Chap. 167.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Madison Heights, in Amherst
county.

Approved March 14, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the ter-
ritory in Amherst county contained within the limits set forth and de-
scribed in section two of this act. be deemed and taken as the town of
Madison Heights, and the inhabitants of the town of Madison Heights,
for all purposes for which towns are incorporated in this Common-
wealth, shall be a body politic, in fact and in name, under the style and
denomination of Madison Heights, and as such shall have, exercise and
enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject
to all the duties and obligations incumbent upon and pertaining to said
town as a municipal corporation.

2. Beginning at the eastern abutment of the free bridge across James
river, thence up James river to Murkland’s spring branch, thence north
fifty-two and one-half degrees each, tuirteen hundred and fifty feet up
bluff with branch, thence north forty-one degrees, east four hundred and
sixty feet with old camp line, thence north fifty degrees, east eighteen
hundred and fifty feet to the old Salmons and Going corner (now W. G.
Rucker corner), thence north fifty-four and half degrees, east six hun-
dred feet to W. lL. Moorman’s line, thence along Shackelford road to
main county road, thence along said county road in the direction of
Amherst courthouse to Williams’ farm road, thence along said Williams’
farm road to corner between Joseph H. Bryant and John Phelps, thence
in a southerly direction along said Bryant line to the spring branch,
thence in a southerly direction to the southwest side of the Folly road,
thence with said road to Raiks’ and Christian’s corner, thence along said
Raiks’ line to A. KE. Willis’ line, thence with said Willis’ line to James
river, thence with said river to the beginning.

3. The officers of said town shall consist of six councilmen and a
mayor, who shall compose the council of said town, and a sergeant and
such other officers as the council may appoint Elections for councilmen
and mayor shall be held biennially, as provided for by the general lawe
governing towns, at which elections and all other elections held in said
town, all resident citizens of said town who are qualified to vote and hold
office under the laws of the State shall be entitled to vote. Any qualified
voter of said town shall be eligible to the office of councilman, mayor or
sergeant. The mayor and councilmen named in this act shall enter on
the discharge of their respective duties on the first day of July, nineteen
hundred andi four, and shall hold office for two years and until their suc-
cessors are elected and qualified. All other officers shall hold office for
such term, not exceeding two years, as the council shall prescribe.

4. The mayor of said town shall be a member of said council, and
shall preside at its meetings. The council, at its first meeting after
election, or as soon thereafter as practicable, shall, by a majority vote of
the entire council, elect from its members a president pro tempore, who
shall preside at their meetings, and while so presiding, or during the
absence, sickness, or other disability of the mayor, shall exercise all the
powers of the mayor.

5. The council shall appoint a sergeant, a treasurer of said town, @
clerk of the council and such other officers as they may deem necessary ;
may define their duties and powers, and may take from any officer elected
or appointed under this act a bond, with surety to be approved by the
council, in a penalty of not less than fifteen hundred dollars nor more
than three thousand dollars, payable to the said town in its corporate
name, with the condition for the faithful performance of his duties. A
member of the council may be appointed to the office of treasurer of the
town clerk of the council, and both offices may be held by the same
person.

6. All town officers, before entering on the discharge of their duties,
shall be sworn in accordance with the laws of the State by any one duly
authorized to administer oaths. If any person elected or appointed to
any office shall fail to take such oath before his term of office begins,
or for twenty days thereafter shall fail to give the bond with approved
security required of him by the council, his office shall be declared vacant,
and such vacancy shall be filled by election or appointment, as is pre-
scribed by this act.

”%. The council shall, by ordinance, fix the time of their regular meet-
ings; may be convened in special meeting on the cafl of the president
pro tempore or any three members; may adopt such rules as they may
deem proper for the government of their proceedings and the orderly and
convenient transaction of their business; may compel the attendance of
their members; may punish any member by fine or otherwise for dis-
orderly behavior during any meeting, and with the concurrence of two-
thirds of the entire council, may expel a member. A journal of the pro-
ceedings shall be kept, as provided .by the general laws of this State.

8. All elections for mayor and council shall be held under the general
laws of this State governing elections in towns.

9. The council shall judge of the election, qualifications and returns
of its members. If any person returned as councilman be adjudged dis-
qualified or fail to take the oath of office as prescribed in section five
of this act, or if any councilman be expelled from the council, the vacancy
thus occurring shall be filled by vote of the qualified voters of said town
at an election to be held by order of the council at such time as it may
deem proper, after giving not less than ten days’ notice thereof.

10. The council shall have power to remove from office by a two-
thirds vote any officer of said town, whether elected or appointed, for
misconduct in office or neglect of duty or other good cause, the charge or
allegation to be specified in the order of removal, but no such removal
shall be made without reasonable notice to the officer complained of and
an opportunity given him to be heard in his defence. The council shall
be authorized to declare, at its discretion, the office of any of the council-
men vacant who fails to attend any meeting of the council for three con-
secutive months.

11. All vacancies in office not hereinbefore required to be filled by an
election of the qualified voters of said town shall be filled by the council
by appointment of eligible persons thereto for the unexpired part of the
term.

12. A majority of the council shall constitute a quorum for the trans-
action of business, but no ordinance or resolution levying a tax or con-
tracting a debt shall be valid umless the same be passed by a two-thirds
vote of the entire council, which vote shall be taken by yeas and nays and
recorded in the journal. At the request of any member the yeas and nays
shall be recorded on any question voted on by the council.

13. The council shall have, subject to the provisions of this act, the
control and management of all fiscal and municipal affairs of the town,
and of all the property, real and personal, belonging to said town, and
may make such ordinances and by-lawe in relation thereto as it may deem
proper ; and it shall likewise have power to make such ordinances, ‘orders
and by-laws and regulations as it may deem necessary to carry out the
following powers (and any other powers granted it by the general laws
of the State), which are hereby conferred upon it:

First. To close or extend, widen or narrow, lay out, graduate, curb,
pave and otherwise improve the streets, alleys and sidewalks in said town,
and have them kept in good order and properly lighted; to provide for
proper and necessary drainage in said town and for such other im-
provements as it may deem necessary and expedient; to prevent or re-
move any structure encroachment or obstruction over, under or in any
sidewalk, street or alley, and to permit shade trees to be planted along
such streets or alleys in said town.
Second. To prevent the cumbering of streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes,
or bridges in the town in any manner whatsoever.

Third. To determine and designate the route and grade of any rail-
road to be laid in such town, and to retain and regulate the speed of
locomotive engines and cars on the railroads in said town.

Fourth. To require and compel the abatement of all nuisances within
said town at the expense of the person or persons causing the same, or the
owner or owners of the ground whereon the same shall be; to prevent or
regulate slaughterhouses, soap and candle factories, hog pens, privies,
stables, or the exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business,
trade or employment.

Fifth. To prevent cows, hogs and other animals from running at
large in said town, and to subject the same to such regulations and taxa-
tion as it may deem proper.

Sixth. To prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals
at an improper or dangerous speed, throwing stones, or engaging in any
employment or sport on the sidewalks, streets and alleys dangerous or
annoying to the citizens or passengers, and to prohibit and punish the
abuse and cruel treatment of horses and other animals of said town.

Seventh. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street
beggars, and to prevent the coming into the town of persons having no
visible means of support, or of persons dangerous to the good order and
peace and quiet of said town.

Eighth. To punish for contempt of court releasing or attempting to
release a prisoner, or interfering in any manner with any officer in the
exercise of his official duties, by a fine or not less than two dollars and
fifty cents and not more than twenty dollars.

Ninth. To prescribe penalties for the violation of any ordinance,
order, by-law or regulation, not exceeding fifty dollars for any offence,
and to subject the parent or guardian of any minor to any such fine or
penalty for any such offence committed by such minor. All such fines or
penalties may be prosecuted and recovered, with costs, in the name of
said town.

Tenth. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious, or other
dangerous diseases; to establish, erect and regulate hospitals; to provide
for and endorse the removal of patients to such hospitals; to appoint
and organize a board of health for said town, with the authority for the
prompt and efficient performance of its duties.

14. For the purpose of paying the necessary expenses of said town, in-
cluding taxes for the schools hereafter mentioned, the said council shall
have power to levy such tax on all the taxable property in said town
as may be provided by law. Said council shall have power to levy on all
male citizens over twenty-one years of age, a poll tax of fifty cents.

In consideration whereof the citizens and property of said town are
hereby exempt from the payment of the county levy for road purposes,
and from the payment of the county poll tax: provided, further, that the
said town of Madison Heights shall, at its own expense, provide for and
keep in order its streets and roads: provided, further, that the citizens
and property of said town shall be exempt from the payment of any special
road tax which may hereafter be levied for said county.
The council, out of its annual revenues, may make such appropria-
tions as it may deem proper to aid and carry on the public schools of said
town, and the trustees of said schools in said town shall have no power
to require said council to make any appropriations therefor.

15. The mayor of said town shall be, and is hereby, invested with the
power and authority of a justice of the peace within the corporate limits
of said town and to a distance of one and one-fourth miles beyond in
Amherst county ; to have and exercise like jurisdiction in all cases origin-
ating within said limits that a justice of the peace may now or here-
after have and exercise; and it is hereby made the duty of said mayor,
acting as a justice of the peace as aforesaid, to suppress all disturbances,
riots and disorderly conduct within the bounds of said town; and the
more effectually to do this, he is hereby clothed with power to appoint
such police force to aid the sergeant of said town (who shall have con-
trol of same under the orders of the mayor) whenever and as he may
deem necessary. He shall have power to issue process, hear and determine
all prosecutions, cases and controversies, civil and criminal, arising in
the limits of said town and one and one-fourth miles beyond the limits of
said town, with like jurisdiction as justices of the peace now have. In
all cases whatsoever wherein the fine or other matter or thing shall ex-
ceed in value or amount the sum of ten dollars, appeals shall be had to
the circuit court of Amherst county in the same manner and upon the
same terms as appeals are now taken from judgment of a justice of the

peace.

16. The sergeant of said town shall be a conservator of the peace, and
for that purpose shall be vested with all the powers of a constable within
the corporate limits of said town and to the distance of one and one-
fourth miles beyond, and shall have power to arrest offenders anywhere
in said county for offences committed within said town, or within one
and one-fourth miles of its limits, and convey any person to the county
jail who may be ordered by the mayor, or the president pro tempore of
said council, to be committed, charged with any offence against this Com-
monwealth, there to be dealt with as if committed by a justice of the
peace, and shall be entitled to the same compensation as a constable
would be for like services. He shall have control of any special police
force that the mayor or president pro tempore may appoint, and of any
regular police force authorized by said council. He shall, unless other-
wise provided by council, collect the town taxes and all fines imposed
for violation of the by-laws or ordinances made for the government of
said town, and: for this purpose shall be clothed with like powers to en-
force the same as a sheriff or constable now has. He shall also perform
such other ministerial duties as may be imposed upon him by said
council, and for his services shall receive a reasonable compensation, to
be fixed by the council. The said sergeant shall give bond, payable to the
town of Madison Heights, or to the council of said town, and to their
successors, with good security, to be approved by said council, in a pen-
alty of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, nor more than three thousand
dollars, and conditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his
office. The said council shall have power to appoint a collector of taxes,
if they think proper, who shall give bond in like manmer in such penalty
of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, as the council may prescribe,
and with good security, to be approved by the council. Such collector
of taxes shall have the powers conferred by general laws of the State of
Virginia.

1%. Be it further enacted that no license for the sale of spirituous
liquors, wine, ale, beer, porter, or any mixtures thereof, shall be granted
to any person within said town or within one and one-fourth miles of
the corporate limits of said town, in Amherst county.

18. Be it further enacted, that the said council shall have authority
to acquire by purchase or condemnation all real estate that may be
deemed necessary for the purpose of erecting suitable town buildings,
market house and public squares or streets and alleys, and to purchase
all such apparatus, carts, wagons, fire engines or other machines nec-
essary for its purposes. The council may also sell any real estate it may
own or may hereafter acquire when no longer needed for its p

19. In addition to the special powers hereinbefore especially dele-
gated to the town. council, all general powers not in conflict with the laws
of this State or of the United States necessary for the proper govern-
ment of said town, and which are by law allowed to municipal corpora-
tions, are hereby likewise delegated and vested in the said town council.

20. Be it further enacted, That an election shall be held under the gen-
eral law on the first Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and four, and
every two years thereafter, for the election of a mayor and six council-
men, who shall qualify and hold office for the term of two years from the
first day of July next following their election:

Provided, however, that this charter shall mot be operative until the
same shall have been ratified by a majority vote of the registered voters
of Madison Heights voting, and a majority vote of the freeholders vot-
ing, at the special election to be ordered by the judge of the circuit court
of Amherst county, which he is permitted to order in term or vacation.
The said election shall be conducted as special elections are conducted
under the general law, except that to ascertain the freehold vote, the
elector shall place his name on the back of his ticket.

This being an emergency act it shall be in force from its passage.