CHAP. 56.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12,
15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 27, 38, 42, 45, 47, 53, 54, 55, 60, 79, 80, 81,
82, 87, 88, 99, 101, of an act approved February 28, 1896, entitled an
aet to provide a new charter for the city of Roanoke.

Approved February 20, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections two, three, four, five, eight, nine, eleven, twelve, fifteen,
sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one,
twenty-seven, thirty-three, forty-two, forty-five, forty-seven,
fifty-three, fifty-four, fifty-five, sixty, seventy-nine, eighty,
eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-seven, eighty-eight, ninety-nine,
and one hundred and one, of an act approved February twenty-
eighth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, entitled an act to pro-
vide for a new charter for the city of Roanoke, be amended and
re-enacted to read as follows:

§2. The city of Roanoke shall be divided into such number
of wards as council may determine, as provided by section ten
thousand and fifteen b of the Code of Virginia.

§3. The administration and government of said city shall be
vested in one principal officer, to be styled mayor, and the council
which shall consist of two branches, having a different number
of members, one of which shall be called “common council” and
be composed of not more than twenty-two (22) members, and
the other of which shall be called the “board of aldermen” and
be composed of not more than fourteen (14) members, and such
other bodies and officers as are hereinafter mentioned, or which
may be provided for by council.

§4. The municipal officers of said city shall consist of a mayor,
not less than fourteen members of the common council, and not
less than eight members of the board of aldermen, a city clerk,
a city auditor (the duties of both offices, city clerk and city audi-
tor, may, in the discretion of council, be imposed on one indi-
vidual), a police justice, a treasurer, a clerk of the corporation
court, who shall be the clerk of the other courts of record, a
sergeant, a commissioner of revenue, a trial justice, two issuing
justices, one constable, a Commonwealth’s attorney, a clerk of
the market, a city solicitor, a city engineer, and a collector of
city taxes.

§5. The officers mentioned in section four shall be elected for
the term and in the manner provided by law.

§8. The terms of office of said officers shall begin at the time
fixed by statute and the city ordinances, respectively.

§9. The common council and board of aldermen in joint ses-
sion shall elect a city engineer, a city auditor, a city clerk, a police
justice, a city solicitor, a collector of city taxes, a clerk of the
city market, all of whom shall hold office for two years, and
it shall elect such other officers as it may deem expedient for the
proper conduct of the affairs of the city, and in the execution of
the powers hereinafter conferred upon it, all of whom shall
be appointed by it at such times and shall hold office for such
terms as may be fixed by the ordinances of the city, and their
respective duties and compensations shall be fixed by said ordi-
nances; and the city council may, at any time, for good cause,
abolish any municipal office, whether the term of office of the
incumbent has expired or not.

811. No person shall be eligible to any municipal office in
said city, except that of city engineer (if the council shall so
provide, city surveyor and city electrician), unless he shall be
a resident of said city, but any person may be elected to the
office of city engineer (and if the council shall so provide, to
the office of surveyor and city electrician) who, in the judg-
ment of said council, may possess the requisite qualifications.
No person shall be capable of holding at the same time more
than one of the offices mentioned in this act, unless it be so pro-
vided herein. The removal from the city of any person holding
any municipal office shall vacate said office.

§12. The officers elected by the council may be removed from
office for cause after a proper investigation and hearing; in
case of any vacancy occurring in any municipal office where it
is not herein otherwise provided, the common council and board
of aldermen in joint session shall elect a qualified person to fill
said office for the unexpired term.

$15. All officers provided for in this act and all officers elected
by the council shall, before entering upon the discharge of their
duties, execute bond, payable to the city of Roanoke, in such
penalty as said council may prescribe, conditioned for the faith-
ful discharge of their respective duties; all sureties to be resi-
dents of the State of Virginia, except well-known and responsi-
ble surety companies: provided, that the provisions of this sec-
tion shall not apply to councilmen, the mayor, trial justice, issu-
ing justices, overseers of the poor, the city physician, the board
of health, and such other boards as may be created by council,
unless council shall by ordinances require bonds to be given by
the members of the board created by them.

§16. Each branch of the council shall elect one of its members
to act as president, who shall preside at its meetings and continue
in office two years, unless elected to fill a vacancy, when the elec-
tion shall be for the unexpired term. [ach branch of the coun-
cil shall also elect one of its members to be a vice-president, who
shall preside at the meeting in the absence of the president, and
who when the president shall be absent from the city or unable
to perform the duties of his office by reason of sickness or other
cause shall perform any and all duties required of or intrusted
to such president under the provisions of this charter or the
general statutes. When for any cause both the president and
the vice-president shall be absent from any meeting, a president
pro tempore shall be elected by that branch in which such ab-
sence may occur, who shall preside during the absence of the
president and vice-president. The president, vice-president or
president pro tempore, who shall preside when the proceedings
of a previous meeting are read, shall sign the same.

$17. The president of either branch, or the vice-president
when authorized as above stated to act as the president, shall
have power at any time to call a meeting of his branch of the
council; and, in case of absence, sickness, disability or refusal
to act of both the president and the vice-president, that branch
of the council may be convened by the order in writing of any
three members thereof; but no special meeting shall be con-
vened until notice shall be served upon each member of that
branch in person or by leaving a copy at his place of abode.

§18. The council shall fix by ordinance the time for holding
the stated meetings of each branch, and no business shall be
transacted at a special meeting of either branch except that for
which it shall have been called.

The president of the board of aldermen may call a joint
meeting of the two branches of council when in his judgment
the public welfare may require it; and such meeting may be
called by the city clerk upon the written request of said mem-
bers of each branch after notice to each member of both branches
in person, or by leaving a copy of such call at the usual place
of abode of such members as are not personally served.

§19. Each branch of the council shall have authority to adopt
such rules and to appoint such committees and clerks as it may
deem proper for the regulation of its proceedings and the con-
venient transaction of its business, to compel the attendance of
absent members, punish its members for disorderly behavior,
and by a vote of three-fourths of its members either branch may
expel a member thereof for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.
Each branch shall keep a journal in which the clerk shall record
the proceedings of each session and the same shall be properly
indexed. All resolutions and ordinances which have been
adopted by both branches, and approved by the mayor, or passed
over his veto, shall be recorded in a book, to be called the ordi-
nance book, which shall be properly indexed. Joint standing
committees, composed of an equal number of members from
each branch, shall be provided for by the general ordinance.

§20. The meetings of both branches of the council shall be
open to the public except when the public welfare shall require
secrecy. A majority of the members of each branch shall con-
stitute a quorum thereof for the transaction of business, but
no ordinances shall be passed or resolution adopted by either
branch, having for its object the appropriation of money, or
which will necessitate the appropriation of money, except by a
concurrence of a majority of the members elected to such branch.
No vote taken at a stated meeting of either branch shall be
reconsidered at a special meeting thereof, unless there be present
at such meeting two-thirds of the members elected to such
branch.

$21. If any member of either branch of said council shall be
absent from the meetings of the branch to which he belongs, vol-
untarily for three consecutive months, his seat shall be deemed
vacant, and the unexpired term of his office shall be filled accord-
ing to law; but no member shall be removed without first having
received reasonable notice of the action about to be taken.

§27. To open, to close (temporarily or permanently), to im-
prove, to widen or to narrow streets, avenues and alleys and to
have them kept in good order and properly lighted; to make
sidewalks, to build bridges and culverts, to construct and main-
tain sewers and to empty the same into the waters of Roanoke
river and Tinker creek, to cause to be graded, paved or macadam-
ized any public street, avenue or alley, or any part thereof, which
is now or may at any time hereafter be laid out or opened in
said city; and over any street or alley in the city which has been
or may be ceded or conveyed to the city by proper deed it shall
have like power and authority as over other streets and alleys.
It may prevent the building of, or may remove any structure,
obstruction or encroachment upon, over or under any street,
sidewalk or alley in said city, and may permit shade trees to
be planted along said streets, but no company or individual shall
occupy with it or his works, or with any appurtenances, through
the streets, sidewalks, alleys or public places in the city without
the consent of the council in the manner provided by law.

§33. To require and compel the abatement and removal of nui-
sances within said city at the expense of the person or persons
causing the same, or of the owner or owners of the ground
whereon the same may be, and to collect said expense by a suit
or motion; to prohibit and to regulate slaughter-houses, soap
and candle factories, private stables, livery or feed stables and
wagon lots within said city, and to prohibit or regulate the exer-
cise of any dangerous, offensive or unwholesome business, trade,
or employment therein, and to regulate the transportation of
coal and other articles through the streets of said city.

§42. The council is empowered to hold such land as may
have heretofore been acquired by the city of Roanoke for any
uses or purposes and is hereby authorized to own and maintain
parks. Said council is also empowered to acquire by purchase
or otherwise such lands either within or without the city as it
may deem necessary as a place or places for the burial of the
dead. The said council shall also have power to prescribe and
enforce all needful rules and regulations not inconsistent with
the laws of the State for the use, protection and preservation
of such cemetery or cemeteries; to set aside in its discretion, by
metes and bounds, a portion thereof for the interment of stran-
gers and indigent poor; to divide the remainder into burial lots,
and to sell or to lease the same, and to execute all proper deeds
and other writings in evidence of such sale or lease, and to pre-
scribe what class or condition of persons shall be admitted to
interment in such cemetery or cemeteries or any part thereof,
and when established or enclosed with the property included in
it, or them, shall be exempt from all State, county and municipal
taxation.

$45. In every case where a street in said city has been or
may be encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise, the
council, or such officer as it may designate for that purpose, may
require the owner (if known, or if unknown, the occupant of
the premises encroaching) to remove the same, and if such a
removal be not made within a reasonable time the council or such
officer as it may designate may apply to one of the courts of record
of the city of Roanoke for a mandatory injunction to compel
such removal, (a) and such courts are hereby given jurisdic-
tion to hear and determine the questions involved, or the city
council may cause such encroachment to be removed and may
collect from the owner or occupant all reasonable charges there-
for, with costs, by the same process; it is hereinafter empowered
to collect taxes or by suit or motion; and whatever amount, if
any, the occupant shall pay therefor, he shall have a valid and
ee offset against the rent due or to become due to his land-
ord.

§47. Whenever the council shall determine to grade and pave
any sidewalk or grade and pave any alley or construct any
sewers, the council shall determine what portion, if any, of the
expenses thereof shall be paid out of the city treasury, and what
portion, if any, shall be paid by the owners of the real estate
benefited thereby; and for whatever amount the council shall
decide shall be paid by the owners of the real estate bounding
and abutting on said streets or benefited by any such improve-
ment, an assessment shall be levied by the council by the front
foot bounding or abutting or benefited aforesaid, and the coun-
cil shall prescribe the time and manner in which the aforesaid
assessment shall be payable; and when levied it shall be a lien
on the property against which it is assessed from the date of
such assessment, which lien may be enforced by a bill in chan-
cery ; but no such assessment on abutting property shall be made
until a plan of such improvement shall have been made by the
city engineer, with an estimate of the cost and the amount to
be paid by each abutting owner, such plan and estimate to be
filed in the clerk’s office of the common council, and a hearing
given to said abutting owners before said council or committee
thereof, after notice: provided, that in the construction of pro-
posed sidewalks, or repairs to the same, the council may require
the abutting owners to construct said improvements according
to plans and specifications adopted by the council, in which
case notice shall be served upon the abutting owners to make
said improvements or repairs as aforesaid within a reasonable
time; and in case any of them fail to comply with the terms
of said notice, then the council shall proceed to construct said
sidewalks or make said repairs and levy an assessment against
the abutting property for the actual cost thereof, and said assess-
ment shall be a lien upon the abutting property as other assess-
ments levied under the provisions of this section.

§53. Every ordinance or resolution having the effect of an
ordinance which shall be passed by the council shall, before it
becomes operative, be presented to the mayor. If he approves,
he shall sign it, but if not he may return it with his objections
in writing to the clerk of that branch in which it originated,
which branch shall enter the objection at length on its journal
and proceed to reconsider it. If after such consideration two-
thirds of all the members elected thereto shall agree to pass the
ordinance or resolution, it shall be sent together with the objec-
tion to the other branch, by which it shall likewise be consid-
ered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the members elected
thereto it shall become operative, notwithstanding the objection
of the mayor. But in all such cases the votes of both branches
of the council shall be determined by yeas and nays and the
names of the members voting for and against the resolution or
ordinance shall be entered on the journal of each branch. If
any ordinance or resolution shall not be returned by the mayor
within five days (Sunday excepted) after it shall have been
presented to him, it shall become operative in like manner as if
he had signed it, unless his term of office or that of the council
shall expire within said five days.

$54. It shall be the duty of the mayor to enforce the laws
and ordinances of the city and all orders and resolutions of the
council. He shall see that the duties of the various city officers,
members of the police and fire departments, whether elected or
appointed, in and for such city, are faithfully performed. He
shall have power to investigate their acts, have access to all
books and documents in their offices, and may examine them and
their subordinates on oath. The evidence given by persons so
examined shall not be used against them in any criminal pro-
ceedings. He shall also have power to suspend such officers and
the members of the police and fire departments, and to remove
such officers for misconduct in office or neglect of duty, to be
specified in the order of suspension or removal; but no such
removal shall be made without réasonable notice to the officer
complained of and an opportunity afforded him to be heard in
person or by counsel and to present testimony in his defense.
From such order of suspension or removal, the city officer so
suspended or removed, or the member of the fire department so
suspended, shall have an appeal of right to the corporation
court; the suspension of a member of the police department
shall be disposed of as is provided in section sixty of this act:
provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be con-
strued as authorizing the mayor to remove the sergeant of said
city or his deputies, the power and authority to remove said
sergeant and deputies being hereby confined exclusively to the
corporation court for the city of Roanoke, said court being
hereby empowered to remove, after reasonable notice and an
opportunity being given to be heard, said sergeant or any of the
said deputies for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.

S55. In the event of the death, resignation, removal of the
mavor, or his inability to discharge his duties from some other
cause, his place shall be filled and his duties shall be discharged
bv the president of the board of aldermen; and in the event of
his absence or inability to perform the duties, then the same
shall be filled by the president of the common council, until
waeped mayor is elected and qualified or until such inability
shall! cease.
§60. There shall be a police commission for the city of Roa-
noke to be composed of three members who shall be qualified
voters of said city, none of whom shall be employees or officers
thereof.

Within fifteen (15) days after this amendment to the charter
of the city of Roanoke shall have become a law, the city council
of the said city, at a joint session of the common council and
board of aldermen, shall elect from among the qualified voters
of the said city the three members of the police commission,
one of whom shall serve for the term of one year, one for the
term of two years and one for the term of three years, and
whose terms of office shall begin on the first day of the month
succeeding their election. The three members first elected under
this act shall draw lots to determine the terms of the members
thereof so elected. After the expiration of their respective terms
each member of said board shall be elected by the city council,
in joint session, for a period of three years each. Any member
of said commission may be removed for cause after five days’
notice by a two-thirds vote of all the members of council in joint
session.

In case any vacancy shall, from any cause, occur in said com-
mission, it shall be filled by an election of the city council, in
joint session, of some person who is qualified, who shall serve
for the unexpired term caused by such vacancy.

Each member of the said commission shall serve without
compensation from the city of Roanoke or otherwise. Said po-
lice commission shal] be subject to such rules and regulations as
may be prescribed by law.

In the exercise of its duties, the police commission as herein
provided for shall appoint, within thirty (30) days after the
members of said commission shall have taken their oath, a
chief of police, who shall take the place of such chief of police
who is then in office, and within sixty (60) days such number of
sergeants, patrolmen and other officers of the police force of the
said city as shall be prescribed by the council, which appoint-
ment shall be reported to the council at the next regular meet-
ing thereof. Such chief and patrolmen shall constitute the police
force of said city and shall hold their respective positions during
the pleasure of said commission.

The police force shall be under the control of the mayor for
the purpose of maintenance of peace and order and executing
the laws and ordinances of the city, and shall perform such other
duties as the council may prescribe, and the mayor shall have
power and authority to suspend the chief of police or any officer
of the police force for a period not to exceed thirty (30) days,
within the first five days of which the said mayor shall prepare
in writing and file with the commission the reasons for such
suspension, a copy of which shall within that time be served
upon the chief or officer so suspended, and within the said thirty
days the commission shall take such action in the premises to
suspend, reinstate or remove such chief or officer as such com-
mission may deem proper, which action shall be final.

For the purpose of enabling it to exercise its duties and
powers, each member of the police force is hereby made and
constituted a conservator of the peace and endowed with all the
power of a constable in criminal cases and all other powers
which, under the laws of the city, may be necessary to enable
him to discharge the duties of his office. The uniform rules and
regulation of the police force shall be prescribed by the police
commission and approved by council. The chief of police shall
make recommendations to the police commission of persons who
he deems proper persons to serve on the police force, but no
recommendations made by him shall be binding on the said com-
mission.

Upon the appointment by the said commission and qualifica-
tion of a chief and other officers of the police force, the office of
the present chief and police officers are hereby vacated.

§79. The said clerk shall attend the meeting of both branches
of the council and keep a record of their proceedings, and he
shall be the clerk of all the committees thereof; he shall have
the custody of the corporate seal and of all official bonds taken
by order of the council or under requirements of law; he shall
keep all the papers that by the provisions of this act or the direc-
tion of the council are required to be filed with or kept by him.
He shall countersign all warrants issued by the city auditor,
unless both offices be filled by the same individual; then, and in
that event, all warrants shall be countersigned by such officer
as may be designated by council.

$80. It shall be his duty immediately after the close of each
session of the council to make and present to the mayor a
transcript of every ordinance, resolution or order, which has
passed both branches of the council, which concerns any public
improvement or for the payment of money, and of every ordi-
nance, resolution, order or act of legislative character passed
at such session. He shall, in like manner, transmit to the audi-
tor (unless both offices are filled by the same individual) a tran-
script of all orders, ordinances or resolutions appropriating
money or authorizing the payment of money, the issue of bonds
or notes. He shall, in like manner, give notice to all persons
presenting petitions or communications to the council of the
final action of the council on such petition or communication.
He shall publish such reports and ordinances as the council is
required by this act to publish, and such other reports and ordi-
nances as it may direct, and shall in general perform such other
acts and duties as the council may, from time to time, require
of him.

$81. There shall be one clerk of the corporation court for
said city, who shall serve for a period of six years and until
his successor be elected and qualified. He shall receive in com-
pensation for his services the fees and emoluments allowed by
law to the clerks, and such allowances as the council may, from
time to time, deem just and proper.

§82. There shall be one Commonwealth’s attorney, who shall
prosecute in all criminal cases in the corporation court of said
city. He shall hold his office for a term of two years and until
his successor be elected and qualified, unless sooner removed,
and shall receive for his services such compensation as may be
prescribed by law and such additional compensation as the coun-
cil may from time to time provide.

$87. There shall be one city sergeant, who shall attend the
terms of the court of record of said city and act as the officer
thereof, and shall preform other duties as may be prescribed
and ordained by the council, and shall receive such compensation
therefor as the council may determine.

§88. The sergeant may, with the approval of the corporation
court of said city, appoint a deputy or deputies, who may he
removed from office by the said sergeant, by the mayor, or by
the council. During the continuance in office of the said ser-
geant, his deputy or deputies may discharge any of the duties
of the office of sergeant, but the sergeant and his sureties shall
be liable therefor.

§99. The council may, in the name and for the use of the
city, cause to be issued certificates of debt or bonds for making
any manner of public improvement and for public school build-
ings and for the equipment thereof: provided, that no such cer-
tificates of debt or bonds shall be issued except by a three-fourths
vote of the council, endorsed by a majority of the freehold voters
of the city voting on the question; but such certificates of debt
or bonds shall not be irredeemable for a period greater than
thirty-four years: provided, further, that if a separate levy
be made for school purposes, then and in that event the school
beard of the city of Roanoke shall semi-annually pay into the
city treasury such amounts from said levy as may be necessary
to pay the interest and sinking fund on and for all outstanding
bonds of the city of Roanoke which have been or may have been
or may hereafter be issued for school purposes. In the event
that no special levy should be made for school purposes, then
the school board shall render to the city council a statement at
the end of each month showing the collections and disbursements
made by said board. And provided, further, that in no case
shall the aggregate debt of the city at any one time exceed ten
per centum of the assessed value of the property, real and per-
sonal, within the city limits: and provided, further, that the said
council shall not endorse the bonds of any company whatsoever
without the same authority.

§101. There shall be set apart from the resources of the city
a sum equal to one per centum per annum of the aggregate debt
not payable within one year, whether contracted heretofore or
hereafter. The fund thus set apart shall be called the sinking
fund and shall be applied to the payment of the debt of the city
as it shall become due, and if no part be due or payable it shall
be invested in the bonds or certificates of the debt of the city or
of this State, or of the United States, or of some State of this
Union; said funds shall, in the hands of the treasurers, as to all
questions of investment, purchase or sale, be subject to the orders
and management of the mayor, chairman of the finance commit-
tee, auditor, treasurer, president of the common council and
president of the board of aldermen, who together shall compose
the sinking fund commissioners.