Chap. 127.—An ACT to amend and re-enact subsection 2 of section 2 and sub-
sections 2, 5, 6, 8 and 10 of section 20, and sections 1, 5, 7, 19, 24, 25 and
26 of an act approved March 15, 1906, entitled an act to provide for the
consolidation or annexation of cities, and to ratify and confirm notices
already given which conform to the requirements of this act.

Approved March 11, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
one, five, seven, nineteen, twenty-four, twenty-five and twenty-six, and
subsection two of section two and subsections two, five, six, eight and ten
of section twenty of an act approved March fifteenth, nineteen hundred
and six, entitled an act to provide for the consolidation or annexttion of
cities, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

81. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That when-
ever two cities are coterminous or adjacent to each other, and either of
such cities desires to extend its corporate limits so as to annex, or 80 as
to be annexed to the other and form one consolidated municipal govern-
ment, with a common name and seal, it shall be lawful for the council of
such city so to declare by an ordinance which shall be adopted by a re-
corded 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.

Subsection two of §2. Whether it is desired that the proposed
municipality shall adopt the charter and seal of either of the cities inter-
ested in the proposed consolidation or annexation, naming the city whose
charter and seal it is proposed to adopt.
§5. The consolidation or annexation ordinance to be effective must
be passed by the council of each city participating in the consolidation or
annexation by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of the members
elected to the council, and to each branch thereof, where there are two.
It must provide that an election shall be held in any city to determine
whether such consolidation or annexation shall take effect, in which one-
fourth of the qualified voters petition the council therefor prior to the
passage of the said ordinance by the said council. It shall be approved
by the mayor of each city or passed over the mayor’s veto in the manner
provided by law, and shall not be voted on by both branches of the council
of any city on the same day.

§7. In case the consolidation or annexation ordinance provides that
an election shall be held in said cities, or provides that an election shall
be held in one city, and that in case one-fourth of the qualified voters of
the other petition the council thereof, asking that an election be held
therein for the purpose, the said consolidation shall take effect only upon
condition that said ordinance is ratified by the duly registered and quali-
fied voters of the said city at an election held therein for that purpose, in
the manner prescribed by law, the notice and publication hereinbefore re-
quired shall not be necessary before the council of either city votes upon
said ordinance, but shall be required before the election is held, and
shall designate the day upon which the election will be held instead of the
day upon which the council will procced to consider the ordinance, and
in the event that any cities in this Commonwealth have heretofore taken
steps looking to a consolidation which comply with the requirements of
this section as to notice, such notice shall be valid and binding, and the
consolidation thereby affected is hereby ratified and confirmed.

§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 rati-
fied by the duly registered and qualified voters at an election to be held
for that purpose in either or both of the cities concerned.

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 years,
for the improvement of streets, or the providing of lights, water or other
public works or improvements, as may be agreed upon by the two cities,
or, in absence of such agreement, as the council of the consolidated muni-
cipality shall determine.

Third. Said ordinance may provide for the abolition of the corpora-
tion or other courts of the city whose charter is surrendered upon se-
curing 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 dur-
ing the term of office for which he was elected or appointed, or said ordi-
nance may provide that the corporation or other courts of the city whose
charter is surrendered shall be continued, and shall continue to exercise
the same jurisdiction belonging to it, or them, under the statutes previous
to annexation or consolidation, except when the two cities so consoli-
dated are separated 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, part
two of the court of record, of such consolidated city.

The said court or courts are hereby abolished or retained and con-
tinued upon the contingency of their abolition or retention and contin-
uance by the said ordinance, and in accordance with its terms and the
provisions of this act.

But in the event such court or courts are so retained, they shall con-
tinue by virtue of this act to exercise the same jurisdiction belonging to
it or them, under the statutes regulating their jurisdiction prior to an-
nexation, and as the same may be amended, save and except in such par-
ticulars and in so far as the surrender of the charter of their former city
and its consolidation with another city necessarily or properly requires
the action of the court, or of the judge of the court, of which the retained
court becomes a part under this act and under the said ordinance: pro-
vided, however, that the jurisdiction of the court thus retained shall be
concurrent territorially with that of the courts of the consolidated muni-
cipality having similar jurisdiction; and the court or the judge of the
court thus retained shall hold such terms of his court within the limits
of the city whose charter is adopted, in addition to the terms of court
held in the limits of the city whose charter is surrendered, as may be
necessary to adjudicate and determine such cases as are instituted and
properly triable therein within such limits or as may be apportioned to
him for trial according to law, except that in chancery matters the juris-
diction of the said court shall not extend to the probate and recordation
of wills, the appointment and qualification of fiduciaries, save as a neces-
sary incident to a suit pending in said court, the ex parte settlement of
their accounts, the docketing of judgments, or the recordation of deeds or
other papers authorized or required by law to be recorded, as to all of
which matters its jurisdiction shall be confined to the former territory
of the city whose charter is surrendered and to the territory annexed
thereto, as hereinbefore provided.

All matters required by law to be recorded, registered or docketed,
which relate to persons resident or property located within the former
corporate limits of the city whose charter is surrendered, or within anv
territory adjacent to said limits, or on the same side of any river that
separates the said cities before consolidation, which shall be annexed to
the consolidated municipality by an extension of its corporate limits,
shall be recorded, registered or docketed in the clerk’s office of the court
60 retained in which such matters were properly recorded, registered or
docketed prior to consolidation, and with the same force and effect as if
the said clerk’s office were the only office designated by law for such pur-
pose: provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall be con-
strued as in any other manner affecting or changing the law in relation
to the recordation, registry or docketing of such matters in the city whose
charter is not surrendered, or in the event of any other extension of the
corporate limits of the said consolidated municipality, and the law in re
Jation thereto shall be and remain the same as if the consolidated cities
had always been one municipality.

The clerk and sergeant or baliff of such court or courts shall be
continued in office for and during the term for which they shall have
been elected as clerk, sergeant or baliff of the court or courts so retained,
and thereafter until the election and qualification of their successors; and
they shall be entitled to the same compensation and fees as if annexation
or consolidation had not taken place: provided, however, 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 shall be the judges who were elected by
the general assembly as judges for the court or courts thus retained and
continued. They shall serve to the end of the terms for which they were
severally so elected or appointed, and their successors shall then be
elected, appointed and commissioned in the manner prescribed by lav,
and for the same term as in the case of other judges of cities of the first
class. The said judges shall receive the same compensation, 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 retained 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 division: and provided, that
the courts of said municipality, so far as they have concurrent jurisdic-
tion, shall apportion and divide between them al] 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
justice 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 char-
ter of the united or consolidated municipality. But if such charter
makes no provision therefor, such justice and his successors shal! be ap-
pointed in the manner and for the term, and shall be elothed with the
powers, duties and jurisdiction prescribed by the acts of the general as-
sembly of Virginia: provided, that such justice may be elected or ap-
pointed 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 territory of the city in which he is to hold court, as pro-
vided in said acts of assembly. If at the time of annexation or consoli-
dation there is a police justice in either or both of said cities, euch
justice or justices shall continue to exercise the duties of their office, and
‘shall be clothed with the powers, duties and jurisdiction of police jus-
tices of the united or consolidated municipality as if originally elected or
appointed therein.. Their courts shall be designated as the “police
court,” or the “police court, part two,” of the said municipality, accord-
ing 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 corporate limits of either of said
cities, or within any territory adjacent to the said limits, or on the same
side of any river that separated the said cities before consolidation, which
shall be annexed to the consolidated municipality by an extension of its
corporate limits, shall be tried by the civil justice or by the police justice,
whose court is held within such limits or territory according to law, and
according as the case is civil or criminal: provided, however, that where
the cities were separated by a river prior to consolidation, and there is a
civil justice in one city but not in the other, all such civil cases as arise
within the former corporate limits of the city in which there is no civil
justice, or within such territory on the same side of the river, or adjacent
thereto, and annexed as aforesaid, shall be tried by the police justice
whose court is held therein until otherwise provided by law: and pro-
vided, in either event that such cases, civil or criminal, are properly
triable by a justice.

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 said police justice, 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 municipality. Huis term
of office shall begin on the day when annexation or consolidation is de-
clared effective, and end with the term for which he was elected mayor.
His salary shall be determined and his successors shall be elected or ap-
pointed in the manner and for the term /sereinbefore 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 consoli-
dated municipality, and may continue in office as such assistant or as-
sistants for the terms for which they were respectively elected or ap-
pointed 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
the 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, commis-
sioners and officials of said municipality shall have, respectively, the same
powers, control and authority over such transferred members, clerks, as-
sistants and subordinates, and over their term of membership and re-
moval as over the members and subordinates of the several departments,
who were appointed by such boards, commissioners and officials, respec-
198 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

tively, amd 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 department
shall remain in the territory of the city whose charter is surrendered as
leng as they remain members of said departments, unless in an emergency
they 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 authorities of
such departments provide otherwise.

Subsection two of §20. Said ordinance shall ordain the consolida-
tion or annexation desired, and contain an explicit surrender of the char-
ter 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.

Subsection five of §20. It shall provide for the election of such mem-
bers of the council, and of each branch thereof, as may be legally appor-
tioned to said new ward or wards in the council of said municipality by
the council thereof, or by each branch thereof where there are two, 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.

Subsection six of §20. It shall ordain the abolition of such city offices
and officers and the termination of their salaries as may be agreed upon
by said cities, and shall designate the time at which such abolition shall
take effect; and in case the proposed consolidation or annexation shall
be effected in the manner prescribed by law, the said offices and officers
shall be, and are hereby, abolished, and their salaries terminated in the
manner and at the time provided in the said ordinance.

Subsection eight of §20. It shall ordain the transfer of all funds of
the city whose charter is surrendered, and the payment of all outstanding
dues, revenues, debts and obligations belonging to it, to the consolidated
municipality, and the payment by said municipality of all dues, debts
and obligations owing by the said city.

Subsection ten of §20. 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 contain satisfactory provisions.

The superintendent of schools of the city whose charter is surrendered,
who is in office when consolidation or annexation is effected, shall be con-
tinued in office during the term for which he was elected or appointed as
assistant superintendent of schools of the consolidated municipality. He
shall have such duties as may be assigned him by the city school board
thereof, and shall receive such compensation therefor as will at least be
equal to the sum allowed him by law prior to such consolidation or an-
nexation. The school board, school districts, and the office of school
trustee of the city whose charter is surrendered shall be, and are hereby,
abolished upon and in consequence of any such consolidation or annex-
ation, and the terms of the school trustees thereof then in office shall
then and thereupon expire as by limitation: provided, however, that it
shall be the duty of the couneil and of the school board of the consoli-
dated municipality, within ninety days after consolidation shall have
been declared effective, to redistrict the said municipality into such
school district, or so increase the number thereof as to give the city whose
charter 1s surrendered as many school distrfts in proportion to its school
population, as nearly as.may be, as the rest of the consolidated muni-
cipality, and the council thereof shall thereupon elect school trustees in
the manner prescribed by law for the school districts thus established in
the territory whose charter is surrendered, selecting those first chosen, as
far as mav be, from the school trustees thereof in office at the time of
consolidation ; and such trustees, together with those remaining in office
notwithstanding such consolidation and redistricting, shall constitute the
school board of the consolidated municipality.

§24. All valid and lawful charges and liabilities against either city so
annexed or consolidated which but for such annexation or consolidation
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 accordingly be de-
frayed and answered unto by it to the same extent, and no further, than
the said several cities would have been bound if no annexation or consoli-
dation had taken place.

All stocks, bonds, contracts and obligations of said cities which are
legal obligations shall be deemed like obligations of the united or con-
solidated municipality, and all such obligations as are authorized or re-
quired to be issued or entered into after annexation or consolidation
shall be issued or entered into by and in the name of said munieipality.

§25. All laws or parts of laws 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, except 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 administra-
tion, and all the pledges, taxes, assessments, sinking funds and other
revenues and securities provided by law for the payment of the debt of
said cities, shall be in good faith enforced, maintained and carried out
by said municipality.

826. The ordinances in force in said cities at the time of annexation
or consolidation, so far as they are not in conflict with the fact and
ordinance of annexation or consolidation, or this act, are hereby con-
tinued in full force and effect within the former limits of said cities,
respectively, subject to amendment or repeal by the council of the united
or consolidated municipality: provided, however, that in case of conflict
between the ordinances of the two cities the ordinances whose charter is
surrendered shall be to the extent of such conflict void and of no effect.

2. It being desirable that the several cities of the Commonwealth be
granted an opportunity to consolidate under the provisions of this act
before the taking of the United States census of nineteen hundred and
ten, and the time for doing so being limited, an emergency is hereby de-
clared to exist, and this act shall take effect from its passage.