Chap. 219.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act to incorporate the
town of Bridgewater, approved February 7, 1835, and all acts amen-
datory thereof.

Approved March 3, 1884.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the act approved February seventh, eighteen hundred and
thirty-five, entitled an act to incorporate the town of Bridge-
water,in Rockingham county, and all acts amendatory thereof,
since passed, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

§1. Beit enacted by the general assem oly of Virginia, That
the municipal authorities of the town of Bridgewater, in the
county of Rockingham, shall have power to extend the cor-
porate limits of said town from the present exterior bounda-
ries thereof, so as to embrace in extent one hundred acres of
territory on the southeast side of said town, commencing on
the southwest bank of North river, and running thence in a
line parallel with Liberty street, to a point at or near the
Mount Crawford road, opposite to and in a line with the
northeast boundary line of said town; thence to and with
and passing beyond said line to a point on the land of John
W. Carpenter, on the northwest side of said town; thence in
a line running parallel with Grove street to the southwest
bank of North river, so as to include one hundred acres of
territory in the northwestern extension of said town; and
thence down the southwest bank of said river to the begin-
ning, if sanctioned by a majority of the qualified voters re-
siding within the limits of the part of said boundaries pro-
posed to be included in said extension; and that the same, as
it has been heretofore and may hereatter be laid off into lots;
streets and alleys, be and the same is hereby made a town
corporate by the name of Bridgewater, and by that name
shall bave and exercise all the powers conterred by the fifty-
fourth chapter of the Code of Virginia, eighteen hundred
and seventy-three, so far as the same may be applicable to
the government of towns of less than five thousand inhabi-
tants, and not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

§2. The government of said town shall be vested in a
mayor and six councilmen, who shall be residents and free-
holders in said town, to be chosen annually by ballot on the
first Thursday of November of each year. Any person enti-
tled to vote in Rockingham county, and residing within the
corporate limits of the townof Bridgewater six months, shall
be entitled to vote at all elections under said act of incorpo-
ration. There shall be ten day’s notice given of all elections
by posting notices at three or more public places in said cor-
poration. The mayor shall appoint three qualified voters,
who shall preside as judges at corporation elections, and who
shall have the right to appoint two clerks of election, as well
as to decide the right of any individual to vote, and shall
hold said elections between the hours of one o'clock post-
meridian and sunset. In case where it cannot be decided
who has the larges number of votes by reason of a tie, one
of the said clerks shall decide by lot in the presence of the
three judges aforesaid. Immediately after each election, the
recorder shall make out and deliver to the mayor and council
certificates of their election. The officers so elected, shall
enter upon the duties of their offices on the first day of Jan-
uary following, and hold office until their successors are duly
elected and qualificd, unless sooner removed from office. In
case a vacancy shall occur in any municipal office, the council
shall elect a qualified person to fill the office for the unexpired
term. The mayor and councilmen of said town, before enter-
ing upon the duties of their respective offices, shall be sworn
in accordance with the laws of this state. The mayor and a
majority of the council shall constitute a quorum to do busi-
ness. They shall appoint their time of meeting, which shall
be at least once in every month, and, when necessary, the
mayor, or any three councilmen, may call a meeting. In the
absence of the mayor, one of the councilmen shall preside as
mayor pro tempore.

§ 3. The said council shall sclect from their own number,
a treasurer and a recorder, and from the qualified voters
elect a town sergeant. The treasurer shall execute his bond
before he enters upon the duties of his office, in a penalty
double the amount of the revenue of the said town, the pre-
ceding year, for the faithful discharge of his duties. The
sergeant elected as aforesaid, before he enters upon the duties
ot’ his office, shall execute his bond with security, to be ap-
proved by the council in a sum double the amount of the
revenue of the said town, the preceding year, and conditioned
for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office.

§ 4. The council of the said town shall have all the gene-
ral powers vested in it by the laws of the state; and it shall
also have power to mark accurately the bounds of existing
streets, and compel the removal of obstructions therefrom;
to close or extend, widen or narrow, lay out and graduate,
pave and otherwise improve streets and public alleys in the
town; and for these purposes, upon first paying a just com-
pensation therefor, it may take such private property as may
be necessary; and no order shall be made, and no injunction
shall be awarded by any court or judge, to stay the proceed-
ings of the town in the prosecution of such works, unless it
be manifest that the interposition of a court i8 necessary to
prevent injury that cannot be repaired in damages. The
method of ascertaining what will be a just compensation for
private property thus taken shall be as follows: After reason-
able notice in writing by the recorder of the council, to the
owner ot’ the freehold whose property is proposed to be taken,
or to his tenant or ayent, the mayor of the town, shall at the
time and place mentioned in said notice, proceed to appoint
two frecholders of the town as commissioners, one of whom
may be nominated by the owner of the freehold, or by his ten-
ant or agent, if either be present, whose duty it shall be to view
the property proposed to be taken, and ascertain what will be
a just compensation therefor, and the damage to the residue
of such owner’s property, beyond the peculiar benefits to be
derived in respect to such residue from the work to be done.
The said commissioners, if they cannot agree, may select a
third freeholder as commissioner to act with them, and shall
as soon as possible, report their proceedings to the council.
When such report has been returned, the council may, by a
vote of a majority of its members, either reject or accept
said report. If the report be rejected, the council may refer
the matter to another commission, appointed in the same
way and for the same purpose as the first. If the report be
confirmed, the amount ascertained by it to be a just com-
pensation for the property, shall be paid to those entitled
thereto, before work shall be begun on or through said pro-
erty.

P g3. Whenever any new street sball be laid out, graded or
paved, a culvert built, or any other public improvement what-
ever made, the town council may determine what portion, if
any, of the expense thereof should be paid from corporation
funds, and what portion by the owners of real estate benefitted
thereby, or may order and direct that the whole expense be
assessed upon the owners of real estate benetitted thereby;
but no such public improvement shall be made, to be defrayed
in whole or in part by a local assessment, until first requested
by a petition and signed by at least a majority of the owners
of property to be assessed for such improvements, or unless
two-thirds ofall the council shall concur in voting any improve-
ment to be expedient, or in determining to make the same
after allegations have been heard, in which case no petition
or request shall be necessary. The council shall have the
same powers to collect such local assessments as are vested
in them for the collection of other taxes.

§6. The said council shall have the power to provide
against and prevent accidents by fire; to regulate and estab-
lish markets; to prevent the running at large of hogs, dogs,
horses, cows, or other animals; to prevent the cumbering of
streets, sidewalks, and alleys in any manner whatever; to
make sanitary regulations in reference to contagious or other
discases; to regulate the building of all houses, stables, privies,
hog-pens, and slaughter-houses; to abate nuisances at the
expense of those who cause them; to appoint police, and pre-
scribe their duties and compensation; and to make, pass, and
ordain such laws as they may deem necessary and proper for
the internal and general good, safety, health, and convenience
of the said town and inhabitants thereof, and for enforcing
the provisions of this charter. They shall punish all viola-
tions of law by fine or imprisonment, or both in the dis-
cretion of the mayor, subject to the general laws of this
state. The authorities of the said town shall have the use
of the county jail of Rockingham county, for the safe-keep-
ing and confinement of all persons who shall be sentenced to
imprisonment under the ordinances of said town. Whenever
judgment shall be rendered against any person for fines, and
there bo no visible effects which the sergeant may distrain
and sell therefor, the person so in default may be compelled
to work out such fines on the public streets or other improve-
ments, and to suffer in addition such terms of imprisonment
as may be prescribed by ordinances of said town.

§ 7. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created
and declared to be a separate and distinct road district of
Rockingham county, and no road tax shall be levied on any
property within said limits, except by the council of Bridge-
water, which tax shall be expended within the limits of the
corporation on the streets and roads therein, by the sergeant
of the town, under the supervision and direction of the town
council. For his services as overseer of roads and streets,
the sergeant of the town shall be entitled to the same com-
pensation allowed by law to overseers of roads under the
general law of Virginia. The council shall have control of all
streets and roads within the corporate limits of the said town.

§ 8. The council shall have power to levy such taxes as it
may deem necessary for the purposes of the corporation: pro-
vided that no tax upon the real and personal property in said
town shall exceed fifty cents on the one hundred dollars’
assessed value thereof: and provided also, that no corporation
tax shall be levied upon the machinery, implements, and
money and capital of manufacturing establishments actually
in use for manufacturing purposes for ten years from the pas-
sage of this act: and provided also, that no such tax shall be
levied upon the lands, stock of any kind, utensils, or imple-
ments within the limits of said corporation which are used
strictly for farming purposes; but this proviso is not intended
to apply to milch cows, horses, and other animals in domes-
tic use, nor to Jands when laid off and sold as town lots.

§ 9. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said
town shall extend one mile beyond the limits thereof for im-
posing and collecting a license tax upon all shows, perform-
ances and exhibitions which may take place any where within
said extended boundaries; and they shall also have the power
of imposing a license tax upon bowling, billiard and bayatelle
saloons, or on any similar game or play recognized and taxed
by the laws of the state anywhere within the said extended
boundaries.

§10. Any person applying to the county court of Rock-
ingham county, or any other authority, for license to sell
wine, ardent spirits or liquors of any kind, either as a keeper
of an ordinary, eating-house, or as merchant, within the cor-
porate limits of said town, or within one mile thereof, shall
produce and present to said court a certificate of the council
of said town, signed by a majority of the council, to the
effect that the applicant is a suitable person, and that no good
reason is known to said council why said license should not
be granted, and the court of said county, or other authority,
shall not grant any license to sell liquors, wines or ardent
spirits within the limits above prescribed, until and unless
such certificate is given.

§11. The mayor shall be the presiding officer of the coun-
cil, and he shall have power to suspend any officer of said
corporation tor neglect of duty or disorderly behavior. The
council shall have power to remove all officers, and may fine
members of their own body for disorderly behavior, and with
the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. The mayor
shall have no vote except in the case of a tie. He shall have
authority and be vested with all the powers of a justice of
the peace within the precincts of said town and for one mile
around the corporate limits thereof, and shall have like powers
with a justice of the peave to commit any person charged
with an offence before him to the county jail, or let to bail
on recognizance to appear before the county court.

§ 12. The sergeant of said corporation shall have the like
powers of a constable of said county, to pursue and arrest
anywhere in said county of Rockingham all offenders for
offences committed within the last aforementioned corporate
limits, and to convey any one so ordered to be committed to
the county jail, there to be dealt with as if committed by a
warrant of a justice of the peace

§13. All acts and parts of ac ts inconsistent with this act
are hereby repealed.

2. This act shall be in force from its passage