Chap. 574.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to create for
the county of Norfolk a commission of roads and bridges, and to prescribe
the powers and duties of such commission, and thereby to provide for con-
trolling, constructing and keeping in repair the public roads and bridges
within said county, and for acquiring, establishing, altering and vacating
roads and bridges therein; and to repeal an act entitled an act for working
and keeping in repair the public roads in Norfolk county, approved February
18, 1890, as amended by acts approved February 26, 1908, and March 14,
1910, respectively, and also to repeal an act entitled an act for working and
keeping in repair the public roads in Norfolk county, approved February
1, 1894, approved February 1, 1915, as amended by an act approved March
19, 1920, as amended by an act approved February 25, 1922, as amended by
an act approved March 14, 1924, and as amended by an act approved
March 21, 1924. (S B 324]

Approved March 31, 1926.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled an act to create for the county of Norfolk a commission o
1926. | ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 949
roads and bridges, and to prescribe the powers and duties of such com-
mission, and thereby to provide for controlling, constructing and keep-
ing in repair the public roads and bridges within said county, and for
acquiring, establishing, altering and vacating roads and bridges there-
in; and to repeal an act entitled an act for working and keeping in re-
pair the public roads in Norfolk county, approved February eigh-
teenth, eighteen hundred and ninety, as amended by acts approved
February twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and eight, and March four-
teenth, nineteen hundred and ten, respectively, and also to repeal an
act entitled an act for working and keeping in repair the public roads
in Norfolk county, approved February first, eighteen hundred and
ninety-four, approved February first, nineteen hundred and fifteen,
as amended by an act approved March nineteenth, nineteen hundred
and twenty, and as amended by an act approved February twenty-
fifth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as amended by an act ap-
proved March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, and as
amended by an act approved March twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and twenty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. For the purpose of this act the six magisterial districts
of the county of Norfolk shall be divided into three road districts as
follows: Road district number one shall be composed of Tanner's
creek magisterial district; number two shall be composed of Western
branch, Deep creek and Pleasant Grove magisterial districts; number
three shall be composed of Butts road and Washington magisterial
districts. A permanent commission to consist of one member and
two associate members, to be known as ‘‘the commission of roads and
bridges for the county of Norfolk,” is hereby created. The member
and each of the associate members of the said commission shall be
qualified to vote and shall be a resident of the road district from which
he is appointed. The commissioner and the two associate commis-
sioners shall be appointed by the judge of the circuit court of Norfolk
county, and their regular term of office shall be three years, respec-
tively, except those first appointed under this act (who shall be ap-
pointed not less than thirty days before the first day of January, nine-
teen hundred and twenty-seven), of whom the commissioner shall be
appointed to hold office until the first day of January, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty, one of the associate commissioners until the first day
of January, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, and the other associate
commissioner until the first day of January, nineteen hundred and
twenty-eight. Whenever a vacancy in the commission shall occur,
the judge of said court shall forthwith appoint a qualified person to
fll the same for the unexpired term, and any commissioner or asso-
ciate commissioner shall be removable by the judge of said court for
neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. The commissioner and
associate commissioners appointed for regular terms shall, at the be-
ginning of the terms for which appointed, and those appointed to fill
vacancies, shall, immediately upon their appointment, enter upon the
duties of their office. The commissioner shall be the chairman of the
commission, and one of the associate commissioners shall annually be
elected by the commissioner as secretary. The commission shall have
authority to require of the sheriff of said county, or any of his deputies,
such attendance and services as may be necessary to preserve order
and serve notices. All sessions of the commission shall be public, and
a permanent record (to be prepared by the secretary), shall be kept of
its orders, proceedings, receipts and expenditures, and of all reports
made to or by it, which shall at all times during normal business
hours, be open to public inspection. The commissioner and one of
the associate commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transac-
tion of business whether there by a vacancy in the commission or not,
and a majority of the commission present may decide any question
that may properly come before the meeting. The board of super-
visors of said county shall, subject to the approval of the commission,
provide suitable quarters and blank records for the commission. The
salary of the said commissioner shall be eighteen hundred dollars,
together with two hundred dollars for miscellaneous expenses incident
to the performance of his duties under this act in the said county; and
the compensation of each of said associate commissioners shall be ten
dollars per day while performing the duties of his office, not to exceed,
however, in one year, the sum of two hundred and forty dollars. In
addition, the commissioner and each associate commissioner shall be
allowed his necessary traveling expenses while performing the duties
of his office.

Section 2. The said commission shall have the power and be
charged with the duty of controlling, supervising, managing, building,
improving and keeping in order all the public roads and bridges within
said county (not included within the corporate limits of any incor-
porated town in said county which maintains its own streets), and as
an incident thereto, the stone quarry operated by said county, and
shall make and prescribe such rules, regulations, specifications and
directions as it shall deem best for building, keeping in order and re-
pairing such roads and bridges.

As used in this act, the term ‘‘road or roads”’ shall be construed to
include highways, streets, avenues and roads; and the term ‘“‘bridge
or bridges’’ shall be construed to include bridges, viaducts and cause-
ways.

Section 3. The said commissioner, and each of said associate
commissioners, as well as the road engineer hereinafter provided for,
shall qualify as other county officers are required by law to qualify,
and shall enter into and acknowledge before the court or judge before
whom he qualifies, a bond, payable to the county, with security to be
approved by such court or judge, in the penalty of five thousand
dollars, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his
office.

Section 4. The said commission may appoint a county road
engineer (who shall be a competent civil engineer) who shall devote
his whole time or a part of his time to such duties as shall be pre-
scribed and contracted for by the commission, and who shall attend
each meeting of the commission, and whose salary shall be fixed by it
in a sum per annum commensurate with the service prescribed and
required. Said engineer shall personally own his means of roac
transportation, but for the upkeep and maintenance of such means of
transportation in performing the duties of his employment, he shall
be allowed a sum not to exceed one thousand dollars per annum, and
further be allowed his expenses for common carriers and hotels when
on duties directly connected with the roads of the county; and it may
appoint or employ or authorize the appointment or employment of
such additional engineers, overseers, agents, servarits, laborers and
other subordinates as may be necessary for the proper performance
and execution of the duties imposed by this act. It shall also have
authority to employ counsel when the same is rendered necessary to
protect the public interest incident to this work under this act. The
terms, duties and compensation of its respective appointees and em-
ployees shall be as prescribed by it, and their compensation shall be a
reasonable one, and any and all of them shall be removable at its
pleasure for inefficiency or other good cause.

Section 5. The said commission shall, on the first Monday in each
month, hold a meeting at the county court house for the discharge of
its duties, and may appoint or hold such other regular or special meet-
ings at such times and places as may be necessary for that purpose.
The commissioner, or either associate commissioner, shall have power
to call a special meeting upon giving the other two reasonable written
notice of the time and place thereof. The chairman shall preside at
all meetings and shall have power to administer an oath to any person
concerning any matter submitted to the commission or connected
with its duties.

Section 6. It shall be the duty of the said commission, or two of
them, to go over the public roads and bridges of said county at least
once during the months of February and August of each year, and to
keep itself informed by means of personal investigation, or otherwise,
as to the condition of the public roads and bridges of said county, the
manner in which they are worked and kept in order, and whether or
not its appointees and employees and other subordinates have per-
formed their respective duties. The said commission shall have re-
gard not only for the development of the road and bridge system of
the county as a whole, but for the needs of the inhabitants of each
magisterial district respecting same.

Section 7. From and after the passage of this act the road and
quarry machinery, equipment and material now belonging to the
county of Norfolk, shall be subject to the authority and control of the
said conimission, and it shall have power to purchase machinery,
teams, equipment, supplies and material, and to perform all other
things necessary to carry out the purposes of this act. It shall also
have authority to prevent the public from traveling on any road or
bridges, or any portion thereof, while the same is being built, im-
proved or repaired. Said commission may make all necessary con-
tracts and may require proper bonds from all contractors and material
men for the faithful performance of their contracts or undertakings.
Any rules and regulations of a general nature that the commission
shall prescribe respecting travel by the public shall be published at
least twice in a newspaper of general circulation published in the city
of Norfolk or Portsmouth.
Section 8. The commission shall further have the power to pur-
chase such trucks, tractors, tools and other machinery as may be nec-
essary to equip, organize-and put to work in the several magisterial
districts small forces of laborers, under the supervision of a foreman,
who shall be known as a road foreman for the district or districts put
in his charge. The duties of said foreman and his assistants are to
inspect and repair the roads and bridges in his district or districts, in
accordance with the instructions of the commission or its engineer.
Forces of this kind are to be organized as soon as practicable. The
commission shall keep these forces continually at work if the funds for
their maintenance are available. Otherwise, the commission may
curtail or remove the forces entirely until such trme as it may be
financially prepared to re-organize them. The road foreman shall
report to the engineer weekly in writing or by telephone, and shall be
responsible to the engineer, who, shall in turn transmit said reports
to the commission and be responsible to it for the actions of the road
foreman. Each road foreman shall devote his whole time, while em-
ployed by the commission, to road and bridge work, and shall report
to the engineer by telephone daily whenever such means of communi-
cation is available. In case of emergency, the commission mav
mobilize these road forces as they may deem best. The commission
shall as far as practicable keep the forces at work in the several dis-
tricts supplies with proper tools and materials for the execution of
their work.

Section 9. The commission shall, from time to time, cause to be
prepared and placed on file open to convenient public inspection.
plans and specifications of the work to be done under this act, such
plans and specifications and the calls for bids thereon to be advertised
ten days in one or more newspapers in the city of Norfolk or Ports-
mouth, and award the contract to the lowest bidder, subject to its
right to reject any or all bids. Emergency cases in road or bridge
work shall be done as the commission deems best.

All work of whatever nature, except emergency cases, shall, as
stated above, be let to the lowest bidder, unless all of the bids are
deemed too high by the commission. Then, if the commission de-
cides that the best interests of the county will be served by doing such
work with its own equipment, it shall file all bids received on such
piece of work and shall keep a record of the costs of their so doing said
work to determine what economies or excess costs finally accrued, and
incorporate such figures in their annual report.

The commission may lease whatever machinery and equipment
now in their possession, or that they may hereafter acquire, to con-
tractors or road workers, at prices and under co ditions they mav
determine.

Section 10. The board of supervisors of Norfolk county shall
annually levy and appropriate for general road purposes under this
act, a tax upon the property, real and personal assessed for taxation
in the county (and not included within the corporate limits of anv
incorporated town in said county which maintains its own streets)
which shall be applied to the working, keeping in order and repairing
1926. | ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 953

the public roads and bridges, including the compensation of the com-
missioner, associate commissioners, officers and subordinates appointed
or employed under this act. Such tax shall not be less than fifteen
nor more than sixty cents upon every hundred dollars in value of such
property, and the same shall be collected, accounted for and applied
as road funds under this act as if it were a county levy, except that the
funds collected from each magisterial district shall be kept separate
by the county treasurer. The board of supervisors shall also annually
appropriate for general road purposes under this act so much of the
county’s annual income from the Norfolk county ferries as is not re-
quired for the county’s proportion of interest on bonds that are now
or may hereafter be predicated upon said ferry property and sinking
funds to retire the same. The said board of supervisors shall also
forthwith appropriate for general road purposes under this act all
portions of previous appropriations for roads unexpended at the date
this act shall go into effect. The said board of supervisors shall have
power to make additional appropriations for general road purposes
under this act from the general county levy not otherwise expended.
The said several funds so appropriated shall be disbursable for the
expenses (including cost of material, equipment and labor, and com-
pensation of commissioners and its appointees and employees) nec-
essary to accomplish the purposes of this act, by warrants upon the
county treasurer, authorized by the said commission, signed by its
chairman and countersigned by its secretary. The said several funds
shall be applied by the said commission, first, to the cost and expense
of working, keeping in order and repairing the public roads and
bridges, and, secondly, if any of said funds shall then remain, to the
cost and expense of building, acquiring and permanently improving
new or additional roads and bridges, and for this latter purpose. the
said commission shall have the right and authority to expend, in the
manner herein provided, all unexpended proceeds of bonds heretofore
authorized and issued for the purpose of acquiring or improving roads
or bridges in said county.

Section 11. The commission shall annually, at its meeting in
March, make in writing a detailed report of its year’s work and ex-
penditures and an estimate for the ensuing year of the funds under
this act necessary to be applied to the working, keeping in order and
repairing the public roads and bridges in the county, and file a copy
of such report and estimate with the board of supervisors at their
regular meeting in April of each year.

Section 12. No commissioner or engineer or other person ap-
pointed or employed by virtue of this act shall become pecuniarily
interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract or work of whatever
nature, or in the profits of any contract or work of whatever nature,
made by or with any person, firm or corporation that may contract
for or otherwise do work on, or the furnishing of material, equipment
or supplies for roads or bridges in Norfolk county; and if this provision
is violated, the commissioner or engineer or other person so violating
the same shall, by means of an action or motion brought within one
vear thereafter in the circuit court of said county, be hable to the
954 . ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. [VA.

county for a sum of money equal to double the amount of his interest
aforesaid.

Section 13. The said commission shall have and may exercise the
powers, authority and jurisdiction now or hereafter conferred upon the
board of supervisors by general law (so far as not inconsistent with
this act) in regard to establishing, altering and vacating roads and
bridges; and in such-cases the procedure, right of appeal, and other
proceedings shall be the same mutatis mutandis, as those provided by
general law in the case of similar proceedings before boards of super-
visors. The attorney for the Commonwealth of said county shall
render such legal service to the said commission as may be proper
under this act, without additional compensation to him.

Section 14. The said commission shall have the right to apply for
and receive and make use of, under this act, such State money or con-
vict aid as may be properly applicable to the county of Norfolk under
the general laws of the State on those subjects.

Section 15. The commission shall make a complete inventory as
of June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, and on each
succeeding June thirtieth, covering the location and condition of all
real and personal property belonging under its jurisdiction, and said
inventories shall be open to public inspection at the office of the com-
mission at any time during business hours.

Section 16. All other acts or parts of acts inconsistent or in con-
flict with this act are hereby repealed.

Section 17. In the event that any part or parts of this act shall be
in conflict with the Constitution of Virginia, the residue thereof shall
nevertheless be valid, and such conflicting part or parts shall be super-
seded by the proper constitutional provision.