Chap. 28.—An ACT to provide for the building and improvement of public
roads in the county of Surry, and prescribing the powers and duties of
road boards in the several magisterial districts of said county.

(S. B. 100.)
Approved February 9, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the board of supervisors of Surry county may create a road
fund by setting apart and appropriating thereto each year a
sum not exceeding thirty per centum of the total net amount
raised by the county levy, which road fund, and all such other
moneys as may be lawfully appropriated thereto, shall be ex-
pended annually towards the improvement, repair and mainte-
nance of the public roads of said county, and the said road fund
shall be apportioned among the several magisterial districts of
the said county in proportion to the number of miles of public
road in each of the said districts, and applied to the district
road fund in each of the said districts, and paid out upon war-
rants drawn upon said fund and signed by the chairman of the
board of supervisors.

2. The board of supervisors of Surry county may annually
levy, along with the county levy, a special tax upon the property,
real and personal, assessed for taxation in each of the magis-
terial districts of said county, which shall be known as the dis-
trict road levy, and shall be applied to the building, working,
keeping in order, and repairing of the public roads in such dis-
trict. Such tax shall not exceed twenty-five cents on every hun-
dred dollars in value of such property, though a different rate
of tax may be prescribed for the different districts in the said
county, and the same shall be collected and accounted for and
paid out on the warrant of the board of supervisors, signed by
its chairman, as if it were a county levy, but the funds so col-
lected from each magisterial district shall be kept separate by
the county treasurer from the funds so collected from the other
districts under this section.

3. The funds appropriated and set apart from the county
levy, as provided for by section one, together with the special
tax provided for by section two above, shall constitute the road
taxes of Surry county, to be apportioned and expended as pro-
vided in sections one and two of this act.

4. There are hereby created three boards, one for each
magisterial district in the said county, to be known as the road
board of Blackwater district, the road board of Cobham district,
and the road board of Guilford district; and the said road boards
shall consist of three members each, who are to be selected as
follows: The members of the board of supervisors shall be
ex officio members of the road boards of their several districts,
and the judge of the circuit court of the said county, on or be-
fore the first day of April, nineteen hundred and sixteen, and an-
nually thereafter, in term time or in vacation, shall appoint the
other members. Each member, at the time of his appointment,
shall be a qualified voter and a resident of the district for which
he is appointed. The said road boards shall have general super-
vision and control of all work done on the public roads in their
several districts; and they shall have authority, and it shall be
their duty, to specify the character of improvement or repair
to be made on each road. Said boards may employ such engi-
neers, commissioners, agents and servants, as they may deem
necessary, prescribe their duties and fix their compensation, and
generally perform all other things necessary to carry out the
spirit of this act. They, and each of them, shall also have au-
thority to forbid the public from traveling on any road or por-
tion of road, while the same is being built, improved, or re-
paired, and after reasonable notice to the parties in interest, to
remove any fence or other obstructions from the roads in their
several districts; and any person who shall attempt to interfere
with such board or its agents in the discharge of their duties as
such, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined
not less than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars
for each offense.

5. The said road boards, and each of them, shall make all
necessary contracts, and shall require proper bonds from their
agents, and from all other contractors, for the faithful perform-
ance of all duties and contracts. All work and contracts shall
be done and performed to the satisfaction of said road boards;
all obligations incurred for salaries and wages shall be met by
the payment of money out of the several district road funds pro-
vided by section two; all bills and accounts against any of the
said boards shall be paid on warrant of the board of supervisors
upon the treasurer of Surry county, which warrants shall in each
case designate the fund from which the same should be paid.

6. Each board shall appoint one of its members chairman,
who shall hold office for one year, and who shall perform such
duties as may be prescribed by the said board. The members of
each board shall each receive twenty-five dollars per year; each
chairman shall receive thirty dollars per year, which shall in-
clude his pay as a member. Each board shall hold not fewer
than six meetings during the year, at regular intervals. The
members of the said boards shall qualify by taking the usual
oath for the faithful performance of their duties.

7. No member of one of these boards, nor any public officer,
shall have any pecuniary interest in any work or contract done
or performed under the provisions of this act, except as herein
provided, except further, that the county surveyor may be em-
ployed for special services by any of the said boards and receive
such compensation as may be allowed by them.

8. Nothing in this act shall be construed to take away or
affect the authority conferred upon the board of supervisors by
the general road law, chapter forty-three, of the Code of Vir-
ginia, to relocate roads and to establish new roads.

9. All acts, or parts of acts, in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed. _

10. By reason of the necessity of repairing the roads of
said county, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act shall
be in force from its passage.