CHAP. 86.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to pro-
vide for making, building and keeping in repair the public roads and
bridges in Grayson county, approved March 6, 1900; and, as further
amended by an act approved March 14, 1904; and, as further amended
by an act approved March 18, 1908; and, as further amended by an
act approved March 1, 1918. [H B 56]

Approved September 10, 1919.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act entitled an act to provide for making, building and keep-
ing in repair the public roads and bridges in Grayson county,
approved March the sixth, nineteen hundred; and, further
amended by an act approved March the fourteenth, nineteen
hundred and four; and, as further amended by an act approved
March thirteenth, nineteen hundred and eight; and, as further
amended by an act approved March the first nineteen hundred
and eighteen, to be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows: :

The board of supervisors of Grayson county shall have an
original jurisdiction to open, establish, alter, change, discon-
tinue and build all roads and bridges in the county of Grayson.

2. Every petition or application to open, establish, alter or
change any public or private road must first be presented to the
supervisor of the district in which the road is, or is proposed
to be located, who shall then endorse thereon his approval or
disapproval of the same and date and sign the same, the peti-
tion or application shall be laid before the board of supervisors
at its next meeting, the board shall have authority to appoint
five free holders of the district in which the road is located or
is proposed to be located, any three of whom may act, to view
and examine such roads or routes and report upon the expedi-
ency of changing or altering the location of any road or opening
any new road; the viewers may recommend a new or different
route.

3. At least three 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 one of the viewers, by posting notices
at three or more public places in the vicinity of the provosed
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 road is proposed
to be established, or the road altered or changed, shall have au-
thority to administer said oath to said viewers, or the oath muy
be administered to said viewers by any one having authority to
administer an oath. If the viewers decide that the public con-
venience requires the establishment 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 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 report in writing to 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 pro-
prietors and tenants require compensation, and what will be a
just compensation to each of the proprietors and tenants claim-
ing compensation. :

In all cases where further notice and the service of process
or summons have been waived in writing, by each of the said
preprietors and tenants, or in person, or by attorneys before the
board, the board, in its discretion, may, at the same meeting to
which said report is returned, determine the question of establish-
ing cr altering such road, and in its discretion to hear testimony
and fix upon a just compensation to the proprietors and tenants
for the land proposed to be taken and the damage accruing there-
from. But in the event that further notice and service of process
or summons have not been waived as herein provided unless the
opinion of the board be against establishing or altering such
read, the board shall require its clerk to issue process to sum-
mons the proprietors and tenants of the lands on which it is
proposed to establish or alter such roads to the next meeting
af the board, to show cause against establishing or altering such
road, if any they can, but such process shall not be necessary,
nor shall process issue, as to any proprietors or tenants who
have in the manner hereinbefore provided waived or acknowl-
edged service of such process, or claims no damage.

Upon return of said process, duly executed as to all of the
said proprietors and tenants who have not waived or acknowl-
edged service of the same, defense may be made to the said pro-
ceeding by any party, and the board of supervisors may, in its
discretion hear testimony touching the expediency of establish-
ing or altering the road, the supervisors may limit the num-
ber of witnesses, they will hear for and against establishing the
road or making the proposed changes. Upon such-hearing, un-
less the board be of opinion that the road ought not to be es-
tablished or altered, it shall proceed to fix a just compensation
to the proprietors or tenants for the land proposed to be taken
and the damage accruing therefrom. But if any tenant or pro-
prietor 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. If the board of supervisors
be of opinion that the road should not be open or change made,
then all cost incident to the application for such new road or
changes shall be paid by the applicant. No money to be paid
for damage in condemnation proceeding till road is accepted or
completed. Viewers and commissioners appointed shall each
receive two dollars per day for their services.

The board of supervisors of Grayson county shall have
general supervision, control and charge of working and keeping
in repair the roads and opening and making all new roads and
repairing the bridges of said county and the work done and
repairs made on old roads to be done in the spring and summer
months of each year, so far as practicable. And for this pur-
pose must purchase such tools, implements and machinery as
is necessary to have the roads and bridges built or repaired.

It 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 services as in
the opinion of the board may be necessary to carry out the pro-
visions of this act, for which service the said surveyor shall re-
ceive reasonable compensation from the said board, not exceed-
ing. however, four dollars per day, payable out of the road fund.

Each supervisor of the several magisterial districts of the
said county, shall give personal .supervision to and shall have
immediate charge and control of the roads and bridges in their
respective districts. It shall be the duty of such supervisor, 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 a suit-
able 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 con-
structed and maintained in a safe, substantial condition 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 accommo.
dation of foot passengers, which shall always be kept in safe
condition, and where the beds of said roads are encroached
upon, such supervisor shall notify the person trespassing by
written notice to remove the obstruction, and if the same he
not done in five days, he shall cause said obstruction to be re-
moved, and may recover the expenses, with cost, from said tres-
passer before any justice of the peace of said county. —

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 any bridge or bridges
in his district, to contract, may lay off the roads of,his district
into sections, and appoint or employ road overseeys 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. When work is paid for by the day,
not less than ten hours shall constitute a day’s work, and for
each day’s work the sum of not more than two dollars shall be
paid to each able-bodied adult laborer, and when less than a
day’s work is performed, at the rate of twenty cents per hour
shall be paid. The supervisor shall not allow for team and
wagon or team and plow more than four dollars and half per
day. The supervisor shall pay to each foreman or road over-
seer two dollars per day. .

6. Each overseer or foreman appointed or employed under
the provisions of this act, shall make out an itemized account of
all the work done by him, or under his charge or direction, show-
ing the teams, tools, implements and machinery used and the
number and names of the laborers employed, 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 be-
fore any officer authorized by law to administer oaths. and pres-
ent the same to the supervisor of said district. It shall be the
duty of the supervisor to whom such account is presented to in-
spect. and examine the roads and bridges for the working, re-
nairing or building of which. the account is presented, and should
he be satisfied as to the correctness and reasonableness of such
renort or account. he shall issue a warrant on the treasurer of
Graysen county for the amount due each man, as shown by said
report, payable to the order of said person:-or persons when at
any time there are sufficient funds in the hands of the treasurer
to the credit of the magisterial district road fund in which said
work is done. .

7. When any blasting is necessary on any public road, the
supervisor of the district in which the road is located shall em-
ploy a competent person to do the same, and shall furnish such
tools and materials as necessary to complete the work. The per-
son so employed and his assistants shall be paid at the rate of
twenty cents per hour. When such work is completed and an
itemized account thereof made out. It shall be paid out of the
road fund of the magisterial district in which the road is located.
If there is not a sufficient amount of money to the credit of the
road fund of said district, the same shall be paid out of any
money of the county not otherwise appropriated.

8. No new road shall be ordered opened by the board of
supervisors unless it shall first be made to appear that there 13
sufficient surplus in the treasury to the credit of the road fund
or of money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, suffi-
cient to pay the same.

For the purpose of raising revenue for building, work-
ing 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, as-
sessed for taxation in the several magisterial districts of the
county, which shall be applied for building, working and keep-
ing in repair the public roads and bridges in said district and
the compensation of the foreman or road overseer and others
provided for under the provision of this act, such tax shall not
be less than twenty or more than forty cents on every hundred
dollars valuation of such property. The said levy shall be col-
lected by the treasurer of said county as other county levies, ac-
counted for and paid out on the warrant of the supervisors,
except that a levy of each magisterial district shall be kept
separate by the county treasurer; each supervisor of the county
may draw on his own warrant only the funds of his magisterial
district, the amount collected in each magisterial district shall
be expended in the district, in which it has been collected.

10. The board of supervisors, in addition to the road tax
herein provided, shall have the authority to appropriate to the
road fund provided by this act any balance that may remain
at the end of any fiscal year to the credit of the countv fund or
levy, or so much of said balance as said board mav deem wise
or expedient to avpropriate; and in addition to the road tax
herein provided, the said board may, in its discretion, appro-
priate to the road fund, derived from taxes upon railroad, tele-
graph and telephone companies, or so much thereof as the board
may, In its discretion, determine to appropriate, and the said
board may, in its discretion, appropriate such sums from the dis:
trict or county road funds to be applied on the permanent im-
provements of such roads in the county as it may deem expedi-
ent to permanently improve, and the said fund may be used with
or without State aid for such permanent improvements as the
board may deem best. No foreman or overseer shall work less
than six hands. No supervisor shall be interested, either di-
rectly or indirectly, in any contract for opening, repairing or
altering any road or bridges or the purchase of any tools or ma-
chinery provided for in this act.

11. Each supervisor 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 district, in building,
working and repairing the road in said district.

12. Each supervisor shall go over and inspect the roads of
his district and shall keep them in good condition and repair,
for which services the said supervisor shall receive the sum of
three dollars per day, provided, however, he shall not be paid
for more than one hundred days in any one year for services
under this act, the clerk of the board of supervisors shall not
receive for his services more than forty dollars for any one year.

13. The said supervisor, or any person appointed or em-
ployed 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 road 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 yard or garden without
the consent of the owner. For any material taken or ditch cut,
compensation shall be allowed only as provided by the general
road laws of the State. .

14. If any foreman or road overseer fail to keep his road in
order, on the complaint of any three tax payers of his district
to the supervisor of the district he may be fined not more than
forty dollars, if it can-be shown that he has funds at his com-
mand for repairing said road, said fine shall be recoverable be-
fore a justice of the peace for said county, and shall be paid to
the treasurer of the countv and placed to the credit of the road
fund in said magisterial district.

_ 15. The board of supervisors shall cause to be kept an item-
ized account of all work done and money expended in building,
working and keeping in repair roads and bridges of the countv.
which shall be recorded by the clerk or board of supervisors in
a book to be kept for the purpose, and published in a manner
provided by law for the publication of other expenditures. The
board of supervisors shall revise an order of bookkeeping in
order to carry out the intention of this act, and require the clerk
of the board to keep such books as directed, and they shall pre-
scribe the method by which the treasurer shall keep his books,
with reference to the county and district levies and a collection
of the county and district road tax and require the clerk and
treasurer to follow out the plans and details of the order of said
board of supervisors.

16. All road tax tickets, now in the hands of the supervisors
or overseer of roads, and not collected prior to January 1, 1920,
shall be immediately thereafter returned to the treasurer of this
county, who shall collect the same according to law, and place
the proceeds to the credit of the road fund of each magisterial
district.

17. Each member of the board of supervisors, for a failure
to perform any duty required of him under this act, shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction
thereof, be fined not less than fifty dollars and not more than
two hundred and fifty dollars; said fine shall be applied to the
road fund of the district in which the failure to perform said
auty occurs.

18. The general road law of this State, except in so far as
the same is in conflict with the provisions of this act, shall re-
main in force in the county of Grayson.

19. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed, so far as applicable to Grayson county. ~

20. An emergency existing, this act is in force from its
passage.