The board of trustees shall elect one of their members clerk and have the power to appoint, employ, and pay an engineer, who shall be removable at the pleasure of the board. The clerk may be paid not to exceed twelve hundred dollars per year by said board. The board shall have the power to pass all necessary ordinances, resolutions, orders, rules and regulations for the necessary conduct of its business and to carry into effect the objects for which such road improvement district is formed. Immediately after each regular and special meeting of the board, it shall cause to be published, in one newspaper of general circulation in the district, a brief statement of its proceedings including an itemized list of bills and claims allowed, specifying the amount of each, to whom paid, and for what purpose; Provided, no publication shall be required unless the same can be done at an expense not exceeding one-third of the rate of the publication of legal notices.