shall direct and shall pay such fees into the county road and bridge fund. The salary of the county engineer shall be fixed by the court of county commissioners, provided that the salary shall not be less than $1500.00 per annum, payable monthly. Said engineer before taking office shall furnish the county with surety bond in the sum of five thousand ($5000.00) dollars.

Section 2. That no person shall be eligible to hold the office of county engineer unless he is a competent civil engineer and experienced in the construction of roads.

Section 3. That before any work is done in the construction or improvement of any road or bridge, except necessary maintenance work, the engineer shall make such surveys as may be necessary, shall prepare definite plans, specifications and an estimate of the cost of the work and shall submit said plans, specifications and estimates of cost for the approval of the court of county commissioners with a recommendation as to the best method of doing the work. The court of county commissioners shall pass upon said plans, specifications, estimates and when said plans and specifications are approved, the county engineer shall be authorized to proceed with the work by contract or by force account as the court of county commissioners shall direct. If the court of county commissioners determine to do such work by contract, the county engineer shall advertise for bids in a newspaper published in the county, in a daily newspaper of general circulation in the State of Alabama, and by posting a copy of the advertisement at the court house. The said advertisement shall state the general character of the work to be done, the amount of certified check required, and the time and place at which bids will be opened. The court of county commissioners shall require all bids to be sealed and to be accompanied by a certified check which shall bind the bidder to enter into a contract in the event of his being awarded the work. If reasonable bids are received for doing the work, the contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, provided that the court of county commissioners may reject all bids or they may reject the bid of any contractor who is unexperienced or incompetent or who is known to have a bad record in the performance of public work.

Section 4. The court of county commissioners may enter into a contract with a contractor for the construction, repair or maintenance of any road, bridge or ferry, or any appurtenance thereto provided that all contracts for construction work be let under the preceding provisions of this act.

Section 5. That any contractor employed to construct or maintain any road, bridge, ferry, or any appurtenance thereto shall before entering upon the execution of such work execute a bond payable to the county of Limestone for twice the amount

of the contract price; said bond to be made by a surety company approved by the court of county commissioners and conditioned upon the faithful performance of the contract, and the discharge of his duties thereunder.

Section 6. That if the county, any municipality, corporation or person is injured or damaged by the failure of such contractor to faithfully perform his contract and discharge his duties thereunder, an action may be maintained, under such bond to recover such damages as they may have suffered.

Section 7. That the court of county commissioners shall have authority to purchase such materials, supplies, teams, and other equipment as may be necessary in the office or field for properly carrying on the work of construction and maintenance of the public roads, bridges and ferries of the county. The county engineer shall prepare requisitions for such materials and supplies as will be needed for roads and bridges and shall obtain quotations from at least two dealers on each class of article required, and shall submit said requisitions to the court of county commissioners. When such requisition is approved by the court of county commissioners, the county engineer shall be authorized to purchase such approved articles at prices not exceeding those specified in the requisition. The county engineer with the approval of the court of county commissioners shall be authorized to employ such assistant engineers, inspectors, rodmen, foremen, overseers, laborers, artisans and teams and to rent such equipment as may be necessary for properly carrying on the work of construction and maintenance of the public roads and bridges of the county. The county engineer shall employ a sufficient number of persons to systematically drag each public dirt road in the county, as directed by the county engineer and the court of county commissioners; shall fix the price for dragging, so as to allow reasonable wages for the men and teams performing such service.

Section 8. That the county engineer shall require all bills, including estimates allowed contractors and allowances for salaries and expenses, be made in duplicate. He shall certify as to the correctness of each bill and shall file the duplicate of each bill in his office and will issue a warrant on the county treasurer for the amount of each bill certified by him, the bill and warrant to bear the same serial number. Before a warrant issued by the county engineer shall be payable it shall have been previously authorized and approved by the court of county commissioners and shall be presented, with its corresponding original bill, to the chairman of the court of county commissioners, who shall countersign said warrant, stamp same approved by the court of county commissioners and file the original bill in his office. This file and that in the county engineer's office shall be pre

served as public records and they shall be delivered by the county engineer and the chairman of the court of county commissioners to their respective successors in office. The warrants issued by the county engineer in accordance with the provisions of this act, when countersigned by the chairman of and stamped approved by the court of county commissioners shall be paid by the county treasurer and charged to the county road and bridge fund.

Section 9. That the court of county commissioners, if they deem it advisable, may call upon the State highway engineer for advice upon any question connected with their road work, and such advice shall be furnished free of charge and the said court of county commissioners shall have authority to employ a special engineer to advise them upon any special problem when, in their judgment, the best interest of the public renders such advice necessary, and when a bridge of unusual size or type of construction is to be built the court of county commissioners are authorized to employ a special engineer to design and supervise its construction.

Section 10. The county engineer shall prepare a map of the county showing the location of all public roads and indicating the character of improvements which have been made on each road. This map shall be revised and brought up to date monthly. A tracing of such map shall be made and deposited for safe keeping in the vault of the probate office, and such tracing shall be brought up to date monthly.

Section 11. That the court of county commissioners shall, with the advice of the county engineer, classify all the public roads of the county into classes designated as first class, second class and third class roads. The lawful widths of rights of way of the several classes of roads shall be as follows: First class roads, 50 feet: second class roads, 40 feet; third class roads, 30 feet. The widths of traveled ways, the grades and character of improvements of each road shall be determined by the court of county commissioners in view of the requirements of traffic on each road; and the court of county commissioners may change the classification of any road or any specified part of a road at any time.

Section 12. That when a new road is to be constructed on the location of an existing road to be changed, the court of county commissioners shall pass a resolution directing the county engineer to make a preliminary survey for said road, describing the terminal points of the said survey and appointing a time at which the court of county commissioners will meet to hear objections to location of said road or its classification. As soon as practicable after the passage of such resolution, the county engineer shall stake out said road and prepare a map and

profile of the same. The map shall show all buildings and fences within 200 feet of said road, and any other improvements which may affect the amount of damages which may be caused to property by the construction of said road. It shall be the duty of the engineer to publish a notice to the effect that he has made surveys for said road; that the map and profile are on file in his office and subject to public inspection, and giving the time when the court of county commissioners will meet to hear objections to the location of said road or its classification. Such notice shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, by posting a copy at the court house, and by posting one copy at each terminal point of the survey. The court of county commissioners shall meet at the court house at the time named in the said notice and after hearing objections to the location of said road or its classification, the said court of county commissioners may confirm said location, order it amended or abandoned. and said action shall be shown on its minutes.

Section 13. That the court of county commissioners may secure the right of way for roads by donations. purchase or by condemnation.

Section 14. That the court of county commissioners shall have the right, authority and power to condemn land for road purposes under the provisions of Article 1, Chapter 79 of the Code of Alabama, 1907, notwithstanding the fact that there may be other modes of proceeding by law for the condemnation of land for the establishment or change of roads: and such proceedings shall be conducted in the name of the county as petitioner, and the county shall provide for the payment of all charges in connection with the condemnation of land.

Section 15. That the convicts of the county may be worked upon the public roads, bridges or ferries of the county or they may be worked under the direction of the court of county commissioners in quarries, gravel pits or any plant owned by the county and used for the production of road materials, although said quarry, pit or plant may be located in another county or said convicts may be hired to or from another county or from the State, or to contractors under contracts to be made between such contractors and the court of county commissioners or other county or the State.

Section 16. The convicts shall not be worked in squads or companies with other persons required by law to perform road duty.

Section 17. That the court of county commissioners of the county may enter into a joint agreement with the road authorities of one or more adjoining counties whereby the convicts of the several counties may be combined in one gang, provided that

an equitable division of the time of the gang between the several counties shall be arranged. The several counties entering into such agreement may invest jointly in such equipment as may be necessary for properly working and caring for such joint convict gang.

Section 18. The court of county commissioners of Limestone county shall at the time of making the annual levy of taxes for general county purposes, levy a special tax on all the taxable property of the county of one-fourth of one percentum on the assessed value of such taxable property. Such tax shall be levied and collected for the purpose of paying any debt or liability now existing or that may hereafter be created, for the erection, construction or maintenance of necessary public buildings, bridges or roads, and such tax shall be levied and collected as other county taxes, which tax shall be levied and collected as other county taxes, which tax so levied and collected shall be applied exclusively to the purposes for which the same is so levied and collected.

Section 19. That all money received by the county from license taxes on automobiles, and all gasoline excise tax, shall be paid into the county road and bridge fund and used only for the construction and maintenance of public roads and bridges.

Section 20. That all male inhabitants of the county_not under twenty-one and not over fifty years of age except those exempted by the following section shall be required to work on the public roads of the county during each year for five days of eight hours each; provided that he may pay in lieu of such personal service the sum of five dollars per year to be paid to the probate judge, the time of payment to be fixed by the court of county commissioners, said money to go into the county road and bridge fund, and shall be used only for the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges in the beat from which such sum or sums is paid.

Section 2012. All persons in Limestone county are liable to work on the public roads in said county, except the following: All women, and all men under the age of twenty-one and over the age of fifty years; all persons who have lost an arm or a leg; and all persons who, by nature of disease, are rendered incapable of hard labor, who shall procure a certificate of such incapacity from the county board of health, are exempt from working on the public roads; but where there is no county board of health in said county, the certificate of such incapacity from two reputable practicing physicians shall be sufficient.

Section 21. No person or hand is liable to work on any public road at a point on said road more than 6 miles from his residence, provided within this limit he may be required to work in any beat or precinct.