Chap. 208.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 4 (26), 7, 18, 28 (a),
(d), 31 (e), (h), 40, 50 (a), (d), and 56, of an act entitled an act to
provide a new charter for the city of Bristol, and to repeal all acts or parts
of acts in conflict therewith, approved March 19, 1920, as heretofore amended.

[H B 197]

Approved March 22, 1930

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
four (twenty-six), seven, eighteen, twenty-eight (a), (e), thirty-one
(e), (b), forty, fifty (a), (d), and fifty-six of an act to provide a
new charter for the city of Bristol, and to repeal all acts or parts of
acts in conflict therewith, approved March nineteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and twenty, and all amendments thereto, be amended and re
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4. (26) To establish, organize and administer public
schools and libraries subject to the general laws establishing a standarc
of education for the State; to own, operate and appropriate money
for the support of a public library, separately or jointly with the city
of Bristol, Tennessee; to so own and lease lands and buildings there.
for, either in said city or in Bristol, Tennessee.

Section 7. Composition of council and vacancies.——The counci
shall consist of five members, who shall be elected on a general ticke
from the city at large, and the three members thereof whose term:
of office began September first, nineteen hundred and twenty-nine,
shall serve for a term of four years, and until their successors shall
have been duly elected and qualified, and the two remaining members,
whose terms of office began September first, nineteen hundred and
twenty-seven, shall serve for a term of four years, and until their suc-
cessors shall have been elected and qualified.

Section 18. Municipal elections--A municipal election shall be
held on the second Tuesday in June of every second year after the
year nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, and shall be known as the
regular municipal election for the election of councilmen. All other
municipal elections that may be held shall be known as the special
municipal elections except the election mentioned in section twenty
hereof.

Except as herein otherwise provided registration nominations and
elections held under this charter shall be in accordance with the general
laws of the State.

Section 28. The city attorney—(a) Together, with the mayor
and city manager, the city attorney shall have the management, charge
and entire control of all the law business of the city, and shall be the
legal adviser of and the attorney and council for, the municipality,
and all its officers in matters relating to their official duty; he shall
give written opinions to any officers or department or official commis-
sion of the city, when requested so to do, and shall file a copy of the
same with the city clerk. ,

(d). No special or additional attorneys shall be retained or em-
ployed except by authority of the council, and the fees of the city
attorney, and special counsel when so employed, shall be approved by
the mayor and city manager before payment; or, in case the two fail
or decline to approve, shall be referred to the council for action.

Section 31. (e) He shall have power to enforce the payment
of any fine or penalty imposed by him for violation of city ordinances
by imprisonment in the. city jail, and, if not prohibited by general law,
by sentence to work on the roads, as in case of conviction for violation
of State laws.

(h) In case of the absence from the city or inability to act in
any particular case, said police justice may designate one of the jus-
tices of the peace or other person to act in his place, who, when acting,
shall possess the same powers, and discharge the same duties as said
police justice and receive the same compensation, provided that if
such absence or inability shall continue more than two days, such
designation shall be made by the judge of the corporation court, if
then within the jurisdiction of said court, but if not within such juris-
diction, the designation of the police justice shall continue until the
return of the judge, who shall then appoint, if the police justice is
then absent.

Section 40. Public improvement contracts, et cetera.—Any public
work or improvement, costing more than one thousand ($1,000.00)
dollars shall be executed by contract, except where a specific work of
improvement is, by the council, authorized and directed to be done by
force account, such work to be based on detailed estimates submitted
by the department authorized to execute such work or improvement,
and approved by the city manager. All such contracts for more than
one thousand dollars shall be awarded by the council to the lowest
responsible bidder in such manner and under such bond as may be
prescribed by ordinance and after the city manager shall have made
due advertisement for such time as the council may prescribe, by
newspaper or posted notices. But the city manager or council shall
have the power to reject all of the bids and advertise again; and all
advertisements shall contain a reservation of this right.

In an emergency requiring immediate action, the city manager
may proceed to do the work by procuring the required labor and
materials without the necessity of advertising.

Section 50. General taxes—(a) The council may impose a tax
of one dollar per annum upon all residents of the city who have at-
tained the age of twenty-one years.

(d) The council of the city of Bristol is authorized to and shall
annually order a city 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, to meet the appropriations made and
to be made and all sums required by law to be raised for the pur-
poses of the city. The levy so ordered may be upon all persons in
the said city above the age of twenty-one, not exempt by law from the
payment of the State capitation tax, and upon any property therein
subject to local taxation and not expressly segregated to the State for
purposes of State taxation only, and on such other subjects as may
be at the time assessed with State taxes against persons residing
therein; provided, however, that said city may levy a tax upon intang1-
ble personal property assessed to residents therein and segregated by
law to the State for the purposes of State taxation, at any rate not ex-
ceeding the maximum rate provided by law.

It is hereby expressly provided that said council shall, in its discre-
tion, be authorized to fix such annual levy on property subject to
taxation in the city of Bristol, for city purposes, without any limit
as to the rate thereof, any provision of the general laws of the State
to the contrary notwithstanding, provided that said council shall not
fix such levy on property partially segregated to the State for pur-
poses of State taxation at a higher rate than is or may be permitted
by the general laws relating thereto.

Section 56. Salaries and compensation.—The respective officers
provided for in this charter shall receive such salaries, compensation,
fees and emoluments as may be provided by the general laws of the
State, and prescribed by the council of the city of Bristol, except as
herein otherwise provided.

The members of the council shall receive no salary for the term
ending August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-one, but the
present and succeeding councils shall provide by ordinance the com-
pensation to be received by the members composing same, which shall
not be in excess of five dollars ($5.00) for each meeting of the council
attended, nor in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00) a year for
each member, unless otherwise provided by general law.

The mayor shall receive a salary of three hundred dollars ($300.00)
per year, payable in monthly installments of twenty-five dollars ($25.00)
each, until September first, nineteen hundred and thirty, after which
date he shall receive a salary of not less than three hundred dollars
($300.00) nor more than six hundred dollars ($600.00), to be fixed by
the council, payable in equal monthly installments, unless otherwise
provided by general law.