Chap. 2.—An ACT to provide for the organization and government of incor-
porated communities which have no corporation courts, contain less than ten
thousand inhabitants, and are hereafter declared to be cities of the second class.

Approved January 23, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That whenever
an incorporated community which has no corporation court, contains
less than ten thousand inhabitagts shall hereafter be declared a city of
the second class, its charter shall remain in full force and effect, except
as hereinafter otherwise provided, and its ordinances shall be the ordi-
nances of the city, in so far as they are applicable, until they are repealed
or amended and supplemented by the authorities of the city; and the
officers of such municipality shall be and continue the officers of such
city until their successors are elected or appointed and qualified, except
as hereinafter provided, and they shall discharge all the duties and be
subject to all the penalties imposed by the said charter and ordinances
and by the general law, except as changed and modified or amplified by
this act; such city shall become and be liable for the obligations or other
liabilities of such municipality, resulting from any plans of annexation
consummated between the municipality and any adjacent territory; and
said city shall faithfully observe, keep and perform every such liability,
and the title to all the property of said municipality, and its rights and
privileges under any contract, includes all moneys belonging to it, and
all its books, records, papers and all other things of value shall vest in
and become the property of the said city.

2. The mayor.—The mayor of such municipality shall be and continue
the mayor of the city ; he shall discharge all the duties, be vested with all
the authority and be subject to all of the penalties imposed on him by the
charter of the municipality or by the general law, except as changed
and modified by this act. The mayor of such city shall be ex-officio
president of the common council; but he shall only vote in case of a tie.
He shall act as police justice of such city, with such jurisdiction as is,
or shall be, given to mayors of towns in addition to the jurisdiction con-
ferred upon him by sections one thousand and thirty-three and one thou-
sand and thirty-three (c) of the Code.

He shall receive for his services as mayor such a salary as the council
may deem proper, provided the same shall not exceed one thousand
dollars per year, which salary shall be in full compensation for all
services and in lieu of all fees for the trial of State and municipal
offences, but the mayor may receive, in addition to his salary those fees
allowed by law for the hearing of civil cases; he shall tax and collect
the usual fees for the trial of cases for violation of State and municipal
laws prescribed by statute or by the ordinances of such town or city;
and all fees so collected shall be paid into the city treasury monthly; in
his absence from the city, or when unable to act, the duties of the mayor
shall be discharged by the vice-president of the common council, who
shall be paid for such services by the mayor at the same rate per diem |
as such mayor receives.

A vacancy occurring in the office of mayor shall be filled in the man-
ner prescribed by the charter, and if there be no provision in the charter
for filling such vacancy, then such vavancy shall be filled for the unex-
pired term by the common council.

3. The council.—The council of the municipality shall be and continue
the common council of the city and discharge all the duties and may exer-
cise all the powers imposed on it by the charter and by the general law,
except as changed and modified by this act. If the circuit court, or the
judge thereof in vacation, designated in the manner prescribed by law for
the hearing of the application for annexing territory, in his order of an-
nexation, shall prescribe a greater number than that composing the coun-
cil of the municipality prior to annexation or extension, then the council
shall, within thirty days after the date of the final order of said circuit
court or judge, proceed to elect the additional members of the common
council necessary to fill out the number prescribed in such order, in the
manner prescribed for filling vacancies by section one thousand and
fourteen (a) sub-section eight of the Code. All vacancies occurring in
the common council shall be filled in the manner prescribed by law.
The council shall select one of its members as vice-president of the coun-
cil, who shall preside over the meetings of said council during the ab-
sence or inability of the mayor.

4. The treasurer.—The treasurer of the municipality, if there be one,
shall be and continue the city treasurer until the next general election
for city treasurers succeeding the end of his regular term of office. If
there be no such treasurer, then the vacancy shall be filled by appoint-
ment by the circuit court of the county having jurisdiction over such
municipality, as hereinafter provided, or by the judge thereof in vacation.

The bond of the town treasurer at the time such municipality is de-
clared to be a city, and the principal and sureties thereon, shall continue
to and be liable for the acts of the said treasurer acting as such city
treasurer until his successor shall have been duly elected or appointed
and qualified.

Each new city treasurer shall, before entering upon the duties of his
office, execute a bond, with security to be approved by the city council,
in a penalty not greater than the amount of city revenue to be received
annually by him, nor less than fifty per cent. thereof payable to the said
city, and conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his official duties
as such city treasurer. The officer so appointed or elected shall qualify
before the court, or judge thereof in vacation, having jurisdiction over
such city.

5. Commissioner of the revenue-—-The commissioner of the revenue
of the municipality, if there be one, shall be and continue the commis-
sioner of the revenue of the city, and discharge all the duties imposed
on him by the charter and by statute.

If there be no commissioner of the revenue of the town, then the circuit
court having jurisdiction over such city, or the judge thereof in vacation,
shall within thirty days after the municipality is declared to be a city,
fill the office by appointment. The officer so appointed shall qualify
before the court or judge appointing him.

6. City sergeant; all officers to serve until successors qualify.—The
sergeant of the municipality, if there be one, shall be and continue the
sergeant of the city, and discharge all duties imposed on him by the
charter or the general law governing and defining the duties of sergeants
of towns; all sergeants of such cities shall have and perform only such
duties and receive only such fees as provided by law for sergeants of

wns.

6-a. All the above mentioned officers shall serve until their successors
are elected or appointed and have qualified.

%. General election; term of mayor and council.—At the next gen-
eral election of city officers to be held on the second Tuesday in June
after the municipality is declared to be a city of the second class, being
the June preceeding the expiration of the regular term of office of such
officers, a mayor and common council shall be elected for such city,
whose term of office shall begin on the first day of September succeeding
their election, and shall continue for a term of four years, and there-
after until their respective successors have been elected and have quali-
fied.
8. At the next general election of State officers after the municipality
is declared to be a city of the second class and succeeding the expiration
of the regular term of office of the existing municipal officers, to be held
on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, when similar
officers are elected for other cities, there shall be elected in such a city a
city treasurer, commissioner of the revenue (if elected by general law),
city sergeant, and other officers elective by the qualified voters, whose
election is not otherwise provided by law, whose term of office shall
begin on the first day of January next succeeding their election, and
continue for four years, and until their respective successors have been
selected and have qualified; provided, however, that the commissioner
“ the revenue shall be elected or appointed, as the general law may
direct.

9. Town officers.—All officers of the municipality shall be and con-
tinue officers of such city until the expiration of the term for which
they were chosen and thereafter until their successors have been chosen
and have qualified, or until they are removed. The common council
may for good cause, remove any of said town officers, or abolish any of
the offices they hold, after reasonable notice, by a recorded vote of two-
thirds of the qualified members of the common council. The common
council may from time to time prescribe the duties of all officers and fix
their compensation, if the same is not otherwise fixed by law.

10. Courts——When the municipality is declared to be a city of the
second class, such city shall at once be, become and continue in every
respect within the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the county wherein
it is situated, and there shall be one and the same circuit court for such
county and city. There shall be for such county and city but one court
house and county clerk’s office, and the county clerk of the county shall
continue in all respects as the clerk of such circuit court. Such court
shall continue to be known as the circuit court of the county wherein
such city is located; and such court shall have the same jurisdiction in
such cities, in all respects, as corporation or hustings courts have in
other cities, in so far as such jurisdiction is applicable to cities of the
second class.

11. Treasurer; commissioner of the revenue; city sergeant.—At or
before the first term of the circuit court of the county held after such
municipality shall be declared to be a city of the second class, the said
court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall, if necessary, appoint one
city treasurer, one commissioner of the revenue and one city sergeant.
The terms of all officers appointed by the circuit court, or the judge
thereof, shall expire when their successors are elected or appointed and
have qualified.

12. Wards.—The common council of such municipality at its first
meeting, after it is declared to be a city of the second class, or as soon
thereafter as is practicable, shall examine and by ordinance adopt or
amend, according to the requirements of law, a division of the city into
wards; and it shall proceed to make such division in accordance with
the provisions of section one thousand and fourteen (a) sub-section
eight of the Code.

13. Assessment of persons and property; duties of commissioner of
the revenue.—The commissioner of the revenue of such city, whether he
be such by virtue of having been theretofore commissioner of the rev-
enue of such municipality or having been elected or appointed for such
city, as the case may be, shall have access to the real and personal prop-
erty books of such county wherein such city is located, and shall make
out an assessment roll or book containing a list of all property and
persons properly taxable within such city, which city roll or books shall
be prepared, and property and persons, ascertained and enumerated, and
taxes and levies thereon extended; and he shall deliver a copy thereof
to the treasurer of such city; he shall in the manner prescribed by ordi-
nance, issue all licenses for such city and perform such other duties as
may be prescribed by the council. He shall receive for his services such
fees and other compensation as the council may designate. The offices
of commissioner of the revenue and of the city clerk or city recorder
may be held by the same person.

14. County and district officers; electoral board.—All county, district
and court officers and all notaries public of the county of which the city
is a part, whether theretofore or thereafter elected or appointed, shall
continue to exercise and have the same rights and privileges, and per-
form the same duties, and have the same jurisdiction, and receive the
same fees therefor in such city as they did in such town or district be-
fore such municipality became a city; and the qualified voters residing
within such city shall be entitled to vote for county and district officers
at the general election for county officers as if such city had not been
declared to be a city of the second class.

There shall be one jail for both city and county, of which the sheriff
of the county shall be ex-officio jailor; and the poor of said city and
county shall continue to be supported and maintained in the same way
and in the same manner and with the same class of funds as before the
town became a city.

It shall be the duty of the circuit court of the county wherein is
located such city of the second class, or the judge thereof in vacation, as
soon as practicable after such city is declared to be such, to appoint an
electoral board for such city in conformity with the provisions of section
thirty-one of the Constitution.

15. Magisterial and school districts; levies—Such city of the second
class, when declared to be such, shall constitute one separate magisterial
district and one separate school district of the county in which it is
located ; and it shall continue to elect all district officers for such mag-
isterial district in the manner provided by law; and the school trustees
and other school officers of such school district, whether elected or ap-
pointed, shall bear the same relation to the county school as that existing
before the city is declared to be such. There shall be but one superin-
tendent of schools for such city and the county in which such city is
ocated.

The board of supervisors of such county shall have the same power
and authority to levy a tax for county, school and district purposes upon
all property within the corporate limits of such city as it has upon prop-
erty in the remainder of the county, without the corporate limits of such
city, except road taxes. And all State, county, school and district levies,
except road taxes or levies, shall continue to be collected and disbursed
by the county treasurer in the same manner as if such city had not been
declared to be such.

As soon as such municipality shall have been declared to be a city,
all property within any annexed territory shall at once be and become
liable to the regular town or city tax rate, and all revenue derived from
such new territory by such city, whether by way of taxes, licenses, fines
or otherwise, shall be paid into the city treasury and be expended under
the direction of the common council of said city in the same manner
and for the same purposes as the other funds of the city are or shall be
expended.

16. When city may borrow money; bonds.—The council of the mu-
nicipality, whenever in the opinion of two-thirds of its members, ascer-
tained by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of all the members
elected to the council, it is to the interest of the municipality to do so,
may borrow money for the uses and purposes of the municipality, should
the voters so elect, in the manner prescribed by an act of the general
assembly of Virginia, approved April twenty-seventh, nineteen hundred
and three, entitled “an act to provide for holding the elections in towns
upon questions of bond issue,” and chapter three hundred and twenty-
four of the acts of the general assembly of Virginia, approved Novem-
ber the twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and three, amending and re-en-
acting section nine of the act aforesaid, and said act is hereby made to
apply to cities of the second class mentioned in this act. Such mu-
nicipality is hereby authorized and empowered to borrow money in such
sum or sums not exceeding in the aggregate eighteen per centum of
the assessed valuation of the real estate in the municipality subject to
taxation, as shown by the last preceeding assessment of taxes, upon the
faith, credit and property thereof, and to issue bonds therefor, signed
by the mayor and attested by the clerk or recorder; provided that such
bonds shall not be sold at less than their par value, nor bear interest at
a rate exceeding six per centum per annum, and shall become due and
payable not exceeding forty years from the date of their issue. And
council acting hereunder shall make proper provisions for the payment
of the annual interest upon such bonds as may be issued under this act,
and shall provide a sinking fund for the redemption thereof at or before
maturity; the coupons thereof shall be receivable for city taxes.

1%. Acquisition of public utilities—In addition to the authority given
by the general law to cities, a city organized under the provisions of this
act shall be authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase, con-
demnation or otherwise, or to construct, own, lease and operate its own
plant, machinery and equipment for supplying its inhabitants, streets,
grounds and buildings with water, light, power and fuel, and to that
end it may acquire by purchase or lease any plant existing in or near
said city, and may acquire lands and franchises outside of the limits of
said city, and may buy, purchase, condemn or otherwise acquire ease-
ments and rights-of-way. And such city may purchase, condemn or
otherwise acquire one or more locations for the site of fire engine houses,
stables and other municipal purposes.

18. Levy of taxes.—The revenue of such city shall be under the con-
trol of the council, and shall be derived from the following sources: A
tax upon all property, real, personal and mixed, owned or taxable within
the corporate limits, except such as may be exempt from State taxation,
provided that the city rate of taxation shall not exceed seventy cents on
each one hundred dollar’s valuation of such property for all city pur-
poses; and it may impose and collect license taxes for city licenses for
the sale of merchandise and ardent spirit; upon theatrical and circus
companies, menageries, jugglers, itinerant salesmen, and all shows and
exhibitions for which an entrance fee is required; upon the business of
commission merchants living within or without the city and buying and
selling therein; upon the business of bankrupt and fire sales, brokers and
pawn brokers; upon any and all business, occupations, professions and
pursuits upon which a license tax is levied by the State; and upon such
other business, occupations, professions and pursuits as may be lawful,
whether the same be taxed by the State or not; and upon wagons, drays,
carts, hacks, and other wheeled vehicles and delivery wagons used for
business within the city, whether the owners reside or their places of
business are within or without the limits thereof; upon slot machines;
and upon dogs and other animals; and from fines, penalties and costs
imposed for the violation or nonobservance of the ordinances, by-laws
and resolutions adopted pursuant to this act and to the general laws of
this Commonwealth.

The council of any such city may provide by ordinance that whenever
any fine imposed for the violation of any ordinance is not paid, that
the offender may be imprisoned until such fine and costs are paid, not
exceeding ninety days.

19. Purpose of this act.—The provisions of this act shall be so inter-
preted, applied and construed as to organize and govern such cities of
the second class in the same manner as towns in this Commonwealth are
organized and governed, except so far as the provisions of the Constitu-
tion prohibit such interpretation, application and construction; and to
this end all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed, amended or modified so far as the same
is necessary to conform to the government of such cities of the second
class under this act, but in all other respects, where the general law is
applicable, the same shall remain in force; and the provisions of this act
shall be so construed as to supplement and amplify the provisions of the
charter of any town which shall hereafter be declared to be a city of
the second class.

20. Nothing in this act shall affect or abridge any right or liability
of any municipality which has heretofore proceeded under the provisions
of an act entitled “an act to provide for the organization and govern-
ment of incorporated communities which shall become cities of the second
class, under the provisions of section ten hundred and thirteen b, of the
Code of nineteen hundred and four.” Approved March tenth, nineteen
hundred and six.

21. An emergency existing by reason of proposed and pending pro-
ceedings for the extension of the present corporate limits of certain
towns in the Commonwealth so as to contain a population of less than
ten thousand inhabitants which demands that this act become at once
effective, this act shall be in full force and effect from and after its
passage.