Chap. 39.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act incerporat-
ing Pamplin City, Virginia, approved March 24, 1874, as _ heretofore
amended. [S B 50]

Approved February 26, 1926.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled an act incorporating Pamplin City, Virginia, approved March
twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

2. The town of Pamplin City, in the counties of Appomattox and
Prince Edward, as the same has been heretofore laid off into lots,
streets and alleys, and as the same may be hereafter laid off and ex-
tended into lots, streets, and alleys, shall be and continue to be, and
is hereby made a town corporate by the name of the town of Pamplin
City, and by that name shall have and exercise all the powers con-
ferred upon towns of less than five thousand population by the laws
of the State of Virginia.

3. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: Beginning at
a rock pile on the Hixburg road, above a place commonly known as
Lowe’s crossing; thence forty degrees, west fifty poles, to a point in
Davis’ field; thence south sixteen degrees, west fifty-six and a half
poles, to a white oak on Lynchburg road; thence south seven degrees,
east one hundred and thirty-eight poles to a red oak, on Franklin’s
estate; thence south thirty-five degrees, east eighty poles, to a white
oak; thence seventy-two degrees, east one hundred and four and a
half poles to a rock pile on Elkin’s line; thence north thirty degrees,
east seventy-six and three-fifths poles to a white oak; thence north
thirty-six degrees, west fifty-seven poles, to a fence post on the new
road to Pamplin City; thence north three degrees, east fifty-three and
four-fifths poles to an oak tree; thence north seventy-seven and one-
half degrees, west fifty-one and one-half poles, to a poplar tree near
a branch in Merrell’s land; thence north thirty-six degrees, west
eighty-eight poles, to a rock in Dore Pamplin’s field; thence north
fifteen degrees, west eighty-six poles, to the beginning.

4. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of said town,
every two years, on the second Tuesday of June, one elector thereof,
who shall be denominated the mayor, and six electors who shall
be denominated the councilmen of said town. The mayor and coun-
cilmen shall constitute the council of said town. The first election
under this act shall be held on the second Tuesday in June in the year
nineteen hundred and eight. And the mayor and councilmen of said
town who constitute the present council thereof, and all the other
officers of said town shall continue in office and to discharge the
duties thereof until the term for which they were respectively elected
or appointed shall have expired, and until their successors shall have
been elected or appointed, and qualified.

5. The electoral board of the county of Appomattox (in which
county the greater part of said town is situated) shall, not less than
fifteen days before any election in said town, appoint one registrar and
three judges of election for said town, and the said judges of election
shall also act as commissioners of election. The said registrars shall,
before any election in said town, register all voters who are residents
of said town, and who shall have previously registered in the county,
or either of them, in which said town is situated, and none others.
The said registrar shall be governed, as to his qualifications and
powers, and in the performance of his duties by the general laws of
this Commonwealth, so far as the same may be applicable.

6. Such lists of registered voters shall be placed by the registrar
in the hands of the judges of election, who shall, at the time and in the
manner prescribed by law, open a poll at the place designated by an
ordinance of said town, or by the judges of election; and the manner
of receiving the ballots and of canvassing the vote shall conform to the
general law, and for the purpose of canvassing the vote the judges of
the election shall meet at the clerk’s office of the county of Appomat-
tox and, acting as commissioners of election, shall canvass the vote
and declare the result. The clerk of said county shall be ex-officio
clerk of said board of canvassers so constituted, any two of whom
shall constitute a quorum, and said clerk shall immediately make out,
in pursuance of the determination of the commissioners, a certificate
of election of each of the persons having the highest number of votes
for mayor and councilmen, respectively, and for any other office in
said town voted for at such election; or in case of a tie, who have been
decided by lot to have been elected, and deliver the same to the per-
son elected upon his making application therefor.

7. The persons so elected shall enter upon the duties of their
office on the first day of September next succeeding their election, and
shall continue in the office until their terms shall have expired and
their successors shall have qualified.

8. Every person elected a councilman of said town shall take an
oath faithfully to execute the duties of his office to the best of his
judgment. The person elected mayor shall take oath prescribed by
law for all State officers.

9. Inaddition to the powers conferred by the general laws of Vir-
ginia, the council of said town shall have power to lay off streets,
walks, and alleys; alter, improve, and light the same and have them
kept in good order, to lay off public grounds and provide all buildings
proper for the town; to provide a prison house and workhouse, and
employ managers, physicians, nurses and servants for same, prescribe
regulations for their government and discipline, and for the persons
therein; to prescribe the time for holding markets and regulate the
same; to prevent injury or annoyance from anything dangerous, offen-
sive, or unhealthy, and cause any nuisance to be abated; to regulate the
keeping of gun-powder and other combustibles, and provide magazines
for the same; to provide in or near the town water works, and places
for the interment of the dead; to prevent pollution of the water and
injury to the water works, for which purpose their jurisdiction shall
extend five miles above the same; to make regulations concerning the
building of houses in the town; to make regulations for the purpose
of guarding against danger from accidents by fire, and, on the petitions
of the owners of not less than two-thirds of the ground included in
any square, to prohibit the erection in such square of any building,
or any addition to any building more than ten feet high, unless th
outer walls thereof be made of brick and mortar, or of stone ang
mortar, and provide for the removal of any building or addition erectex
contrary to such prohibition; to provide for the weighing or measuriny
of hay, coal, or any other articles for sale, and regulate the transpor
tation thereof through the streets; protect the property of the tow:
and its inhabitants, and preserve peace and good order therein. Fo
carrying into effect these and other powers, they may make ordinance:
and by-laws, and prescribe fines or other punishments for violatior
thereof, keep a town guard, appoint a collector of taxes and levies
and such other officers as they may deem proper, define their powers
prescribe their duties and compensation, and take from any of them
a bond, with sureties, in such penalty as to the council may seem fit,
payable to the town by its corporate name, and with condition for
the faithful discharge of the said duties.

10. The council of the said town, four members whereof, shall
constitute a quorum for the transaction of business, may adopt rules
for regulation of their proceedings, but no tax shall be levied or cor-
porate debt contracted unless by a vote of two-thirds of the council,
which vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and recorded on the jour-
nal. The mayor shall preside over the council, and when he is absent
they may appoint a president pro tempore. A journal shall be kept
of their proceedings, and at the request of any member present the
yeas and nays shall be taken on any question. At the next meeting
the proceedings shall be read and signed by the person who was pre-
siding when the previous meeting adjourned, or if he be not present,
by the person presiding when they were read.

11. In addition to the State tax on any license, the council of
said town may, when anything for which a license is so required within
said town, impose a tax for the privilege of doing the same, and re-
quire a license to be obtained therefor; and in any case in which they
see fit, require from the person or corporation so licensed bond, with
sureties, in such penalty and with such condition as they may deem
proper, or make other regulations concerning the same. They may
also impose a tax and require a license to be obtained for the privilege
of keeping in the town for hire any wheeled carriage.

Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to authorize
the imposition of a tax in any case where the general law prohibits
cities and towns from imposing the same.

12. The council of said town shall cause to be made up and en-
tered on their journal an account of all sums lawfully chargeable on
the town which ought to be paid within one year, and order a town
levy of so much as in their opinion is necessary to be raised in that
way in addition to what may be received for licenses and from other
sources. The levy so ordered may be upon the male persons in the
said town above the age of twenty-one years, and upon any property
therein and on such other subjects as may at the time be assessed with
State taxes against persons residing therein, subject to local taxation.

13. The time for the regular meeting of the council of said town
shall be the first Tuesday in each month; and the council may be con-
vened at any time upon the call in writing of the mayor, or any three
members thereof.

14. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said town in
criminal matters, and for the purpose of imposing and collecting a li-
cense tax on all shows, performances and exhibitions shall extend one
mile beyond the corporate limits thereof.

15. The mayor of said town and the other members of the council
shall be clothed with all the powers and: authority of a justice in civil
matters within the corporate limits of the town and in criminal mat-
ters within said limits and one mile beyond same; and shall have
power to issue process, hear and determine all prosecutions, cases and
controversies which may arise under the by-laws and ordinances of the
town; impose fines and inflict punishment when and wherever they are
authorized by said by-laws and ordinances, and issue executions for the
collection of said ffnes; and appeals may be taken to the circuit court of
the county from their decisions in both civil and criminal matters in
the same manner, and upon the same terms, and be tried in the same
way as appeals from the decision of a justice are taken and tried in
like cases, except that no appeal shall be granted from the decision
of the mayor or the member of the council trying the same imposing
a fine for the violation of any of the ordinarices or by-laws of said
town for offenses not made criminal by the common law or the stat-
utes of Virginia until and after bond be given by the person so fined,
with security approved by the mayor or councilman imposing the
same, conditioned to pay all fines, costs, and damages that may be
awarded by the said court on appeal; ‘the penalty of said bond to be
double the sum sufficient to pay all such fines, costs, and damages.

16. The town of Pamplir, City shall have the use of the jail of
Appomattox county, to aid the constituted authorities of said town
in maintaining peace and good order, and generally for the enforce-
ment of its ordinances and by-laws, unless for good cause the judge of
the circuit court of said county shall prohibit such use.

17. In consideration that the said town shall work and keep in
order all streets,:alleys and roads within its corporate limits, except
State highways, the residents and property therein shall be exempt
from the payment of all county and district road taxes heretofore and
hereafter charged and levied against the same, and for this purpose
the council of the said town may impose a tax on all property men-
tioned under section twelve hereof, not to exceed fifty cents on the
one hundred dollar value thereof, which shall be in addition to the
tax or levy authorized in sections eleven and twelve hereof and the
town of Pamplin shall constitute a separate road district, in the coun-
ties of Appomattox and Prince Edward.

18. All streets, cross streets, roads, and sidewalks already laid
off and open to the public, and now used by the public as such accord-
ing to law, or which may at any time be surveyed and opened to the
public in the said town, be and are hereby established as public streets,
cross streets, and walkways, and as such shall be under the jurisdic.
tion and control of the said town, and shall not be obstructed, changed,
or relocated, by any abutting property holder without the written
consent of the said council of the said town.
19. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its pas
sage.