Chap. 156.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to provide
_ 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 ap-
proved March 13, 1908, and, as further amended by an act approved March

1, 1918, and, as further amended by an act approved September is i :

_ Approved March 10, 1920.

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

_ The board of supervisors of Grayson county shall have original
jurisdiction to open, establish, alter, charge, discontinue, and’ build
all roads and bridges in the county of Grayson.

2. Every application to open, establish, or change any public or
private road shall be presented to the board of supervisors while in
session and the board shall then 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 route and report upon the expediency of changing or alter-
ing the location of any road or opening any new road; the viewers
may recommend a new or different route.

3. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall make a copy of
the order appointing the viewers and shall send to each one by mail
on the day the order is entered a copy of the order appointing him
and the viewers shall within ten days from the date of the order
appointing them meet at the most convenient place on the proposed
new road or alteration of the road proposed to be made or changed
or altered in said order. The viewers before they proceed to dis-
charge their duties shall be severally sworn to perform their duties
impartially and to the best of their judgment.

The oath may be administered to said viewers by the supervisor of
the district in which the road proposed to be established, altered or
changed or by anyone having authority to administer an oath. If the
viewers decide that the public convenience requires the establishment
of such new road, or the alteration 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, if any, done to land through
which the road passes, taking into consideration the advantages 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 land on which it is pro-
posed to establish or alter such road, which other proprietors and
tenants require compensation, and what will be a just compensation
to each of the proprietors and tenants claiming compensation.

In all cases where further notice and service of process or sum-
mons have been waived in writing, by each of the said proprietors
and tenants, or by attorney before the board, the board shall at the
same meeting to which said report is returned, determine the ques-
tion of establishing or altering such road, and shall 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 service of process have not
been waived as herein provided unless the board be against establish-
ing or altering such road, the board shall require its clerk to issue
process to summons the proprietors and tenants of the lands on which
it is proposed to establish or alter such roads 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, nor shall
process issue as to any proprietors or tenants who have in the manner
hereinbefore provided waived or acknowledged service of such pro-
cess, 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 ackonwledged service
of the same, defense may be made-to the said proceedings by any
party, and the board of supervisors may, in its discretion, hear tes-
Imony touching the expediency of establishing or altering the road,
the supervisors shall limit the number of witnesses they will hear
for and against establishing the road or making the proposed changes.
Upon such hearing, unless the board be of opinion that the road ought
10t to be established or altered, it shall proceed to fix a just com-
ensation to the proprietors or tenants for the land proposed to be
aken and the damage accruing therefrom. But if any tenant or pro-
metor desire it, or the board see cause for so doing, it may in its
liscretion, appoint five disinterested freeholders of the county as com-
nissions (any three of whom may act) for the purpose of ascertaining
i just compensation for the land to be used for such road, after
vhich the same proceeding shall be had, as provided for the commis-
toners for a like purpose under the general road law of the State.
ithe board of supervisors be of opinion that the road should not be
pened or change made, then all cost incident to the application for
uch new road or changes shall be paid by the applicant. No money
0 be’ paid for damage in condemnation proceedings till road is ac-
cepted and completed. Viewers and commissioners appointed shall
each receive two dollars and fifty cents per day for their services.

4. The board of supervisors of-Grayson county shall have gen-
eral supervision, control and charge of working and keeping in repair
the roads and opening and making all new roads and repairing the
bridges of the county, all work done and repairs made on old roads
to be done in the spring and summer months of each year, if possible.
And for this purpose must purchase such tools, implements and ma-
chinery as is necessary to have the road and bridges built or repaired.

It shall have authority to direct a surveyor of said county to define
the boundry 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 provisions of this act,
for which service the said surveyors shall receive reasonable compen-
sation from the said board, not exceeding, however, four dollars per
day, payable out of the road fund of the county ;

Each supervisor of the several magisterial districts of the county
shall give personal supervision to and shall have charge and control
of the roads and bridges in their respective districts. It shall be the
duty of such supervisor, to see that roads in his district are kept
cleared of rocks, and other obstructions, of necessary width, and the
beds of the roads 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 of every road,
on which shall be stated in plain letters the most noted places to which
each road leads, and the distance thereto; and that suitable bridges
be constructed 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 practical a sufficient
bridge, bench or log shall be made for the accomodation of foot pas-
sengers, which shall always be kept in a safe condition, and where
the beds of said roads are encroached upon, such supervisor shall
notify in writing by letter mailed to the postoffice address of the
person encroaching or trespassing on the public roads to forthwith
remove the obstruction, and if the same be not done in five days, he,
the supervisor, shall cause said obstruction to be removed and shall
recover the expenses, with costs, from said trespasser, and the super-
visor shall also recover from the said trespasser a fine not exceeding
twenty-five dollars nor less than ten dollars before any justice of the
peace of his district. The fine shall be paid by the justice of the
peace to the treasurer of the county, who shall place the same to the
credit of the road fund of the magisterial district in which it is re-
covered.

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 any bridge or bridges in his district, to
contract, may lay off the roads of his district into sections, and ap-
point 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 buildings 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, speci-
fications and regulations as he may deem necessary, proper or ex-
pedient for working and repairing the roads and building and repair-
ing 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 and fifty cents shall
be paid to each able-bodied laborer; when less than a day’s work is
performed, not more than twenty-five cents per hour shall be paid.
The supervisor shall not allow for team and wagon and hand, or
team and plow and hand more than five dollars per day. The super-
visor shall pay to each foreman or road overseer not more than two
dollars and fifty cents per day.

6. Each overseer or foreman employed under the provision of
this act shall make out an itemized account of all the work done by
him, or under his charge or direction, showing the teams, tools, im-
plements and machinery used and the number and name of the laborers
employed, the dates on which the work was done, the number of
hours worked each day, the amount charged by each laborer for
each day or part of a day, and shall state accurately the road on
which the work was done, and shall make oath to the correctness
thereof, before the supervisor of the district in which the work was
done. The supervisor of the district or anyone authorized by law to
administer oaths shall administer the oath to the overseer or foreman ;
it shall then be the duty of the supervisor to whom such account is
presented to inspect and examine the roads and bridges for the work-
ing, repairing or building of which the amount is presented, and
should he be satisfied that the account is correct, he shall issue a
warrant on the treasurer of the county for the amount due each man,
as shown by said report, payable to the order of said person or persons
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 super-
visor of the district in which the road is located shall employ a com-
petent person to do the same and shall furnish such tools and materials
as necessary to complete the work, the person so employed and his
assistants shall be paid at the rate of twenty-five 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 super-
visors unless it shall first be made to appear that there is sufficient
surplus in the treasury to the credit of the road fund of the magisterial
district in which said new road is proposed to be opened or of money
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated sufficient to pay the same
or unless the parties interested in the opening said proposed new road
shall agree and obligate themselves to open and build said proposed
new road without cost to said magisterial district or to the county.

9. For the purpose of raising revenue for building, 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
for building, working and keeping in repair the public roads and
bridges in said districts and the compensation of the foreman or road
overseers and others provided for under the provisions of this act.
such tax shall not be less than forty cents nor more than fifty cents
on every hundred dollars valuation of such property. The said levy
shall be collected by the treasurer of said county as other county
levies, accounted 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 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 county fund or levy; or so much of said balance as
said board may deem wise or expedient to appropriate ; and in addition
to the real tax herein provided, the said board may appropriate to
the road fund taxes derived from railroad, telegraph and telephone
companies, and the said board shall appropriate twenty per cent of
the money derived from said district levy for the purpose of per-
manently improving some important road in each district each year
and may appropriate any other money not otherwise expended or
appropriated that belongs to the county to permanently improve each
year some important road in each district in said county, and this
fund may be used with or without State aid for such permanent im-
provement as the board may deem best, and the supervisor in selecting
the road he will permanently improve each year by the funds collected
by this act shall give preference to the road that the citizens living
in that community, or any other private source, will make the largest
private donation for the purpose of making said permanent improve-
ment. No foreman or overseer shall work less than six hands. No
supervisor or foreman or overseer shall be interested, financially, either
directly or indirectly, in any contract for opening, repairing or alter-
ing any road or bridge or the purchase of any tools or machinery
provided for in this act.

11. Each supervisor shall have charge of the roads in 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 roads in said district, but no foreman shall be appointed
by the supervisor of a district unless he has had practical experience
in road building or will carry out definitely the plans and specifications
furnished him by the supervisor of the district in building or repair-
ing any road in the district.
12. Each supervisor shall go over and personally inspect th
roads of his district and shall keep them in good condition and re
pair, for which services the said supervisor shall receive the sum 0
four dollars per day, provided, however, he shall not be paid fo
more than one hundred days in any one year for service under thi:
act, and the clerk of the board of supervisors shall not receive fo:
his services less than sixty nor more than one hundred dollars fo:
any one year. :

13. Each supervisor shall keep a book and shall keep down the
names of all the foremen or road overseers employed by him, the
tools and machinery purchased by him, and shall number the roads
of his district and shall give to each road a name, and shall keep ir
the book the names of the men employed by him and the amount paic
to each one, and shall bring said book to the monthly meetings o!
the board of supervisors and it shall be open for inspection for any
taxpayer of the county, and the amounts paid out by him in the
building and repairing of the roads and bridges of his district shall
be published as required by the general law of the State.

14. The 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 repair-
ing such roads 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.

15. If any foreman or road overseer fails to keep his road in

rder and in good condition, on complaint in writing of any taxpayer
of his district to the supervisor of the district he shall be fined not
ess than ten nor more than fifty dollars, if it can be shown that he
1as funds at his command for repairing the said road, said fine
hall be recoverable before a justice of the peace for said county,
ind shall be paid to the treasurer of the county and placed to the
tedit of the road fund in said magisterial district.
_ 16. Each supervisor shall make an equitable and fair distribu-
ion of the money derived from this act in his magisterial district
m all the public roads in his district taking into consideration the
mount of travel, and importance of each road. He shall not allow
ny funds to be expended in permanently improving any road exceed-
ng four degrees, he shall have authority to remove any foreman or
verseer at any time he considers it to the best interest of the roads
f his district.

17. The board of supervisors shall cause to be kept by the clerk
f their board an itemized account of all work done and money ex-
ended in building, working and keeping in repair roads and bridges
f the county, which shall be recorded by the clerk of the board of
upervisors in a book to be kept for the purpose and published in a
manner provided by law for publication of expenditures. The board
of supervisors shall devise a system of bookkeeping to carry out
the intention of this act and require the clerk of the board to keep
such books as directed and they shall prescribe 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 system of said board of supervisors; but each supervisor shall
keep a separate book as required of him by section thirteen of this
act.

The supervisors shall require its clerk to keep a book, in which
he shall record and properly index all the public and private roads
of the county.

The clerk shall state the magisterial district in which the road 1s
located, the name and number of each road, the length of same, the
community through which it passes.

And hereafter when a public or private road is constructed and es-
tablished or an alteration made in an old road, the clerk shall index
and record the same as herein provided.

18. All road tax tickets now in the hands of foremen or overseers
of roads shall be immediately sent to the treasurer of the county, who
shall collect the same according to law and. place the proceeds to
the credit of the road fund of each magisterial district, and each
overseer or foreman of roads heretofore appointed by the board of
supervisors prior to January first, nineteen hundred and twenty, shall
send to the treasurer any money he has collected on road tax tickets
that has not been expended by him, and the treasurer shall place the
same to the credit of the road fund of the district, from which it was
collected, and any foreman or road overseer holding any road tax
ticket or any road money that he has collected from said tickets failing
to send to the treasurer as herein provided shall be prosecuted ac-
cording to law..

19. Each member of the board of supervisors for a failure to per-
form 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 one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars; said fine
shall be applied to the road funds of the district in which the failure
to perform said duty occurs.

20. The general road law of this State, except in so far as the
same is in conflict with the provision of this act shall remain in force
in the county of Grayson; provided, however, nothing in this act shall
apply to any portion of the State highway system which is ‘now or
may hereafter be located and established in the said county of Grayson.

21. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act except such
as relate to the State highway system are hereby repealed, so far as
applicable to Grayson county.

22. An emergency is declared to exist and this act shall be in
force from its passage.