Chap. 465.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2 and 5 of article 2 and
section 1 of article 3, of an act entitled an act to incorporate the town of
Phoebus, in Elizabeth City county, approved January 22, 1900, as heretofore
amended by an act approved March 2, 1914, and by an act approved March
1, 1916. fH B 355]

Approved March 24, 1920.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
two and five of article two, and section one, of article three, as here-
tofore amended, of the charter of the town of Phoebus, in Elizabeth
City county, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Sec. 2. The mayor shall be chief magistrate of the municipal cor-
poration hereby created, and is vested with all rights, powers and
privileges conferred upon such officer by the general laws governing
towns of less than five thousand inhabitants; and in civil cases that
arise within the corporation limits, he shall have and exercise all
powers vested in a justice of the peace by the laws of this State. The
mayor shall be president of the council, and as such shall preside at
its meetings, but he shall have no vote, except that in case of a tie,
upon any question which may be before the council for consideration,
the mayor shall have the casting vote. He, or any three members of
the council, may call special sessions of that body.

The mayor shall receive for his services such a salary as the council
may deem proper, provided the same shall not exceed one thousand
two hundred dollars per year, which salary shall be in full compensation
for all services and in lieu of all fees for the trial of State and muni-
cipal offenses, but the mayor shall receive, in addition to his salary,
the fees allowed by law for the hearing of civil cases; he shall tax
and collect the usual fees for violation of State and municipal laws
prescribed by the statute, or by the ordinances of the town, and all
fees so collected shall be paid into the town treasury monthly, and the
mayor shall perform such other duties as the council may prescribe
in addition to the duties required of him by the general laws of this
State.

It shall be the duty of the recorder to keep a fair and proper
record of the proceedings of the council, and to publish in such man-
ner as the council may indicate, the by-laws, ordinances and resolutions
that may from time to time be adopted. He shall, under such ordi-
nances and resolutions as the council may adopt, issue licenses to all
persons engaged in a pursuit, business, occupation, calling, profession,
or other purpose for which a license shall be required. And shall
perform such other duties as may be required of him by the council
and by the provisions of this act, for which services he shall receive
such compensation as the council may determine to be right and proper,
not exceeding seventy-five dollars per month. Before entering upon
the discharge of his duties, the recorder shall enter into a bond, with
security, to be approved by the council, in the penalty of five hundred
dollars, payable to the town of Phoebus, Virginia, and shall make to
the council, at such times as it may require, a statement of all his
receipts and disbursements. He shall receive no salary, but his com-
pensation for the performance of his duties shall be a commission of
five per centum of all moncys received by him from all sources, except
on the proceeds of bonds issued by the town or money borrowed by
the town, upon which amounts collected as the proceeds from the
sales of bonds or from money borrowed he shall receive a commission
of one-fourth of one per centum only, and money collected or in-
vested by the town and subsequently paid back, upon which he shall
receive a commission of five per centum only upon the interest col-
lected thereon.
The town sergeant shall be a conservator of the peace, and, ir
civil cases that may arise within the corporate limits of the town, he
shall be vested with all the power which with general laws of this
State confer upon constables; his jurisdiction as a police officer shal.
extend one mile beyond the corporate limits. He shall possess the like
right of distress and power in collecting municipal taxes possessed by
a sheriff or constable in collecting State and county taxes. All fees
arising from the performance of his duties, other than in civil matters.
shall be collected by the mayor and turned in to the treasurer of the
town. He shall receive as the full compensation for the discharge of
his duties, other than those in purely civil matters, such salary as may
be prescribed by the council, not exceeding one hundred dollars per
month. The sergeant, before entering upon the discharge of his duties,
shall execute a bond, with security to be approved by the council,
in the sum of one thousand dollars, payable to the Commonwealth of
Virginia, and conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties,
and the payment to the said town of all moneys and fines collected
and received by him by virtue of his office, and such bond shall be
recorded in the clerk’s office of the county court of Elizabeth City
county; the town sergeant shall be under the direct control of the
council and shall perform such duties as may be required of him by
this act and by the resolutions or ordinances of the council; and he
shall be subject to removal by a vote of at least six members of the
council for incompetency, misconduct, or negligence of duty after
reasonable notice. ;

Sec. 5. The council shall have power to appoint such police officers
as to it may seem proper, and shall prescribe the compensation for
policemen ; provided, that the salary of each shall not exceed one hun-
dred dollars per month. Costs shall be charged against persons ar-
rested or summoned by such policemen for violation of State statutes
and town ordinances, as in cases of arrest or summons by a sheriff,
constable, or town sergeant, and such costs shall be collected by the
mayor and paid into the town treasury.

ARTICLE No. 3.

Sec. 1. The council shall have all the general powers vested in
it by the Constitution and laws of the State and it shall have powers
to enact ordinances, providing for the exercise within its jurisdiction
of all powers which the State itself may exercise under the Constitu-
tion, except such as may be specifically denied towns by the act of the
general assembly; and shall further have power

(a) To levy, assess and collect taxes on all of the property, real,
personal and mixed, owned within the corporate limits, not exempt
from taxation by the laws of this State, at a rate not exceeding one
dollar each year for general purposes on each one hundred dollars
assessed valuation thereof.

(b) To levy, assess and collect taxes for town licenses upon the
conduct of business, the sale of merchandise and upon the practice
of the professions, upon theatrical and circus companies; menageries,
jugglers, itinerant salesmen, and all shows and exhibitions for which
an entrance fee is required; upon the business of commission mer-
chants living within or without the town and buying or selling therein ;
upon the business of bankrupt and firesales, brokers and pawnbrokers,
and upon any and all other business, occupations, and pursuits upon
which a license tax is levied by the State, and upon which a city or
town may levy a license tax under the general law, but nothing herein
contained shall be construed to repeal or amend any provisions of
the general laws of the State as to segregation of taxes; and upon
such other business as may be lawful; and upon all wagons, drays,
carts, hacks and other wheeled vehicles and delivery wagons used for
business within the town, whether the owners reside within or without
the limits thereof, and upon automobiles, locomobiles, motorcycles and
vehicles operated other than by animal power; and upon dogs and
other animals.

(c) To impose special or local assessments for local improve-
ments, and enforce payment thereof; subject, however, only to the
limitations prescribed by the Constitution of Virginia, as may be in
force at the time of the imposition of such special or local assessments,
and as may be vested in it under the general laws of the State.

(d) To secure and protect the inhabitants from contagious, in-
fectious or other dangerous diseases; to compel the abatement and
removal of all nuisances and to require the cutting and removing of
weeds from lots, streets and alleys within the town at the expense
of the person or persons causing the same or the owner or owners of
the grounds whereon the same shall be; to prevent or regulate the
exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business or employ-
ment therein. ,

(e) To direct the location of all buildings for storing explosives
or combustible substances ; to regulate the sale and use of gun powder,
nitroglycerine, fireworks, gasoline, kerosene oil or other like combus-
tible material; to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of
firearms and the making of bonfires in streets and yards.

(f) To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve public peace
and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly
assemblages; to suppress houses of ill fame and gaming houses, to
prevent lewd, indecent and disorderly conduct or exhibition in the
town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct who have
resided therein less than one year.

(g) To make such regulations and orders as will protect its citi-
zens from unsafe houses or walls, and to that end it shall have the
power to cause to be condemned and taken down any such building
or wall, but no such condemnation shall be made or such house or wall
be taken down until the owner thereof, or in case of an infant or
insane person, his guardian or committee, be duly summoned before
the board of officers of the town, or the committee of the council
thereof charged by the ordinances with such duty, and allowed reason-
able opportunity to show cause against such action.

(h) To provide for the regular and safe construction of houses
in the town for the future, and
To designate and prescribe from time to time the parts of the town
within which no buildings of wood shall be erected, and to regulate
the construction of buildings in the town so as to protect it against
danger from fire.

(1) To make such ordinances, by-laws, orders and regulations as
it may deem necessary to prevent hogs, dogs, chickens and other ani-
mals from running at large in the limits of the town.

(j) To pass all by-laws, rules and ordinances not repugnant to
the Constitution and laws of the State which it may deem necessary
for the good order and government of the town, the management of its
property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace, comfort, convenience,
order, morals, health and protection of its citizens and of their prop-
erty, and do such other things and pass such other laws as may be
necessary or proper to carry into full effect any power, authority,
capacity or jurisdiction, which is or shall be granted to or vested in
said town or in the council, court or officers thereof, or which may
be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

(k) To enact ordinances providing fines, penalties and costs im-
posed for the violation or non-observances of the ordinances, by-laws,
and resolutions adopted pursuant to this act and to the general laws
of this Commonwealth, and to enforce same by imprisonment in the
town or county jail where such fines, penalties and costs cannot be
otherwise collected.

(1) To levy, assess and collect a capitation tax not exceeding one
dollar ($1.00) on each male inhabitant over the age of twenty-one
years, resident in the town, who is subject to a State capitation tax.

(m) To receive and collect its proportion of taxes received from
property at Fort Monroe as herein set out.

All acts and parts of acts, which are inconsistent with this act, are
hereby repealed.

Inasmuch as the necessities of the town require prompt action,
it is hereby declared that an emergency exists and this act shall be
in force from its passage.