Chap. 206.--An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Grundy, and to
repeal all other acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith. [H B 472]

Approved March 18, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virgimia, That the
inhabitants of the territory in Buchanan county contained within the
boundaries prescribed by section two hereof, be and shall continue to
be a body politic and corporate, in fact and in name, under the name
and style of the town of Grundy, and as such shall have and exercise
all the powers conferred by and be subject to all the laws of the State
of Virginia for the government of towns of less than five thousand
inhabitants, so far as the same are not inconsistent with the provisions
of this act.

2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: Beginning at
the mouth of the lower Mill branch of Slate creek; thence a straight
line in a southwesterly direction, crossing the ridge between Slate
creek and New House branch thereof to a point one hundred feet due
east of the residence of J. R. Davis; thence a straight line, continuing
‘in a southwesterly direction, but not on the same degree as the last
call, to a point in the center of the State highway leading from Grundy,
Virginia, to Raven, Virginia, in the line between the lands of J. N.
Watkins’ heirs and R. G. Watkins’ heirs; thence a straight line, cross-
ing the spur between Three and Twenty Mile branch and Levisa
River, to the mouth of Ramp Hollow of Three and Twenty Mile
branch; thence a straight line, almost due north, to the mouth of
Becky branch of Levisa river, near the residence of D. C. Ratliff;
thence due north to the top of the ridge between Levisa river and Six
and Twenty Mile branch; thence an eastwardly course, with the top
of said ridge, to the nearest point where same will drain into the
waters of Dave branch of Slate creek; thence due east crossing Dave
branch and Lower Mill branch to a point three hundred feet east of
the center of Mill branch; thence down said lower Mill branch by a
line which shall be at all times three hundred feet due east of-the
center of said lower Mill branch to the center of Slate creek; thence
down with the center of Slate creek to the mouth of lower Mill branch,
the place of beginning.

3. The council of said town shall consist of a mayor and six other
electors, all of whom shall be residents of said town.

4. There shall be a recorder for said town, who shall have the
same qualifications as the members of the council, and who shall be
elected by the council, and who shall hold said office during the
pleasure of the council. It shall be the duty of the recorder to attend
and keep a record of the meetings of the council, and perform all other
duties prescribed by statute, and all other and additional duties pre-
scribed by the said council. He shall execute bond, payable to said
town, in the penalty to be fixed by the council, and with the surety
approved by the council, at any time required by the council; and
the council may at any time require a new bond to be executed, for a
greater or less amount.

5. There shall be a sergeant for said town, who shall be elected
by the council, and who shall hold said office during the pleasure of
the council. The sergeant shall perform such duty and be invested
with such authority as provided by general statutes for sergeants and
police officers of a town, and he shall be the chief police officer of the
town, and shall perform such other and general duties and be invested
with such other authority as the town council may prescribe. The
sergeant shall have power to execute, within the corporate limits of
said town, and elsewhere in Buchanan county, any civil or criminal
proceedings, or any warrant or process directed to him by the mayor
or councilman of said town, or by the juvenile judge or any justice of
the peace of said county, for which services he shall be allowed the
same compensation as constables for like services. The sergeant
shall be over the age of twenty-one years, and need not be an elector
or resident of said town. He shall execute bond, payable to said
town, in the penalty to be fixed by the council, and with the surety
approved by the council, at any time required by the council; and
the council may at any time require a new bond to be executed, for a
greater or less amount.

6. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the town.
He shall have control of the police of the town, and may appoint
special police officers, when and for such time as he may deem nec-
essary, which special police officers so appointed shall have all the
powers exercised by the sergeant in said town, and within one mile
of the corporate limits thereof.

All by-laws and ordinances, before they become valid and opera-

tive, shall have the signature of the mayor, and he shall have the veto
power, but any by-law or ordinance may be enacted over the mayor's
veto by a vote of two-thirds of the members of the council. All by-
laws and ordinances enacted by the council shall become effective
immediately upon their passage and approval by the mayor, unless
otherwise provided thereby.
7. The mayor, sergeant and councilmen shall be vested with,
and exercise all the rights and authority granted and conferred upon
such officers of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants, by the
Constitution and general statutes of the Commonwealth, so far as
the same are not in conflict with the provisions of this act.

- The council shall have the power to pass all ordinances for the
proper government of the said town, and for the protection of the
health, safety, morality, comfort and welfare of the people thereof,
and to preserve the peace and good order of the town, and to protect
and preserve the property in said town, and shall have and exercise
all the power and privileges conferred upon the town councils of towns
of less than five thousand inhabitants, so far as the same are not in-
consistent with the provisions of this act.

9. The town council shall have the power and authority to re-
quire the owners or occupiers of real estate within the corporate
limits of the town, which may front or abut on the line of any sewer
line or conduit, to make connections therewith, and to use such sewer
pipes and conduit, under such ordinances and regulations as the
council may deem necessary to secure the proper sewerage thereof,
and to improve and secure proper sanitary conditions, and to fix and
impose the charges and fines to be paid by the owners or occupiers of
the properties, and persons served thereby, for tapping and using such
sewers, pipes and conduits; to make regulations for the use, enjoy-
ment, protection and care of the sewerage system, pipes, conduits and
water supply of the town; and shall have the power to enforce the
observance of all such ordinances and regulations by the imposition
and collection of fines and penalties to be collected as other fines and
penalties for the violation of ordinances of the town are collected;
and shall have the power and authority to purchase, and otherwise
acquire springs, wells and other water supply, and to purchase, lay
and maintain reservoirs, pipe lines, dams and other means for furnish-
ing an adequate water supply, and to fix the charge for water fur-
nished by the town.

10. The town council shall have the power and authority to
adopt the jail of Buchanan county as the jail of the said town, and
the jailer of said county shall at all times receive and confine in said
jail all persons sentenced thereto for a violation of any of the ordi-
nances or laws of said town, for the same fees as he may receive for
State prisoners, and the town council may compel any prisoner to
work upon the streets or other public improvements or works of the
town, unless physically incapable of so doing, while serving a sentence
in jail, or while being confined therein for failure to pay any fine and
costs imposed by an officer of the town.

11. The boundaries of the town of Grundy shall constitute a
separate road district, and it shall be the duty of the council of said
town to provide for and keep the streets and roads within the cor-
porate limits of said town (subject to the supervision, control and
maintenance by the State Highway Department of such part of said
roads as may be in the State Highway system) in repair and clear of
all fences and other obstructions; and it shall be the duty of the county
treasurer of Buchanan county to settle with and pay over to the
council of said town, on or before December thirty-first, nineteen
hundred and twenty-six, and each succeeding December thirty-first
thereafter, all the county and district road taxes collected by him
during that calendar year, on real and personal property, and on all
other property subject to road taxes, within the limits of said town.

12. The town council shall have the power and authority to levy
and collect such taxes on such classes of property, real and personal,
in said town, as in the opinion of the council maybe necessary to meet
the expenses of the town, and to make such permanent improvements
as may be ordered by the council, and may impose on any person or
corporation a license tax for the privilege of engaging in any business
or trade in the town, or for practicing any profession therein, whether
said business, trade or profession requires or has any capital invested
thereon, or whether a license is imposed thereon by the State or not,
and may’ impose a license tax on the residents of said town for the
privilege of operating therein any motor or other vehicle; and said
council shall have the power to impose ‘such fines and penalties as
it may deem proper for failure to secure any license required by it.

13. In every case where a street, alley, park or public property
of the town has been, or shall be, occupied or encroached upon by a
fence, building, porch, projection or otherwise, without first having
obtained consent thereto from the town council or a franchise theretor,
such occupancy or encroachment shall be deemed a nuisance, and the
owner or occupant of the premises encroaching, upon conviction of so
doing, before the mayor or any councilman of the town, shall be fined
not less than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars, each day’s con-
tinuance of the said occupancy or encroachment to constitute a
separate offense, such fine to be recovered in the name of the town
and for its use, and the town council may require the owner of the
premises encroaching, if known, or if not known, the occupant thereof,
to remove the encroachment within a reasonable time, and ‘if such
removal be not made within the time prescribed by the council, to
cause the encroachment to be removed, and collect from the owner,
or if the owner be not known, the occupant, all reasonable charges
therefor with costs, by the same process that they are authorized by
law to collect taxes.

No encroachment upon any street or alley, however long con-
tinued, shall constitute any adverse possession to or confer any
rights upon the person claiming thereunder, as against the town.
14. The town council shall have the power and authority, without
reference thereof to a vote of the people, to issue certificates of in-
debtedness, revenue bonds or other obligations, issued in advance of
the collection of the revenue of the town for the then current year;
provided, that such certificates, bonds and other obligations mature
within one year from the date of their issue, and be not past due, and
do not exceed the sum of five hundred dollars; and the said town
council shall have the further power and authority without reference
thereof to a vote of the people, to issue a certificate or certificates of
indebtedness, revenue bonds or other obligations of the town of
Grundy, issued in advance of the collection of the revenues of the
town, not exceeding the sum of five thousand dollars, to be used only
for the purposes of permanent improvements, and not otherwise, by
a recorded affirmative vote of not less than five members of the town
council, in which the mayor shall have one vote along with the other
members of said town council, which said bond or bonds shall mature
and be payable within a period or periods not exceeding ten years
from the date thereof.

15. The said town council may provide for the payment of any
levies and taxes assessed by it against any property at any time during
the year it may see fit, and may fx any reasonable penalty for the
non-payment thereof within a stated time.

~ 16. The commissioner of the revenue for the magisterial district
of Buchanan county in which said town is located shall assess the
properties, both real and personal, of said town in a separate place in
his book from the properties outside of said town.

17. All ordinances now in force in the town of Grundy, not in-
consistent with this act, shall be and remain in force until altered,
amended or repealed by the town council. And the present officers
now serving the town shall be and remain in office until the expiration
of their several terms or until their successors qualify, and the next
election of town officers, which are to be elected by the people, shall
he held in the year nineteen hundred and twenty-seven, and every
second year thereafter, at the time fixed by the general laws for the
election of town officers.

18. All acts or parts of acts in ‘conflict with this act are hereby
repealed, in so far as they might affect the provisions of this act and all
former acts chartering or amending the charter of the town of Grundy
are hereby repealed.

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