Chap. 250.—An ACT to provide a special road law for the county of Bland; to pro-
vide for the working and keeping in repair of the public roads in said county
and to create separate district road commissions or road boards in each of the
several magisterial districts of said county; and to repeal all acts in conflict
herewith so far as they relate to the provisions of this act relating to “ county

of Bland. B 348}
Approved March 14, 1924.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the pro-
visions of the general road laws of this State, so far as not inconsistent
with the following provisions of this act, shall be in full force in the
county of Bland.

2. When any person, or persons, appear before the board of super-
visors of the county of Bland and deposit a sum of money not exceeding
five thousand dollars, or present to the said board of supervisors a bond
payable to the said county, with approved security in an amount double
the sum subscribed (provided, however, that the amount of the said sub-
scription does not exceed five thousand dollars), which sum deposited or
subscribed as aforesaid is pledged to be used for the purpose of grading,
improving and macadamizing any public road or part thereof in said
county, or for the purpose of erecting a bridge as a part of any public
road in the said county, the said board of supervisors are hereby author-
ized, in their discretion, to appropriate out of the county road funds
or other district funds out of the district wherein such road or bridge
is located not otherwise appropriated, an amount equal to the amount
so deposited or subscribed as aforesaid to be used for the purposes afore-
said. Such sums and appropriations shall be expended upon the order
of the district road board or boards in the district or districts in which
such roads or bridges may be located and the said work shall be done
under the supervision of the county road superintendent and the dis-
trict road board or boards or other person in charge of such road work.
The funds so deposited or subscribed, as aforesaid, shall be turned over
to the county treasurer who shall place the same to the credit of the
special road fund for which same is deposited and allowed or appro-
priated and his compensation for receiving and disbursing the amount
so deposited, or subscribed, as the case may be, shall be one-half of one
per cent.
3. For the purpose of establishing, altering and discontinuing work-
ing and keeping in order the roads and bridges of Bland county, and for
all supervision and control of same, except as hereinafter otherwise
provided, there shall be and is hereby created for each of the four magis-
terial districts of the said county a board of road commissioners to be
composed of the supervisor of each district, who shall be the chairman,
and two public spirited, intelligent citizens, who shall be qualified voters
of the district.

4. At the March term, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, or there-
after in vacation, and every two years thereafter, there shall be appointed
by the circuit court of Bland county, Virginia, or the judge thereof in
vacation, two intelligent, public spirited citizens of each of the magis-
terial districts, who shall be selected as far as practical, from the different
sections of such districts and who shall be qualified voters in the dis-
tricts for which they are appointed. These persons shall qualify before
the clerk of the circuit court of Bland county, Virginia, as such road
commissioners and subscribe the oaths of office as prescribed by law.
The said clerk of the circuit court of Bland county shall be the clerk of
each of said boards of road commissioners.

5. The said two persons so appointed and qualified for any magis-
terial district of said county, together with the supervisor of such dis-
trict, shall constitute the board of road commissioners for such district,
with the clerk of the circuit court as the clerk of said board of road com-
missioners.

6. The board of road commissioners shall on or before the second
Tuesday in April, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, meet at the court
house of Bland county and organize by taking the oaths of office herein
provided for before the clerk of the said circuit court, who shall be the
clerk of each of said boards and whose duty it shall be to keep a record
of all the proceedings of all meetings of the said board and of the ex-
penditures and contracts or agreements made and entered into by the
said board.

7. There shall be two regular meetings of the boards of road com-
missioners in each year. One shall be held on the second Tuesday in
April and the other on the second Tuesday in September. Said meet-
ings to be held at the court house and the board may hold other meet-
ings at such time and places, as the supervisor, as chairman of the board
may designate, provided that said commissioners shall not receive com-
pensation for more than four meetings during any one year, except
when they are summoned and meet in cases of application for a new
road, or changing or discontinuing an existing road as hereinafter pro-
vided for. The supervisors and road commissioners herein provided
for shall receive as compensation four dollars per day for each day ac-
tually engaged in the duties devolving upon them under the provisions
of this act and the clerk of the said boards shall receive the same com-
pensation as the said commissioners, provided, however, that a meeting
of all four of the said road commissioners, or any part of them, shall only
be construed as to the clerk’s salary, as one meeting. Said sums to be
paid out of the district road funds for the respective districts.

8. The board of supervisors of Bland county shall annually levy,
along with the county levy, a county road tax upon the real and personal
property assessed for taxation, in Bland county, outside of the corporate
limits of any incorporated town in such county which maintains its
own streets. Such county road tax shall not be more than forty cents
on each one hundred dollars in value of such property, and the same shall
be collected, accounted for and paid out in the manner provided by law,
and the treasurer of the county shall keep such tax in a separate account
and it shall be expended for the purposes provided by law, or as herein
provided for.

9. The board of supervisors of the county of Bland, shall annually
levy, for the purposes of this act, along with the county levy, a district
road tax, for each district in the said county of Bland upon the real and
personal property assessed for taxation for county purposes in the said
county, outside of the corporate limits of any incorporated town in
said county which maintains its own streets. Such district road tax
shall not be more than one dollar on each one hundred dollars in value
of said property and the same shall be collected, accounted for and
paid out as herein provided for. A different rate of taxation may be
levied in each district.

1). Thecircuit court of Bland county, or the judge thereof, in vaca-
tion, at the request of the road commission herein created, or one or more
of said road commissions, may appoint at such rate of compensation as
said road commission or road commissions may fix for each day actually
engaged at work in the discharge of the duties of his office, a supervisor
of roads for each of the several magisterjal and road districts, or for two
or more of such districts (in the discretion of said road commission and
said court or the judge thereof in vacation the same supervisor of roads
may act and be appointed for two or more of said districts), who shall
have the same duties with respect to the several districts for which he
may have been appointed as are provided in the general road law for
the county road superintendent. The judge of the circuit court may
or may not, in his discretion, appoint a county road superintendent as
provided for in the general road law.

11. ‘The several boards of road commissioners shall have charge of
the opening of new roads, closing, discontinuing, altering or repairing
of roads and the general supervision and care of all of the roads in their
respective districts, excepting such as are within and a part of the State
highway system and under the care, maintenance and control of the
State highway commission, or commissioner. They shall have charge
of the construction and improvement of all other roads of said county,
and they shall see that all roads in their respective districts are of the
proper width and clear of obstruction, and in places where they are
not of proper width, or where obstructions have been placed thereon,
or where the ditches draining said roads have been obstructed by filling
in stone, timber or other material, they shall give notice in writing either
from the clerk of said board, or, in case of the appointment of a super-
visor of roads, from the said supervisor of roads, to the person or persons
obstructing said road or ditches, requiring him or them to remove the
obstructions, and if the obstructions are not removed within three days
after the giving of such notice they shall cause the same to be removed,
and report same to the board of supervisors of the county, who shall re-
cover the expense incident thereto, with the cost, from the person or
persons obstructing such road or ditches by a judgment of a justice
of the peace or of the circuit court according to amount involved, and
any money so recovered shall be turned into the district road fund of
the district in which said obstructions occurred. Any person who may,
by threat, force or otherwise hinder, delay or prevent, or attempt to
delay, hinder or prevent, said road commissions or said supervisor of
roads from performing the duties devolving upon them or him under
this act, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not less
than twenty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or confined in
the county jail not exceeding six months, or both.

12. Said board of road commissioners shall have authority to pur-
chase on behalf of their several respective districts, all tools, equipment
and material necesary to successfully carry on said work under this act,
and may have such work done by contract force account or convict labor.
The clerk of the said several boards of road commissioners shall make a
separate report on the fourth Monday in each month to the board of
supervisors of the work done by said road commission, or under their.
directions, during the preceding month by each road commission, and
an itemized account of all expenses incurred by them, or through or
under them; the time worked by each laborer and foreman and the
amount due each, and the work done under contract, and if the work
has been done under contract, the amount due such contractor, or con-
tractors for the preceding month and all amounts due for preceding
month on account of work done by or incident to the construction, im-
provement, repair or maintenance by convict road labor as to each
district. .All of which shall be verified by oath. The board of super-
visors shall allow all claims so incurred to be paid out of the district
road levies of the respective districts in which said road work was done.
For making the reports herein required the clerk of the respective boards
may be allowed such compensation as the said board of road commis-
sioners may allow.

13. In opening new roads, or making changes of location in old
roads, or in the maintenance or repair of existing roads, said board of
road commissioners may let the same to contract to the lowest respon-
sible bidder, after duly advertising the same, or if they may see fit, re-
quire the district road supervisor to take personal charge of such work
and have the same done by force account, contract or convict labor.

14. That application for a new road, or changing or discontinuing
an existing road, must be upon written petition addressed to the district
board of road commissioners in which said road is now, or is asked to
be located, or in which a part thereof is, stating specifically the change,
the discontinuance or route of the new road from point to point, also
stating the names of the land-owners through whose land the proposed
new road or alteration extends, which shall be signed by the petitioners
of their counsel, and forwarded to the clerk of the circuit court of Bland
county, Virginia, who shall forthwith issue a summons to the members
of the road commission in whose district the proposed road, alteration
or discontinuance is; and if in more than one district, then also to the
members of the road commission of any other district affected thereby,
to appear at a point on the proposed road (to be fixed by the said clerk),
change, alteration or discontinuance to be named in the summons, at
the time named therein, and not more than thirty days from the issu-
ance thereof, and together they shall view the said route for the new
road, change or discontinuance and hear such evidence relevant thereto
as may be offered them, and cause said change, new road or discontinu-
ance to be made in accordance with said application, or if such road com-
mission, upon view of such proposed route, is of opinion that a better
location for such proposed new road, or change can be obtained by view-
ing another route, then in that event the said commission may cause
such change to be made, or new road to be opened, and in their report
give the reason for alteration made by it from the location specified in
the petition, stating clearly and specifically the change of route of the
new road from point to point, also stating the names of the land owners
through whose lands the proposed new road or alterations extend, or
report adversely, according to their judgment.

They, or any of them attending, may adjourn the proceedings from
time to time and from place to place, and shall have the power to sum-
mons, through the clerk of said road commission, and compel the at-
tendance of witnesses that the courts now have; may employ an engineer
when necessary, who shall be allowed reasonable compensation for the
services rendered. The majority of the members of the commission
shall rule on all questions. The clerk of the circuit court of Bland county
will, at the time of the issuance of the summons to the members of the
road commission issue summons to land owners named in said petition
to appear at the same time-and place named in the summons to the said
commission to show cause against the establishment, alteration or dis-
continuance, and should said petition omit any land-owner interested,
the summons to said interested land-owner may be issued on the appli-
cation of any party in interest, either by said clerk or by any one of said
road commissioners, and said summons may be served in any manner
that notices under the law may be served, or in any manner that the
general law allows notices to land owners to be served under the general
road law. The action of the board of road commissioners in establish-
ing, changing or discontinuing such road or refusing to establish, alter,
change or discontinue the same shall be final, except as to the amount
of damages, for which an appeal may be had as hereinafter provided;
unless the intention to appeal from such action be filed with the chair-
man of the road commission, or the clerk of said road commission within
five days from the day such action or decision 1s made, and notice of such
action given to one or more of such petitioners, and if so noted an appeal
may be taken to another commission composed of two supervisors and
one road commissioner from other districts; provided that no supervisor
or road commissioner from whose action an appeal is taken shall be a
member of the commission hearing such appeal. When such appeal is
taken, the chairman of the commission whose action or decision is ap-
pealed from shall at once notify the clerk of the circuit court who shall
summons two supervisors and one road commissioner from other dis-
tricts to hear such appeal and the said commission shall hear and decide
the matter as if they were hearing it originally and shall enter their de-
cision on the merits of the case, giving due regard to the interest of the
applicants and land owners as well, and from the decision of such com-
mission there shall be no appeal except in the matter of damages, as
herein provided.
15. When members of such district road commission, or of the
board of supervisors, or either of them, are personally interested in the
opening or locatien of such road, or are the owners of, or have any in-
terest in the lands, or any portion thereof, or are closely related to any
person so interested, or is so situated in his opinion as to render it im-
proper for him to pass upon the location or opening of such road, change,
or discontinuance, then the clerk of the circuit court of Bland county
shall summons from one of the other districts in said county some other
member of the road commission who will act in his place and stead, and
if on an appeal from the action of any road commission two members
of the board of supervisors cannot be found who are not disqualified as
herein set out, then members of the road commission from other dis-
tricts who are not supervisors may be summoned to compose the appeal
board herein provided to hear appeals from the road commission.
Should such commission establish a road or make any change or alter-
ation in same, they shall assess damages to the land owners, and file
in the clerk’s office of the circuit court of Bland county a report of their
action, with a full description of the road established, alteration made or
road discontinued, stating the width and grade of percentage of the road
established or alterations made, and shall also file a plat of the road es-
tablished, or alterations with said report, and said report and plat shall be
recorded by the clerk of said county in a book kept for the purpose, and
shall notify the attorney for the Commonwealth of all damages allowed
against the county, and such damages shall not be payable until said
Commonwealth’s attorney has been so notified, and such notice entered
on the record book of the board of supervisors; and the clerk of the
county or of the board of supervisors shall not issue any warrant for
any damages allowed against the county until the report of the commis-
sioners is filed in the clerk’s office and recorded, nor shall the county
treasurer pay any warrant for such damages until the clerk certifies on
the warrant that the report of the commissioners has been filed and
recorded in his office.

Said report made by said second commission establishing a
road or making any changes or alterations in any existing road shall be
final, except as herein provided, but any land owner damaged, or the
Commonwealth’s attorney or the board of supervisors in behalf of the
county, shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court, if the sum
reported by the commission or commissions is deemed by him or any of
them insufficient or excessive.

If any land holder damaged desires to appeal to the circuit court on
the question of damages, he may, within thirty days after the said report
is filed in the clerk’s office of the circuit court, apply to said circuit court,
or to the judge thereof in vacation, for an appeal on said question of
damage, or the Commonwealth’s attorney may, in the same manner,
when he thinks the damages allowed excessive, take such appeal for the
county, or the board of supervisors may direct the Commonwealth’s
attorney to take such appeal and no bond shall be required in any case
where the county is appellant; and the same shall be allowed by the court
or judge, and the cause placed on the docket for trial at the next term
of the said court; no appeal shall be allowed a land owner after the ex-
piration of said thirty days, but the Commonwealth’s attorney may, on
his own motion, or upon direction of the board of supervisors, take such
appeal within thirty days from the time the Commonwealth's attorney
has been notified of the award of damages against the county in any
case. Any party or parties other than the Commonwealth's attorney
or the board of supervisors, upon being allowed an appeal ax herein pro-
vided for shall execute such bond before the clerk of the circuit court,
conditioned to pay such cost. as may be found against. them, as may be
prescribed by the court or judge allowing the appeal.

16. A trial of said appeal shall be by jury unless the same be waived
by all parties and without formal pleadings, and shall be final, except.
to appeal as to points of law. In all questions of damages, the question
of compensating advantages shall be fully considered in awarding dam-
ages for the opening, changing or extending of any road, and in case of
an appeal and every other matter connected with this act the road com-
mission shall be represented by the Commonwealth’s attorney of Bland
county. On said appeal the court or jury shall ascertain the amount. of
damage sustained by the land owner or land owners involved in the ap-
peal, as provided above, and on request. of the Commonwealth’s at-
torney, or of the board of supervisors, the same shall be certified to the
board of supervisors at their next meeting to determine by a recorded
vote whether the expenditure is deemed. proper, and if a majority of the
membhers present shall deem it expedient, the expenditure shall not be
made, but if no such request be made it shall not be necessary to refer
the matter to the board of supervisors; provided, however, that in the
event the road has been constructed through the land of any person in-
volved in the appeal, or any part thereof, the question of whether the
expenditure is deemed proper shall not ke referred to the board of super-
visors so far as such land owner is concerned, but judgment shall be
given for such damages.

17. Whether any such appeal on the question of damages shall be
taken or not, the board of road commissioners for the district or districts
in which such road shall be located, on paying into the circuit court of
Bland county in the term or to the clerk of the court in vacation, the sum
ascertained by the commissioners locating same as shown by their report
returned to the said clerk’s office, may, notwithstanding the pendency
of proceedings, enter into and contract their work upon or through the
part of the land described in such report, and no order shall be made or
any injunction awarded by any court or judge to stay the proceedings of
such board of road commissioners in the prosecution of their work, un-
less it be made manifest that they, their officers, agents or servants are
transcending their authority, and that the interposition of a court is
necessary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately compensated in
damages.

18. When after such payment into court upon appeal taken from
such report, if the sum ascertained thereby exceed what was so paid,
judgment shall be given against the county for the amount of such ex-
cess, and if what was so paid exceed the amount of the sum ascer-
tained upon such appeal, the excess shall be paid back to the county
road fund, and judgment therefor and the costs of appeal shall be ren-
dered against the appellant.

19. When an appeal is taken, and the money paid into court,
the court shall disburse the same to parties entitled thereto, and when
no appeal is taken the same shall be disbursed to the parties entitled
thereto by the commission.

20. Whenever any of the land owners are infants or suffering under
any legal disability, the proceedings shall not be stayed, but the clerk
of the circuit court of Bland county shall appoint for such person, or
persons, a guardian ad litem in the same manner as he is authorized
to appoint a guardian ad litem for infant defendants, and said guardian
ad litem shall represent said infant, or such person under legal disabili-
ties, and shall receive the same compensation, payable in the same man-
ner and from the same source, had the matter been pending in the court,.
the amount of the guardian ad litem’s fee to be determined by the circuit
court of Bland county, and all‘notices and summons may be served by
the sheriff and his deputies, and their compensation, and the compensa-
tion of the clerk of the circuit court of Bland county shall be the same as
allowed said officers for similar services, and any road commissioner in
the discharge of his duties under this act, whenever the same may be
necessary, is empowered to administer an oath.

21. The district road commission in establishing a road, may direct
that it be opened and kept in order by persons for whose convenience
the same is desired, and the same shall not be an established road until
the person or persons so designated in the commissioner’s report shall
file with the chairman of the district in which the road is, an agreement
that he or they will open same and keep the same in order. That all
new roads established, changes or alterations made shall be the width
to be determined by the road commission viewing or establishing the
same, the grade, in no case, except on roads to be opened and kept in
repair by persons for their own private convenience, shall exceed seven
per centum, except on locations where heavier grades cannot be avoided,
and the same shall be established with or without gates as they deem
best, and in case they report adversely upon any petition, the petitioners
shall pay into the county road fund all costs accruing through said peti-
tion, unless said commission in their discretion relieve such petitioners
from such cost, and the same may be recovered from petitioners by suit
at law, on notice, or warrant before a justice in the name of the board of
supervisors of Bland county.

22. Application for a new road, or for changing or discontinuing an
existing road must be upon the written petition of not fewer than five
freeholders of the district, or districts, in which said road is now, or is
asked to be located, discontinued or changed. In case of an adverse
report, the petitioners shall pay all costs accruing through said petition
and view; and it is hereby made a condition precedent to the consider-
ation of any application, that the petitioners shall execute and file with
each petition a good and sufficient bond in the penalty of one hundred
dollars, payable to the board of supervisors of Bland county, with the
condition that, in case of an adverse ‘report on said petition, the peti-
tioners will pay to the said board of supervisors of Bland county all
costs accruing through said petition and view; which cost when collected
shall constitute a part of the road funds of the district, or districts in
which said change or discontinuance, or establishment of a new road
was petitioned for.
23. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall, in a suitable book:
kept for that purpose, open an account with each magisterial district
of the county, on which shall be charged all warrants drawn on the dis-
trict road fund, and district maintenance road fund, date, number and
amount of each warrant, and to whom and for what payable, and the
said clerk shall, on the first Monday of January, April, July and October
of each year, file a written report, addressed to the board of supervisors
of Bland county, of money expended under this act in each of the four
magister al districts, and the board of supervisors shall at once have said
reports published 1 in a county newspaper at the expense of tne respective
districts.

No supervisors, road commissioner, county read engineer, or super-
visor for any one or more districts shall be interested either directly or
indirectly in any contract given under the provisions of this act.

24. If the supervisors, road commissioners, county road engineer or
road supervisors, or any of them, intentionally or negligently violate
any of the provisions of this act, or intentionally or negligently fail to
perform any of the duties required by this act they shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be punished by a
fine of not less than twenty dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars,
and may be removed from office by the circuit court of Bland county.
All prosecutions for the violations of this act, except where otherwise
provided in this act, shall be in the circuit court of Bland county and
shall be by indictment, and it shall be the duty of the judge of the circuit
court of Bland county to charge every regular grand jury as to the pro-
visions of this act, and to require the county engineer, should there be
one, and the road supervisors, should there be one or more, to be sent
before every grand Jury asa witness. All money now in the hands of the
treasurer of Bland county, belonging to the road fund of the respective
Magisterial districts of Bland county, including the funds known as the
district road fund, the maintenance fund, and the permanent road funds
shall be expended under this act, as well as the joint State and county
funds, so far as this act is not in conflict with the various and several
acts regulating the expenditure of said last named funds.

25. The county road engineer, should there be one appointed, and.
the district and road supervisors, before entering upon the discharge of
their several duties, shall enter into a bond payable to the said board of
supervisors, in such amount as fhe said board of supervisors may deem
advisable, not exceeding five thousand dollars, and conditioned to faith-
fully perform and discharge his or their duties, under this act, and the
board of supervisors is vested with authority to remove any of such
-officers from office, for good cause, which cause shall be made a part of
the records of said board.

26. The board of supervisors of Bland county shall sue and be sued
in relation to the enforcement of all rights, remedies and liabilities con-
nected with the roads of the county, not otherwise herein expressly pro-
vided for; however, in case any district board of road commissioners,
or appeal board, shall exceed or attempt to exceed its authority under
this act, nothing herein contained shall prevent any person from apply-
ing to court for relief against such board exceeding its authority, its
officers, agents, and servants as provided by law. All actions and suits
mstituted by the board of supervisors shall be at the cost and expense of
the district or districts in which are located the portions of the road to
be affected thereby, which cost. and expense shall be paid out of the road
fund of such district; and in cAse any money is recovered in any proceed-
ing, it shall be turned into the road fund for such district. All actions
and suits against the board of supervisors shall show an account of what
districts the liability is claimed, and all judgments recovered against said
board of supervisors shall be payable out of the district road funds of the
district in which the liability was incurred, together with all fees, costs
and expense incident thereto. .

27. The board of supervisors is hereby authorized to enact special
legislation regulating and prescribing the width of tires of vehicles with
reference to weight of load in order to protect the roads of the county
from undue injury; and also to prohibit heavy traffic over the roads of
the county, or such of them as they may deem proper, during wet
weather, or during any thaw after a freeze, or during the melting of any
snowfall and for a reasonable period after such time; and also to enact
such other local and special legislation, not in conflict with the Consti-
tution and general laws of the Commonwealth, as they may deem ex-
pedient to protect the public roads, ways and bridges of the county from
encroachment or obstruction, and from the improper or injurious use
thereof, which rules and regulations shall be prosecuted by the Com-
monwealth’s attorney on the complaint of either the board of super-
visors, the board of road commissioners or any member of either board,
or on complaint properly made before a justice of the peace by any citizen
of the county. Any violation of any enactments under this section of
this act shall be deemed a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine
of not less than five nor more than one hundred dollars for each offense.
Any prosecution under this act may be had either before a justice of the
peace or by indictment made by the grand jury.

28. The board of supervisors and the several road boards are hereby
authorized to make provision whereby the road commissioners may issue
warrants against the county and district road funds to pay for work on
the roads in such circumstances as said boards may deem casés of
necessity or emergency, all such warrants so issued to be reported
monthly by said commissioners to the board of supervisors in order that.
they may be charged against the proper funds.

29. It is to be understood that the roads and bridges embraced and
to be embraced in the county highway system of Bland county, shall be
under such supervision of the State highway department as may be
required by law to entitle the county of Bland to receive State aid in the
construction, reconstruction, improvement and maintenance of said
roads and bridges.

30. It appearing that conditions exist in the said county of Bland
that cannot be adequately reached under the general road law and that
it. is necessary for the maintenance and upkeep of the several roads of
the said county and for the proper and systematic laying out, locating
and maintaining a county highway svstem and the raising of funds for
the same and the present conditions of the roads in said county and the
several districts thereof, that the powers and duties conferred by this
act should be exercised at onee, an emergency 1s declared to exist and
this act shall be in force from its passage.