Chap. 250.—An ACT to incorporate the town of South Hill, Mecklenburg
county, Virginia.

Approved February 16, 1901.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the town
of South Hill, in the county of Mecklenburg, as the same has heretofore
and may hereafter be laid off into lots, streets or allevs, shall be, and
the same is, hereby made a town corporate by the name of South Hill,
and by that name shall have and exercise the powers conferred upon
towns by chapter forty-four of the code of Virginia, of eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, and be subject to and governed by the provisions of
the said chapter, applicable to towns, and all laws which may hereafter
be enacted by the gencral assembly of Virginia for towns, so far as the
same are not in conflict with this act.

. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: beginning in the
centre of Mecklenburg avenue where it is crossed by Main street and
running in everv direction five-eighths of a mile, with such additional
land as will make a circle one and a quarter miles in diameter, taking
the intersection of the above-named strects as a central point.

3. There shall be clected on the first Tuesday in April, nineteen hun-
dred and one, and every two years thereafter, a mayor and six council-
men, who shall qualify by taking the several oaths prescribed by law
before, and enter upon the duties of their offices on the first day of May
next succeeding their election, and shal] hold said offices for the term of
two years, and thereafter until their successors are elected and qualified,
unless sooner removed.

The mayor and said council shall, together, constitute the council
of said town, and the council so composed, five of whom shall constitute
a quorum for the transaction of business, shall be vested the corporate
powers of the town. Voters must have resided in the county not less
than twelve months and inside the corporate limits not less than two
months previous to an election.

5. The council shall, at its regular meeting in May, nineteen hundred
and one, and every two vears thereafter appoint a sergeant, clerk, assessor
and treasurer, and may appoint policemen and such other officers and
agents for the proper conduct and business of the town as they may deem
necessary, prescribe their duties, fix their compensation, and require and
take from them such bonds, with good security and in such penalty az
they may deem proper, with condition for the faithful discharge of the
duties of their office: provided, that if such appointments are not made
at the regular meeting in May, then the same may be appointed at any
subsequent mecting thereafter.

The oflicers so appointed shall hold their respective offices for the term
of two vears, unless sooner removed, and ihereafter until their successors
are elected and qualified. ‘The same person may, in the discretion of the
council, be appointed to, and hold at the same time more than one of
said offices. The sergeant of said town shall, in addition to the duties
that may be prescribed by the council, have ‘the same powers and dis-
charge the same duties as constables within the corporate limits thereof,
and to the distance of two miles beyond the same.

6. The council shall have, subject to the provisions of this act and of
chapter forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and
cighty-seven, applicable to towns, the control and management of the
fiscal and municipal affairs of the town, and all property, real and per-
sonal, belonging to it; and may make such ordinances, orders and by-
laws and regulations as they may deem necessary to enforce and carry
out the powers vested in said council; and in addition thereto, the follow-
ing powers which are hereby vested in them:

First. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious or other
dangerous diseases.

Second. To regulate the building of stables, privies, and hog pens; te
require and compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances, or
anything which, in the opinion of the majority of the council or in the
opinion of the mayor, or under an ordinance vesting in him such discre-
tion, is a miusance within the said town, at the expense of the person
causing the same, or the owner or owners of the ground whereon the
same may be, the collection of which said expense may be enforced in the
same manner as fines due said town: to provide for the drainage of lots
by proper drains: to prevent or regulate slaughter-houses or soap facto-
ries within the said town, or the exercise of any dangerous, offensive or
unhealthy business, trade or employment therein.

Third. To prevent hogs, dogs, cows or other animals from running at
large in the town, and may subject the same and the owners thereof to
such levies, taxes, and regulations as they may think proper.

Fourth. To establish and maintain a fire department in the said town
and provide for the regulation of the same, and to compel the residents
of the town to aid and assist the fire department when necessary. They
shall have power to establish fire limits in the said town within which
no building shall be erected without the consent of the council, unless
the outer walls thereof be of brick, stone or some other incombustible
material.

Fifth. To prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals
at an improper speed ; to prev ent the throw: ing of stones, playing marbles
or engaging in any employment or sports on the streets, sidewalks or
public alleys or grounds; to prohibit or punish the abuse or cruel treat-
ment of horses or other animals in the said town; and to prohibit or
punish the tying of horses or other animals to any fence, palings or other
objects on or along the streets and public ways in said town.

Sixth. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street beg-
gars; to prevent vice or immorality; to preserve public peace and good
order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assem-
blages ; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling houses; to prevent
and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly conduct or exhibitions in the
said town, and expet therefrom persons guilty of such conduct who has
not resided therein as much as one year.

Seventh. To prevent any cow, horse, hog or other animal from in-
juring or trespassing upon any public square or grounds within the cor-
porate limits of the said town or grazing thereon, whether the same be-
long to the state, town or county, and from injuring or destroying anv
tree growing in such square or grounds.

%. Where, by the provisions of law, the council have authority to
pass ordinances on any subject they may prescribe, punishment by fine or
imprisonment, or both, for all violations whereof: provided, that in no
case shall the fine exceed fifty dollars, or the imprisonment sixty days.
Fines may be recovered, with cost, upon warrants issued in the name of
the town of South Hill, before the mayor or any councilman of said
town, whenever judgment is rendered against any person for a fine, the
officer trying the offender may require immediate payment thereof, and
in default of such payment may commit the party so in default to jail
until such fine and costs be paid, or may compel him to work out such
fine and cost on the public’streets, or ways, or other improvements of said
town upon such terms as the council may by ordinance prescribe. All
fines for the violation of the ordinances of said town shall be paid into
the treasury thereof, and be appropriated as the council may determine.

8. Until a jail or prison house is provided for said town by the council
thereof, they shall have the use of the jail of Mecklenburg county for the
safe-kceping and confinement of all persons sentenced to imprisonment
under the ordinances or by-laws of said town.

9. Any person applying to the county court of Mecklenburg county
for license to sell spirituous liquors, wines, heer, ale or porter, or anv
mixture thereof, within the corporate limits of the town of South Hill,
or within one mile of said town, shall produce before the court of said
county a certificate of the council of said town to the effect that the appli-
cant is a suitable person and that no good reason is known to the council
why the license should not be granted. And the said court shall not grant
any license to sell liquors within the said limits until and unless such
certificate be given.

10. To meet the expenditures that may be lawfully chargeable to the
said town, the council may annually levy a town levy of so much as in its
opinion may be necessary upon all taxable persons and property, resi-
dent or situate, within the said town, not exempted from taxation by the
laws of the state: provided, that a corporation tax not greater than fifty
cents per head on the male inhabitants of the said town over the age of
twenty-one years may be levied in any one year: and, provided further,
that the tax so levied on the real and personal property within the said
town does not exceed twenty-five cents on the one hundred dollars of the
assessed value thereof for any one year.

11. The council of said town may impose, levy, and collect a license
tax on all persons doing business in said town, or upon any person or em-
ployment therein which it may deem proper, whether any tax be imposed
thereon by the state or not. As to all such persons or employment the
council may levy a direct tax, or may require a license therefor under such
regulations as it may prescribe, or levy a tax therefor, under such regu-
lations as it may prescribe, or levy a tax thereon.

12. The council may, in the name of and for the use of the said town,
contract loans and issue bonds therefor, bearing interest at the rate of
not more than six per centum per annum, payable semi-annually, and re-
deemable in thirty-four years or less, which bonds shall not be sold at
less than their par value, and the said bonds shall be exempt from taxa-
tion by the said town: provided, the council shall not contract any loan or
issue bonds therefor unless the same be authorized by a vote of the resi-
dents, freeholders of said town, and a majority vote be in favor thereof:
and provided further, that in no case shall the aggregate debt of said
town exceed seven and one-half per centum of the assessed value of the
property, real and personal, within the corporate limits of the said town ;
and in any election held under this section the order therefor shall state
the object for which the money is to be used.

13. The council of said town may pass all by-laws, rules, and ordi-
nances, not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the state, which
it may deem necessary for the good order and government of the town
and management of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace,
comfort, convenience, order, morals, health, and protection of its citi-
zens or their property, and to do such other things and pass such other
by-laws and ordinances as may be necessary or proper to carry into effect,
all powers, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction which is, or shall be,
granted to or vested in said town, or in the council or officers thereof,
or which may be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

14. From and after this goes into effect, and until the councilmen
and mayor to be elected under its provisions shall have been elected and
qualified, H. A. Binford is appointed mayor, and D. R. Stokes, D. H.
Northington, B. T. Wartman, D. B. Bell, T. E. Smith, and R. E. Yancy
as councilmen, and they may qualify before any justice of the peace or
notary public in Mecklenburg county, and thereupon shall constitute the
council and mayor of said town of South Hill, and may organize and
perform the said duties of council and mayor.

This act shall be in force from its passage.