Chap. 287.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act approved March 2, 1904,
entitled “an act to provide for the opening, building and keeping ! in repair the
public roads and bridges of Caroline county.”

Approved March 14, 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 second,
nineteen hundred and four, entitled an act to provide for the opening,
building and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges of Caroline
county, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§1. The management and control of all roads in the county of Caro-
line shall be placed under the direction of the board of supervisors of
the said county, who are hereby constituted a road board for the pur-
pose. The board hereby created and constituted is declared to be a
body politic and corporate, and shall be known and designated as the
road board of Caroline county. The board of supervisors are em-
powered and authorized to levy annually a road tax of not exceeding
thirty-five cents on the one hundred dollars valuation of all taxable
property, and shall create a special road fund by setting and appropriat-
ing thereto one-half of the road taxes of said county in each year, which
special road fund and such other moneys as may be lawfully appropriated
thereto or may be derived from any road tax upon telephone lines, rail-
roads, et cetera, shall be expended annually towards the permanent im-
provement of the main public road of said county. Permanent improve-
ment shall be construed to mean any macadam, gravel and sand clay
roads or such improvement as may be approved in advance by the State
highway commissioner. The other half of said road taxes, unless said
road board shall ascertain that there is not sufficient road funds to
make same advisable, in which event the reasons therefor shall be spread
upon the minutes of the board, shall be set apart for the repair of roads
and shall be known as the repair fund. The said road board shall adopt
economical, progressive and uniform standards for the construction
and repair of roads; shall determine the number of hands any overseer
must work, et cetera; shall carefully scrutinize all expenditures of road
funds, and in their discretion, shall require all persons who may use
wagons, carts, or other vehicles, in said county, to provide such wagons,
carts, or other vehicles with tires of such width as they, the said board,
may prescribe, upon such condition as they may prescribe, and may
prescribe such penalty for the failure of any person to comply with the:
said requirement or order as they may deem best.

No person shall drag any log or logs over or along any public road
of said county without first having obtained the consent in writing
of the supervisors of the district, and any person convicted thereof shall
pay a fine of not less than two dollars and a half, nor more than twenty-
five dollars, which shall be turned into the road fund of the district
in which the offense was committed.

Said road board or any member thereof for his district shall have
authority to forbid the public from travelling on any road, or portion
of road, while the same is being built, improved or repaired, and there-
after when such travel would, by weather conditions, in the opinion
of the road board, greatly damage such road; to acquire adjacent
property holders to remove all trees which may fall from their land
into the road; to proceed by warrant against parties ploughing up,
moving, or ‘otherwise encroaching upon or obstructing the public road;
to require drivers of wagons to accompany same while same are in
motion upon said public roads, and any party so convicted shall be pun-
ished as for a misdemeanor and fined not less than five nor more than
twenty-five dollars.

Said board shall lay off and divide into sections of convenient
lengths the roads of the county.

They shall designate each section by number, and as follows: Road

SCHON. « ssw wiwiawee wives weweiwoe wesw for sis wsswiwewase magisterial
district; extending from.............. LO'.0 a) caries een width of road
a cans oases 08 ......3 1f private name of person or estate benefited........

wemew eee Ems Each section shall be wholly within a magisterial district
(except where road forms boundary line of magisterial district in which
case the said road board shall place such parts or sections of such
roads in the respective districts as may appear to equally divide be-
tween magisterial districts the burden of its maintenance.) Said classi-
fication of roads shall be duly entered up by the county clerk in a book
to be known as the road book. Said clerk shall enter in his road book
such rules, regulations and schedules the road board may adopt.

Said clerk shall also make appropriate entry in the said road book
indicating the year, the amount of funds to each section, the amount
to each magisterial district and what amounts have been paid during
the current months to overseers employed under this act. Said road
book shall be open to the inspection of the public and shall be kept as
other records are. Said clerk shall receive such compensation as the
road board may provide.

The first class, or highways, and the second class, or county roads,
shall be repaired and kept in order by contract or by hired labor, as
hereinafter provided; the third class, or local or private roads, shall be
kept up by the parties benefited by said roads as they may see fit, with
such appropriations, if any, as may be from time to time made to
them by the board of supervisors, such appropriations to be expended
by or under the supervision and inspection of the members of the road
board in whose district the road is located; provided such aid by the
road board shall not be deemed to constitute said private road a public
one. So far as practicable, roads of the first class, shall be improved in
a permanent manner out of the fund set apart for the purpose under
‘this act, with such aid as may be obtained from the State highway
commission, or other State authorities. The repair fund or so much
thereof as may be needed, shall be used for keeping in repair the roads,
or parts of roads, not attempted to be permanently improved.

§5. The road board may let to contract for terms of from one to
three years, in one or more sections (the sections having been numbered ),
to the lowest responsible bidder, having first advertised for sealed bids,
stating clearly in the advertisement the work to be done on said section
of roads, in addition to what is specified and required by section nine
hundred and eighty-two of the Code, notice of which letting to con-
tract shall be posted for not less than ten days at each postoffice and
other public places in the district. The bids shall be in writing, and
signed by the bidder, and the same shall be delivered under seal, to,
the said road board for their examination and acceptance or rejection,
and said board shall have the right to reject any or all bids, and at their
first meeting thereafter each contractor where said road board shall
desire shall be required to execute a bond to the said road board, witl:
good security, in the penalty of at least double the amount of his bid,
conditioned for the faithful performance of his contract, and a recovery
may be had for any breach of said contract in the name of the said
board for the benefit of the road fund in the circuit court of said county
by motion after ten days’ notice to the contractor and his security:
and in case of recovery on said motion the same costs shall be taxed
in said judgment as if the motion was in favor of the Commonwealth.
And any such judgment may be deducted by said road board from the
amount due said.contractor on his contract. The attorney for the Com-
monwealth shall institute and prosecute such motion. The said con-
tract and bond shall be filed with the clerk of said road board, and in
case of recovery an attorney’s fee of ten dollars shall be taxed as a part of
the costs.

&6. Should there be any section or sections of road upon which there
is no sealed bid, the road board, after advertising as is hereinbefore di-
rected, may receive propositions to contract for said sections without
requiring said proposals to be sealed; said proposals to be subject to
the same requirements in contracting as sealed bids.

&7. If any section or sections of road remain unlet by reason of there
being no bid, or for any other reason, the member of the road board for the
particular district shall appoint or employ an overseer for such roads
or section of road, said overseer to be paid such compensation per day
as may be agreed upon by the road board. Said overseer shall employ
such labor as may be necessary to keep such road in repair and the
following schedule shall obtain in the employment of all such labor:
Schedule.—For work on the road under an overseer the compensation
for a two-horse team and driver shall be twenty-five cents per hour
actual work; one-horse team and driver fifteen cents per hour actual
work; four-horse team and driver forty cents per hour actual work;
hands ten cents per hour actual work. An itemized account of all
work done by overseers shall be kept, and the said overseers shall make
off and swear to said account, and submit same to the member of the
road board from his particular district and upon his approval said
account shall be presented to the road board and if found to be correct
said road board shall order same paid. It shall be the duty of such
member of road board of each district of Caroline county to see that
the roads in his district are kept cleared, smoothed of rocks and other
obstructions, of necessary width, and 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 if needs be a suitable sign board be 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 bridges
constructed are maintained in a safe, substantial condition, 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 passengers, which shall always be kept in safe condition, and,
where the bed of said roads are encroached upon, such member of road
board shall notify the person trespassing by written notice to remove
the obstruction, and if the same be not done in ten days, he shall
cause said obstruction to be removed and may recover the expense with
cost from said trespasser before any justice of the peace of the district.

To see that the contractor is faithfully performing his contract, and
to report any failure in carrying it out to the road board who shall
at once institute, through the attorney for the Commonwealth, pro-
ceedings fot the recovery of damage for the breach of said contract,
and said road board shall have authority to direct a surveyor of said
county to define the boundary of any road therein, and to alter the grade
of any existing road, and to perform such other service as in the opinion
of the board may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this act,
for which service the said surveyor shall receive reasonable compen-
sation from the said board not exceeding, however, two dollars per day,
payable out of the road fund.

§10. Overseers appointed or employed under this act shall be sub-
ject to the same requirements under section nine hundred and eighty-
two of the Code as a contractor.

$11. The contractors shall be paid for work done under their contract
quarterly, or oftener, as the road board may determine, but before any
warrant is drawn in his favor the said board must be satisfied that the
work has been done according to contract, and this fact must be ac-
certained by a previous examination of such roads, by one or more
members of the board, or in any other way the said board may deem
best to get the desired information; and when the said board is satisfied
that the roads have been worked and kept in repair during such period,
then a warrant shall be drawn in favor of such contractor. The said
road board shall keep records of their proceedings and itemized accounts
of all their receipts and disbursements and annually settle upon sworn
vouchers produced before the Commonwealth’s attorney the business of
the current year. The clerk shall annually make off statements of said
accounts for the respective districts, and have the same published in
some paper published in the county of Caroline or posted at the court
grees see each voting place of the districts for which the statement
is made.

812. The county treasurer shall keep the road fund separate from
other tax funds, and the entire fund shall be placed to the credit of the
road fund.

§13. All road taxes shall be expended in the district from which they
are collected: provided, however, that the construction and repair of
bridges shall be under the supervision and control of the board of super-
visors and the cost of said construction and repair paid for out of the
county levy.

§14. The said road board shall not let to contract any- more work
than, in their opinion, the fund for each fiscal year, raised as provided
for by this act, will be sufficient to pay for.

No member of the road board shall be directly or indirectly interested
in any contract made under this act, and any participation therein
by either shall render the contract null and void.

§15. Each member of the road board for failure to perform any
duty required of him under this act shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and shall upon conviction therefor, be fined not less than
ten nor more than fifty dollars, said fine shall be applied to the road
fund of the district in which the failure to perform said duty occurs.

816. The road board may sell or dispose of any tools or implements
which may be delivered to them by the present road officials, or may
have them used upon the roads of the county as in their discretion
may appear best for the county. Any act required to be done by said
road board under any by virtue of this act may be done at any meeting
thereof. °

§17. And in addition to the authority conferred upon the road board
the following plan for the permanent working of the roads in said
county, namely: They may purchase or hire such teams, road machines,
implements, tools, wagons, camp equipage and all other necessary
articles for the use of one or more road “working gangs,” and put
the same to work for such time during the year as they may deem best,
on any of the roads of any district of said county where same not pre-
viously let to contract under an overseer appointed by the member of
the road board for that district, who shall be manager of the same and
whose duties shall be to employ such laborers or hands as the road
board may deem to be necessary to constitute his “gang” and at such
compensation as is herein provided. The intention of this act being
to encourage the building of a portion of permanently improved road-
way in said county during each year, said board is hereby authorized
to construct annually small sections of not less than one-half of a mile
each, in the several magisterial districts of said county, the extension
of the permanent work in each district to be gradually and equitably
made to the end that all parts of said county may (as speedily as pos-
sible) receive a portion of the benefits of this act.
§18. That a chain-gang be organized, and prisoners who may have been
convicted of misdemeanor in the county and sentenced to the payment
of fines, or confinement in jail, and who refuse to pay such fines, and
have no means out of which the same may be made and collected ac-
cording to law, may be worked upon the roads at such points as can
be made profitable. When prisoners are worked under this section they
shall be kept from jail for a period not exceeding six days at a time,
under proper guard, and may be lodged in tents or wagons; but in all
cases, prisoners must be returned to jail at six o’clock post-meridian,
Saturdays. A receipt from the road board of the county for the amount
of such fine, to the prisoner performing such labor, presented to the
clerk of the court in which such fine is of record, shall be sufficient to
authorize him to mark such fine satisfied on the record. The clerk in his
annual report of fines to the auditor of public accounts, shall report
the fact that such fines have ben satisfied by labor performed on the
roads as herein provided for, and account to the auditor for the amount
of money paid over to him by the county on account of such fine. All
necessary details for the working of the chain-gang not herein provided
for, shall be governed by the general law in reference to the chain-gangs.
The county shall be responsible to the Commonwealth for one-half of
such fine, the other half to be applied to the permanent road funds of
said county and proportionately distributed among several districts
thereof.

For all services rendered by said supervisors under this act they
shall each be entitled to receive as compensation a sum not exceeding
sixty dollars in any one year, except as members of the road board of
Caroline county there shall be allowed each member two dollars per
dav for each day not exceeding one in any month spent in inspecting
the roads of their several districts; provided, they make due report of
the condition of the roads of said districts at next meeting succeeding
said inspection.

2. All acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed,
so far as they affect Caroline county.