and the expenses incident thereto. The state will not be liable in any manner for the salary of the said fire marshal, deputy fire marshal, assistant fire marshal, clerk, or for the maintenance of said office, or any expense incident thereto, and the same shall be payable only from the special fund provided for in this section or by appropriation or contribution. Sec. 17. Whenever at any time there shall accumulate in the special fund a surplus sufficient to maintain the department of state fire marshal for the period of one year, then in the discretion of the state fire marshal the foregoing special tax for such year may be omitted. Sec. 18. The state fire marshal shall file in the office of the insurance commissioner an itemized statement of all expenses incurred by his department, and all vouchers issued therefor shall be signed by the state fire marshal, which said vouchers shall be allowed and paid out of the fund provided for in section sixteen, in the same manner as other claims against the state. Sec. 19. The state fire marshal and the deputy fire marshal shall not engage in other business, and shall at all times be ready for such duties as are required by this act. Sec. 20. The state fire marshal shall submit annually as early as consistent, with full and accurate preparation, a detailed report of his official acts to the insurance commissioner. Sec. 21. There shall be paid to the chief of the fire departments and to the mayors of the cities and towns who do not receive to exceed twenty dollars annually, as compensation for their services as such chiefs and mayors, and to justices of the peace, who are by this act required to report fires to the state fire marshal, the sum of one dollar for each fire reported to the satisfaction of the state fire marshal, and in addition thereto mileage at the rate of five cents per mile for each mile traveled to and from the place of the fire; said allowance shall be paid after the same has been approved by the state fire marshal, during the month of March of each year out of the funds provided for in section sixteen of this act. Sec. 22. All chiefs of fire departments who receive a stated salary, or are paid a stated sum for each fire fought, and mayors of cities or towns who receive a stated salary exceeding twenty dollars per year, shall be precluded from receiving any extra allowance for the reports herein mentioned. Sec. 23. The state fire marshal, his deputy, assistants and clerks shall be under the direct supervision and control of the insurance commissioner, who may remove from office such fire marshal, deputy, assistant or clerk for cause at any time that such removal may be deemed necessary for the good of the department. The headquarters of the fire marshal department shall be in the office of the insurance commissioner. Whenever it may seem necessary the insurance commissioner may personally visit and investigate any fire in accordance with the provisions of this act. (House Bill No. 286.) CHAPTER 38. AN ACT to amend and re-enact sections sixteen, twenty-five, thirtythree and fifty-one of chapter fifty-two, and repeal sections four, five, thirty-one and thirty-two of chapter fifty-two of the acts of the legislature of one thousand nine hundred and nine, entitled, "An act defining public roads and providing for their establishment, regulation, construction, use and maintenance, and providing for raising revenue in the counties for construction and maintenance of public roads, and defining the office of state commissioner of public roads, and creating the office of county engineer, and prescribing the duties thereof; and by adding two sections to be known as section twentyfive-a and section fifty-one-a. [Passed February 21, 1911. In effect ninety days from passage. Became a law without the approval of the Governor.] SEC. 16. 25. 25a. Bids for work let by contract; shall The county court of any county SEC. 33. 51. pose of constructing roads through a district, at any general or special election; how notice of such election shall be published; manner of holding election-result; if bonds are ordered; how bonds shall be executed and funds secured. County court may lay out in sections the roads; sell to lowest bidder the contract; security required from person securing contract; poll tax and a property tax provided for; duty of county court as to macadamized or other reads. Creation of the county road engineer; how chosen; qualification; compensation; shall give bond with security; district to be divided into precincts; let contracts to lowest responsible bidder; supervisor to make reports; his duties in general; a vote may be taken as to appointment of road engineer; Sec. Sec. his term; vacancies, how filled; 51a. clerk; engineer shall have office room in court house. Three free ferries may be established across Shenandoah river. Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia: That sections four, five, thirty-one and thirty-two of chapter fifty-two of the acts of the legislature of one thousand nine hundred and nine, be and the same are hereby repealed; and that sections sixteen, twenty-five, thirty-three and fifty-one of chapter fifty-two of the acts of the legislature of one thousand nine hundred and nine, be amended and re-enacted, and that two additional sections be added, to be known as section twenty-five-a and section fiftyone-a, which amended and added sections shall read as follows: Sec. 16. All bids for work to be let to contract under the provisions of this chapter, whether for construction or maintenance, shall be received at the time and place specified in the advertisement, and shall be opened only in open court, and the amount and items comprising each bid shall be publicly announced; and the contract, if let, shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, who shall give bond with satisfactory security in an amount equal to the amount of the contract in question, conditioned according to law, to be approved by the county court of the county. The court may reserve from payment twenty per cent of the amount accruing on said contract until the completion of said work, and the same is approved by the county road engineer. The court may reject any and all bids, or may have the roads constructed or kept in repair in any other manner that may seem advisable. In the event there shall be two bids of the same amount for any given section of road, or any other improvement thereon, the bid of the person owning the greatest amount of frontage of real estate abutting on said road on the section where the improvement is to be made, shall be accepted. In the event that neither bidder owns property abutting on the said section to be improved, then in case of such equal bids, the bidder owning property nearest to the section to be improved, shall be given the preference. In the event the county court shall decide to have the work done otherwise than by contract, then the work shall be done under the direction of the county road engineer, or the court may appoint a competent superintendent, who shall give bond with good security to be approved by the county court, and under the supervision of the county road engineer he shall have supervision of the road or roads of the precinct or district for which he was appointed. He shall be under the direction of the county court and the county road engineer, devote his entire time and attention to the work, or so much thereof as the court may direct, and shall receive such compensation for his services as may be determined by said court. The county court shall hold said superintendent and his bondsmen. for the faithful performance of his duty, and shall remove said. superintendent for misbehavior or malfeasance in office, and recover any moneys due the county, and for embezzlement of such funds he may be confined in the penitentiary not less than one year nor more than three years. Sec. 25. In case the payment of the costs of any road work done under the provisions of this chapter is to be made by bonds, or from the proceeds thereof, the county court of the county, upon the petition of fifty legal voters who are freeholders of the county shall submit the proposition for issuance of said bonds to the legal voters of the county, in the form and in the manner prescribed by the laws of the state for the issuance of bonds, at a general or special election, and the proposition must receive three-fifths of all the votes cast at such election upon the question, which election shall be called, held, conducted and the result ascertained, bonds issued and provisions made for the payment of the interest and principal, in the manner provided for in section twenty-four of chapter thirty-nine, and sections fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine and sixty of chapter fifty-four of the code of West Virginia. Sec. 25a. When the county court of any county deems it desirable for any district thereof to appropriate money to construct roads through said district, upon the petition of fifty legal voters who are freeholders of said district, they shall submit the proposition for issuance of bonds to the legal voters of said magisterial district desiring to be bonded, and in which the proceeds of said bonds are to be expended, and may by an order specifying the work to which the money is proposed to be appropriated, and the amount of the proposed appropriation, cause a vote to be taken upon the question at the several places of voting in the district, at the succeeding general election for state and county officers, or, any special election, whichever is first held in the county after such vote is ordered taken, or by special election that the said county court may deem proper and may order for the purpose; but such order must be published throughout the said district thirty days at least, before the poll is taken, as follows: The clerk of the county court shall cause as many copies of such order to be written or printed as may be necessary and sign the same; he shall forthwith post one of them in a conspicuous place in his office, one at the front door of the court house, and shall deliver the others to the sheriff of the county, who shall forthwith post one of the said copies in a conspicuous place at every voting place in the district aforesaid. The court shall direct a copy to be published in one or more newspapers if they are published in said county. A poll shall thereupon be taken and the result ascertained under the regulations prescribed for general school election for school officers; or if the said vote is taken at a special election, ordered for the purpose, the same shall be held by commissioners appointed for the purpose by the county court at the time the said election is ordered, and the result shall be ascertained and certified according to the regulations prescribed by law for ascertaining and certifying the election of school officers at which no nominations of candidates for such offices have been made. The ballots used in taking the said poll shall be the same as those used in voting for officers at the general election for state and county officers and school officers, except when the same is taken at a special election as hereinbefore provided for, and there shall be written or printed thereon the words: "For bonds" and "Against bonds," or any other words that will show how the voter intends to vote on the question proposed. If it appear by the said poll that not less than three-fifths of the voters of the district who voted upon the proposed issuance of bonds are in favor of the same, the county court will then have authority to issue the amount of the bonds so voted in the name of the district which will undertake the work for the amount proposed, or any less amount on any such terms as they may deem advisable, and provide for the payment thereof by district taxation. The county court shall have authority to issue said bonds for and in the name of the said district, and to make provision for the payment of principal and interest of the same by said district, as is required by the law in such case made and provided, upon the terms and conditions specified in the order under which said vote is taken. |