Private Acts of 1941 Chapter 212

COMPILER'S NOTE: Sections of this law may have been superseded by general law. See Tennessee Code Annotated.

SECTION 1. That in and for all counties of said State having a population of not less than 26,776 and not more than 26,780 according to the Federal Census of 1930, there is hereby created and provided for a county road superintendent, the office of which is hereby created and provision for which is herein made. To be eligible for said position the superintendent shall be a person of not less than twenty-five years of age, shall have been a resident of the County for not less than two years continuously next preceding the date of his first election to said office under this Act, and shall have at least an aggregate of four years actual experience within the ten years next preceding election of him as such superintendent in public road building and maintenance work, and in the capacity as a superintendent, construction or maintenance engineer, or other similar supervisory capacity equal to or above that of a public road construction or maintenance foreman, and in either or more than one of said capacities shall have had such experience as an employee of a State, County or Federal government, or road contractor engaged regularly or principally in public road building work. The superintendent in each such County shall be elected by the people for a term of four years, the first such election to be by the general election in August, 1942, and his successor to be elected each four years thereafter, as in the years 1942, 1946, and so on. Any person elected to said office to serve until his successor shall have been elected and qualified as provided by this Act. In the event of the death, resignation, refusal to serve, removal, or frequent and extensive absence from the County, or removal from office as herein provided, of the superintendent, then a successor to serve for the remainder of the unexpired term shall be elected by the Quarterly Court at its next regular or special term following the occurrence of any such reason for the election of a successor, except when any such reason shall occur within the ten days next preceding a regular or special election, in which last mentioned event the election shall be deferred until the next regular election following the expiration of such ten-day period of time, any successor elected to serve for an unexpired term to serve until his successor shall have been elected and qualified as provided by this Act.

SECTION 2. That Eugene A. Simms be and is hereby designated and appointed to serve as the county road superintendent in each such County until the next regular election and qualification of the first or initial elected superintendent under this Act to be elected at the next regular election, the general election of August, 1942, as hereinbefore provided.

SECTION 3. That the County road superintendent or any acting County road superintendent as herein provided for shall before discharging any duties or exercising any power or authority as superintendent take and subscribe to before and file with the County Court Clerk an oath to fully, faithfully, and impartially perform his duties and shall execute a bond in the sum of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), payable to the State of Tennessee, with a corporate surety as surety thereon to do business in the State of Tennessee, said bond to be approved by the County Judge and to be conditioned upon the full satisfaction and impartial performance of his duties as Superintendent, which bond shall also be filed with the County Court Clerk, who shall record the oath and bond upon the public records of his office, and preserve the originals that he files in his office.

SECTION 4. The compensation of the County Road Superintendent shall be ten thousand dollars ($10,000) a year, payable in equal monthly installments out of the road fund of the County, which shall be his full and entire compensation for his services.

SECTION 5. That all laws now or that may hereafter be in force applicable to the misfeasance and nonfeasance of public officials be applicable to the County Road Superintendent serving at any time under this Act.

SECTION 6. That the County Road Superintendent shall have the authority and it shall be his duty to execute and, therefore, have charge of supervising and directing the road work in all of its phases, including the appointment, assignment to jobs, fixing of the compensation or basis therefor, control, transportation of the employees, and also shall have custody, control, assignment to work, repairs or maintenance, supervising and direction of the operation and use of all equipment for or used in road building in the maintenance work of each such County, including all that may be on hand when this Act becomes effective, and all which has heretofore been or may hereafter be acquired by the County or its road authorities or agencies, whether by purchase, lease, rental, or otherwise, and on the effective date of this Act, or as soon as the qualification has occurred, the Superintendent shall take and have custody, control, and charge of all such equipment. As hereinbefore provided, the Superintendent and his subordinates shall execute the work with the recognition of and in conformity to the plans, proposals, designations as he may deem fit, wise, and necessary for the public welfare of the County road program in its entirety in each such County. All of said road employees shall serve at the pleasure of the Superintendent and shall be responsible to him. The Superintendent shall, in turn, be responsible to the people for the execution of the road work hereinbefore outlined and designated, including the control and use of the employees and equipment, and other duties as in this Act imposes upon him.

SECTION 7. That each of the said counties is hereby constituted and declared to be a unit with respect to all matters pertaining to such public roads therein as hereinbefore mentioned, and all funds and revenues of every nature and from every source for road and bridge purposes, on hand or to the credit of the County or of any district road fund, or receivable by the County or its road authorities or any road district or fund from any source, and all such funds as may hereafter be received, shall and they are hereby directed to be placed in, credited to and constitute the "Road Fund" of the County, that fund being hereby specifically created and thus designated, all such funds to be received by the Trustee of the County and credited to said fund. From and after the effective date of this Act no such funds in any of said counties shall be paid out by the Trustee, nor shall any warrants thereon be issued or honored, except by way of disbursements from said road fund in the manner or by the method as hereinafter provided.

SECTION 8. That the Quarterly County Court in each such County shall have the authority, which is hereby specially and expressly delegated to it, to levy in each or any year a tax on all taxable property within the County, outside of the limits of incorporated towns or cities, for road and bridge purposes, to be assessed and collected as are other taxes on property for County funds or purposes, and which, when collected by the Trustee, or received by him from other sources such as from Clerks of Courts, etc., shall be placed in and credited to the said road fund and be disbursed only as provided by this Act; provided, however, that any such tax so levied for road and bridge purposes, and which shall be designated as the "County Road Levy," shall not exceed the rate or basis of twenty cents (20¢) on each One Hundred Dollars of assessed valuation of the taxable property.

SECTION 9. That the County Court Clerk, the County Road Superintendent, and the County Judge shall be and constitute a Roadwork Purchasing Committee, of which the County Judge shall be chairman and preside over the meetings of the said committee, and he shall cause minutes to be made of and preserved as public records of the County of all meetings of the Committee at which transactions or matters of importance occur or shall be authorized, especially those involving the expenditure of any sum of money. Any two of said committee shall constitute a quorum, and said Roadwork Purchasing Committee shall have the authority to purchase all necessary equipment and supplies for the operation of the road work in each such County.

SECTION 10. That from and after the effective date of this Act disbursements from the road fund shall be only in the manner or by the method as now herein provided, to-wit: Payrolls for the payment of compensation to all incumbent and employed personnel, the Superintendent and all other employees, shall be made by or under the authority of the Superintendent and be approved and certified by him in duplicate, one copy of each of which he will retain for his records or files, the other copy of which shall be filed with the County Judge and Financial Agent of the County, who will issue warrants, to be counter-signed by the Superintendent, in payment of each payroll item. The provision applies to all regular incumbent or employed personnel, but not to instances of services rendered at or for brief intervals by outside or third persons, such as special or out of the ordinary services, in which instances invoices or statements shall be rendered, in duplicate, checked, approved and certified for payment as in the cases of invoices for supplies, materials, fuels, etc., as hereinafter mentioned. All statements or invoices for materials, supplies, equipment, rentals, contract considerations or payments, partial or otherwise, special services as just hereinabove mentioned, or for other payments than those to be made under payrolls as hereinabove provided shall be itemized and submitted in not less than duplicate copies, shall be checked, approved and certified by the Superintendent, in duplicate, one copy of each of which he shall retain and preserve for his records or files, the other copy of which shall be filed with the County Judge and Financial Agent, who will issue warrants, to be counter-signed by the Superintendent, in payment. All such warrants shall issue from a warrant book, which shall remain in the office and custody of the County Judge, and with duplicates or stubs so as to constitute a proper and permanent record of the dates, numbers, amounts, payees and purposes of all warrants drawn upon the Road Fund, and the County Judge, acting as County Judge and Financial Agent, separately from and independent of his membership on said Roadwork Purchasing Committee and his chairmanship thereof, shall so issue and keep records of all warrants issued, and other such records in connection with receipts of and disbursements of the road funds as he may deem proper, and, in so acting, it shall be his duty to see that the provisions of this Act are compiled with before any warrant is issued, and he shall have no authority to issue such a warrant except when its issuance, or the payment of the obligation involved, shall be authorized under this Act and be in compliance with the provisions of this Act. He shall preserve, of course, as public records of his office, all payrolls, invoices and statements under which such warrants issue, and shall prescribe and adopt a system of the necessary forms of payrolls, warrants, registers and other records necessary under the provisions of this Act. In the event that, by action of the Quarterly County Court as hereinbefore mentioned, the expenditure or supervision of the expenditure of road funds of the county should be vested in some other governmental agency, such as the Department of Highways of the State, then all such payrolls, invoices and statements to be paid out of funds the supervision of the expenditure of which may have been so vested shall be so approved and certified by the County Judge for payment by the proper official or representative of such other governmental agency, by which agency purchase or other obligations, for materials, supplies, fuels, equipment, rentals, etc., and for payroll labor and services, payable from funds the expenditure or supervision of expenditure of which shall have been so vested, shall be incurred or created, rather than by the said Roadwork Purchasing Committee and Superintendent, respectively, as hereinbefore provided, and by which agency, in such event, employment, control, direction, discharge, fixing of compensation and other supervision of employees, payable out of funds the expenditure or supervision of which shall have been so vested, shall be exercised, rather than by the Superintendent as herein provided.

SECTION 11. That all workhouse prisoners in each of said counties shall be, and they are hereby required to be, worked on the said public roads of the County, direction, supervision and control of which prisoners, while being so worked, shall be by the official or agency charged with the execution of the work according to where the expenditure or supervision of expenditure of the fund is vested out of which payment of such workhouse prison labor is to be paid, but the superintendent of the workhouse, including the Sheriff as ex officio superintendent if there by no separate workhouse, shall designate guards, not exceeding two in number, to serve at his pleasure, for the purpose of the safekeeping of such prisoners to and from work, furnishing of tools and equipment for use by such labor, shall be paid for out of the road fund, and the sum of One Dollars ($1.00) per day for each day of such work by each such prisoner shall be paid out of said road fund into the general county treasury, payable monthly, as or towards reimbursement to said general county fund on its outlay for the payment of boarding or feeding and clothing expenses of such prisoners. Such prisoners shall be worked at hard labor, and for the purpose or with the view of punishment, as contemplated by other applicable law, but with the view and purpose also, under this Act, of serving the ends sought by roadbuilding projects and expenditure of public funds therefor.

SECTION 12. That the Quarterly Court of each County is hereby delegated with the authority to, at its January term of court each year, regulate, and require any free labor they may deem necessary, and said free labor so regulated, designated, and required, shall be under the supervision of the County Road Superintendent, and any refusal to perform any such free labor so designated and required by said Quarterly Court shall be considered a misdemeanor, and any violation shall be punishable as such by law.

SECTION 13. That if, for any reason, any section, part or portion of this Act shall be held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such shall not affect nor invalidate any other section, part or portion of this Act which may not be held also to be unconstitutional or invalid, the legislative intent being hereby declared to be that any and all parts of this Act which may not be held to be invalid shall be effective and operative irrespective of the unconstitutionality or invalidity, if any, of any other part or parts of this Act, so far and to the extent that such interpretation, distinguishment, enforcement and operation may be possible.

SECTION 14. That this Act take effect from and after April 1, 1941, the public welfare requiring it.

Passed: February 13, 1941.