Chap. 167.—An ACT to amend the charter of the town of Pennington Gap,
Lee county, Virginia, by adding thereto seven new sections to be numbered
20 to 26, inclusive; to authorize, under certain conditions, the issuing of
bonds for street, road, sewer, and water supply purposes; and to provide
for the procurcment, installation and maintenance of a water a system.

86]
Approved March 11, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
charter of the town of Pennington Gap, Lee county, Virginia, be
and the same is hereby, amended by adding thereto seven new sections
to be numbered twenty to twenty-six, inclusive, which new sections
shall read as follows:

20. That the mayor and council of said town be, and are hereby,
authorized to issue and sell bonds of the said town in an amount not
to exceed seventy-five thousand dollars, for the purpose of grading,
curbing, constructing, repairing and maintaining the streets and roads
of said town; for the purpose of laying off, constructing, placing, and
maintaining sewers; for the purpose of constructing, placing, installing
and maintaining a suitable and adequate water supply for said town;
and for the further purpose of meeting such expenses in connection
with the construction of said streets and sewers as may be determined
and authorized by the mayor and council of said town.

21. The bonds authorized by this act shall be coupon, or regis-
tered, bonds, and shall be issued in such denominations as the mayor
and the council may prescribe. They shall bear interest at a rate
not to exceed six per centum per annum, payable annually, and shall
mature at a time not to exceed thirty-five years from the date of
issuance, and may be made to mature at any time less than thirty-
five years, as may seem to the mayor and council of the town best
and expedient. They shall be signed by the mayor, countersigned
by the clerk, for and in behalf of said town, and shall have the seal
of the town attached.

22. But the said mayor and council shall not proceed to issue
and sell the said bonds until it shall, by ordinance, authorize, call,
and hold an election of the qualified voters of said town, which
said election shall only be ordered by the circuit court of Lee county,
Virginia, or the judge thereof, as the case may be, in vacation, in the
manner as is now prescribed by the general laws of this State for
the holding of elections on bond issues in towns. The ordinance
authorizing the election, and order of the circuit court, or the judge
thereof in vacation, shall show the amount of bonds to be issued,
the streets in which it is proposed to lay and place sewers, the streets
which are proposed to be constructed, improved, graded, and repaired,
the streets along which it is proposed to construct, install, and place
water lines and pipes; the time at which such bonds shall be made
to mature, together with a form of the bond and coupons which is
proposed to be issued. And the circuit court of Lee county, or the
judge thereof in vacation, upon a receipt of a duly certified copy of
said ordinance, shall order the election in the manner as is provided
by the general laws of this State for such cases made and provided.
But before the said court, or the judge thereof, shall order said
election, it shall first be made to appear that, at the rate of taxation
authorized for town purposes, the revenues of said town, together with
the revenues reasonably expected to be derived from operation of its
water system, there will be derived a sum sufficient to meet the ex-
penses of town government and customary obligations, and in addi-
tion to pay the interest on said bonds so issued, and to provide a
sinking fund therefor.

23. The treasurer of said town, or such other person who may
be employed by said town for that purpose, shall keep a book
record of the bonds issued under this authority, and whether the
bonds were issued for sewers, for streets, or for water. The bonds
shall be respectively listed in said book according to numbers, de-
nominations, when due and payable; and the bonds, and the coupons
thereof, when they shall have been paid shall be so entered in said
book in the proper manner, and shall be cancelled and filed with
the other records of said town.

24. And the mayor and the council of the said town, for the pro-
curement of a proper water system, and to insure its proper instal-
lation, and insurance against present or future disturbance, and to
insure its permanence, may authorize any work to be done which
shall to said mayor and council reasonably appear necessary and
expedient, the cost of which may be charged to the cost of installing
said water system. And futhermore said mayor and council, by
proper ordinance, may contract with any person, partnership or cor-
poration to any extent which may be necessary to procure an adequate
water system; may subscribe to the capital stock of any corporation
to which it shall sell a franchise permitting the installation of an
adequate water system for said town, and for that purpose may
subscribe in any amount and issue and sell its bonds in the manner
set forth in sections twenty-one and twenty-two and twenty-three
hereunder; may contract with such corporation to prepare its streets
in such a manner that, in case such corporation shall install a water
system, it will not be necessary for said town afterwards to dig up
or disturb the water mains of said corporation for the repair of
said town’s strects, and said town for this purpose may issue its bonds
and charge the same to those issued for procuring a water system.
In case said town shall subscribe to the capital stock of any corpor-
ation, as aforesaid, that proportion of the earnings to which said
town shall be entitled as a shareholder in said corporation, shall be
set apart by the council and mayor of said town as a sinking and
interest fund on the bonds issued for the procurement of water, and
shall never be used for any other purpose until the bonds issued
for securing water, with all coupons thereof, shall have been redeemed
and paid. Thereafterwards, said earnings so derived, shall be set
apart for the purpose of acquiring, in toto, the ownership of the
water system; and after that shall have been done the earnings shall
be set apart for the improvement and construction of streets, sewers,
public buildings, the laying out and purchasing of public playerounts
and parks.

25. And the council and mayor of said town, in addition to the
above authority, shall also have the authority, for the purpose of
procuring an adequate water supply and system, to sell, lease, transfer
and let any of its property, easements, right-of-ways and any other
property in which it shall have an interest, all or any of which, if
the same shall be sold, leased, transferred or let, shall be embraced
in the franchise which it may let and sell for the installation of a
water system by the public service or private corporation which shall
undertake the installation of said water system.

26. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.