Chap. 221.—An ACT to provide for the consolidation or annexation of cities.
Approved March 15, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That whenever
two cities coterminous or adjacent to each other, desire to be consolidated
with each other. or whenever one of such cities desires to annex or to be
annexed to the other, for the purpose in either case of forming one muni-
cipal government, with a common name to be governed under and con-
trolled by either the general laws of the Commonwealth, enacted for the
government of cities or by the provisions of the charter of either of the
two cities, it shall be lawful for the councils of the two cities, or of the
one city, as the case may be, to so declare by an ordinance which shall be
adopted by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of all the members
elected to the council and to each branch thereof where the council is
composed of more than one branch.

2. Said ordinance shall be approved by the mayor of such city or may
be passed notwithstanding his objections in the manner prescribed for
passing ordinances over the veto of the mayor. It shall contain declara-
tory provisions on the following subjects—to-wit :

First. The name suggested for the proposed municipal government.

Second. Whether it is desired that the proposed municipality shall be
governed by the general laws governing cities or by the charter of one of
the cities interested in the proposed consolidation or annexation, naming
the city, if any, whose charter and name it is proposed to adopt.

Third. Setting forth the particular inducements to annexation or con-
solidation, if any such there be, over and above the incidental and ordinary
benefits of citizenship in the proposed municipality—such as the erection
of school houses or other public buildings or the devotion of a named sum
to street, sewer, or other public improvements for a stated period, or to be
expended within a stated time; and

Fourth. Appointing a committee, whose duty it shall be to present a
certified copy of the ordinance to the council of the city with which con-
solidation or annexation is proposed, and to confer with a similar commit-
tee therefrom, if such committee be appointed, and in conjunction with
such committee to adjust and settle the terms and conditions of annex-
ation or consolidation, and to prepare and perfect an ordinance designed
to effect the desired annexation or consolidation.

3. If the council of the city with which consolidation or annexation
is proposed does not agree to a conference upon the subject, it shall adopt
a resolution declaring it inexpedient to hold any conference upon the
proposed consolidation or annexation, but if it does agree thereto, it shall
pass an ordinance, in the manner hereinbefore prescribed, which shall
recite the fact of the passage of such an ordinance by the council of the
city taking the initiative, the reception of a certified copy, and the terms
and provisions thereof, and which shall appoint a committce of the same
number as the committee appointed by the council of the other city, which
shall be charged with similar duties.

4. The two committees thus appointed shall meet in joint session as
soon as may be, and a majority of each committee being present and
acting as separate units, shall proceed, with such adjournments from
time to time as may be desirable, to prepare and perfect an ordinance
designed to be adopted by the councils of the cities concerned, and to
provide therein for the consolidation or annexation proposed, upon such
terms and conditions as said committees may agree upon. Such terms
and conditions shall be set forth in said ordinance, which shall be reported
by each committee to the council by which it was appointed, and which
shall hereafter be designated as the consolidation or annexation ordinance.

5. The consolidation or annexation ordinance to be effective must be
passed by the council of each city participating in the consolidation or an-
nexation, by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of the members
elected to said council and to each branch thereof, where there are two.
And must provide that an election shall be held, to determine whether
such consolidation or annexation shall take effect, in smaller city or in
any citv in which one-fourth of the qualified voters petition the council,
asking that an election shall be held for that purpose. It shall be ap-
proved by the mayor of each city or passed over the mayor’s veto as in
case of other ordinances, and shall not be voted upon by both branches
of the council of any city on the same day.

6. The consolidation or annexation ordinance shall not be voted on by
the council of either of the cities interested in the proposed consolidation
or annexation (unless by its terms the proposed consolidation or annex-
ation is made dependent upon an election) until notice thereof shall have
been given by publication of such ordinance once a week for four succes-
sive weeks in at least one daily newspaper published in each of said cities,
or if there be no such newspaper published in said cities or in one of them.
then in some daily newspaper which has a substantial circulation in the
city or cities in which no such newspaper is published. A printed copr
of said consolidation or annexation ordinance shall be posted conspicu-
ously throughout said cities in not less than one hundred public places in
each city, including each voting precinct of said cities, at least thirty
days before the council is called upon to vote thereon. Both the pub-
lication and the posted notice herein required shall be signed by the clerk
of the council, and shall designate the day upon which the council will
proceed to consider said ordinance.

%. In case the consolidation or annexation ordinance provides that an
election shall be held in either or both of said cities before consolidation
or annexation shall be effective, the notice and publication hereinbefore
required shall not be necessary before the council of either city votes upon
said ordinance, but shall be required before the election is held, and to
such notice and publication there shall be attached a notice under the
hand of the clerk of the council, stating that a special election will be held
in said city or cities on a day specified in the notice to determine whether
the consolidation or annexation of the cities named shall take place upon
the terms and conditions agreed upon by their respective councils and set
‘forth in the ordinance adopted by said council.

8. In either case the publication herein required when completed shall
he certified by the editor or business manager of such newspaper or news-
papers to the clerk of the corporation court of the city or cities in which
the election is to be held when such election is prescribed as a means of
determining such consolidation or annexation or to the clerk of the
council of each city when no such election is prescribed.

The clerk of the council shall in like manner certify that printed copie:
of the annexation or consolidation ordinance have been posted in the
manner required by law.
9. The consolidation or annexation ordinance prepared and perfected
by the committees of the councils of said cities may be adopted, amended,
recommitted to the same or to another committee for further conference
and report or rejected by the council of either city or of both, as if it were
an ordinance proposed solely by a committee of its own body. The
council of each city shall forthwith notify the council of the other of the
disposition it has made of said ordinance by a certified extract of its pro-
ceedings with relation thereto under the hand of its clerk.

10. If the consolidation or annexation ordinance shall be passed with-
out amendment by the council of either city a certified copy of the ordi-
nance as passed shall be likewise transmitted to the council of the other
city as soon as practicable after the ordinance shall have been signed by
the mayor of such city cz passed over his veto. If, however, the council
of either city shall amend or recommit said ordinance the council of the
other city upon receiving notice thereof may either adopt, amend, or reject
said ordinance and amendment or recommit to the same or to another
committee for a further conference and report.

11. In case the ordinance prepared by the committees of the councils
of said cities shall be passed by the council of one of said cities and be
rejected or so amended by the council of the other city as to be unac-
ceptable to the council of the first city, or in case it shall be vetoed by the
mayor of one city and be adopted by the council of the other, a special
election may be called for in the city whose council so amends or rejects
said ordinance or by whose mayor it is so vetoed in the manner provided in
section five hundred and eighty-one of the Code of Virginia, to determine
whether the ordinance reported by said committees shall or shall not be
effective. In case such ordinance is ratified by the qualified voters of said
eity at such election, after having been adopted by the council of the
other city, the proposed consolidation and annexation shall be as effective
as if the councils of the two cities had themselves agreed upon its terms.
But no election under this section shall be held within seven months from
the time the same is ordered.

12. Whenever the councils of the two cities shall have passed a con-
solidation or annexation ordinance or the same shall have become effec-
tive in the manner prescribed by law, identical in terms, words, and
figures, except so far as variations may be necessarv to express the inde-
pendent action of either city and the terms upon which consolidation and
annexation has been concurred in, the consolidation or annexation therein
provided for shall thereupon be and become an accomplished fact accord-
ing to the terms and provisions of said ordinance: provided, however, that
all the requirements of law have been complied with in said ordinance:
and provided, that all preliminary acts and conditions precedent, as pre-
scribed in said ordinance, shal] have been done and complied with in the
manner therein provided and as prescribed by law: and provided, that
such consolidation or annexation shall not be declared effective until the
fact of such compliance with the requirements of the law and with the
preliminary acts and conditions precedent shall have been ascertained and
declared in the manner here provided.
13. A certified copy of said ordinances under the hand of the clerk of
cach council, and sealed with the seal of each city, together with a cer-
tified copy of the ordinance received by each council from the council of
the other city shall be at once transmitted to the clerk of the corporation
courts of each of said cities named in said ordinances; and the clerk of
the corporation court of the city named in said ordinance which has the
smaller population by the last United States census, shall thereupon
docket the same as if the city first passing said ordinance had entered a
motion in the nature of a suit to compel the specific performance of a
contract except that the evidence shall be heard by the judge without a
jury, as in common law cases.

14. Notice may be served by either city upon the mayor, president of
the city council, or of its more numerous branch, where there are two, and
upon the city attorney of the other city named in the ordinances and by
publication at least five times in some newspaper published in or having
substantial circulation in the city having the smaller population as afore-
said, that within ten days, and on a day named, it will move the said
corporation court, or the judge in vacation, to hear the case and to
ascertain and declare by order of court that all preliminary acts and con-
ditions precedent have been complied with, and that consolidation or an-
nexation has been effected by the said cities according to law; or in the
event that the consolidation or annexation ordinance requires an election
to be held in either of said cities, or in both of them, that the corporation
court of each city in which an election is required will be asked to order
the same to be held on a named day not less than seven months after the
entry of the order, and that the corporation court of the city having the
smaller population, as aforesaid, will be asked at the same time to ascer-
tain and declare by order of court that all other preliminary acts and
conditions precedent in said ordinance have been complied with, and that
consolidation or annexation has been effected by the said cities according
to law, subject to ratification or rejection by the qualified voters at the
election or elections prescribed in said ordinance.

15. The said procecdings shall be placed on the privileged docket of the
said court, or may he heard in vacation by the judge designated to hear
the case, and any qualified voter of either city, or any party effected, may
become a party thereto. All proceedings shall be had in the corporation
court of the city having the smaller population. as aforesaid, except that
in case an election is to be held in the other city, said election shall be
ordered by the judge thereof, and the result, when ascertained. shall be
certified by the clerk of that court to the clerk of the corporation court
of the city having the smaller population, as aforesaid, to be by him filed
with the papers in the consolidation or annexation proceedings.

16. The election prescribed for either or hoth of said cities shall he
ordered for each city by the judge of the corporation court thereof, and
shall be held and its returns made to and be canvassed and certified by the
same officials and in the same manner as is provided by general law for
special elections: provided. however, that the ballots to be used shall be
prepared, printed. stamped, and distributed as in other special elections.
which ballots shall he marked as follows: “For consolidation or annexa-
tion,” and “against consolidation or annexation,” and the voter shall in-
dicate his opinion by so marking the ballot as to indicate whether his
ballot is to be counted “for” or “against” the proposition submitted to
the voters: and provided, further, that the certificate of the judges of elec-
tion shall be in the usual form, except that it shall certify that

votes were cast for consolidation or annexation, and that —————- votes
were cast against consolidation or annexation.

17. Upon the complaint of fifteen or more qualified voters of the city
in which an election is held made to the corporation court, or judge
thereof, within fifteen days after said election, of any undue election or
false returns, such election shall be subject to inquiry, determination, and
judgment of the said court or judge. The complaint shall fully set out
the grounds of contest, and, if any votes were improperly received or
rejected, shall give a list of said votes, with objections, to the action of
the judzes of election in receiving or rejecting the same. Two of the
persons making the complaint shall make oath that the facts therein con-
tained are true to the best of their knowledge and belief. Such notice
shall be served upon the city attorneys of the two cities, stating that the
complaint has been filed in the clerk’s office of the said court. If it be
desired to take depositions, the time and place of taking the same shall
be stated in said notice, which shall entitle the parties giving the same
to take the depositions, which may be read as evidence in said contest.
Either or both of said cities may file an answer to said complaint, and the
proceedings in said contest shall be conducted as near as may be in accord-
ance with the provisions of the act of the general assembly of Virginia
approved November twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and three, providing
for contesting local option elections (acts nineteen hundred and two, nine-
teen hundred and three, and nineteen hundred and four, page five hun-
dred and forty-four), as the same may be from time to time amended.
The said court, or judge thereof, shall proceed to pass upon said com-
plaint without a jury, and on such depositions as may have been taken
under the notices aforesaid and upon such other legal testimony as may
be adduced by either party at the hearing of the case. If it be deter-
mined that such election should be set aside, the court or judge shall so de-
clare and order a new election to be held, which he shall also do in any
subsequent contest until there has been a legal election for the purpose
aforesaid.

18. The corporation court of the city having the smaller population
as aforesaid, which shall be presided over by the judge of some corpora-
tion court other than the corporation court of either of said cities, who
shall be designated by the governor or said judge in vacation, shall hear
the cause as hereinbefore provided, and when it shall appear that the
said cities have each passed a consolidation or annexation ordinance, or
that said ordinance has been passed by the council of one city and ratified
by the voters of the other, in the manner prescribed by law; that the
terms of such ordinances are identical except for the necessary variations
hereinbefore referred to; that all preliminary acts or conditions prece-
dent have been complied with; that the provisions of said ordinance com-
ply with the requirements hereinafter set forth, and, in case consolidation

or annexation was conditioned upon ratification by the qualified voters of
either city, or both, that such election or elections have been held and such
consolidation or annexation ratified, then the said court, or the judge
thereof in vacation, shall enter an order embodying the consolidation or
annexation ordinance and declaring that the cities named have effected
the consolidation or annexation provided for by said ordinance, and there-
upon and thereafter the said cities shall be and continue as one munici-
pality, under the terms and according to the provisions of the said con-
solidation or annexation ordinance. A copy of this order of the court
shall be certified to the secretary of the Commonwealth, by whom it shall
be certified to all departments of the State government. But if a ma-
jority of the votes cast at said election in either city, or in the city in
which an election is held, shall be against consolidation or annexation,
the said court or judge shall dismiss the proceedings, the cost of which
shall be equally apportioned between the said cities and certified to their
respective councils for payment.

19. The consolidation or annexation ordinance may contain the fol-
lowing provisions—to-wit :

First. It may provide that consolidation or annexation shall take effect
only upon condition that the ordinance providing therefor is ratified by
the duly registered and qualified voters at an election to be held for that
purpose in either or both of the cities concerned: provided, however, that
such election shall be held in the city having the smaller population.

Second. It may provide for the erection of public buildings, or other
works of improvement, which shall be specified in either of said cities. or,
where the two cities are separated by water, for the construction of
bridges between them. It may also provide for the setting apart of the
taxes or revenues of either city, either in whole or in part, or of a stated
sum in lieu thereof, for a fixed period, not, however, exceeding five vears,
for the improvement of streets, or the providing of light, water, or other
public works or improvements, as may be agreed upon by the two cities,
or, in the absence of such agreement, as the council of the consolidated
municipality shall determine.

Third. Said ordinance may provide for the abolition of the corporation
or other courts of the city whose charter is surrendered upon securing the
payment of the salaries of the judge thereof, and any other court official
whose salary cannot be or is not designed to be cut off, during the term of
office for which he was elected or appointed, or said ordinance may pro-
vide that the corporation or other courts of the city whose charter is sur-
rendered shall be continued and shall continue to exercise the same juris-
diction belonging to it or them under the statutes previous to annexation
or consolidation, except that when the two cities so conoslidated are sep-
arated by a river that is either navigable or more than three hundred
yards wide, the clerk of the court so retained shall certify each day to the
clerk of the court of record on the other side of the river a full and correct
index of all matters admitted to record in such courts, and required by
law to be recorded by whom, the same shall be entered in appropriate
books properly marked and designated as records of part two of the court
of records of such consolidated city. The clerk and sergeant of such
court shall be continued in office for and during the term for which they
shall have been elected, and thereafter until the election and qualificatiox
of their successors, and they shall be entitled to the same compensation and
fees as if annexation or consolidation had not taken place: provided, how-
ever, that the courts thus retained shall be designated by the title of the
corresponding courts of the united or consolidated municipality, with the
added designation, part two; and the judges thereof, who shall serve tc
the end of the terms for which they were severally elected or appointed,
and whose successors shall then be elected, appointed, and commissioned
in the manner prescribed by law, and for the same term, as in the case
of other judges of cities of the first class, shall receive the same compen-
sation, which shall be paid in the-same manner, as in the case of other
city judges. The amount of said compensation for each judge so re-
tained is hereby fixed at a sum equal to the salary fixed by law for the
judge of the court of which said retained judge’s court becomes a di-
vision: and provided, that the courts of said municipality, so far as they
have concurrent jurisdiction, shall apportion and divide between them
all cases coming up for trial.

The said ordinance may likewise provide for a police justice to hold
court within the former territory of either of the said cities in which
there was no police justice at the time of annexation or consolidation,
notwithstanding the adopted charter may provide for only one such jus-
tice in the former territory of the city whose charter is adopted. Such
justice and his successors shall be appointed or elected in the manner and
shall exercise the powers, duties, and jurisdiction prescribed by the charter
of the united or consolidated municipality. But if such charter makes
no provision therefor, such justice and his successors shall be appointed
in the manner and for the term, and shall be clothed with the power.
duties and jurisdiction prescribed by the acts of the general assembly of
Virginia: provided, that such justice may be elected or appointed as soon
as said annexation or consolidation has been declared effective, and his
term of office shall begin as soon as he has qualified: and provided, that
the salary of such justice, which shall be paid by said city, shall be fixed
by its council according to the population contained in the former terri-
tory of the city in which he is to hold court, as provided in said acts of
assembly. If at the time of annexation or consolidation there is a police
justice in either or both of said cities, such justice or justices shall con-
tinue to exercise the duties of their offices and shall be clothed with the
powers, duties, and jurisdiction of police justices ofthe united or con-
solidated city as if originally elected or appointed therein. Their courts
shall be designated as “the police court” or “the police court, part two,” of
said municipality, according to the relative population contained within
the territory of the former city in which they hold court, respectively, and
their successors shall be elected or appointed as if said justices had always
been police justices of the united or consolidated municipality.

All cases, civil and criminal, which arise within the former territory of
either of said cities shall, upon motion of the accused or of the defendant,
he certified for trial to the police justice whose court is held in the terri-
tory within which such case arose.

ae

If, however, at the time of annexation or consolidation the mayor of
either city shall be clothed with the jurisdiction and powers of a police
justice, said ordinance may provide that such mayor shall be and become
the police justice designated for the trial of cases, civil and criminal,
arising within the territory of his former city, and he shall thereupon be
vested with all the powers, duties, and jurisdiction conferred by law or
by the adopted charter upon a police justice to the same extent as if he
had been selected or appointed in and for the united or consolidated muni-
cipality. His term of office shall begin on the day when annexation or
consolidation is declared effective, and end with the term for which he
was elected mayor. His salary shall be determined and his successors
shall be elected or appointed in the manner and for the term hereinbefore
prescribed. .

The court of any police justice appointed or elected in the manner
herein provided shall be designated as “part two” of the police court of
the united or consolidated municipality, if either of said cities had a police
justice at the time of annexation or consolidation.

Fourth. Said ordinance may provide for an assistant to the attorney for
the Commonwealth and to the city attorney of the united or consolidated
municipality, and may continue in office as such assistant or assistants
for the terms for which they were respectively elected or appointed the
Commonwealth’s attorney and city attorney of the city whose charter is
surrendered.

Fifth. It may contain any other special provisions agreed upon by thie
said cities which are not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of
the Commonwealth, or which are permitted by the charter of either city.

Sixth. Said ordinance may transfer members of the police or fire de-
partment or of any other department of the city government whose char-
ter is surrendered to the corresponding department of the government of
the united or consolidated municipality. and the several boards, com-
missioners, and officials of said municipality shall have, respectively, the
same powers. control, and authority over such transferred members
clerks, assistants, and subordinates, and over their term of membership
and removal as over the members and subordinates of the several depart-
ments who were appointed by such boards, commissioners, and officials.
respectively, and they shall especially have power to fix and assign the
rank, title, duties, and powers of such transferred members, except that
the place of service of transferred members of the police and fire depart-
ments shall remain in the territory of the city whose charter is sur-
rendered as long as they remain members of said departments, unless in
an emergency thev are ordered to other territory: provided, however, that
the rank, title, duties, and powers of the transferred members of the police
and fire departments shall remain the same until the governing authori-
ties of such departments provide otherwise.

20. But said consolidation or annexation ordinance shall contain pro-
visions ordaining :

First. The name adopted for the united or consolidated municipality
constituted by the consolidation or annexation ordinance, by which name
it is hereby enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, that the said
municipality shall be a body politic and corporate in fact and in law, with
all the rights, powers, privileges, duties, properties, interests, claims, de-
mands. and jurisdictions held by each of the cities consolidated or an-
nexed under the charter of either of said cities or under the general laws
of the Commonwealth; and said ordinance shall also name the cities in-
tended to be consolidated or annexed and define the metes and bounds of
the united municipality, which shall be the same as the metes and bounds
of the said cities when united.

Second. Said ordinance shall ordain the consolidation or annexation
desired, and contain an explicit surrender and annulment of the charter
of the city or cities whose charter or charters are proposed to be sur-
rendered, together with an explicit adoption of the charter of the city
whose charter is adopted, if such there be, and of its seal.

Third. It shall contain a clear transfer of all the charter rights, privi-
leges. duties, powers, obligations, properties, interests, and jurisdictions
of the city or cities whose charter is surrendered to the city whose name
and charter is adopted, if such there be, or to the consolidated munici-
pality and a clear acceptance by such city or by the consolidated muni-
cipality and assumption of the said rights, duties, powers, obligations.
iterests, properties, claims, demands, privileges, and jurisdictions thus
transferred, and of all valid debts and liabilities of said first mentioned
city,

Fourth. Said ordinance shall provide for the organization of the
smaller city thus annexed or consolidated into a new ward or wards, ac-
cording to its population and according to the requirements of law. It
shall also provide for proper legal representation of such ward or wards
in the council of the united or consolidated municipality.

Fifth. It shall provide for the election of such members of the council
and of each branch thereof as may be legally apportioned to said new ward
or wards in the council of said municipality, by the council of said con-
solidated municipality at its first session after consolidation, to serve
until the next regular election for members of the council and until their
successors are elected and qualified.

Sixth. It shall ordain the abolition of such city officers and the ter-
mination of the salaries thereof as may be agreed upon by said cities, and
shall designate the time at which such abolition shall take effect.

Seventh. It shall forbid the further creation of debt by the city whose
charter is surrendered and the further levying of taxes, assessments. or
licenses upon persons or property within the united or consolidated muni-
cipality.

Eighth. It shall ordain the transfer of all former funds and the pav-
ment of all outstanding dues, revenues, debts. and obligations to and by
the united or consolidated municipality.

Ninth. Said ordinance shall provide for the expenses of any city which
may be absorbed by such consolidation or annexation and for the main-
tenance of its public schools until such time as new funds shall be re-
ceived by the united or consolidated municipality; but no such provision
shall interfere with the appropriation of any specific fund or sum for

public works or improvements that may be agreed upon between the two
cities under subdivision second of section nineteen of this act.

Tenth. It shall make provision for the maintenance of a department of
education in said municipality, and for the support and management
of a system of public free schools, if the adopted charter does not con-
tain adequate provisions, and shall provide for the continuance in office
and of the official duties of such superintendent of schools and school
trustees as may be in office when consolidation or annexation is effected
during the term for which they were elected or appointed, and for the
salaries and compensation allowed them by law.

Eleventh. It shall provide for the maintenance of a police force and
of a fire department, a board of health, with such city physicians, phar-
macies, and hospitals as are agreed upon; for the care of public grounds
and buildings; of streets and sewers, and for the maintenance of a de-
partment of water and of light, and for the care of the poor. In all of
these particulars, however, said ordinance may adopt the provisions of
the charter so to be adopted: provided, such charter is adopted.

Twelfth. Said ordinance shall prescribe the jail or station-house in
which offenders are to be confined who are arrested for offenses commit-
ted within the former territory of the city whose charter is surrendered,
and shall provide for its proper care and maintenance.

Thirteenth. It shall provide for the transfer of such records, papers,
and deeds of the city whose charter is surrendered as may be necessary
to the proper officer or officers of said municipality.

Fourteenth. It shall make provision for the maintenance and pay of
all necessary magistrates, constables, and subordinate officials, and such
justices of the peace and constables as are in office when consolidation or
annexation is effected shalt continue in office until the expiration of the
term for which they were elected or appointed, and shall be vested with
‘the same rights, powers, and duties as if they had been elected or ap-
pointed in and for the united or consolidated municipality.

Fifteenth. It shall provide for the continuance in office for the term
for which they were appointed, and for the compensation of all regis-
trars, judges, and clerks of election, subject to control and removal by
proper authority. Said officers shall hold, conduct, and certify all elec-
tions during their continuance in office as if no consolidation or annex-
ation had taken place, except so far as a change in the name of the city
or of the corporation court of the city, for which they were originally
appointed, or of their respective wards or precincts require a change in
their official titles, acts, or certificates.

Sixteenth. Said ordinance shall ascertain the salary or average annual
compensation of any officer of the city whose charter is surrendered who
is retained in office, or whose salary or other compensation is not by the
ordinance of consolidation cut off or discontinued, and who receives a
salary, or whose compensation is determined in whole or in part by fees
allowed by law, and shall provide for the payment of such salaries to snch
officers at stated periods, or for the payment of an amount which shall
be at least equal to their average annual compensation as so ascertained,
during the term of office for which they were severallv elected or ap-
pointed.

21. Whenever two cities shall have effected consolidation or annex-
ation in the manner herein prescribed it is hereby enacted by the general
assembly of Virginia that the municipal or public corporations named in
the ordinance of consolidation or annexation with the metes and bounds
therein specified, are annexed, united and consolidated into one muni-
cipal corporation upon the terms set forth in said ordinance, and are to
be known and thenceforth called by the name designated in said ordi-
nance; that the boundaries, jurisdictions, and powers of said municipal
corporation are for all purposes of local administration and government
declared to be co-extensive with the territory therein described; that the
said municipal corporation is the successor corporation in law and in
fact of the cities so annexed and consolidated as aforesaid, with all
their lawful rights and powers and subject to all their lawful duties and
obligations without diminution or enlargement, except as otherwise spe-
cially provided in said ordinance; that all funds and moneys which at
the time of annexation or consolidation shall be held by or payable to
the receiver of taxes or the treasurer, or any department of the cities so
annexed or consolidated shall be deemed to be held by and payable to
the said municipal corporation, solely as the funds and moneys of said
municipal corporation, and upon the ascertainment by order of court
that such consolidation or annexation has been effected shall be delivered
on the day named for the consolidation or annexation to be effective, to
the officer of said municipal corporation entitled by law or by the
adopted charter to hold and control the same: provided, however, that
all taxes, licenses, and levies or assessments for the year in which an-
nexation or consolidation is effected shall be collectible and payable ac-
cording to the provisions of existing laws.

22. The charter of any city which is surrendered by said ordinance.
shall be, and is hereby, revoked and annulled, and the general laws gov-
erning cities and the charter of the city which is adopted, together with
the jurisdiction of its officers, State and municipal, shall immediately
extend to and over the territory of the city whose charter is surrendered.
The terms and conditions of consolidation or annexation, as provided in
said ordinance, shall be deemed and held to be a binding and irrevocable
contract in favor of the public, compliance with which in all its parts
may be enforced, and violation of which may be prevented, by man-
damus or injunction from the supreme court of appeals, or from any
circuit or corporation court at the suit or relation of any citizen, or tax-
payer.

All notaries public who have been commissioned as notaries for the
city whose charter is surrendered shall exercise the same authority and do
the same acts as provided by law, for the consolidated city until the ex-
piration of the terms of their respective commissioner.

23. No new registration shall be necessary in case of such annexation
or consolidation, but all electors shall be entitled to transfers to the proper
registration books of the united or consolidated city, and it shall be the
duty of the corporation court of said city to direct the making of such
transfers as may be necessary by reason of the rearrangement of the wards
and election precincts. Any person residing in the cities annexed or con-
solidated by said ordinance who shall not have registered shall be en-
titled to register at such time as he would have been entitled to do so if
no annexation or consolidation had taken place.

24. All valid and lawful charges and liabilities now existing against
either city so annexed or consolidated, or which may hereafter arise or
accrue against such cities, which, but for such annexation or consolida-
tion would be valid and lawful charges or liabilities against them, or
either of them, shall be deemed and taken to be like charges against or
liabilities of the united or consolidated municipality, and shall accord-
ingly be defrayed and answered unto by it to the same extent, and no
further, than the said several cities would have been bound if no annex-
ation or consolidation had taken place. As a portion of such liabilities
shall be reckoned and included the salaries or other compensation of all
offices, whose incumbents are not removable at the pleasure of the coun-
cil or appointing power, or who are not, in fact, removed by said ordi-
nance. All stocks, bonds, contracts, and obligations of said cities which
now exist as legal obligations shall be deemed like obligations of the
united or consolidated municipality, and all such obligations as are au-
thorized or required to be hereafter issued or entered into shall be issued
or entered into by and in the name of said municipality.

25. All laws or parts of laws heretofore passed creating any debt or
debts of the cities so united or consolidated, or for the payment of such
debts, or respecting the same, shall remain in full force and effect. ex-
cept that the same shall be carried out by the united or consolidated
municipality and under its name and in such form and manner as may
be suitable to its administration, and all the pledges, taxes, assessments,
sinking funds, and other revenues and securities provided by law for the
‘payment of the debts of said cities, shall be in good faith enforced, main-
tained, and carried out by said municipality.

26. The ordinances in force in said cities at the time of annexation
or consolidation, so far as the same are not inconsistent with the fact
and ordinance of annexation or consolidation, or with this act, are hereby
continued in full force and effect within the former limits of said cities.
respectively, subject to modification, amendment or repeal by the council
of the united or consolidated municipality.

27. From and after the date when annexation or consolidation shall
become effective, all indictments and prosecutions for crimes committed
or ordinances violated, and all suits or causes of action arising within the
territory of the united or consolidated municipality may be instituted in
said city with the same force and effect as if annexation or consolidation
had always been effective. But in case the corporation or other courts
of any city whose charter is surrendered are retained as courts of con-
current jurisdiction with any of the courts of the united or consolidated
city, prosecutions for crimes committed or ordinances violated and suits
or causes of action arising within the territory of the city whose charter
is surrendered shall be apportioned, as far as possible, to aaid corpora-
tion or other courts so retained, for trial, and all cases arising therein
which are properly triable by a magistrate’s court shall be tried before
some justice of the peace resident in said territory, unless otherwise pro-
vided by the council of the united or consolidated city, or by the con-
solidation or annexation ordinance.

28. When, however, the consolidation or annexation ordinance pro-
vides for the abolition of the corporation or other courts of the city
whose charter is surrendered on the day when such consolidation or an-
nexation is to take effect, all criminal prosecutions then pending therein,
whether by indictment, warrant, or other complaint, and all suits, actions,
motions, warrants, and other proceedings of a civil nature, at law or in
chancery, with all the records of the courts of such city shall stand ipso
facto removed to the court or courts of concurrent or like jurisdiction of
the other city. And it shall be the duty of the corporation and other
courts having courthouses and records in and jurisdiction over the city
absorbed or merged, at some convenient time, as closely preceding the
period of removal as practicable, by formal orders entered of record, to
direct the removal of all such causes and proceedings, civil and criminal.
at law and in chancery, to the court or courts of concurrent or like juris-
diction of the other city, and, where there are two or more such courts,
to apportion such matters fairly and equally between them: and it shall
thereupon be the duty of the clerk of the court or courts of the former
city to certify such causes and proceedings to the court or courts to which
the same have been removed, as in other cases of removal or changes of
venue, where they shall be docketed and proceeded in with the same force
and effect as they might have been in the court or courts from which re-
moved.

At the same time it shall be the duty of such clerk or clerks also to
deliver to the proper clerk or clerks of the other city wherein the like
records are required by law to be kept, all the decd books, order or
minute books, execution dockets, judgment dockets, and other records of
his office, of whatever kind or nature; and the clerk or clerks of the court
or courts to which the same are removed shall forthwith take charge of
and preserve the same for reference and use in the same manner and with
the same effect as though they were original records of his office. In case
there shall be two or more courts of like jurisdiction, to either of which
such records or portions of them may be properly removed, either of said
courts may designate and prescribe the particular court to which such
records or portions of them shall be removed.

29. If any right, title, interest, claim, or case arise out of such con-
solidation or annexation for which this act or the Constitution and laws
of this State do not make adequate provision, the council of the united
or consolidated municipal corporation may by ordinance make provision
for its equitable determination so far as concerns the said -orporation.