‘Chap. 228.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorporate
the town of Gladeville, in Wise county, approved February 24, 1874, as hereto-
fore amended, the name of which town being subsequently changed e Wise;
and to provide a charter for the town of Wise. B 391]

Approved March 14, 1924.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled an act to incorporate the town of Gladeville, in Wise county,
approved February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four,
and as the same was amended by an act approved March third, eighteen
hundred and seventy-nine, and as the same was amended by an act
approved February twenty-ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, and
as the same was amended by an act approved March fifth, nineteen
hundred and two, and as the same was amended by an act approved
March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and four, be and the same is hereby
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 1. That the town of Gladeville as the same is bounded and
described, shall be and the same is hereby made a town corporate by
the name of Wise and by that name shall have and execute all the powers
conferred on towns of less than five thousand inhabitants by the Code
of Virginia of nineteen hundred and nineteen, and be subject to all the
powers of said Code of nineteen hundred and nineteen, and to all laws
now in force or which may hereafter be enacted in reference to the gov-
ernment of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants, so far as the
same are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act. _

2. That the boundaries of said town shall be as follows: Beginning
at a dogwood on a rock, north seventeen degrees, thirty minutes, west
three thousand seven hundred and thirty-three and fifty-two hun-
dredths feet from a point in the middle of Main street opposite the
center of the court house; thence south sixty-two degrees thirty minutes,
east five thousand two hundred and eighty feet to a stake near a maple
by Yellow creek; thence south twenty-seven degrees thirty minutes,
west five thousand two hundred and eighty feet to a stake; thence north
twenty-seven degrees thirty minutes, east five thousand two hundred
and eighty feet to the beginning.

3. That the government of said town shall be vested in a mayor,
recorder, sergeant, four councilmen and such other officers as hereafter
mentioned or may be provided for by the mayor and council.

4. The election of the officers mentioned in the third section of this
act shall be held on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and
twenty-five, and on the second Tuesday in June in every year thereafter.

5. In all elections for officers of the corporation all persons who are
by the laws of the State, entitled to vote for members of the general
assembly, and who shall have resided in the said town for thirty days
next preceding the day of the election then to be held, and who shall
have registered at least ten days before the day of the election then to be
held according to the provisions of the charter, and the by-laws of this
corporation, shall be entitled to vote.

6. The mayor shall, not less than thirty days before any election
under this charter, appoint one registrar. The registrar shall in the
manner prescribed ‘by the laws of this State providing for the registra-
tion of voters, make and revise lists of all persons qualified to vote for
members of the general assembly, and who shall have resided in the
corporate limits of said town for at least thirty days next preceding the
day of election to be held.

7. The manner of conducting and contesting an election under this
act, shall, so far as the same is practicable, be the same as prescribed by
the general election laws of the State for the election of county, district
‘and corporation officers.

8. The persons to be elected under the provision of this act shall be
inhabitants and qualified voters of said town, and it shall be their duty,
on the first day of September next after their election to take and sub-
scribe the oath required by law to be taken by county and district
officers before a justice of the peace or a notary public, or the mayor of
said town, and they shall enter on the discharge of their respective
offices on the first day of September next after their election, and hold
their office for a term of two years and until their successors are elected
or appointed and qualified. The oath taken and subscribed to under
this section shall be filed among the records of said town.

9. When for any cause a vacancy may occur in the office of mayor,
recorder, councilmen, sergeant, or any other office that has been, or may
hereafter be, provided by the council of said town pursuant to authority
vested by the charter of said town, the council shall, by a majority vote
of such as remain, fill the vacancy from among the citizens of the town
eligible to the office under the laws of this State.

10. The failure of any person elected or appointed under this act
to qualify or to qualify and give bond, (where bond is required) within
the time prescribed by the ninth section of this act, shall vacate the
office to which he shall have been elected or appointed; and the failure
of any person elected by the council under the tenth section, to fill a
vacancy to qualify within five days after being so elected shall vacate the
said office.

11. It shall be the duty of the mayor, through his police officers to
enforce the ordinances, resolutions and by-laws ef the council. He
shall be ex-officio a justice of the peace within the county in which he
resides and shall within the same execute all the powers and duties
vested by law in justices of the peace in civil and criminal cases. He
shall have the power to issue execution for all fines and costs imposed
under authority of this act, the laws of the State and the ordinances of
this town, and require immediate payment thereof and in default of such
payment may commit the parties so in default to prison until the fines
and costs be paid, and the said town is allowed the use of the Wise
county jail for its prisoners, but is to pay the said Jailer such fees as are
provided for by law for committing prisoners, and is to pay said prisoners
board and for the purpose of determining the amount due to the jailer
for the board of the said town prisoners, the town prisoners shall be
considered and counted as Commonwealth prisoners.

12. The mayor and two members of the council or three members
of the council, in the absence of the mayor, shall constitute a quorum to
do business. The mayor shall preside at the meeting of the council;
in his absence the council shall select one of their own members present
to preside, and the proceedings shall be signed by the person presiding.
If at any meeting the recorder be absent the person presiding shall
appoint one of the members present to discharge the duties of the
recorder for the present time.

13. The council shall cause to be kept in a journal an accurate
record of all its proceedings, which shall be open to the inspection of all
persons entitled to vote for councilmen. The person presiding at the
time of any tie vote shall have the casting vote.

14. The recorder shall attend all meetings of the council, keep‘a
journal of its proceedings, have charge of and preserve the records of the
town, and perform such other duties as the mayor and council may
prescribe.

15. The mayor and council may, by ordinance or resolution, provide
for any election-ngt hereinbefore provided for, and appoint the necessary
officers to conduct the same.

16. The sergeant shall, within the jurisdiction of the mayor of said
town, have all the power and authority in both civil and criminal matters,
and be subject to all the laws applicable to constables, and the mayor
and council shall require of said sergeant a bond, in such penalty and
with such conditions and security as they may prescribe, which bond
shall be entered in the journal of the council; and the said sergeant
shall take and subscribe the oaths required by the council and the mayor
before entering upon the duties of his office.

17. The council shall fix the salary of all officers of the said cor-
poration provided that the salary of the mayor or sergeant shall in no
case exceed the sum of seventy-five dollars per month exclusive of fees
collected from the defendant in trying violations of the statute and of
ordinances of the town, but this shall in no way affect the commission
allowed the sergeant for collecting the tax and other money due to the
town while he is acting in the capacity of town treasurer.

18. The mayor and council shall, in addition to the powers con-
ferred by law on town councils generally, have the power to restrain and
punish drunkards, vagrants and street beggars, to prevent vice and
immorality, to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling-houses, to
prevent and punish lewd and indecent conduct or exhibitions in said
town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct, who have
not resided therein as much as one year; also to prevent, forbid and
punish the selling or giving of any liquors and intoxicating drinks in any
place not duly licensed, and the selling or giving of any intoxicating
drinks to any minor without the consent in writing of his or her parent
or guardian; and for any violation of any ordinance under this section,
may impose a fine in addition to those prescribed by the laws of this
State. .

19. To carry into effect these enumerated, and all other legal
powers, and the said mayor and town council shall have power to make
and pass all needful orders, by-laws and ordinances not repugnant to the
constitution and laws of this State; to prescribe reasonable fines and in
case the person or persons shall have no visible effects it shall be lawful
to require such offenders to work out such fines and all jail fees, board,
and other public works under the direction of the sergeant or other
officers of the town. For all purposes named in this act, taxation
excepted, the council and mayor, or person acting mayor, shall have
jurisdiction for one mile beyond the limits of the town. All fines,
penalties and imprisonments shall be recovered and enforced under the
judgment of the mayor or person exercising his functions.

20. To meet any expense that may be lawfully chargeable to the
said town for any purpose the council may at such times as seem best
levy a town levy of so much as in its opinion might be necessary upon all
taxable persons or property in said town not exempted from taxation by
the laws of this State.

21. The council may levy a tax on license to auctioneers; to public
theatrical or other performances or shows; to keepers of billiards or
pool tables, tenpin alleys and livery stables; to hawkers and peddlers; to
agents for the sale or renting of real estate; to commission merchants,
wholesale merchants, retail merchants of every kind, and to persons
engaging in any other business for which a license may be required by
the laws of this State; and may grant or refuse license to owners or
keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks or other wheeled carriages kept
or employed in the town for hire, to take out a license thereof, and may
assess and require taxes to be paid thereon, and subject the same to such
regulations as they may deem proper, and prescribe their fees and com-
pensations; provided that nothing contained in this section or elsewhere
in this act shall authorize the imposition of a tax or license fee in any
case where the imposition of a tax or license fee by a city or town is
forbidden by general law.

22. The sergeant shall have the power to collect the town taxes,
levies and fines, and on and after the first day of December in every year
to distrain and sell therefor, in like manner as is now provided for by law
for the collection of State taxes; and shall have the same powers as
county treasurers to enforce the payment of such taxes and levies, and
such sergeant may, at any time, be removed by the council for any
default in duty or for failure to promptly and properly account for any
money in his hands, as the council may direct.

23. There shall be a lien on real estate for town taxes and levies
assessed thereon, from the commencement of the year for which they are
assessed, and the council may order and require real estate in the town
delinquent for the non-payment of taxes thereon to be sold or rented 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 sur-
plus shall be paid to the person entitled thereto; and the council may
regulate the terms on which real estate so delinquent may be redeemed.
The sale of real estate sold under this section shall be conducted in the
same manner and upon the same notice as is now provided for by law for
real estate delinquent for State taxes; and when there is a failure to
redeem within the time prescribed by the council, the recorder of the
town shall make conveyance of the real estate sold, in the same manner
as is now provided by law for conveyances by clerks of courts of land sold
for State taxes. Any lien for town taxes and levies, and any conveyances
under this section, shall be subject to the lien of the State or county for
all taxes due on the real estate upon which such lien is, or which may
have been conveyed.

24. The said town and taxable persons and property therein shall
be exempt and free from payment of any road tax for any year in which
it Spat appear that said town shall, at its own expense, keep its streets
in order.

25. The council shall not take or use any private property for streets
or other public use without making the owner or owners thereof a just
compensation for the same, but in all cases where the property cannot
be obtained by agreement between the council and said owner or owners,
it shall be lawful for the council to apply to and obtain from the county
or circuit court of Wise county authority to condemn the same, which
shall be applied for and proceeded with according to law.

26. In every case where a street in said town has been or shall be
encroached upon any fence, building or otherwise, the council may re-
quire the owner (if known, or if unknown, the occupant of the ‘ouse
encroaching) to remove the same, and if such removal be .0t made
within the time prescribed by council, they may impose a fine of five
dollars for each and every day it 1s allowed to continue thereafter, and
may cause the encroachment to be removed and collect from the cwner
all reasonable charges therefor, with costs, by the same process as is
hereinbefore provided for the collection of taxes. No encroachment
upon any street, however long continued, shall constitute any adverse
possession to, or confer any right upon, the persons claiming thereunder
as against the said town.

27. Persons now holding offices as follows: M. W. Vicars, mayor,
W. B. Addington, sergeant, W. E. Dean, recorder, and C. W. Renfro,
J. P. Craft, Cam Slemp and W. E. Kilgore, councilmen, shal! continue
to hold the same until their term of office shall expire under the old
charter and until their successors shall have duly qualified and these
said persons are vested with all the mghts, powers, duties and authority
which is granted under this charter and under the general laws of this
State to officers of other towns of less than five thousand inhabitants;
and all Jaws and ordinances in force immediately before the passage of
this charter which have been enacted by the said persons now holding
office are hereby validated in so far as they would have been valid if
enacted by any other duly qualified governing body of a town of less
than five thousand inhabitants; and all other laws and ordinances in
force immediately before the inauguration of the present governing
body of this town for the government of this town, or affecting or relat-
ing to said town so far as is consistent herewith, and all rights, liabilities,
actions, claims, contracts, and prosecutions arising thereunder shall
remain and continue as if this act had not been passed.

28. All ordinances in force in said town not inconsistent with this
act, the laws of this State and of the United States, shall be and remain
in force until altered, amended, or repealed by the council.

29. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with this act and all pre-
vious special acts relating to the town of Gladeville are hereby repealed.

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