CHAP. 220.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 4, 5, 8 and 10 of
an act entitled an act to provide a new charter for the town of Blacks-
burg, Virginia, approved March 12, 1912. (H. B. 278.)

Approved March 17, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
sections two, four, five, eight and ten of an act entitled an act
to provide a new charter for the town of Blacksburg, Virginia,
approved March twelfth, nineteen hundred and twelve, be
amended so as to read as follows:

Section 2. The municipal authorities of said town shall con-
sist of a mayor, and six councilmen, who shall be elected every
two years by the qualified voters of the said town as hereinafter
provided.

Sec. 4. There shall be an election held on the second Tues-
day in June, nineteen hundred and twelve, and every two years
thereafter; the voting place to be fixed by the said council, of
which election and voting place the said council shall give at
least ten days notice prior to such election. The election shall be
held by three of the qualified voters of the said town, selected
in the manner prescribed in the election laws of this State, at
which election there shall be elected a mayor, and six councilmen
for said town, and the persons receiving a plurality of the aggre-
gate votes cast for mayor and six councilmen, respectively, shall,
on qualifying as such, on or before the first day of September
next after such election, be the mayor and council, respectively,
of said town. The mayor and councilmen so elected shall con-
stitute the council of said town. In case it is impossible to de-
termine the candidate who received the highest number of votes
by reason of a tie, the commissioners of election shall, by lot,
determine the matter. The said commissioners of election shall
examine the returns, and notify the persons elected of their
election, and shall also certify said returns as prescribed by law
governing towns. The mayor and councilmen shall go into office
on the first day of September next after the election, and shall
hold their respective offices for a term of two years. The mayor
shall preside at all meetings of the council, and in his absence
the council may elect one of their number to preside. He shall
exercise the powers and perform the duties given and required
by this act and the general laws of this State for the government
of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants.

No elective officer of said town shall be qualified to hold office
unless he shall have been a qualified voter of said town at the
time of his election.

Sec. 5. The said council shall be the judge of the election of
its own members. When from any cause a vacancy shall occur
in the office of mayor or councilmen, the same shall be filled by
the council at the next regular, or called meeting thereof, for
the unexpired term.

Sec. 8. The said council shall have the right to elect or
appoint the chief or heads of departments, a sergeant, and all
such other officials and employees authorized by their charter or
by general law, and remove the same at pleasure. The said coun-
cil shall have the right to prescribe the compensation of all elec-
tive and appointed officers. The same person may, in the dis-
cretion of the council, be appointed to hold, at the same time,
more than one office. The treasurer, before entering upon the
duties of his office, shall execute a bond, with sureties approved
by the council, in such penalty as may be prescribed by said
council, conditioned for the faithful performance of his duties.
The sergeant, before entering upon the performance of his office,
shall execute his bond, with a guarantee or bonding company
approved by the said council, in a penalty to be prescribed by
said council, but not to be less than twelve hundred dollars, con-
ditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office.
During his continuance in office as sergeant of said town, he
shall have within the corporate limits of said town and within
one mile around the same, the same powers and perform the
same duties and receive the same fees, and be liable to the same
penalties as the constable; and in addition to the powers con-
ferred upon town sergeants by the general laws of the State,
the sergeant of said town and all police officers appointed by
the mayor or council thereof shall have all the powers conferred
by law upon special police, and shall have the power to arrest
without warrant and take before the mayor any and all persons
who shall violate any ordinance of the town or law of the State
in their presence; and it shall be their duty to swear out war-
rants of arrest for any person or persons where they have
reason to believe an offense has been committed. In collecting
the town taxes, the sergeant may distrain and sell therefor in
like manner as a county treasurer may distrain and sell for
State taxes, and shall have in other respects like powers to en-
force the collection thereof. Should the office of sergeant be-
come vacant by his removal from the limits of said town, resig-
nation or otherwise, the mayor shall appoint a sergeant to serve
until the next regular or called meeting of the council, at which
meeting said council shall elect a sergeant to fill the unexpired
term.
Sec. 10-a. Said council shall have power to lay a special
levy for school purposes, or to donate money from the general
fund for said purposes.

Sec. 10-b. The council, whenever all of its members by a
recorded affirmative vote decide that it is to the interests of
the said town to do so, may sell or exchange any real or personal
property belonging to said town, and said property may be sold
either at private or public sale, as said council may deem mest
expedient, and in case of sale of real estate it shall be conveyed
by deed executed on behalf of said town by the mayor and clerk,
to which the common seal of said town shall be affixed.

Provided, however, that no such sale or exchange at public
or private sale shall be made except on the approval of the cir-
cuit court of Montgomery county, or the j udge thereof in vaca-
tion, by an order duly entered of record in the clerk’s office of
said court, and until notice thereof shall have been given of the
terms, if a private sale or exchange, and of the time, place and
terms of such public sale or exchange, by publication thereof
for a period of thirty days in some newspaper published in the
county of Montgomery, and once a week in at least four suc-.
cessive weekly issues thereof.

| Sec. 27. An emergency existing by reason of the approach-
ing election of officers, this act shall be in force from its passage.