Commissioner of highways.

Term of office.

What officers

elected at town

ship meetings

to hold for one year.

hundred and ninety-three, and one thousand two hundred and ninety-four, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventyone, relative to the obstruction of highways, encroachments thereon, and penalties, and sections one, three, four, six, seven, eight, two, and three, of chapter twenty-eight, being sections one thousand three hundred and one, one thousand three hundred and three, one thousand three hundred and four, one thousand three hundred and six, one thousand three hundred and seven, one thousand three hundred and eight, one thousand three hundred and ten, and one thousand three hundred and eleven, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-one, relative to the erection, repairing, and preservation of bridges, and sections two and five, of chapter twenty-nine, being sections one thousand three hundred and seventeen, one thousand three hundred and twenty-one, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-one, relative to miscellaneous provisions of a general nature, and sections one, three, four, one, two, and four, of chapter thirty-one, being sections one thousand three hundred and thirty-five, one thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, one thousand three hundred and thirty-eight, one thousand three hundred and forty, one thousand three hundred and forty-one, and one thousand three hundred and forty-three, of compiled laws of 1871, relative to private roads, and sections nine and fourteen, of chapter forty-seven, being sections one thousand seven hundred and fifty-three, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-eight, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-one, relative to the drainage of swamps, marshes, and low lands, and sections two, three, and four, of chapter sixtyeight, being sections two thousand one hundred and thirty, two thousand one hundred and thirty-one, two thousand one hundred and thirty-two, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventyone, relative to the spread of Canada thistles, and sections twentyseven and forty-five, of chapter seventy-eight, being sections two thousand five hundred and eighty-seven and two thousand six hundred and five, of compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-one, relative to plank road companies, being the various sections defining the powers and duties of the commissioners of highways, and adding a new section thereto, be amended so as to read as follows:

SEC. 2. All the powers heretofore exercised, and duties performed, by the board of highway commissioners of the several townships, shall hereafter be exercised and performed by the commissioner of highways in said townships, and the term of office of the commissioners of highways, elected in the years of eighteen hundred and seventy-three and eighteen hundred and seventy-four, shall expire when this act takes effect.

(647.) SEC. 12. The commissioner of highways shall hold his office for one year, and until his successor shall be elected and qualified.

(649.) SEC. 14. Each of the officers elected at such meetings, except justices of the peace and school inspectors, shall hold hisoffice for one year and until his successor shall be elected and duly qualified.

of overseer of

cases.

(695.) SEC. 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That Vacancy in office whenever any vacancy shall occur in the office of overseer of high- highways, how ways, which the commissioner of highways shall be unable to fill filled in certain under existing provisions of law, it shall be his duty and he is hereby authorized to designate some other overseer of highways of the same township, to perform the duties of such vacated office; and the person so designated shall have the same powers, be subject to the same orders, and liable to the same penalties as overseers chosen in township meetings.

and overseer

(729.) SEC. 86. Any commissioner or overseer of highways may Commissioner be prosecuted, by indictment, for any deficiency in the highways may be indicted within his limits, occasioned or continued by his fault or neglect, for deficiency in and on conviction thereof may be fined in any sum not exceeding fifty dollars.

highways.

missioner.

(730.) SEC. 87. Each commissioner of highways, before entering Bonds of comupon the duties of his office, and within the time limited by law for filing his official oath, shall give bonds, with one or more sufficient sureties, to the township, in the penal sum of five hundred dollars, to be approved by the supervisor or township clerk, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office, and the faithful disbursement of all moneys that may come into his hands by virtue of his office. Said commissioner may require any Bonds of overone or all of said overseers of highways, before entering upon the seers. duties of their office, to give bond with one or more sufficient sureties, in such sum as may be required by said commissioner, and to be approved by him, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, and the faithful disbursement of all moneys that may come into their hands by virtue of their office.

his duties.

(732.) SEC. 89. The township clerk of each township shall be the Clerk of comclerk of the commissioner of highways, and shall, under his direc-missioner, and tion, record his proceedings in a suitable book, to be provided by said clerk for that purpose, at the expense of the township, and shall keep an accurate account of all orders drawn by said commissioner on the township treasurer, stating the amount of each, and in whose favor the same was drawn ; and all books and papers relating to the business of said commissioner shall be preserved and kept by said clerk in his office.

fill vacancies in

(735.) SEC. 3. Should any of said townships neglect to elect over- Commissioner to seers of highways, as provided in this act, or should the office for office of overseer. any cause become vacant, or should a new road district or districts be formed in any of the townships, it shall be the duty of the commissioner of highways of the township to fill such vacancies, and appoint an overseer of highways for any new road district, who shall hold his office until the next annual township meeting, and until his successor is elected and qualified according to law. (1192.) SEC. 1. The commissioner of highways in each township Duties of comin this State shall have the care and superintendence of highways and bridges therein, and it shall be his duty:

First, To give directions for the repairing of roads and bridges. within his township;

Second, To regulate the roads already laid out, and to alter such of them as he shall deem inconvenient;

missioner.

To lay out and discontinue roads.

To render

Third, To cause such of the roads used as highways as have been laid out, but not sufficiently described, and such as shall bave been used for twenty years, but not recorded, to be ascertained, described, and entered of record in the township clerk's office;

Fourth, To cause the highways and the bridges over streams intersecting highways to be kept in repair;

Fifth, To divide his township into so many road districts as he shall judge convenient, by writing under his hand, to be entered of record in the township clerk's office; but no such division shall be made within five days next preceding an annual township meeting;

Sixth, To assign to each of the said districts such of the inhabitants liable to work on highways as shall reside in such districts, or own lands therein; and

Seventh, To require the overseer [overseers] of highways, from time to time, and as often as he shall deem it necessary, to have all persons assessed to work on the highways perform their labor thereon with such teams, carriages, sleds, or implements as said commissioner shall direct.

(1193.) SEC. 2. The commissioner of highways shall have power, in the manner and under the restrictions hereinafter provided, to lay out and establish, upon actual survey, such new roads in his township as he may deem necessary, and to discontinue such old roads and highways as shall appear to him to have become unneces

sary.

(1194. SEC. 3. The commissioner of highways of each township account to town shall render to the township board at the annual meeting of such board in each year, an account in writing, stating:

ship board.

Duties of overeeers of high. ways.

First, The labor assessed and performed in his township;

Second, The sums paid for delinquencies and commutations, and other moneys received by him, and the application thereof;

Third, The improvements which have been made on the roads and bridges in his township during the year preceding such report, and the condition of such roads and bridges; and,

Fourth, The improvements necessary to be made on the same, and an estimate of the probable expense thereof beyond what the labor to be assessed in that year will accomplish.

(1196.) SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of the overseers of highways: First, To repair and keep in order the highways, within the several districts for which they shall have been elected or appointed, respectively;

Second, To warn all persons assessed to work on the highways in their respective districts, to come and work on such highways, according to law;

Third, To cause the noxious weeds within the limits of the highways in their respective districts to be cut down and destroyed twice in each year, once before the first day of July, and again before the first day of September, and the requisite labor shall be considered highway work; and,

Fourth, To collect all sums due for delinquencies and commutation money, and to execute all lawful orders of the commissioner of highways.

(1199.) SEC. 8. The commissioner of highways of each township Gaide posts. shall cause guide posts, with proper inscriptions and devices thereon, to be erected and kept in repair at the intersection of all postroads in his township, and at the intersection of such other roads therein as he may deem necessary.

sioner to appoint

(1202.) SEC. 11. If any person chosen to the office of overseer When commis of highways shall refuse to serve, or if his office shall become va- overseers, etc. cant, the commissioner of highways shall, by warrant under his hand, appoint some other person in his stead; and the overseers so appointed shall have the same powers, be subject to the same orders, and liable to the same penalties as overseers chosen in township meetings.

pointment to be

(1203) SEC. 12. The commissioner of highways making such Warrant of apappointment shall cause such warrant to be filed in the office of led, notice to be the township clerk, who shall forth with give notice thereof to the given, eto. person appointed, which person shall give written notice of his acceptance to such clerk within ten days after receiving notice of his appointment.

overseer.

(1204.) SEC. 13. Every overseer of highways who shall refuse or Penalty for negneglect to perform any of the duties required of him by law, or leet, eto, by which may be lawfully enjoined on him by the commissioner of highways of his township, and for the omission of which a penalty is not hereinafter provided, shall for any such neglect or refusal, forfeit the sum of ten dollars.

sioner to prose

liable.

(1205.) SEC. 14. It shall be the duty of the commissioner of high- When commisways of each township, whenever any person resident of his town- cute for penalty. ship shall make complaint that any overseer of highways in such township has refused or neglected to perform any of the duties required of him by law, or shall give or offer to such commissioner sufficient security to indemnify him against the costs which may be incurred in prosecuting for the penalty annexed to such refusal or neglect, forthwith to prosecute such overseer in the name of the people of this State, for the recovery of such penalty. If any over- When overseer seer of highways shall neglect or refuse to warn the residents of his district liable to do work on the highways, to do such work as the law requires and his warrant directs, such overseer shall be liable to pay for all the work not so done or commuted for, at the rate of sixty-two and a half cents per day; and it shall be the duty of the commissioner of highways in each township to prosecute any overseer who may so neglect or refuse to do his duty, before any justice of the peace, or any other court of competent jurisdiction, and collect of him what he may be liable to pay under the provisions of this act, unless such overseer shall show satisfactory cause to such justice of the peace, or such court, why he should not pay the same: Provided, That in all cases where judgment shall be Proviso-on recovered against any such overseer under the provisions of this judgment not

section, such overseer shall not be further liable to an action for further liable. the penalty incurred by such neglect or refusal.

transcribe defect

(1207.) SEC. 2. The clerk, in transcribing, where characters, ini- How clerk to tials, sigus, and figures are used in the survey bills herein required ive highway to be transcribed, shall write the same in words at full length, but records.

When transcribed commissioner to meet at the office of township clerk.

Commissioner to establish as

highways such of the roads as

public interest may require.

Proviso.

Determination of commissioner to bo recorded.

Care of streets of unincorporated villages.

Proceedings on

the opening of roads between

shipe.

the name of the highway commissioner, where there is no order establishing the survey as a public highway, shall be omitted.

(1208.) SEC. 3. Where the clerk of any township shall have transcribed the survey bills of his township according to the provisions of the preceding sections of this act, it shall be his duty to give notice thereof to the commissioner of highways of his township, and it shall be the duty of said commissioner, within ten days after the receipt of such notice, to meet at the office of such township clerk.

(1209.) SEC. 4. When so met, it shall be the duty of said commissioner, and he is hereby authorized, to affix his order and determination, establishing as public highways so many roads as there are survey bills transcribed according to the provisions of this act, or so many thereof as in his opinion the public interest may require: Provided, That nothing herein shall be construed as authorizing the commissioner of highways to establish by his order, or in any manner to affect the record of any road, except such as was surveyed, opened, and traveled as late as January first, eighteen hundred and forty-nine.

(1210.) SEC. 5. The said commissioner, after having made his order upon the corrected copies of the survey bills, as prescribed in the last preceding section of this act, shall deliver the same to the township clerk, whose duty it shall be to cause the same to be filed and recorded as provided in chapter twenty-five, section one, of the revised statutes of eighteen hundred and forty-six.

(1212.) SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, That such streets of recorded, but unincorporated, village plats, as the commissioner of highways shall deem to be required for public highways, shall be included in the several road districts of the respective townships in which they are situated, and shall be subject to the care and superintendence of the commissioner and overseers of highways relative to repairs, and in like manner as other highways are now by law provided for.

(1214.) SEC. 1. The People of the State of Michigan enact, That whenever a road shall have been laid out and established on the adjoining town line between adjoining townships, upon the petition of twelve freeholders of either township, the commissioners of highways of the respective townships shall meet upon the line of such road and make an examination into the condition of the same, and if in their opinion the public good require the opening of such road, or the improvement of the same, and that the highway labor assessed thereon is insufficient to open such road or make such improvement, Contracts to be they shall proceed to let contracts for the opening and improvement of such road, and when such contracts are completed and accepted, give orders upon the treasurer of the township to which such road or part of road belonged, payable out of any money raised or to be raised for that purpose, and notify the supervisors of said township or townships of the amount of such order, and it shall be the the duty of the supervisor to assess the same upon the taxable property of the township in the same manner as other town

let.

How paid.

Amount to be assessed.