54-7-202 - Private use of equipment and materials prohibited Penalty Work for governmental entities authorized. - Tennessee Statutes

54-7-202. Private use of equipment and materials prohibited Penalty Work for governmental entities authorized.

(a)  The chief administrative officer shall not authorize or knowingly permit the trucks or road equipment, the rock, crushed stone or any other road materials to be used for any private use or for the use of any individual for private purposes, and the chief administrative officer's failure to see that this subsection (a) is enforced is a Class C misdemeanor.

(b)  Any employee of the county road department who uses any truck or any other road equipment or any rock, crushed stone or other road material for that employee's personal use, or sells or gives those things away, shall be immediately discharged.

(c)  No truck or other road equipment or any rock, crushed stone or any road material shall be used to work private roads or for private purposes of owners of the roads.

(d)  Neither the chief administrative officer nor any other official or employee of the county may use any county vehicle, equipment, supplies or road materials for other than official county road purposes; however, the county governing body has the authority to authorize the county road department to perform work for other governmental entities; provided, that the cost of the projects so authorized is to be reimbursed to the county road department.

(e)  A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor. Each separate use of the same for other than authorized purposes constitutes a separate offense and  is subject to a separate punishment.

(f)  Any person whose property is improved by having road material placed on the property in violation of this section shall be liable to suit for the value of the improvement. Any amounts recovered, including all legal fees and other recovery costs, shall go to the county road department.

(g)  (1)  Notwithstanding this section or any other section to the contrary, at the written request of the appropriate United States postal authority or the appropriate school board or education department, the county may use county vehicles, equipment and supplies to maintain areas for the purpose of providing public school buses and postal vehicles with a route and a turnaround area, even though the areas may not be on the official county road map or part of a public road right-of-way for which the county is responsible. The county shall not maintain the area if it will not be used for that purpose. The county shall obtain written permission from the owner of any property proposed to be used as a turnaround area prior to commencing any work on that property.

     (2)  The county road department and the appropriate postal authority or school board or education department shall determine prior to commencement of the project whether all or part of the cost of the paving will be reimbursed to the road department.

     (3)  This subsection (g) shall not apply in any county with a population of four hundred thousand (400,000) or more, according to the 1990 federal census or any subsequent federal census.

[Acts 1974, ch. 738, § 14; T.C.A., § 54-1015; Acts 1989, ch. 591, § 113; 1991, ch. 89, § 1; 1999, ch. 286, § 1.]