Chap. 118.—An ACT to change the name of Fairfax to Culpeper, and to
provide a new charter for the same.

In force June 8, 1870.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the town of Fairfax, in the county of Culpeper, as the same
has been and shall hereafter be laid off into lots, streets and
alleys, shall be and the same is hereby made a town corporate
by the name and style of The Town of Culpeper, and by that
name shall have and exercise the powers, and be subject to all
the provisions of the Céde of Virginia, except so far as may
be herein otherwise provided, and may sue and be sued by its
corporate name.

2. The corporate limits and bounds of Culpeper shall be as
follows: beginning at the mouth of Tanyard branch, on Moun-
tain run; thence following the natural bed of said run to the
northwest corner between Lewis P. Nelson and John Jame-
son, on said run; thence ona straight line between Nelson
and Jameson, across the Madison county road, and through
Jameson's field to the north bank of Metlock’s branch; thence
following the course of said branch, in a southeasterly direc-
tion, to the corner between John Jameson, E. B. Hill, and
John C. Green’s estate; thence along the line between said
Jameson and Green to the old Fredericksburg road; thence
along said Fredericksburg road to the intersection of said road
with the Orange, Alexandria and Manassas railroad; thence
along said railroad to a point on said road opposite a spring
used by said railroad company,, being the headwaters of Tan-
yard branch; thence following the course of said branch to
the beginning.

3. That J. B. Stanard, L. P. Nelson, G. D. Gray, D. Jame-
son, I. N. Armstrong, J. F. Snider, and F. M. Latham, are
hereby appointed commissioners to divide said town into four
wards, a majority of whom may act, whose report shall be re-
turned to and filed in the clerk’s oftice of the county court of
Culpeper county.

4. The municipal authorities of said town shall consist of a
mayor, recorder, and four aldermen, who shall be elected an-
nually.

The mayor and recorder shall be elected by the qualified
voters of said town, and the voters of each ward shall elect
one alderman, who must be a resident of said ward. And all
persons qualified to vote in said elections shall be eligible to
either of said offices.

5. All the corporate powers of said corporation shall be ex-
ercised by the said council or under their authority, except
when otherwise provided, including all the powers heretofore
vested in the trustees of said town.

6. There shall be a town sergeant, treasurer, and an assessor
of said town, to be elected by the qualified voters.

7. The election shall be conducted by the sergeant of the
town, and such assistants, under such supervision, at such
plaees, and under such rules and regulations as the conncil
may prescribe. If the sergeant be absent, or incapable of act-
ing, the elections shall be conducted«by such person or persons
as the council shall appoint.

8. The council may prescribe the manner of declaring and
certifying elections, of determining contested elections, and of
deciding between two or more, when the greatest number of
votes shall be equal, and of filling vacancies in the said offices.

9. The council in existence at the time of any election shall
judge of the election, qualification, and returns of the members
newly elected; and should any person returned be adjudged
unduly elected, or not qualified to hold the office for which he
is chosen, a special election to fill the vacancy shall be held.

It shall be the duty of the mayor, as soon as may be after
an election, and within ten days thereafter, to call a meeting
of the council to examine the returns; and the council shall
forthwith cause the persons elected to be notified of their elec-
tion; and whenever a vacancy shall occur, from any cause, in
the office of mayor or recorder, the council, for the time being,
shall at once order a special election to be held to fill the va-
cancy, of which election two weeks’ notice shall be given and
published by the council.
10. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen shall each, betore
entering upon the duties of their office, and within two weeks
from the day of their election, make oath or affirmation that
they will truly, faithfully, and impartially discharge the duties
of their said offices to the best of their abilities, so long as they
shall continue therein. The mayor and aldermen shall take
said oath before a notary public, and the councilmen before
the mayor. .

11. If any one who shall have been duly elected mayor, re-
corder, or councilman, shall not be eligible as herein prescribed,
or shall refuse to take the oath or affirmation required under
this act, for two weeks from the day of his election, the coun-
cil for the time being shall declare his said office vacant, and
sball order a new election for mayor, recorder, or councilman,
as the case may be.

12. Whenever from any cause a vacancy shall occur in the
office of councilman, the council for the time being shall, by a
vote of a majority present, fill it by choosing a councilman
from among the citizens of the town eligible to that office un-
der this act.

13. The council shall be presided over at its meetings by
the mayor; or in his absence, by the recorder; or in the ab-
sence of both mayor and recorder, by one of the councilmen,
selected by a majority of the council present.

14. The presence of the mayor or recorder and at least two
councilmen, or in the absence of both the mayor and recorder,
the presence of three councilmen shall be necessary to make a
quorum for the transaction of business.

15. The council shall cause to be kept in a journal, an accu-
rate record of all its proceedings, by-laws, acts, and orders;
which shall be fully indexed, and open to the inspection of any
one who 18 entitled to vote for members of the council.

16. At each meeting of the council, the proceedings of the
last meeting shall be read to the council, and shall thereupon
be corrected, if erroneous,and signed by the person presiding
for the time being. Upon the call of any member, the ayes
and noes on any question shall be called and recorded in the
journal.

17. The mayor and recorder shall have votes as members of
the council, and in all cases of a tie, the person at the time
presiding at the council shall have the casting vote.

18. The council, so constituted, shall have power within
said town to lay off, open, curb, and pave streets, alleys, walks,
and gutters for the public use, and to alter, improve, and light
the same, and have them kept in good order, and tree from
obstructions on or over them; to regulate the width of side-
walks on the streets, and to order the sidewalks, footways, and
gutters to be curbed and paved and kept in good order, free
and clean, by the owners or occupants thereof, or of the real
property next adjacent thereto; to lay off public grounds, and
to provide, contract for, and take care of, all public buildings
proper to the town; to establish and regulate markets; to pre-
scribe the time for holding the same, and what articles shall
be sold only in such markets; to prevent injury or annoyance
to the public or individuals, from anything dangerous, offen-
sive, or unwholesome; to protect places ot divine worship in
and about the premises where held; to abate, or cause to be
abated, anything which, in the opinion of a majority of the
whole council, shall be a nuisance; to regulate the keeping of
gunpowder and other combustibles; to provide, in or near the
town, places for the burial of the dead, and to regulate inter-
ments in the town; to provide for the regular building of
houses or other structures, and tor the making of division
fences, and for the drainage of lots by proper drains and
ditches; to make regulations for guarding against danger or
damage from fires; to provide for the poor of the town; and
appoint and publish the places of holding town elections, and
the time of holding special elections and polls; to provide a
revenue for the town, and appropriate the same to its expenses,
and to provide the annual assessment of taxable persons and
property in the town; to adopt rules for the transaction of
business, and for the government and regulation of its own
body; to promote the general welfare of the town, and to pro-
tect the property of persons therein, and to preserve peace
and good order therein; to keep a town guard; to appoint
and order out a patrol for the town in like manner and for like
purposes within the same as the patrol may be ordered out by
the county court, or a justice within the county; require and
take from the sergeant and treasurer bonds, with such sure-
ties, in such penalty as the council may see fit, conditioned for
the true and faithful discharge of their duties (all bonds taken
by the council shall be made payable to the town by its cor-
porate name); to permit or prohibit the establishment of new
places for the interment of the dead in or near the town, and
to regulate the same; to erect, or authorize or prohibit the
erection of gas works or water works in or near the town; to
prevent injuries to or pollution of the same, or danger to the
water and healthfulness of the town; (for all which purposes
named in this clause, except that of taxation, the council shall
have jurisdiction for one mile beyond the town;) to regulate
and provide for the weighing and measuring of hay, coal, and
other articles sold or for sale in said town, and to regulate the
transportation thereof through the streets.

19. To carry into effect these enumerated powers, and all
other powers conferred upon the said town or its council,
expressly or by implication, in this or any other acts of the
general assembly of Virginia, the council shall have power to
make and pass all needful orders, by-laws, and ordinances, not
contrary to the constitution and laws of Virginia; and to pre-
scribe, impose, and enact reasonable fines and penalties, or im-
prisonments in the cotinty jail for a term not exceeding thirty
days, in case of contempt, or to enforce the collection of a fine;
all which fines, penalties, and imprisonments, shall be recovered
or enforced under the judgment of the mayor of said town,
or the person lawfully gxercising his functions. And the au-
thorities of said town may, with the consent of the county
court of said county, entered of record, have the right to use
the jail of said county of Culpeper for any purposes for which
the use of a jail may be needed by them, under the acts of
council or of the state.

20. The council shall cause to be annually made up and en-
tered upon its journal, an account and estimate of all sums
which are or may become lawfully chargeable on the said
town, which ought to be paid within one year; and it shall
order a town levy of so much as in its opinion is the amount
which may be raised from licenses and other sources.

21. The levy so ordered may be upon all free male persons
within said town over sixteen years of age, dogs, and on all
real estate within said town which is not exempted from state
taxation, and all such other subjects in said town as may at the
time be assessed with state taxes: provided, that the tax do
not exceed one dollar on every hundred dollars of the value
assessed on real and personal property.

22. Whenever anything for which a state license is required,
to be done within the said town, the council may require a
town license to be had for doing the same, and may impose a
tax thereon for the use of the town; and the council may, in
any case in which it sees fit, require from the person so licensed
a bond, with sureties, in such penalty and with such condition
as it may think proper. Said,council may also grant or refuse
licenses to owners or keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks,
and other wheeled carriages kept or employed in said town
for hire, or as carriers for the public; and may require the
owners or keepers of such wagons, drays, and carts, using
them in the town, to take out a license therefor, and may re-
quire taxes to be paid thereon, and subject the same to such
regulations as they may deem proper.

23. The revenue from these and other sources shall be col-
lected, paid over, and accounted for, at such times and to such
persons as the council shall order.

24, The sergeant shall have power to collect the town taxes,
fines, and levies, and shall have power, one month after he
shall have received the books of the commissioner of the
revenue of said town, to distrain and sell therefor, in like man-
ner as asheriff may sell and distrain for state taxes, and shall
have in all other respects the same powers as a sheriff to en-
force the-payment and collection thereof. And the said ser-
geant shall have power to exercise, within the corporate limits
of said town, all the duties that a constable can legally exer-
cise in regard to the collection of claims, executing and levying
process ; and he shall be entitled to the same compensation
therefor; and he and his securities shall be liable to all the
fines, penalties, and forfeitures that a constable is legally liable
to for any failure or dereliction in his said office; to be re-
covered in the same maner and before the same courts that
said fines, penalties, and forfeitures are now recovered against
a constable.

25. There shall be alien on real estate for the town taxes
assessed thereon, from the commenggment of the year for
which they are assessed. |

20). ‘Tho council may order and require real estate in the
town, delinquent for the non-payment of taxes, to be sold by
the sergeant at public auction for the arrears, with interest
thereon, with such per centum as the council may prescribe,
for charges, and the surplus shall be paid the owner; and they
may regulate the terms on which real estate so delinquent
may be redeemed.

27. The council may prohibit any theatrical or other per-
formance, show, or exhibition, which it may deem injurious to
the morals or good order of the town.

28. The council shall have power to require and take from
the sergeant and treasurer, bonds, with sureties satisfactory to
the council, in such penalty as they may deem sufficient; ex-
cept that as to the sergeant, it shall not be for a penalty less
than five thousand dollars; and said bond shall be conditioned
for the faithful and true performance of his duties as sergeant,
and for the collecting and accounting for and payment of the
taxes, fies, and other moneys of the town which shall come
into his hands, or which it shall be his duty to collect, at such
times and to such persons as the council may order, to pay
over all moneys which he may collect under executions to
those entitled to the same; a copy of which bond shall be cer-
tified to the clerk of the county for recordation. The treasu-
rer’s bond shall be conditioned for the faithful performance of
his duty as treasurer, and that he will faithfully pay over and
account for all moneys that shall come into his hands as trea-
surer, when and as he shall be thereto required by the council.

29. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the
town. He shall take care that the by-laws, ordinances, acts,
and resolutions of the council are faithfully executed. He
shall be ex-oflicio a conservator of the peace within the town,
and shall, within the same, exercise all the powers vested in the
justices of the peace for the county, except that he shall have.
no jurisdiction as such in civil causes.. He shall have control
of the police of the town, and may appoint special police offi-
cers when he deems it necessary. It shall be his duty espe-
cially to see that peace and good order are preserved, and that
the persons and property are protected in the town. - He shall
have power to issue executions for all fines and costs imposed
by him, or he may require the immediate payment thereof;
and in default of such payment, he may commit the party in
default to the jail of Cal poner county, until the fine and costs
shall be paid; but the term of imprisonment in such case shall
not exceed thirty days. He shall from time to time recom-
mend to the council such measures as he may deem needful
for the welfare of the town. He shall receive a compensation
for his services, to be fixed by the council, which shall not be
increased or diminished for the term for which he shall have
been elected.

30. The duty of the recorder shall be to keep a journal of
the proceedings of the council, and have charge of and pre-
serve the records of the town. In the absence from town or
sickness of the mayor, or during any vacancy in the oflice of
mayor, he shall perform the duties of the mayor, and be in-
vested with all his powers. Ie shall be a conservator of the
peace within the town. Le shall receive a compensation for
his services, to be fixed by the council, which shall not be in-
creased or diminished for the term for which he shall have
been elected.

31. In case of the absence from town or sickness of both
mayor and recorder, and in case the offices of mayor and re-
corder are both vacant at the same time, the council shall, by
vote of a majority present, appoint one of their own number
to fill each oflice until the mayor or recorder may return to
resume their duties, or a new election is had of said officers.

32. It shall be the duty of the town sergeant to collect the
taxes, fines, and other income and other revenue of the town,
as specified in his bond, and to account for and pay the same
to the treasurer at such time as the council may order. And
it shall be his duty, at least once every six months during his
continuance in office, and oftener, rf thereto required by the
council, to render an account of the taxes, fines, and other
claims in his hands for collection, and return a list of such as
he shall have been unable to collect by reason of insolvency ;
to which list he shall make oath that he has used due diligence
to collect the same, but has been unable to do so. The coun-
cil shall, if it be satisfied he could not have collected the said
claims by use of due diligence, allow them; but if the council
shall be of the opinion that by the use of due diligence on the
part of the sergeant he could have collected any of the said
taxes or other claims, then he shall be chargeable with such as
he might have collected. The said sergeant shall do and per-
form all the other acts appertaining to the office of sergeant
of a corporation, and of a police officer and constable, within
said town; and as such, shall have the same powers, duties,
fees, and liabilities as are by.law prescribed to a constable.
He shall, for his services, receive such compensation as shall
be fixed by the council.

33. All moneys belonging to the said town shall be paid
over to the treasurer; and no money shall be by him paid out
except as the same shall have been appropriated and ordered
to be paid by the council; and the said treasurer shall pay the
same upon the certificate of the recorder, or in his absence,
upon certificate of the mayor.

34. If the said treasurer shall fail to account for and pay
over all or any moneys that shall come into his hands, when
thereto required by the council, it shall be lawful for the coun-
cil, in the corporate name of the town, by motion before any
court of record held in Culpeper county, to recover from the
treasurer and his sureties, or their personal representatives,
any sum that may be due from said treasurer to said town on
ten days’ notice.

35. Before entering upon the duties of their office, the ser-
geant and treasurer shall make oath or affirmation before the
mayor, or person who for the time being shall preside at the
council meeting, that they will truly, faithfully, and impartially
discharge the duties of their office so long as they shall remain
therein.

_ 86. And if the sergeant shall fail to collect, account for, and
pay over all the taxes, fines, and other revenue of the town in
his hands for collection, according to the condition of his
bond, it shall be lawful for the council to recover the same, by
motion, in the corporate name of the town, before any court
of record of the said county of Culpeper, against the said ser-
geant and his sureties in his said bond, or any or either of
them, his or their executors or administrators, on giving ten
days’ notice of the same.

37. The said town and the taxable persons and property
therein, shag be exempt and free from the payment of any
poor rates or road tax, and from contributing to any county
expenses for any year in which it shall appear that said town
shall, at its own expense, provide for its own poor and keep
its streets in order.

38. The council shall have the power to make such ordinances,
by-laws, orders, and regulations as they may deem necessary to
prevent hogs, dogs, and other animals from running at large
in the limits of the corporation, and may subject the same to
such fines, regulations, and taxes as they may deem proper,
and which fines and taxes:shall constitute liens on the same,
and the said animals may be sold, after ten days’ notice, to en-
force payment of said fines and taxes.

39. The council shall not take or use any private property
for streets or other public purposes without making to the
owner or owners thereof just compensation for the same; but
in all cases wheré the said corporation cannot, by agreement,
obtain title to the ground necessary for such purposes, it shall
be lawful for said corporation to apply to, and obtain from the
county court of Culpeper, or the circuit court thereof, for au-
thority to condemn the same, which shall be applied for and
proceeded with according to law.

40. All the rights, privileges, and properties of the said
town, heretofore acquired and possessed, owned and enjoyed
by any act now in force, not in conflict with this act, shall con-
tinue undiminished, and remain vested in said town under this
act; and all laws, ordinances, acts, and resolutions of the trus-
tees now in force, and not inconsistent with this act, shall be
and continue in full force and effect until regularly repealed
by a council elected as provided under this act.

41. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.

42. This act shall be in force from its passage.