Chap. 466.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 18
and 20 of chapter 50 of the acts of assembly of 1920, concerning the con-
struction, improvement and maintenance of the public roads in Giles county,
and to add two new sections thereto, to be designated as sections 23 and 24,

- providing the method for locating, altering and discontinuing roads and
gates. [fH B 191]

Approved March 28, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
four, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, eighteen and twenty of chapter
fifty of the acts of assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty, be
amended and re-enacted, and that there be added thereto two new
sections to be designated as sections twenty-three and twenty-four, all
of which shall read as follows:

Section 4. The board of supervisors of the county, at their regular
meeting in November, nineteen hundred and thirty, and at the regular
November meeting each year thereafter, shall appoint a county road
superintendent, who shall be a man reasonably well versed in civil
engineering and practical road building, and whose term of office shall
be one year beginning on the first day of January next after his ap-
pointment, but who may be ‘removed at any time by said board for
neglect of duty, incompetence, misfeasance, or malfeasance of office.

Section 8. The county road board shall have charge of the roads
and bridges embraced in the county highway system and shall adopt
and prescribe methods for the construction, reconstruction, improve-
ment and maintenance thereof, and fix a scale of the maximum prices
to be paid for the hire of hands, and the use of teams, plows and other
implements on such highways. The methods so adopted and prescribed,
and the prices so fixed shall be spread at length upon the record books
of said board and shall be subject to change from time to time upon
the concurrence of a majority of all the members of the board.

The county road superintendent shall have the immediate charge
of the work of maintenance of all roads in the county embraced in the
county highway system, in accordance with the methods adopted and
prescribed by the county road board.

Section 9. The district road boards shall have charge of the dis-
trict roads in their respective districts, and shall adopt and prescribe
methods for the construction, reconstruction, improvement and main-
tenance thereof, and fix the prices to be paid for labor, teams, plows
and other implements, none of which prices shall in any case exceed
the prices fixed by the county road board, which methods and prices
shall be spread upon the record books of said board and shall be subject
to change from time to time as circumstances may require.

The rcad commissioners of the several districts shall have the im-
mediate charge of the work of construction, improvement and main-
tenance of the district roads in their respective districts, in accordance
with the methods adopted and prescribed by the district boards, and
under the general supervision of the county road superintendent.

Section 10. The several district boards shall meet together at the
courthouse in the month of January in each year, or as soon thereafter
as may be practicable, on such day as their chairmen may agree upon,
at which meeting they shall formulate and lay out their plans for road
work for that year, and apportion the available funds for the year for
expenditure as nearly proportionately as may be practicable, on the
various roads in their respective districts, such plans and apportion-
ment of funds to be spread upon the records of said boards. At the
same time, they shall appoint a day not longer than thirty days there-
after, for a public hearing on, and a general discussion of, the said
plans and apportionments, notice of such hearing, which shall be at
the court house, to be given by publication in one issue in the Pearis-
burg Virginian, and to contain a general outline of said plans and
apportionments.

After such hearing and on the same day, if there be time on that
day, and if not, then as soon thereafter as may be practicable, the said
boards shall get together, and after having given due consideration to
any and all discussions and suggestions by interested citizens, shall defi-
nitely fix their said plans and apportionments in accordance with their
best judgment, and if any alterations of their original plans and appor-
tionments be made, the same shall be noted on their records.

It shall be the duty of the road commissioners to promptly and faith-
fully execute and carry out such plans as finally adopted, in their re-
spective districts, and for failure so to do, or for failure or refusal to
faithfully perform any other duty devolving upon him or which may
be required of him, in the purview of this act, any such commissioners
so in default shall be liable to impeachment for neglect of duty or mal-
feasance of office, in the manner prescribed by law; and in any such
event, the other members of the district board may employ some other
competent person to perform the duties of the road commissioner, and
fix his compensation therefor.

Section 11. That the several road commissioners shall receive as
compensation for their attendance upon the meetings of the county road
board, and the meetings provided for in the preceding section, the same
per diem and mileage as is allowed by law to the members of the board
of supervisors for attendance upon their meetings; and for services
rendered by them in connection with the work of construction, im-
provement or maintenance of the county and district roads, they shall
receive such compensation as may be fixed by the county and district
road boards by orders entered on the records of said boards, such com-
pensation in each instance to be paid out of funds raised to pay for the
work in connection with which such services were rendered.

Section 12. The county road superintendent shall devote so much
time to the supervision of the construction, reconstruction, improve-
ment and maintenance of the county and district roads as the county
road board may require, and shall receive such compensation therefor
as said board (exclusive of himself) may determine, either by way of
monthly or annual salary, or on a per diem basis, the same to be paid
out of the county road funds.

Section 18. The board of supervisors shall also, annually at the
time they lay the other county levies, levy a tax on all the property in
the several magisterial districts in Giles county, subject to taxation for
other county purposes, and which may be at different rates in the differ-
ent districts but not to exceed fifty cents on the one hundred dollars of
assessed value in any district, the funds raised thereby to be designated
as district road funds and used exclusively for the construction, 1m-
provement and maintenance of the district roads and other expenses
incident thereto.

The funds raised in each district shall be used in the district’ in
which raised, except that the funds raised from the taxation of the
property of railroad companies and other public service corporations
shall be apportioned among the several districts in proportion to the
funds raised from the taxation of other property in each of said dis-
tricts.

Section 20. The road commissioners shall keep correct accounts of
all amounts due for work done and materials furnished in connection
with any and all road work done in their respective districts, both on
county highways and district roads, keeping separate accounts for each
class of roads and for each road in each class. They shall promptly,
after the end of each two weeks, severally make up detailed reports of
all work done and expenses incurred in their respective districts in the
said two weeks period, showing thereon the number of hands and teams
employed, and the materials furnished, and any and all other expenses
incurred on each project, with a general summary at the end of each
report, showing the name of each and every person to whom money is
due for that period, and the amount due each of them, showing separate-
ly the amounts due for work and materials on the county highways and
on the district roads, and whether for construction or maintenance,
which summaries shall constitute the pay rolls for that two weeks.

Such reports shall be made in duplicate and both copies promptly
transmitted to the county road superintendent, who shall carefully in-
spect the same and correct any errors he may find therein, if possible
for him to do so. When so corrected, or if found correct, the superin-
tendent shall approve said reports and promptly forward one copy of
the report for each district to the supervisor of the district, and retain
the other copy for his record. Such supervisor shall, if he finds said
report correct, add his approval to that of the superintendent, with a
direction to the county treasurer to pay the several amounts thereon,
and promptly forward the same to the treasurer. The treasurer, upon
receipt thereof, shall pay the amounts shown thereon, to the persons
respectively entitled thereto, and after he shall have fully paid the same,
he shall deliver such report, with satisfactory evidence of such pay-
ment, to the board of supervisors, who shall give him credit therefor
in his settlement; and no payment shall be made by the treasurer out
of any of the road funds of the county, in any other manner except by
specific direction by the board of supervisors.

Section 23. The said district road boards shall have exclusive orig-
inal jurisdiction of all proceedings for the establishment, alteration or
discontinuance of the public roads in their respective districts, other
than roads embraced in the State highway system, and of all proceedings
for the location or discontinuance of gates on such roads.

Any application for a new road or for changing or discontinuing
any existing road, must be upon the written petition of not less than
three freeholders of the district or districts in which said road is now
or is asked to be located.

The petition so signed, stating clearly and specifically the change,
discontinuance, or route of the new road, with its general direction, and
through whose land it passes, from the point of its beginning to the point
of its termination, shall be presented to the chairman of the road board
of the appropriate district. The clerk of said board shall thereupon
summon the members of the road board of said district to meet on the
premises, on a day to be fixed in the summons, but not earlier than ten
days thereafter, and together they shall view said route for said new
road or said proposed change or discontinuance, and cause the said
new road to be established, or the said change or discontinuance to be
made in accordance with said application, or report adversely according
to their judgment.
If the route of the proposed new road, or the change or discon-
tinuance applied for is located in more than one district of said county,
then the commissioner from any other district so affected shall be also
summoned as a member of said board of viewers.

All landowners through whose lands the road is asked to be changed,
discontinued or established, shall be given by the said clerk, at least
five days’ notice of the time and place of the view of the same. ‘The
said notices shall be served by the sheriff of Giles county, and if there
be any persons affected thereby who cannot be found within Giles
county, the clerk shall mail to such person or persons by registered mail
at their last known address, a copy of said notice, which shall have
the same effect as if such persons had been personally served with the
same by the sheriff of Giles county. In case of an adverse report,
the said board may, in their discretion, require the petitioners to pay
all costs accruing through said petition and view; and the order of
said board to that effect, setting out the amount of such costs, shall
have the force and effect of a judgment against the petitioners, when
docketed on the current judgment lien docket of the county and indexed
as prescribed by law.

Within ten days after any such view, the said board shall make and
file a report of their action thereon, in the clerk’s office of the county,
showing the route of any road established, altered or discontinued ; the
person: whose lands are affected thereby ; a complete map or diagram of
the same; the amount of damage claimed by the landowners ; the amount
of damages allowed each of them by said board, and any other reasons,
in their judgment, they may think proper for their actions. From the
action of said district road board as shown by their report, any person
who feels himself aggrieved thereby, or the attorney for the Common-
wealth of Giles county, acting for the county of Giles, may within ten
days after the filing of the said report in the clerk’s office, appeal to the
circuit court of the county by filing a notice of such appeal in the clerk’s
office of said county, and said appeal shall be heard by the said court
in the manner in which other appeals are heard, and the said court if
requested by either party, shall empanel a jury, and the judgment of
said court shall be final.

Section 24. Any application for the renewal or discontinuance of
any gate upon any public road must be upon the written petition of not
less than three freeholders of the district or districts in which said
gate is. The application shall state clearly and specifically the reasons
why the said gate, or gates should be removed or discontinued. Shall
set forth the names of all freeholders affected by the said gates and
shall be presented to the chairman of the board of supervisors of Giles
county whose duty it shall be to direct the clerk of said board to sum-
mon all freeholders affected by said gates to appear before the board
of supervisors at its next regular meeting to show cause why the prayer
of any such petition should not be granted and the said notices shall
be served in the same manner as provided for in the preceding section.
When such notices have been served, the board of supervisors may
proceed to hear evidences upon the application and shall determine
whether or not the gates shall be removed, and if the board of super-
visors determine that any gate or gates should be removed the sheriff
of Giles county may be directed to execute the order of the said board.
Any person who feels himself aggrieved by any order which may be
entered by the said board affecting any gate may within ten days from
the order of said board appeal to the circuit court of Giles county, which
said appeal shall be heard by the said court in the same manner in
which other appeals are heard, and the judgment of said court upon said
appeal shall be final.

It shall be the duty of the attorney for the Commonwealth of Giles
county to render such services to the said local road boards as they
may request of him and to represent the county in any appeal mentioned
in this act.

The clerk shall keep a book for the purpose of recording the re-
ports of said local road boards and index the same, for which services,
as well as his services in issuing the summons and notices, and other
services rendered in pursuance of this act, he shall be paid such fees as
are provided by law for similar services in other matters and the
sheriff shall be paid for his services in a similar way. Such fees to be
paid out of the county road levy.

Z. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.