Chap. 310.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3, 20 and 31 of an act entitled
an act to provide a new charter for the town of Bluefield, Virginia, and to
repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith, approved March 20, 1930.

[H B 325]
Approved March Z5, 1932 .

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
three, twenty and thirty-one of an act entitled an act to provide a new
charter for the town of Bluefield, Virginia, and to repeal all acts or
parts of acts in conflict therewith, approved March twentieth, nineteen
hundred and thirty, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 3. Powers of the town of Bluefield——In addition to the
powers mentioned in section one hereof, the said town of Bluefield
shall have the following powers;

First. To raise annually by taxes and assessments in said town
such sums of money as the council thereof shall deem necessary for
the purposes of said town, and in such manner as said council shall
deem expedient, in accordance with the Constitution of this State and
of the United States; provided, however, that it shall impose no tax
on the bonds of said town. ,

Second. To impose special or local assessments for local improve-
ments and enforce payment thereof, subject, however, to such limita-
tions prescribed by the Constitution of Virginia, as may be in force at
the time of the imposition of such special or local assessments.

Third. To contract debts, borrow money and make and issue
evidence of indebtedness.

Fourth. To expend the money of the town for all lawful purposes.

Fifth. To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or

otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein,
within or without the town or State and for any of the purposes of
the town; and to hold, improve, sell or lease the same or any part
thereof, including any property now owned by the town; except that
no school property, water works, cemetery, or lighting plant, shall be
sold, unless it is submitted to a vote of the people. _
_ Sixth. To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the town,
and to that end all plats and re-plats subdividing any land within the
town or within one mile of the corporate limits thereof, into streets,
alleys, roads, and lots or tracts shall be submitted to and approved by
the council before such plats or re-plats are filed for record or recorded
in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county of Taze-
well, Virginia.

Seventh. To construct, maintain, regulate and operate public im-
provements of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings, and
all buildings and structures necessary or appropriate for the use and
proper operation of ‘the various departments of the town; and to ac-
quire by condemnation or otherwise all lands, riparian and other
rights and easements necessary for such improvements, or any of them.

Eighth. To own, operate and maintain water works and to acquire
in any lawful manner in any county of the State such water, lands,
property rights and riparian rights as the council of said town may
deem necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate water supply
for said town and of piping or conducting the same; to lay all neces-
sary mains and service lines, either within or without the corporate
limits of the said town, and to charge and collect water rents there-
for; to erect and maintain all necessary dams, pumping stations and
other works in connection therewith; to make reasonable rules and
regulations for promoting the purity of its said water supply and for
protecting the same from pollution; and for this purpose to exercise
full police powers and sanitary patrol over all lands comprised within
the limits of the watershed tributary to any such water supply when-
ever such lands may be located in this State; to impose and enforce
adequate penalties for the violation of any such rules and regulations,
and to prevent by injunction any pollution or threatened pollution of
such water supply and any and all acts likely to impair the purity
thereof; and for the purpose of acquiring lands, interest in lands,
property rights and riparian rights or materials for any such use to
exercise ‘within the State all powers of eminent domain provided by
the laws of this State. For any of the purposes aforesaid said town
may, if the council shall so determine, acquire by condemnation, pur-
chase or otherwise, any estate or interest in such lands or any of
them in fee.

That in addition to the powers mentioned and enumerated in the
preceding sections of this charter, and those granted by general law
to towns, the council of the said town shall have the power:

(a) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation or other-
wise, property, real and personal, or any estate or interest therein,
within or without the town, for the purpose of a water supply for
the said town; to construct, maintain, regulate and operate a water
system for the use and benefit of the public within and without the
corporate limits of said town; to contract with the board of directors
or other governing body of the city of Bluefield, West Virginia, for
the sale to said municipal corporation of its surplus supply of. water
from such system, and to provide in said contract the rates of charge
for said surplus supply of water, and to provide for the collection of
said charges; to contract with the board of directors or other govern-
ing body of the city of Bluefield, West Virginia, for the joint owner-
ship of a public water system.

(b) To employ and fix the compensation of any technical, clerical,
or other force and help which, from time to time, in their judgment,
may be deemed necessary for the construction, operation or main-
tenance of any such system, or to acquire the lands, water supplies,
rights-of-way, options and contracts necessary to perfect such system.

(c) To contract for the purchase of water, for such period of time,
and from time to time, as the judgment of the council deems proper,
from any person, firm, association, corporation, or municipality within
or without the State, and to fix the rates or charges to be paid for such
water, and to provide for the payment of such charges.

(d) To negotiate and contract with any person, firm, corporation
or municipality, whether within or without this State, with regard to
the connection of any such system with any other system or systems
now in operation or hereinafter to be established, and with regard to
any other matter necessary and proper for the construction or opera-
tion and maintenance of any such system.
Tenth. To establish, impose, and enforce water and sewerage
rates; and to assess or to cause to be assessed, after reasonable notice
to the owner or owners, water and sewerage rates and charges directly
against the owners or owner of the buildings, or against the proper
tenant or tenants; and in event of such rates and charges shall be
assessed against a tenant, then the said council may by an ordinance,
require of such tenant a deposit of such reasonable amount as may be
by such ordinance prescribed before furnishing such services to such
tenant.

Eleventh. To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, con-
struct, maintain, light, sprinkle, and clean public highways, streets,
alleys, boulevards and parkways, and to alter or vacate the same; to
establish and maintain parks, playgrounds, and other public grounds ;
to construct, maintain and operate bridges, viaducts, subways, tunnels,
sewers and drains, and to regulate the use of all such highways, parks,
public grounds and works; to plant and maintain or remove shade
trees along the streets and upon such public grounds; to prevent the
obstruction of such streets and highways, abolish and prevent grade
crossings over the same by railroads in the manner prescribed by
general law for the elimination of grade crossings; to acquire any
railroad company operating a railroad at the place where any highway
or street is crossed within the town limits to erect and maintain at
such crossings any style of gate deemed proper and keep a man in
charge thereof, or keep a flagman at such crossing, during such hours
as the council may require; and to regulate the length of time such
crossings may be closed due to any operations of the railroads; to
permit or prohibit poles and wires for electric, telephone and telegraph
purposes to be erected and gas pipes to be laid in the streets and
alleys, and to prescribe and collect an annual charge for such privi-
leges, heretofore or hereafter granted; to require the owner or lessee
of any electric light, telephone or telegraph pole, or poles, or wires now
in use or hereafter used, to be placed in conduits underground and
prescribed rules and regulations for the construction and use of such
conduits; to open, lay out, and improve new streets across the track or
tracks, yard or yards, of any railroad in the town, and any such new
or existing street or streets may cross any such track or tracks, yard
or yards, of any railroads in the town, in the discretion of the council,
either at grade, or pass above or below any such existing structure or
structures; provided, that after due notice to such railroad company
and full opportunity to be heard and after the council shall have decided
whether such crossing shall be made at grade, or pass above or below
any such existing structure or structures, the plans and specifications
for such crossing as the council shall have determined upon, shall be
submitted to the principal agent of such railroad company in the town,
and in the event the town and railroad company cannot within sixty
days thereafter agree upon such plans and specifications, or cannot
agree in regard to the division of the cost of constructing such crossing,
then the town shall submit such plans and specifications to the State
corporation commission, and the State corporation commission, after
reasonable notice to such railroad company and after hearing such
evidence as either party may adduce, shall approve or revise and ap-
prove the plans for such crossing as the council shall have determined
shall be made, or substitute such other plans or character of crossing,
whether at grade, overhead or underpass, as the State corporation
commission may deem proper under all the facts, circumstances and
conditions, and the said improvements shall be made by the corpora-
tion whose track is to be crossed and the expense thereof shall be borne
equally by the said corporation and the town, and after such crossing
shall have been constructed, it shall be maintained, within the limits
of the railroad right of way, by such railroad company or by the lessee
thereof; and to do all other things whatsoever adapted to make said
streets and highways safe, convenient and attractive.

Twelfth. To establish, construct and maintain sanitary sewers,
sewer lines and systems, and to acquire the abutting property owners
to connect therewith and to establish, construct, maintain and operate
sewerage disposal plants, and to acquire by condemnation or other-
wise within or without the town, all lands, right of way, riparian and
other rights and easements necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and
to charge, assess, and collect reasonable fees, rentals or assessments or
costs of service for connecting with and using the same.

Thirteen. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia
and of this charter to grant franchises for public utilities.

Fourteen. To collect and dispose of sewerage, offal, ashes, gar-
bages, carcasses of dead animals, and other refuse, and to make reason-
able charges thereof ; and to acquire and operate reduction or any other
plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials, or any of
them; to contract for and regulate the collection and disposal thereof,
and to require and regulate the collection and disposal thereof.

Fifteen. To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within the town or upon property owned by the town beyond its limits
at the expense of the person or persons causing the same, or of the
owner or occupant on the ground or premises whereon the same may
be, and to collect said expense by suit or motion or by distress and
sale; to require all lands, lots and other premises within the town to be
kept clean and sanitary and free from stagnant water, weeds, filth,
and unsightly deposits, or to make them so at the expense of the
owners or occupants thereof, and to collect said expense by suit or
motion, or by distress and sale; to regulate or prevent slaughter houses
or other noisome or offensive business within the said town, the keeping
of hogs or other animals, poultry or other fowl therein, or the exercise
of any dangerous or unwholesome business, trade or employment
therein ; to regulate the transportation of all articles through the streets
of the town; to compel the abatement of smoke and dust, and prevent
unnecessary noise; to regulate the location of stables and the manner
in which they shall be kept and constructed; to regulate the location,
construction and operation and maintenance of billboards and generally
to define, prohibit, abate, suppress and prevent all things detrimental
to the health, morals, aesthetics, safety, convenience and welfare of the
inhabitants of the town; and to require all owners or occupants of
property having sidewalks in front thereof to keep the same clean
and sanitary, and free from all weeds, filth, unsightly deposits, ice
or snow. , .

Sixteen. To inspect, test, measure, and weigh any commodity or
article of consumption for use within the town, and to establish, regu-
late, license, and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

Seventeen. To extinguish and prevent fires, and to establish,
regulate and control a fire department or division, to regulate the size,
height, materials and construction of buildings, fences, walls, retaining
walls and other structures hereafter erected in such manner as the
public safety and conveniences may require ; to remove or require to be
removed or reconstructed any building, structure or addition thereto,
which by reason of dilapidation, defect or structure, or other causes,
may have become dangerous to life or property, or which may be
erected contrary to law; to establish and designate from time to time
fire limits, within which limits wooden buildings shall not be con-
structed, removed, added to, enlarged, or repaired, and to direct any
or all future buildings within such limits shall be constructed of stone,
natural or artificial, concrete, brick, iron or other fireproof material ;
and may enact stringent and efficient laws for securing the safety of
persons from fires in halls and buildings used for public assemblies,
entertainments or amusements. | }

Eighteen. To charge and to collect fees for permits to use public
facilities and for public service and privileges.

Nineteen. To prevent any person having no visible means of sup-
port, paupers, and persons who may be darigerous to the peace or
safety of the town, from coming to said town from without the same;
and also to expel therefrom any such person who has been in said
town less than twelve months.

Twenty. To provide for the preservation of the general health
of the inhabitants of said town, make regulations to secure the same,
inspect all food and foodstuffs and prevent the introduction and sale
in said town of any articles or thing intended for human consump-
tion, which is adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to health,
and to condemn, seize and destroy or otherwise dispose of any such
article or thing without liability to the owner thereof; prevent the in-
troduction or spread of contagious or infectious diseases, and prevent
and suppress disease generally ; to provide and regulate hospitals with-
in or without the town limits, and if necessarv to the suppression of
diseases, to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious
or infectious diseases to hospitals provided for them; to provide the
organization of a department or bureau of health, to have the powers
of a board of health for said town, with the authority necessary for
the prompt and efficient performance of its duties, with power to invest
any or all the officials or employees of such departments of health with
such powers ; as the police officers of the town have; to establish quaran-
tine ground within or without the town limits; and establish such
quarantine regulations against infectious and contagious diseases as
the council may see fit.

Twenty-one. To provide in or near the town, lands to be used as
burial places for the dead; to improve and care for the same and the
approaches thereto, and to charge for and regulate the use of ground
therein; and to provide for the perpetual upkeep and care of any plot
or burial lot therein, the town is authorized to take and receive sums
of money by gift, bequest, or otherwise, to be kept invested, and the
income thereof used in and about the perpetual upkeep and care of
the said lot or plot, for which the said donation, gift, or bequest shall
have been made.

Twenty-two. To exercise full police powers and establish and
maintain a department or division of police.

Twenty-three. To restrain and punish drunkards, wasronts and
street beggars; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly
assemblages ; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling houses; to
prevent and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly exhibitions in said
town; and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct who have
not resided therein as much as one year.

Twenty-four. To license and regulate the holding and location
of shows, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals and similar shows or
fairs, or prohibit the holding of the same or any of them within the
town, or within one mile thereof; to require every owner of a motor
vehicle residing in the said town, on a date to be designated by the
council, to annually register such motor vehicle and obtain a license
to operate the same by making application to the treasurer of said town,
and to require said owner to pay an annual license fee therefor, to be
fixed by the council, but said license fee shall not exceed the amount
charged by the State on, said machine.

Twenty-five. To make and enforce ordinances similar to the
prohibition laws of the State.

Twenty-six. To adopt and enforce zoning ordinances for the
promotion of health, safety, morals, comfort, prosperity, or general
welfare of the general public, and to do all things whatsoever neces-
sary or expedient, and lawful, to be done, for promoting or maintain-
ing the general welfare, comfort, education, morals, peace, government,
health, trade, commerce, or industries of the town or its inhabitants.

Twenty-seven. To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any
town ordinance, rule or regulation or of any provisions of this charter.
not exceeding five hundred dollars or twelve months’ imprisonment
in jail or both.

Twenty-eight. To prohibit and punish for mischievous, wanton,
or malicious damage to school and public property as well as private
property.

Twenty-nine. To prohibit and punish minors from frequenting,
playing in, or loitering in any public poolroom, billard parlor or ten-
pin alley and to punish any proprietor or agent thereot tor permitting
same.

Thirty. To pass and enforce all by-laws, rules, regulations and
ordinances which it may deem necessary for the good order and gov-
ernment of the town, the management of its property, the conduct of
its affairs, the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health and
protection of its citizens or their property, and to do such other things
and pass such other laws as may be necessary or proper to Carry into
full effect, all power, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction, which is or
shall be granted to or vested in said town, or in the council, court or
officers thereof, or which may be necessarily incident to a municipal
corporation.

The town of Bluefield may maintain a suit to restrain by injunction
the violation of any ordinance, notwithstanding punishment may be
provided for the violation of such ordinance.

Section 20. Directors of departments. (a) In addition to the
administrative heads of departments appointed by the council as
provided for in section nineteen, the council may also make provision
for a director at the head of each department of the town government.
And unless and until the council shall otherwise provide by ordinance,
the town manager shall be director of all departments appointed by the
council as provided for in section nineteen.

- (b) The council shall by ordinance determine and prescribe the |
functions of each department and may create new departments, combine
existing departments and establish new departments for special work,
when, in its opinion, the proper administration of the town requires it.

(c) The director of each department shall be appointed by and be
immediately responsible to the town manager for the administration
of his department, and each director shall be chosen on the basis of
his general executive and administrative experience and ability, and his
education, training and experience in the class of work which he is
to administer.

Section 31. Appropriation ordinance and levy.—Not later than the
first Monday in October of each year the council shall lay its levy on
all property, real and personal, subject to taxation for town purposes,
and not later than November tenth, following, the council shall pass
its annual appropriation ordinance.