Chap. 238.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 35 and 65, as heretofore
amended, of an act entitled “an act to provide a new charter for the town of
Covington, in the county of Alleghany, and to repeal all other acts with ref-
erence thereto,” approved April 2, 1902, the sections here amended being in
relation to the town council, and to repeal all acts and parts of acts in conflict.

| [S B 296]
Approved March 23, 1932

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
thirty-five and sixty-five, as heretofore amended, of an act entitled “an
act to provide a new charter for the town of Covington, in the county
of Alleghany, and to repeal all other acts with reference thereto,” ap-
proved April second, nineteen hundred and two, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 35. The town council, as now constituted or hereafter
elected, shall have, subject to the provisions of this act, the control
and management of the fiscal and municipal affairs of the town and
of property, real and personal, belonging to said town, and make such
ordinances, orders, and by-laws relating to the same as they shall
deem proper and necessary; they shall likewise have power to make
such ordinances, orders, and by-laws and regulations they shall deem
necessary and proper and to carry out the powers which are hereby
vested in them.

First. To establish, enlarge, and operate a system of sewerage,
water works, gas works, and electric light works within or without
the limits of the town; to contract or agree with the owners of any
land for the use and purchase thereof, or to have the same condemned
according to law, within or without the town, for the location, exten-
sion and enlargement of their said works, the pipes or wire connected
therewith, or any other appurtenances or fixtures thereof, and shall
have power to protect from injury, by ordinance prescribing adequate
penalties, the works, pipes, fixtures, and land, or anything connected
therewith, whether within or without the limits of said town.

Second. To close or extend, widen or narrow, straighten, lay out,
graduate, curb or pave or otherwise improve the streets, sidewalks and
public alleys in the town, and have them kept in good order and
properly lighted; and over any street or alley in the town which has
been or may be ceded to the town or conveyed to the town by proper
deed, they shall have like power and authority as over other streets
and alleys; they may build bridges in and conduits under said streets
or authorize the construction of conduits and annex conditions and
restrictions to the construction, maintenance and use thereof, and may
require such conduits to be altered, removed or relocated, either per-
manently or temporarily and they may prevent or remove any structure,
obstruction or encroachment over or under or in any street, sidewalk
or alley in said town; and may permit shade trees to be planted along
said streets; but no company, firm or individual shall occupy with its
or his works the streets, sidewalks or alleys of the town without the
consent of the council duly entered of record; and wherever, in the
construction of any sewer or conduit it is necessary that the same should
pass through or under private property, the said council shall have
authority to contract and agree with the owners thereof for the use
and purchase of the right of way through or under the same or have
the same condemned according to law. And no order shall be made,
and no injunction shall be awarded, by any court or judge, to stay the
proceedings of the town in the prosecution of their works, unless it be
manifest that they, their officers, agents or servants are transcending the
authority given them by this act, and that the interposition of the court
is necessary to prevent injury that cannot be adequately compensated
in damages. And in any action against the town to recover damages
against it for any negligence where any person is liable with the town
for such negligence, every such person shall be joined as defendant
with the town in any action brought to recover damages for such
negligence, and where there is a verdict or judgment against the town,
as well as the other defendant, it shall be ascertained by either the
court or the jury which of the defendants is primarily liable for the
damages assessed. No action shall be maintained against the said
town for damages for any injury to any person or property alleged to
have been sustained by reason of the negligence of the town, or of any
officer, agent or employee thereof, unless a written statement, verified
by the oath of the claimant, his agent or attorney, or the personal
representative of any decedent whose death is the result of the alleged
negligence of the town, its officers, agents or employees, of the nature
of the claim and the time and place at which the injury is alleged to
have occurred or been received shall have been filed with the town
attorney of said town or mayor of said town within sixty days after
such cause of action shall have accrued, and no officer, agent or em-
ployee of the town shall have authority to waive such conditions
precedent or any of them.

Third. To prevent the cumbering of streets, sidewalks, alleys,
lanes, or bridges in the town in any manner whatever, and to have
full and complete control of the same.

Fourth. To determine and designate the route and grade of any
railroad to be laid in said town, and to restrain and regulate the speed
of bicycles, traction engines, locomotives, engines, and cars upon the
railroads within said town, and may wholly exclude such engines and
cars if they please, provided that no contract is hereby violated.

Fifth. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious, or
other dangerous diseases; to establish, erect, and regulate hospitals;
to provide for and enforce the removal of patients to said hospitals;
to appoint and organize a board of health for said town, with the
authority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its
duties.

Sixth. To require and compel the abatement and removal of all
nuisances within said town at the expense of the person or persons
causing the same, or the owner or owners of the ground whereon the
same may be; to require and compel the owners of houses in the town,
or if the owner be unknown or absent, the occupants of such houses,
to connect their water-closets and water drains with the sewer of the
town, provided such sewer be within a distance of sixty feet of the lot
upon which such house or houses are situated; and upon their failure
so to do, the same may be done by the town, and the cost attending the
same shall be collected from the owners or occupants of such houses
as taxes are herein in this act allowed to be collected by the town.

Seventh. If any ground in said town shall be subject to be covered
with stagnant water, or if the owner or occupiers thereof shall permit
any offensive or unwholesome substance to remain or accumulate there-
in, the council may cause such grounds to be filled up, raised or drained,
or may cause such substance to be covered or to be removed therefrom
and may collect the expenses of so doing from the said owner, or
owners, occupier, or occupiers, or any of them, by distress and sale, in
the same manner in which taxes levied upon real estate for the benefit
of said town are authorized to be collected; provided, that reasonable
notice shall first be given to said owners or their agents. In case of
nonresident owners who have no agents in said town, such notice may
be given by publication for not less than four weeks in any newspaper
printed in said town. | .

Eighth. To direct the location of all buildings for storing gun-
power, fire-crackers, or other fireworks manufactured or prepared
therefrom, kerosene oil, nitroglycerine, camphene, burning fluid, or
other combustible material; to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the
discharge of firearms, the use of candles and lights in barns, stables,
or other buildings, and to regulate or restrain the, making of bonfires
in streets and yards. |

Ninth. To prevent horses, cattle, hogs, dogs, and all other animals
from running at large in said town, and may subject the same to such
confiscations, regulations, and taxes as they may deem proper ; and the
council may prohibit the raising and keeping of hogs in the town, or
in any part thereof.

Tenth. To prevent the riding or driving of horses or animals at
any improper speed, throwing stones, or engaging in any employment
or sport on the streets, sidewalks or public alleys dangerous or annoy-
ing to passengers, and to prohibit and punish the abuse or cruel treat-
ment of horses or other animals in said town.

Eleventh. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street
beggars; to prevent vice and immorality, obscenity, and profanity; to
preserve peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances,
and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gam-
bling houses; to prevent lewd, indecent and disorderly conduct or ex-
hibitions in said town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such
conduct.

Twelfth. To prevent, forbid, and punish the selling of liquor and
intoxicating drinks in any place not duly licensed, and the selling or
giving any intoxicating liquor to any child or minor; to provide for
regulating the sale, within the town and within one mile of the corporate
limits thereof, of cider or other beverages containing alcohol, and to
control the sale of same through its police officers, and to prevent,
forbid and punish the selling or giving of cigarettes to any minor
under sixteen years of age without the consent in writing of his or her
parents or guardian, and for any violation of anv such ordinance may
be imposed such fine as the council may prescribe.

Thirteenth. To prevent the coming into the town of persons having
no ostensible means of support, and of persons who may be dangerous
to the peace and safety of the town, and for those may require any
railroad company or stage company, or any person or persons bringing
such persons to said town, to enter into bond, with satisfactory
security, that said persons shall not become chargeable to the town
for the period of one year thereafter, or may require and compel said
company or persons to take them back whence they brought them, and
compel said persons to leave town; provided, that such order to leave
be issued within sixty days after their arrival.

Fourteenth. To designate such portions and parts of the town as
they may deem proper within which no buildings of wood shall be
erected; to prohibit the erection of wooden buildings in any portion
of the town without their permission; and on the petition of the
owners of at least one-fourth of the ground included in any square of
said town to prohibit the erection on such square of any building or
addition to any building, unless the outer walls thereof be made of
brick and mortar, or stone and mortar, and to provide for the removal
of any such building or addition which shall be erected contrary to
such prohibition at the expense of the builder or owner thereof, and
if any such building shall have been commenced before said petition can
be acted upon by the council, or if any building in progress of erection
appears clearly to be unsafe, the council may cause such building to
be taken down.

Fifteenth. In addition to the special powers hereinbefore speci-
fically delegated to the town council, all general powers not in conflict
with the laws of this State or of the United States necessary for the
proper and efficient government of said town, and which are, by law,
allowed to municipal corporations, are hereby likewise delegated to and
vested in the said town council.

Section 65. The council shall annually, at its regular meeting in
May, or- as soon thereafter as practicable, order a levy upon all male
and female persons within said town over twenty-one years of age,
not exempt by law from the payment of the State capitation tax, and
on all real estate and personal property within said town subject to
local taxation and not expressly segregated to the State for purposes
of State taxation only; provided, however, that the tax on persons shall
be fifty cents, and the tax on property shall be as provided by the gen-
eral laws concerning levies by town councils. ,

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