Chap. 236.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 39 of
an act entitled “an act to amend and re-enact an act appointing trustees for
the town of Christiansburg, in the county of Montgomery, and for other
purposes, giving said town a charter, approved January 7, 1833,” approved
March 16, 1916, said sections relating to the election, qualification and terms
of, and vacancies in, certain municipal officers, so as to provide for the
election of the town sergeant. [S B 250]

Approved March 23, 1936

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
two, four, five, seven, eight, nine and thirty-nine of an act entitled “an
act to amend and re-enact an act appointing trustees for the town of
Christiansburg, in the county of Montgomery, and for other purposes,
giving said town a charter, approved January seventh, eighteen hun-
dred and thirty-three,” approved March sixteenth, nineteen hundred
and sixteen, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows;
Section 2. The municipal officers of said town shall be a mayor, a
town sergeant and seven councilmen, all of whom shall be residents and
qualified voters of said town. The council of said town shall have
power to elect or appoint any other officers they may deem necessary
and to define their powers. The same person may, in the discretion of
the council, be elected or appointed to and hold, at the same time, more
than one of the officers to be elected or appointed by the council.

Section 4. In all elections of said town, all persons who may be,
by the laws of this State, entitled to vote for members of the General
Assembly, and who shall have resided in this State one year and in
the county of Montgomery six months, and in the said town for thirty
days next preceding the day of election then to be held, shall be en-
titled to vote; but before being so entitled to vote, they shall register
before the registrar of said town.

Section 5. The mayor and councilmen and town sergeant shall
be elected by the qualified voters of said town.

Section 7. On the second Tuesday in June, nineteen. hundred and thirty-
six, and biennially thereafter, there shall be elected by the qualified voters
of the town, a mayor, a town sergeant and seven councilmen of said
town, such elections to be held at such place, or places, in said town
as shall be designated by the council, and under such rules and regula-
tions and subject to such provisions as the council may prescribe. No-
tice of the time and place of holding of each such election shall be
published at least ten days before the holding of the same by the posting
by the town sergeant of printed hand-bills in at least five public places
in said town. The mayor, town sergeant and councilmen elected at any
such election shall qualify on or before the first day of September next
succeeding their election.

Section 8. The term of office of the mayor, town sergeant and
councilmen elected under the provisions of the preceding section shall
be two years from the first day of September next succeeding their
election, and until their successors shall have been duly elected and
qualified.

Section 9. All vacancies occurring from any cause, in the office of
mayor, town sergeant, or councilmen, shall be filled for the unexpired
term by the council.

Section 39. The town sergeant shall qualify and give bond before
the council for such amount and with such surety as the council may
approve. His compensation shall be such as the council may, from
time to time, allow.

In all cases, civil and criminal, arising in said town, or within one
mile of the corporate limits thereof, he shall be vested with all the
powers which the general laws of the State confer upon constables.
He shall be chief of police of said town. In addition to the powers
conferred upon town sergeants by the general laws of the State, the
sergeant of the said town and all police officers appointed by the mayor
and council thereof, shall have all the powers conferred upon special
police under the general law. They shall have power to arrest without
warrant and carry before the mayor to be dealt with according to law
any and all persons who shall violate the ordinances of the town, or
the law of the State, in their presence and it shall be his duty to swear
out warrants of arrest for any person or persons where he has reason
to believe any offense has been committed.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its pas-
sage.