Chap. 118.—An ACT to empower the city of Petersburg to organize a
board of railroad commissioners, and to acquire the control or own-
ership of the Petersburg railroad.

Approved February 27, 1878.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That it shall be
lawful for the city of Petersburg to organize a board of rail-
road commissioners, to be composed of seven Persons; and to
be vested with the powers and duties, when this act shall be
ratified by the qualified voters of the said city, all as here-
inafter provided:

2. That the said board shall elect one of their number
chairman, and shall generally exercise all the powers con-
ferred, and perform the duties imposed upon boards of direc-
tors of railroad corporations, by the laws of this state, and
their individual responsibility shall only be such as attach to
the same. Their terms of office shall be two, four, and six
years, to be determined among themselves, by lot, at their
first meeting. The first election for the two commissioners
first to go out of office, to be held by the ward from which
they were elected, at the time of the general election for city
officers; the commissioners then and so elected to enter upon
their duties upon the first of July following. The first elec-
tion of commissioners after the ratification of this act, to be
held in the year eighteen hundred and eighty, and thereafter
every succeeding two years, for two commissioners, always
by the wards from which the retiring commissioners were
elected. The said board shall make a report of their trans-
actions, and the affairs committed to their charge, annually,
to the mayor, who shall formally lay the same before the
common council of said city. ~

3. That vacancies in the said board, by death, resignation,
or removal from the said city, shall be filled as in the case of
vacancies in the boards of directors of railroad corporations.

4. That the members of said board sha!l be citizens of the
city of Petersburg, and no officers of the said city sball be
eligible to election, or bold a seat in the board of commis-
sioners, and no member of this board shall be cligible to elec-
tion to any city office, and any member of said board shall
be subject to removal by the judge of the hustings court of
said city on complaint and conviction, before said court, of
any malfeasance or misfeasance in office.

5. That it shall be lawful for the said board, for and in the
name and in the interest of the said city, to acquire the own-
ership or control of the works, machinery, property, and
franchises of the said Petersburg railroad company, by pur-
chase or otherwise, and to this end may arrange for the
purchase, commutation, exchange, or extension of the bonds
of the said road; and the said board shall have the right and
the power to control and to employ any debt, claim, or de-
mand against, or interests in the said railroad, which the
said city may have, hold, or become entitled to, and which
may be secured, in whole or in part, by any claim against, or
any stock or other issues of the said railroad company; and
the rights and interests of the said city in and to any such
debt, claim, or demand, shall at once vest in the said board,
upon the ratification of this act, as hereinafter provided;
and the said board are empowered to make such mortgages
of the property of the said road as may be needed to effect
the objects of this act; and the said board shall further have
the right and the power, for the purpose of acquiring such
ownership or control of the works, machinery, property, and
franchises of the said Petersburg railroad company and
maintaining the same, to employ the credit of the said city,
as hereinafter provided.

6. That for the purpose of carrying out the objects of this
act, and specially the provisions of the preceding section, in
whole or in part, it shall be lawful for the said city to issue
its bonds, and for the said board of railroad commissioners to
use the same, to an amount not exceeding two hundred thou-
sand dollars, and bearing interest at a rate not exceeding
seven per centum per annum, such bonds to be entitled, the
railroad bonds of the city of Petersburg; and the common
council of the said city shall cause such bonds to be issued
and delivered over to the said board of railroad commis-
sioners, of such form and denominations as, and whenever
the said board may require—the said bonds to be authentica-
ted by the official signature of the treasurer and the mayor,
and to be attested by affixing to each bond the corporate
seal of said city, and each of the same shall be endorsed by
the chairman of said board: Tbis bond is used to effect the
objects of the act of assembly, approved day of !
eighteen hundred and seventy-eight, (inserting the proper
dates); and the said board may specially secure the true pay-
ment of the interest, and finally of the principal of the said
bonds, by deed conveying in trust for that purpose such inter-
est, in whole or in part, as it, the said board, or the said city,
may hold, or may hereafter acquire, in and tosaid Petersburg
railroad, and in that event shall, accordingly, enlarge the
endorsement required to be made upon the said bonds by
the chairman of the said board; or instead of issuing her
own bonds, it shall be lawful for the said city of Petersburg
to endorse the guarantec of the said city for the true pay-
ment of interest, and finally of principal, of any bonds of
the Petersburg railroad company beretofore issued, or which
the said company, by the said board, may hereafter issue, to
an extent not exceeding the liability of the issue of two bun-
dred thousand dollars of the railroad bonds of the city of
Petersburg aforesaid; such guarantee of payment of interest
and of principal by the said city, whenever so demanded by
the said board, the common council of the said city, as to
each bond, shall cause by endorsement to be made to the
effect following: The true payment of the interest, and finally

of the principal of this bond, is under an act of assembly,
approved day of —, vighteen hundred and seventy-
civht, guaranteed by the city of Petersburg; such endorse-
ment and vuarantee to be authenticated and attested as
provided aforesaid, in respect to the issue of the railroad
bonds of the city of Petersburg; and the chairman of the
said board shall certify the proper use of such guarantee by
endorsing cach bond guarantecd as aforesaid, that the
guarantee of the city of Petersburg given this bond is to
effect the objects of the act of assembly, approved on the
day of m—, ciehteen hundred and seventy-eight,
(inserting the proper dates). Notwithstanding the lability
of the said city, by reason of such issue of her own bonds, or
guarantee of bonds as aforesaid, may exceed the limit now
prescribed by law, or by its charter, the lability incurred
under and by virtue of the provisions of this act, shall not
be taken to account in estimating the indebtedness of the
guid city in reference to the limit now prescribed by its
charter.

7 That in the event the said board of commissioners shall
acquire the ownership or control of the said railroad, then it
shall be their duty to hold, control, and operate the same,
appointing all necessary officers and agents, and doing such
Other things as may be proper thereto; and to invest the
annual net caruings of the property in the bonds issued or
guaranteed under this act, and after the same shall have
been discharged, to pay into the treasury of the city any
such net carnings; or, in the event the said board shall not
acquire the ownership or control of the said property, then
any stocks or other interests which it may have acquired,
shall be delivered over to the proper oflicers of the said city,
and the functions of the said board shall then cease and
determine: provided that any expenses or liability which the
said board may have incurred in their proper efforts to carry
out the objects and provisions of this act, not by them already
satisficd, out of any funds or resources under their control,
shall be, upon their demand, duly discharged by the common
council of the said city.

8. That the said board, as soon as this act shall be ratified,
as hereinafter provided, shall be entitled to receive, and upon
their demand it shall be the duty of the proper autborities of
the city of Petersburg, to assign, set over, and deliver to the
said board, or upon its order, all evidences of any debt, claim,
demand, or lien held by or on account of the said city, which
may be secured, in whole or in part, by any stock or other
evidences of debt, or issues of the said rai'road company now
held or pledged for the payment of such debt, claim, or de-
mand, together with such liens, stock, evidences of debt, or
issues of the said company so pledged, and to advance and
pay, upon the request of said board, such sum of money as
may be necessary to complete and carry into effect the pur-
chase by said board of the stock or other evidences of debt

or issues of the suid railroad company so held or pledged as
aforesaid. 7

9. That the judge of the hustings court for the said city
shall cause the sense of the qualified voters of the said city
to be taken on the ninth day of March next, upon the ratifi-
cation or rejection of this act, and for the election by such
voters, of each ward, of one commissioner from each ward.
To these ends the said judge shall give notice in one or more
papers published in said city, on or before the first day of
March, of the time when, and the places at which the poll
will be taken, and he shall appoint the necessary officers to
conduct the same, and require the vote to be taken by ballot—
First, upon the ratification or rejection of this act by those
voting for the same, a ballot which shall bear upon its face:
For the ratification of the act of the general assembly, ap-
proved the day of , eighteen hundred and seventy-
eight, and by those opposed, a ballot which shall bear upon
its face: Against the ratification of the act of the general
assembly, approved the day of , eighteen hundred
and seventy-eight. Second, a seperate and distinct ballot for
the six commissioners tu be elected, one by each of the six
wards of the city, such ballot to be of the form following:
ward (inserting the number of the ward), for commis-
sioner, (inserting the name of the person voted
for, for commissioner from such ward). Third, for the rati-
fication or rejection of 80 much of this act, only, as autho-
rizes the omployment of the city’s credit, by the issue or
guarantee of bonds to the extent of two hundred thousand
dollars, as provided in the sixth section of this act, such bal-
lots to bear upon their face by those voting for such use of
the city’s credit: For the appropriation authorized by the
sixth section of an act of the general assembly, approved the
day of , eighteen hundred and seventy-cight, and
by those opposed: Against the appropriation authorized by
the sixth section of an act of the general assembly, ap-
proved the day of , eighteen and hundred and sev-
enty-eight; the ballots cast in this case to be deposited in a
separate box of two compartments, those cast by freeholders
being deposited in the one compartment and those cast by
non-freeholders in the other. All the ballots so taken, he,
the said judge, shall cause to be certified, scaled, and re-
turned on the eleventh day of March, eighteen hundred and
seventy-eight, to the clerk of the hustings court of said city,
who shall on that day, in the presence of three freeholders,
to be designated by the said judge, canvass the same and cer-
tify the results to the said judge, who shall cause proper re-
cord thereof to be made. If it shall, by such returns, appear,
first: that a majority of the qualified voters voting, cast
their ballots for the ratification of this act, then and in that
case only, sball the same be in force; and it shall be the duty
of the said judge, in that event, to certify that fact and
the results otherwise, of such election, on the twelfth day
of March, eighteen hundred and seventy-cight, to the presi-

dent of the common council of said city, and to each of the
persons elected a commissioner, and a majority of the votes
cast by those of the qualified voters, voting in each ward,
shall elect the commissioner for such ward; and to convene
the persons so elected, in the council chamber, on that day,
when it shall the duty of the commissioners so elected and
assembled, to procced to the election of the seventh member
of the board and duly to organize the same.

Second. That if three-fifths of those voting, and a majority
of the freebolders voting on the use of the city’s credit, as
aforesaid, cast their ballots for the appropriation authorized
by the sixth section of this act, then, and in that case, the
same shall, as to the use of the city’s credit in the manner
provided by the sixth section of this act, be in force; other-
wise not: provided, however, that it shall be lawful, at any
subsequent day, whenever the said board of commissioners
may deem such use of the city’s credit necessary to the ob-
jects of this act, to request the judge of the hustings court
of the said city, to re-submit the question, a3 to such use of
the city’s credit, and it shall be the duty of the said judge to
take the sense of the qualified voters and frecholders of the
said city, Whenever so requested, in the manner provided by
this act, and if then it shall appear that three-fifths of those
voting, and a majority of the frecholders voting, cast their
ballots for the appropriation, then, and in that case, the sixth
section, in full, shall be thereafter in force.

10. This act shall be in force from its passage, and all acts
and parts of acts, which may conflict with this act, are
hereby in so far repealed.