The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1907-02-01
MR.. KENEEY's ROAD BILL.
Commissioners and Contract sys-
tem-More Tax.

troduced a road bill somewhat sim
liar to the law in force here a few
years ago. Much of the bill in tex
is the same as the old road laws
which have been in effect for some
time. There are, however. some ad
ditional sections which are intended
TO pave the way for good, or better
roads.
The first two sections provide for
the election of road commissions,
one for each civil district, as fol
lows:
"SEc. /. Be it Enacted by the
General Assembly of the State Of
Tennessee. That IT shall be the
duty of the quarterly County Court
at the April term, 1907, to elect one
Road Commissioner, who shall be a
freebooter, for each road district in
said county, who shall hold his Office
for term of two years from the
first day of January, 1907, and until
his successor is elected and qualified.
"SEc. ?. Be it further enacted,
That any Commissioner so elected
fail to qualify within twenty days
after his election, it shall be the
duty of the County Judge to APP
point a Commissioner Of such dis
trict, and said Commissioner so
elected shall enter into bond before
the County Court Clerk in the penal
sum of FIVE hundred dollars, pay
able to the State of Tennessee, and
conditioned for faithful perform
ance of their duties, and for the
accounting for all moneys that may
come into theft hands by virtue of
their Office, and shall also take an
oath for the faithful performance
of their duties.
"SEc. 3. Be it further enacted,
That the Road Commissioner of
each district shall have entire super
vision of all bridges and culverts in
their respective districts of the
length of rs feet and under, which
he shall have built and kept in re-
pair, to be paid for with the road
fund of his district; they shall also
have supervision of all the public
roads in his district, and shall lay
them out and classify them as first,
second and third-class roads. Roads
of the first class shall be forty feet
wide between the bitches; second
class, thirty feet wide; third class,
twenty feet wide between bitches.
He shall also assign hands to each
road
"SEc. 6. Be it further enacted,
That the Commissioner shall let
out to the lowest responsible bid
der the working of the roads in his
district to one or more contractors
tor the term OF two years, which
shall enter into bond
with two or more sureties in the
penal sum of five hundred dollars,
payable to the State of Tennessee,
for the faithful COM
pliance with his contract.
SEC Z. Be it further enacted,
That all roads shall be graded with
one and one-half inch to the foot
an from the center to each side.
ind that they shall be ditched on
Zach side where practicable so as
% properly drain them, and that
'uch bitches shall be kept open by
he contractors.
From the above it will be seen
hat the commissioners are to take
he place of overseers, as hereto
ore, but provides for contract
ystem in addition to the old meth
ID of working the road a given
lumber OF days by each male inhab-
tant over twenty-one and under
fifty years.
The bill is a departure from the
avs heretofore made in providing
or an additional road tax, which,
We presume, is intended by the au-
hor for improvements on more Y
Extensive scale. 1t is as follows:
"SEc. 9. Be 1t further enacted,
That the County Court of such !,
ounty shall, at the April term of
he Quarterly Court, after the pas
age Of this Act, levy tax for :
ighway purposes, to be not less
han fifteen cents nor more than
wenty cents, including the amount
svied by the County Court at the
anuary term, 1907, on each one !,
undred dollars worth of taxable
roperty as shown by the assess
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