CHAPTER 635

An Act to amend and reenact § 15.1-67, as amended, of the Code of
Virginia, relating to interest in contracts with and claims against

counties.
[H 1186]
Approved April 4, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 15.1-67, as amended, of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted as follows:
§ 15.1-67. Supervisors, etc., not to have interest in contracts with,
or claims against, counties.—No supervisor including the chairman of a
board of supervisors, superintendent of the poor, special policeman, com-
missioner of the revenue, treasurer, attorney for the Commonwealth, clerk
of the court, judge of the county court, sheriff or any paid officer of the
county shall become interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract, or
in the profits of any contracts, made by or with any officer, agent, com-
missioner, or person acting on behalf of the supervisors, the county school
board, or superintendent of the poor of the county, or in any contract, fee,
commission, premium or profit therefrom, paid, in whole or in part, by
the county or any board, commission or agency thereof, or in the sale or
furnishing of supplies or materials to such county, and shall not become
interested, directly or indirectly, in any contract, or in the profits of any
contract, made by or with any officer, agent, commissioner, trustee or
overseer for working and keeping in repair the public roads in the county.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, this section shall not be deemed to apply
to contracts by and between any developer and any county, transferring
water and sewer mains, water and sewerage facilities and systems, con-
structed and installed at such developer’s expense, to such county, which
contracts extend such county’s water and sewerage systems, and which
may or may not provide for a reimbursement for the total cost or a part
thereof, out of connection charges made for connection to such systems.

On application of the board of supervisors, board of public welfare, or
school board, the circuit court may designate such attorney, who may be
the attorney for the Commonwealth or judge of the county court, to
represent either or all such boards in matters requiring the services of an
attorney, such attorney so designated to be paid such compensation by
the county or school board or by the board of public welfare, as requisite, as
the court prescribes.

And no supervisor shall, except by descent or devise, marriage or as
a personal representative, committee of an insane person, or guardian,
become interested, directly or indirectly, in any claim against his county,
whether the same shall have been passed upon by the board of supervisors
or not. Any such contract shall be void, and the amount embraced by
any contract, the value of any such supplies or materials and the amount
of any such claim shall never be paid; or, if paid, may be recovered
back, with interest, by the county, in the circuit court of the county, by
action or motion, within two years from the time of payment.

The term “contract,” as herein used, shall not be held to include the
depositing of county or town funds in, or the borrowing of funds from,
local banks in which members of the board of supervisors, members of
the school board, or other county officers herein named may be a director
or officer or have a stock interest; nor shall it include the granting of
franchises to or purchases of services from public service corporations.

This section shall not be construed to prevent any officer, director or
stockholder of a bank, which has a contract with a county, from serving
as a member of the board of supervisors or as a member of the school
board of such county, nor shall it invalidate such contract.

This section shall not apply to attorneys for the Commonwealth em-
ployed by the governing bodies of counties under the provisions of §§ 58-
762, 58-1016 or 58-1102 to collect taxes which are a lien on real estate;
nor to contracts for additional compensation to be paid an attorney for
the Commonwealth for services rendered in connection with proceedings
under chapter 25 (§ 15.1-1032 et seq.) of this title; nor to additional
compensation to be paid an attorney for the Commonwealth for services
rendered in connection with any suit brought against any county, board
of supervisors, school board, or any other local governing body or agency,
instituted or tried in any federal or State court.
Nor shall this section apply to the publication of notices, lists, or
other information, which the county is required or permitted by law to
publish, in a newspaper owned directly or indirectly by a county officer
or operated by such officer, provided such newspaper is the only news-
paper of general circulation published in such county.

Nor shall this section apply to the compensation of sheriffs or their
deputies who also serve as jailors for their counties; nor to the employ-
ment of a sheriff of a county or his deputy as janitor for a county building
or buildings.