred and
three, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March fifteenth,
nineteen hundred and six, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

§1. Prior to the first day of January, nineteen hundred and seven,
and every two years thereafter, the judge of the circuit court for the
said county shall appoint for each magisterial district of said county
one road commissioner, who shall serve for a term of two years, be-
ginning on the first day of January following his appointment, whose
duty it shall be to superintend the working and keeping in repair of
all public roads and bridges in their respective districts.

§2. For the purpose of raising revenue for the working and keeping
in repair the public roads and bridges of said county the board of
supervisors shall annually levy, along with the county levy, a tax
upon all property, real and personal, assessed for taxation in the several
magisterial districts of the county, which shall be applied 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 more than fifty cents
on every hundred dollars valuation of such property. The said levy
and other levies under this act shall be collected by the treasurer of
said county as other county levies, accounted for and paid out on the
warrant of said road commission, except that a levy for each magisterial
district shall be kept separate by the county treasurer. Each com-
missioner may drawn on his own warrant only the funds of his magis-
terial district, as hereinafter provided. The amount collected in each
magisterial district shall be expended in the district in which it has
been collected, excepting that the tax derived from the State levy for
road purposes shall be divided equally between the districts.

§3. When any citizen, or number of citizens, of any magisterial dis-
trict shall appear before the road commissioner of said district and
deposit a sum of money not to exceed one-half of the current road
levy of said district, or enter into an approved bond, with good security
that either money or labor will be furnished, not to exceed one-half
of the road levy of said district, said labor to be at the current price
for labor, or enter into an approved bond, with good security, in, the
penalty of twice the amount subscribed by law for the purpose of grad-
ing and macadamizing any public road, or part of such road, in said
district, the road commissioner of said district is hereby authorized to
appropriate out of the road fund of said district an amount equal to
the amount so subscribed to be used for the said purpose; provided,
that not more than one-half of the current road fund of any district
shall be so applied in any one year.

The amount subscribed by such citizen, or citizens, together with the
corresponding amount appropriated by the road commissioner, shall
be expended under the direction of the road commissioner in the dis-
trict where such money is subscribed: provided, further, that the money
so subscribed and appropriated shall be applied only to the public roads
and by the consent of the road commissioner.

The supervisors of Washington county are hereby authorized and
directed to purchase and furnish to the different magisterial districts,
free of charge, suitable machinery for the purpose of building macadam
roads in the most economical and approved manner, the -title to
said machinery to remain in the county and to be furnished only on
request of the road commissioner. The supervisors may, if necessary,
lay a levy for the purchase of necessary machinery to carry out this
provision; provided, however, that no taxes shall be levied against the
property of any magisterial district for the purpose of purchasing
machinery provided for in this section if such district now owns such
said road machinery. No district shall be allowed the machinery so
purchased and owned by the county unless the property of that district
has been taxed for the purchase of said machinery.

§4. The board of supervisors shall appoint a competent engineer, who
shall be known as the “road engineer,” whose duty it shall be to super-
intend all roads in said county; and any application for a new road,
or change in grade or location 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 the said engineer, after having notice served upon the land-
owners through whose property the proposed road may run, or upon their
tenants in possession, shall proceed to execute said order, and if said
engineer cannot agree with said landowners as to the amount of damages
to be paid said landowners, or any of them, he shall designate and
appoint three disinterested resident freeholders, whose duty it shall be
to promptly ascertain and report to said engineer a just compensation
for the land to be used for such road, and the said engineer shall make
his report at the.next meeting of said board, showing the probable cost
of construction, the damages allowed, and anything else pertinent that
may be required by the said board: provided, however, that no new road
shall be located at a steeper grade than four 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 regraded so as to conform to the
same degree, unless the engineer shall certify that it is impracticable
to get the degree required by this act: provided, further, the degree
shall not be changed on the road known as the Abingdon and Russell
turnpike road. The board of supervisors may alter, reject, or confirm
the report of the engineer, and if the landowners through whose lands
the road is proposed to be located, or re-located, as the case may be,
cannot agree with the engineer as to the amount of damages, or any
other matters affecting their interest, then any landowners who may feel
aggrieved by the said report of the road engineer may make exceptions
thereto before said board, and if any landowners feel aggrieved by the
acts of the said board, he may have said board report with the altera-
tions, if any, returned by the board of supervisors to the next term of
the circuit court of said county, where he may make exceptions thereto,
and the.said circuit court shall consider said report as if it were the
report of the receivers contemplated in section nineteen hundred and
forty-nine of the Code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven, except that no further notice to said landowners, or their tenants,
in possession, shall be required; and all subsequent proceedings therein
shall be under the general provisions of chapter forty-three of 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 circuit shall, if he deems the said report
of the engineer insufficient in any particular, recommit the said report
to the said engineer for a more full and explicit report, and under
proceedings under this act in said court shall have precedence over all
other civil cases on the said docket, except unlawful detainer cases on
said docket.

§5. A road engineer shall hold his office for the term of his appoint-
ment, unless sooner removed by said board. The said engineer shall re-
ceive such compensation for his services as said board shall allow.

The engineer shall make annual reports to the board of supervisors,
or oftener as said board may direct, of the condition of the roads, new
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
magisterial districts in the county, the probable cost of the same and
anything else deemed pertinent by said board.

$6. Each commissioner shall have charge of the roads of his district,
and shall have power to appoint a sufficient number of foremen to take
charge of the hands in his districts; said foremen shall be able to read
and write and shall make reports from time to time to the road com-
missioner as he may direct. In case of a road or bridge being on the
line dividing two magisterial districts, the road engineer and the com-
missioners 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.

§7. If a bridge is to be built or repaired on the line, each district shall
bear one-half of the expenses of building or repairing said bridge.
Each commissioner shall receive for his services, to be paid out of the
road fund of his district, one dollar and fifty cents per day for each
day actually employed in looking after the roads in his -district: pro-
vided, he shall not receive more than one hundred and fifty dollars for
the same in any one year. The foreman appointed under this act shall
receive not less than one dollar nor more than two dollars per day for
the time actually employed on the roads, and all hands shall receive
the usual price paid for similar work in said county. The commissioner
of each district shall buy and keep in repair all the necessary tools for
working or keeping in repair said roads in his district. In the event
that expensive machinery is wanted, he may combine with any or all
other commissioners of the county in purchasing same. In case any
foreman fails to keep his road in order, on the complaint of any three
tax payers of his district, he may be fined not more than twenty dollars,
if it can be shown that he has funds at his command for repairing said
road. Said fine shall be recoverable before any justice of the peace in
said county. If any commissioner shall fail or refuse to keep the roads
in his district in repair (after being notified by the road board to do so)
and it can be shown that he has money at his command, he may be
fined not more than fifty dollars for each offense, said fine to be recover-
able before the circuit court of the county, and it is hereby made the
duty of the prosecuting attorney to prosecute said commissioner for
said failure.

§8. For the purpose of constructing and macadamizing roads and
building new bridges in said county, the board of supervisors be, and
they are hereby, empowered to issue bonds in the name and on behalf
of the county of Washington, to be called “ public improvement bonds,”
for a sum not exceeding two hundred thousand dollars, and to sell the
bonds under such conditions as are hereinafter prescribed, and with the
proceeds of such sale to build roads, or bridges, in the various districts
of said county, expending in each district such proportion as said board
may deem advisable: provided, that the board of supervisors shall not
issue any bonds or other evidences of debt provided for in this act in
excess of one hundred thousand dollars until it has ordered a special
election for that purpose, and submitted the question of issuing said
bonds to the qualified voters of Washington county. They shall ‘ix
the time for holding such election, and cause notice thereof to be puv-
lished, at least four times in any newspaper published in the county, and
to be posted at each voting place in the county at least one month before
said election. Said election notices shall state the purpose for which
said election is held.

9. The bonds issued in pursuance of this act shall be coupon bonds
of not less denomination than one hundred nor more than one thousand
dollars each, payable in not more than forty years from their date,
and bearing interest, payable annually, at a rate not exceeding six per
centum per annum; the said board having the right to redeem any of
said bonds after the expiration of ten years. 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 and shall have affixed thereto the seal of said board.

10. Any person, other than a duly authorized officer, changing the
lines of any public road, on either side thereof, as the lines were when
said road was located or relocated, as the case may be, without the per-
mission, entered of record, of the circuit court of the county in which
the road lies, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on con-
viction thereof shall be fined not less than five nor more than fifty
dollars. It shall be the duty of the supervisor of the district to give
notice in writing to all persons making, or who have made, such en-
croachments on any public road in his district by changing the lines
or the direction thereof, without permission of the court aforesaid, to
remove any fence or obstruction, whether made before or after the
passage of this act, and to restore the original line or lines of the
said road, and on failure to do so, within twenty days after said notice,
then the person so offending shall be liable to a fine of five dollars for
each day said fence or other obstruction remains in said road after the
expiration of the twenty days aforesaid. ‘
. 11. The said board of supervisors is hereby empowered to make sale
of said bonds, but no bonds shall be sold for less than the par value
thereof, and the said bonds and coupons and interest thereon shall be
redeemable in lawful money at maturity, and shall be receivable at
maturity for all taxes and other debts due the said county of Washington,
except school levies.

12. The form of said bonds and coupons shall be determined by the
board of supervisors.

13. The said bonds and coupons issued under this act shall be re-
deemable at the office of the treasurer of Washington county, and when
paid by him, or received from taxes or other debts, shall be marked paid
or cancelled.

14. The said board of supervisors shall create a sinking fund to be
applied to the redemption and payment of the bonds issued for the
building and improvement of roads in any or all districts of said county,
and shall annually, until such bonds are paid, pay over to the sinking
fund commissioners provided for in this act a sum sufficient to pay off
said bonds in forty years.

15. Three substantial citizens and tax payers of Washington county,
to be designated by the board of supervisors, are hereby appointed
a board of sinking fund commissioners, who shall give bond to said
board, to be approved by them, in double the amount of money likely to
come into their hands, for the faithful performance of their duty; and
it shall be the duty of said commissioners to receive said sinking fund
and loan or invest the same in-road bonds of the county, keeping a
separate account of the funds received from and disbursed for each
district; they shall receive for their services one per centum of all
money so received and loaned or paid out. Should either of said
sinking fund commissioners fail or refuse to qualify, or after qualifying
resign or die, then said vacancy shall be filled by the board of super-
visors.

16. It shall be the duty of the officers charged with conducting
elections in Washington county to hold an election when so directed
by the judge of the circuit court of said county, which judge shall,
upon the passage of a resolution by the board of supervisors requesting
him so to do, order an election 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 by this
act. Said election shall be by ballot, and be conducted as other elections
are conducted. Upon each ballot shall be printed the words “for bonds”
and “against bonds;” each voter shall be handed a ballot at the voting
place, and he shall express his choice by scratching 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.

1%. The judges of each election precinct shall ascertain the will of
the people by counting the ballots, and shall certify the result to the
judge of the circuit court in the manner and form of other elections.

18. The commissioners of election shall canvass the returns within
ten days after the election, and declare the result.

19. The bonds provided for in section eight of this act shall be issued,
af a majority of those voting at such election shall vote for the issuance
of the same: provided, a majority of the legalized voters of said county
vote at such election. But should a majority of the ballots be cast
against said issue, then the question shall not within twelve months be
again sumbitted to the vote of the people.

20. It shall be lawful for the board of supervisors to build bridges
wherever the public necessity may demand. 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 may, 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 bridges; and said board may lay a local levy on
said district, or districts, to pay for building said bridge, and the dis-
trict in which any bridge is built shall bear the whole expense of such
bridge, or if built between two districts, they shall each bear one-half
of the said expense, and the board of supervisors may issue a certificate
for the whole amount of said expense, payable in one, two, three, four,
and five years, bearing interest at the rate of six per centum per annum,
and the said certificates shall state upon their face for what bridge
they are issued, and out of what district levy they shall be paid, and the
terms of their payment.
21. The said board is hereby empowered, without submitting the
question of a bond issue to the voters of said county, or any district
therein, to issue bonds of said county for such amount as they deem
necessary not in excess of one hundred thousand dollars for the pur-
pose of constructing, macadamizing, or improving the roads of said
county, or any district or districts therein: provided, that from the
money obtained under the provisions of this section not more than twenty-
five thousand dollars shall be expended in any one district of said county.
Said board may levy a tax in such district or districts wherein said im-
provements are made, in addition to the regular county levy, for an
amount sufficient to pay the interest on and provide a sinking fund
for the amount or amounts so expended in said district or districts:
provided, said tax shall not be more than fifty cents on every hundred
dollars’ valuation of property, real and personal, in said district or
districts.

22. It shall be the duty of the judge of the circuit court of said
county, before authorizing an election on the question of a bond issue,
and before any bonds are issued by the board of supervisors under
section twenty of this act, to appoint two resident freeholders in each
magisterial district wherein said improvements are contemplated, who,
together with the supervisor from that district, shall be known as the
“district road commission,” any two of whom shall constitute a quorum,
of which the commissioner from that district shall be ex-officio chair-
man. It shall be the duty of said district road commission to deter-
mine upon a recommendation to the board of supervisors what im-
provements are most needed in its district, and to see that the money
set apart for improvements in that district is properly and judiciously
expended, to the end that the public interests may be fully protected.
Said district road commission shall report annually, or oftener, if re-
quired, to the supervisors showing an itemized account of the expend-
itures of said fund. All moneys realized from the sale of said bonds
issued under the provisions of this act shall be received by the treasurer’
of said county and shall be drawn out of his hands for improvements
in the various districts on warrants ordered to be issued by the board
of supervisors, upon the recommendation of the district road commission
of said respective districts; said warrants to be signed by the chairman
of the board, and countersigned by the chairman of the district road
commission of the district wherein said improvements are made.

23. The said road commissioners shall cause to be kept an itemized
account of all work done and money expended in road improvements,
with the funds issued under this act, which shall be recorded by the
clerk of the board of supervisors in a book to be kept for the purpose,
and published in the manner provided by law for the publication of
other expenditures.

24. Before entering upon the duties of his office, each road com-
missioner shall execute before the clerk of the circuit court bond in the
penalty of five hundred dollars for the faithful performance of his
duty as such commissioner, with good and approved security.

25. 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 by which the treasurer shall keep his books with
reference to the county and district levy and the collection of the
county and district road tax, and require said treasurer to follow out
the plans; if the treasurer or clerk of said board of supervisors shall
fail or refuse so to carry out the order of the board of supervisors, they
shall be fined for each offense not less than twenty-five dollars nor more
than fifty dollars, said fine to be recoverable by motion after reasonable
notice in the circuit court of said county.

26. It is further provided that the road commissioners may let to
contract, if they think proper, the building of any bridges across
any stream, or the macadamizing or keeping in repair of the roads pro-
vided for in this act, to the lowest responsible bidder, and have the
power to reject any or all bids.

2%. Specifications for said work shall be drawn by the said engineer
and the work carried on under his supervision: provided, that no com-
missioner, road engineer, or foreman, shall be personally interested,
either directly or indirectly, in any contract for the building of any
bridges or the altering of any road.

28. This act shall be liberally construed to the end that its purposes
may be fully carried out.

29. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are hereby
repealed.