Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1914-02-20

FNJ - ~
Resolved, that copies of these reso.
1ut1oas be sent to our rysscssatsastti .sas
in Richmond, with rquest that they
use their best efforts to defeat said
bill.
J. Stickey, Chairman.
S. B. Htpner,
L. Harpe' Zirkle,
j. D. Ha'pine,
M. Fl. Bowman,
J. F. Wisnan.
A Copy, Teste
M. B. Wunder, Clerk
House of Delegates,
Richmond, Va,
Feb 10th, 1914.
To the Board of Supervisors of
Shenandoah County.
Gentlemen -
The above Communication of the
10th inst, has been duly received by
me. [ reply in this public manner
from the fact that the communication
is made in the capacity of officials of
the county and from The further fact
that the board will net have another
regular meeting during the session of
the General Assembly'whcre might
reach them in personor by letter.
| accept, as the representative of
the people, as taxpayer and pri-
vate individual, the fill responsible
! ty of having introduced the bill and
of doing every thing IN my power to
have it become law. sent the Chair
man of the Board and each of the
County papers copy of the bill.
The following are thesmos impor-
tant reasons for my action.
A large majority OF the taxpayers,
as | believe from my personal knowl-
edge gathered for years and from con-
tact with many of them during my
canvass of the county in 1905, 1907
and 1913. desire to improve and have
| the benefit of better roads.
From my personal observation it is
my Judgment that xcads of The
county. as a whole, We're "a no better
condition in the fall of 1913 than they
[were in 1905, with the exception of the
State-aid roads and the opening OF
some new roads. | saw very little work
that had been done in the way OF
permanent improvements. | am un-
able to recall that ,saw,sin the fall OF
1913 any new culverts, and only one
place where the road was being wild
ened, rock blasted out or hills cut
down to improve the grades.
have reached the conclusion that
the system of management and not in
Idividuals, is largely at fault. All OF
the road officials are busy men. ha re
their own business to attend to, are
limited by law in tie time they can
give to the work for which the pay is
inadequate.
| believe one man properly paid,
who is an expert and who would give
all of his time to the work, would give
batter results.
| In the wisdom CT the representatives
lwho passed the general road law for
the State, they provided for a single
head and manage the roads of a
lcounty and not by six district boards
composed of twelve men. That sys-
tenn is being successfully employed in
many counties.
| If a superintendent be employed,
who is approved by the State High
WY Commission, he would be IN
trusted with the supervision and the
sponsibility for the construction o.
the State-aid roads, thus doing away
with having great deal of the super
vision done from the State Capital
saving to the county the expense of ex
ira engineering wora. The amount
thus saved would be credited on the
county fund
The cost of 81 500 90 to the taxpay
ers fer Superintendent would not b.
entirely an additional charge againsi
that is the present charge of abou
5000 90 which the law allows the Gem
missioner of Roads and some extra
work which the Supervisors have t.
do under the present arrangement a d
several hundred dollars saved as il
dictated above, in the State aid road
CONSTRUCTION
10 me, there is no objection but i
is very desirable to have one man Oh
the county road board who is an *
pert road engineer in addition to To,
good common sense OF the Supervi,
ors, | think six men from the county
could hold down one man on the + 'aG
board if he did not look at the loca
road problem through local spectac HI.
| do not believe it sinimical to the
best interest Of the county, to empi
expert labor to direct the expenditure
of the district funds under the SUPER
vision of the Board of Supervisors
| do not believe the Office would be
sinecure, when one man is given the
work to do which is now divided
among twelve men, or who is respon-
sible for the expenditure of every do
lar to and under the supervision Of
six men on the alert to expose sine |
cure. If the Superintendent did not /
perform his duty the Supervisors can
1t any time Investigate the condition
and have him dismi ssed.
The bill was proposed BY my direc
ion after giving the matter serious
and ia my judgment. If
yiven fair trial, will result in very
much improving the roads of the
,ounty. II my expectations be not !