placed upon such boards. The cost of the erection and maintenance of such boards shall be a town charge. If the commissioner of highways refuses or neglects for a period of sixty days after receiving within application to comply with the request contained in such application, he shall for such neglect or refusal forfeit to the town the sum of twenty-five dollars to be recovered by the supervisor in the name of the town, and the amount so recovered shall be set apart for the erection of such guide-boards. (As amended by chap. 330 of 1895, § 1).

§ 6. Road machines and implements.-Commissioners of highways may, upon the request of one or more overseers of the highway districts of their town, contract for and purchase for such district or districts, upon credit or otherwise, a good and sufficient scraper and plow, or either of them, and if a majority of the taxpayers of one or more highway districts in any town, representing more than one-half of the taxable property in such district or in each of such districts, to be ascertained by the last preceding assessment-roll and certified to as such by the town clerk of the town, petition the commissioner or commissioners of highways of such town therefor, such commissioners may together with the supervisor and overseer or overseers of such district or districts, contract for and purchase upon credit or otherwise, a road machine for the use of such district or districts, which implements shall be used, cared for and owned by such district or districts jointly. Such implements shall be paid for out of the highway tax of the district or districts for which they are purchased, and may be paid for in annual installments, not exceeding five. If purchased for more than one district the amount paid by each shall be in proportion to the amount of highway tax; a copy of the note or contract issued upon the purchase of such implements, shall be filed in the office of the town clerk of the town in which such town or road district is situated, and it shall be the duty of said town clerk to present a statement of the sum due thereon to the town board at each annual meeting thereafter for the audit of town charges, and the town board shall audit such sum and certify the same to the board of supervisors of the county. Not more than one-half of the highway tax of any district shall be applied in payment therefor, in any one year. The portion of such tax so applied, shall be required to be paid in money, and be assessed and levied upon the property of such district or districts, and collected in the same manner as

Highway Officers, Their General Powers and Duties.

§ 7

other town charges are assessed, levied and collected, except that the amount thereof shall be put in a separate column upon the tax-roll, and the board of supervisors of the county shall cause the sum certified by the town board, to be levied upon the taxable property of such highway district. Such commissioner of highways shall with the assistance of the overseers of highways, in any road district which is to be charged with the payment for such machine after the completion of the assessment-roll, and ten days before the meeting of the board of supervisors of the county, make and deliver to the supervisor of such town a list of the persons in such district or districts who are named in the last assessment-roll of the town and chargeable with the payment of a tax for such machine. The commissioner or commissioners of highways may, also, with the approval of the town board, purchase and hold for the use of the town at large, one or more road machines, and pay for the same with money appropriated and set apart for highway purposes. It shall be the duty of the commissioner or commissioners of highways of each town to keep the road machines belonging to such town, or any road district or districts in such town in repair, if such repairs are reasonable, and pay the expenses thereof out of the general highway funds. of the town, and also to provide a suitable place for housing and storage of all tools, implements and machinery that are owned by the town or by the several highway districts and cause these tools and implements and machinery to be stored therein when not in When such repairs upon any road machine belonging to any road district or districts shall exceed the sum of eight dollars in any one year, such expense shall be assessed and levied upon the property of such districts in the same manner as above provided for the collection of the purchase money of said machines, and when collected shall be paid to the commissioner or commissioners of highways of said town. (As amended by chap. 586 of 1895, § 1, chap. 987 of 1896, and chap. 155 of 1898, § 1).

use.

§ 7. Stone-crushers and materials.-The town board and com- A1402 c. 129 missioner or commissioners of highways of any town may, when authorized by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon, by ballot, at the annual or at a special town meeting, purchase a machine for crushing stone, to be used, under the direction of the commissioner or commissioners of highways of said town, for the improvement of the highways thereof, and the commissioners of highways of any such town may, in any year, when author

ized by a majority vote of the electors voting thereon, by ballot, at the annual or at a special town meeting expend in said year a sum not exceeding two thousand dollars, for the purpose of purchasing stone, and quarrying, breaking, crushing and placing the same on the highways, in such road district or districts as the town board may direct and defraying the expenses of operating such machine, and shall present the account and vouchers for said purchases and expenses to the town board for audit, and the amount audited, together with the cost of such stone-crushing machine, when not before included, shall be levied and collected as other town audits. (As amended by chap. 411 of 1895, 1.)

§ 8. Custody of stone-crushers.-Such machine, when purchased, shall be under the care and custody of the commissioners of highways of the town; and where there is an incorporated village constituting a separate highway district, in any town, they may, by an agreement with the trustees of the village, permit an equitable use of the machine to such separate village district.

§ 9. Additional tax. Whenever the commissioners of highways of any town shall determine, that the sum of five hundred dollars will be insufficient to pay the expenses actually necessary for the improvement of highways and bridges, they may cause a vote to be taken by ballot at any town-meeting, to be duly called, authorizing such additional sum to be raised as they may deem necessary for such purpose, not exceeding one-third of one per centum upon the taxable property of the town, as shown by the last assessment-roll thereof.

§ 10. Extraordinary repairs of highways or bridges.—If any highway or bridge shall at any time be damaged or destroyed by the elements or otherwise or become unsafe, the commissioner of highways of the town in which such highway or bridge may be may cause the same to be immediately repaired or rebuilt if consented to by the town board, but if the expense thereof exceed five hundred dollars, it shall be done under a written contract therefor which must be approved by the town board and the commissioners of highways shall present the proper vouchers for the expense thereof to the town board, at their next annual meeting, and the same shall be audited by them and collected in the same manner as amounts voted at town meetings. (As amended by chap. 606 of 1895, § 1, and chap. 84 of 1899.)

Superintendents of the Poor.

§ 210

of supervisors of any county having, or entitled to have three or more superintendents of the poor, may, at an annual meeting thereof, determine by resolution that thereafter only one county superintendent of the poor shall be elected; but no superintendent of the poor shall be elected or appointed in such county until the general election next preceding the expiration of the terms of the superintendents in office, or the office shall be vacant. The term of any superintendent in office, or of any person duly elected thereto on the passage of such resolution, shall not be affected thereby. Such board may also, in counties having and entitled to have but one superintendent of the poor, in like manner determine that thereafter three superintendents of the poor be elected for such county. After the passage of a resolution, as herein provided, the powers herein conferred shall not be again exercised within a period of five years. Such resolution shall not take effect until the next calendar year succeeding its adoption.

There shall continue,

1. To be elected annually in each of the counties so having and being entitled to three county superintendents, one county superintendent of the poor, who shall hold his office for three years from and including the first day of January succeeding his election, and until his successor is duly elected and qualifies;

2. To be appointed by the board of supervisors, if in session, otherwise by the county judge, a county superintendent of the poor, when a vacancy shall occur in such office, and the person so appointed shall hold the office until and including the last day of December succeeding his appointment, and until his successor shall be elected and qualifies;

3. To be elected a county superintendent of the poor in a county when a vacancy shall occur in such office, and the term of which shall not expire on the last day of the next succeeding December, and the person so elected shall hold the office for such unexpired term, which shall be designated upon the ballots of the electors, or until his successor shall be elected and qualifies; 4. To be elected in each of the counties so having, and entitled to have but one superintendent, a superintendent of the poor, who shall hold his office for three years from and including the first day of January succeeding his election, and until his successor is duly elected and qualifies;

5. To be appointed by the board of supervisors, if in session,

otherwise by the county judge, a superintendent of the poor, in a county having and being entitled to but one superintendent, when a vacancy shall occur in such office; and the person so appointed shall hold the office until and including the last day of December succeeding his appointment, and until his successor shall be elected and qualifies;

6. To be elected in the succeeding year after the board of supervisors of a county having but one superintendent of the poor, shall have adopted a resolution to have three superintendents, if the term of the superintendent in office expires with such year, three superintendents of the poor for such county, for the terms of one, two and three years respectively, which terms shall be respectively designated upon the ballots of the electors voting for such officers. If the term of the superintendent in office will not expire with such succeeding year, there shall be elected two superintendents of the poor for such county, for such terms, to be so designated upon the ballots of the electors voting for such officers, as will make the terms of one of the three superintendents expire with each succeeding year, and one superintendent of the poor shall hereafter be annually elected. Such persons so elected shall hold the office from and including the first day of January succeeding his election, and until and including the last day of December of the year in which his term shall so expire, and until his successor is duly elected and qualifies. When ballots are voted without designating the term, the firm name on the ballot shall be deemed as intended for the full or longer term of the officer voted for; the second name for the next longer term, and the third name for the shorter term.

§ 211. Undertaking.—Every person elected or appointed to the office of superintendent of the poor shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, and if appointed, within fifteen days after notice thereof, execute and deliver to the clerk of the county, to be filed in his office, his undertaking to the county, with two or more sufficient sureties, with the approval of the board of supervisors, if in session, indorsed thereon by the clerk; otherwise by the county judge of his county, or a justice of the supreme court of his judicial district, to the effect that he will faithfully discharge the duties of his office as such superintendent of the poor, and pay according to law all moneys that shall come into his hands as such superintendent, and render a just and true account thereof to the board of supervisors of his county.