Chap. 41.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Appalachia, Vir-
ginia, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith, and all
former charters and amendments thereof, of said town. [S B 2]

Approved March 1, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. The Town and Its Boundaries——The inhabitants of
the territory comprised within the present limits of the Town of
Appalachia, as hereinafter described, or as the same may be hereafter
altered and established by law, shall continue to be a body politic and
corporate, to be known and designated as the town of Appalachia,
and as such shall have and may exercise all powers which are now,
or hereafter may be, conferred upon or delegated to, towns under
the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as fully
and completely as though said powers were specifically enumerated
herein, and no enumeration of particular powers by this charter shall
be held to be exclusive; and the said town of Appalachia, as such
shall have perpetual succession, may sue and be sued, contract and
be contracted with, and may have a corporate seal which it may alter,
renew, or amend at its pleasure, the present boundaries of the said
town being as follows, to-wit:

Beginning at a chestnut and spruce pine and beech, on a spur of
Stone Mountain, corner to Virginia Coal and Iron Company and In-
terstate Coal and Iron Company; thence North twelve degrees and
forty-five minutes West, two thousand five hundred and sixty feet
to a black oak and small white oak on a line between the Interstate
Coal and Iron Company and Keystone Coal and Iron Company, thence
with said line, continuing the same course, North, twelve degrees and
forty-five minutes West, four hundred and two feet to a small chest-
nut; North thirteen degrees and fifteen minutes East, two hundred
and ninety-two feet to a small spotted oak; North eleven degrees forty-
five minutes, West three hundred and four feet to two spotted oaks;
North one degree and forty-five minutes West, three hundred and
three feet to a stake and chestnut pointer; North eleven degrees and
forty-five minutes West, one hundred and eighty-seven feet to a
spotted oak; North two degrees and forty-five minutes East, two
hundred and ninety feet to a stake and small chestnut pointer; North
nine degrees forty-five minutes West, three hundred and forty-five
feet to a beech stump, on top of Ison Rock Ridge, a corner to Key-
stone Coal and Iron Company and Interstate Coal and Iron Company’s
lands; North fifty-seven degrees and fifteen minutes East, two thousand
and one-hundred feet, crossing Callahan Creek and the Interstate Rail-
road to a stake, a corner to the Martin Kilbourn fifty acre patent;
South seventy-two degrees and fifteen minutes East, twelve hundred
feet to a stake, a corner to the Johnson Wells survey; thence with a
line thereof South eighty-six degrees and thirty minutes East, eighteen
hundred and thirty feet to a stake in the Hagan line; South twenty-
four degrees and thirty minutes East, eighteen hundred feet to a
stake on the South bank of Powell’s river at the upper end of an island;
South forty-five degrees and West one thousand and fifty feet to a
stake, beech and two dogwoods, pointers, a corner to the Martin Kil-
bourn twenty-five acre patent; South fifty-three degrees and fifteen
minutes West, eight hundred and sixty feet to two pines and a white
oak, a corner to Rosie Blondell tract; thence with lines thereot South
eight degrees and thirty minutes West, two hundred and sixty feet to
a pine stump; South sixty-four degrees and fifteen minutes West,
one hundred and twenty-four feet to a stake; South eighty-four degrees
West, three hundred and thirty-two feet to a stake; South sixty-four
degrees West, three hundred and fifty-two feet to a stake; South
seventy-six degrees and thirty minutes West, six hundred and thirty-
four feet to a white oak and dogwood; thence leaving the said Blon-
dell’s line South forty-six degrees and forty-five minutes West, two
thousand six hundred and forty feet to the beginning.

Section 2. Powers of Town of Appalachia—TIn addition to the
powers mentioned in section one hereof, the said town of Appalachia
shall have the following powers:

(1) 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 and general laws
of this State and of the United States; provided, however, that it
shall impose no tax on the bonds of said town.

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

(3) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia,
and of this charter, to contract debts, borrow money and make and
issue evidence of indebtedness.

(4) To expend the money of the town for all lawful purposes.

(5) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or other-
wise, 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, lease, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of
the same or any part thereof, including any property now owned by
the town.

(6) To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the town,
and to that end all plats and re-plats sub-dividing any land within
the town into streets, alleys, roads, and lots or tracts shall be sub-
mitted 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 Wise County, Virginia.

(7) To furnish all local public service; to purchase, hire, con.
struct, own, lease, maintain and operate local public utilities, to ac-
quire by condemnation or otherwise, within or without the corporate
limits, land and property necessary for any such purposes.

(8) 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 necessary
mains, and service lines, either within or without the corporate limits
of said town for the distribution of water to its customers and con-
sumers, both within and without the corporate limits of the said town,
and to charge and collect water rents therefor; 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 water-
shed tributary to any such water supply wherever 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; provided, that the lands which may be held in this State by
said town for such purposes shall not exceed, in the aggregate, thirty
thousand acres, at any one time. For any of the purposes aforesaid
said town may, if the council shall so determine, acquire by condem-
nation, purchase or otherwise, any estate or interest in such lands or
any of them in fee, reserving to the owner or owners thereof such
property rights or easements therein as may be prescribed in the
ordinance provided for such condemnation or purchase. |

(9) To own, operate and maintain electric light and gas works,
either within or without the corporate limits of the said town for the
generating of electricity and the manufacture of gas for illuminating,
power and other purposes, and to supply the same, whether said gas
and electricity be generated or purchased by said town, to its customers
and consumers both within and without the corporate limits of the
said town, at such price and upon such terms as it may prescribe, and
to that end it may contract with owners of land and water power for
the use thereof, or may have the same condemned and to purchase
such electricity and gas from the owners thereof, and to furnish the
same to its customers and consumers, both within and without the
corporate limits of the said town at such price and on such terms as
it may prescribe.

(10) To exercise the power of eminent domain for the purpose
of acquiring or taking any or all spring, springs, water supplies,
pipe lines, reservoirs, land, property, easements, contracts, contract
rights, property rights, riparian rights, or any interest or interests
therein, in the State of Virginia, now or hereafter owned by any pri-
vate, quasi-public service, or public service corporation, incorporated
under the laws of Virginia, or any other state for the purpose of sup-
plying, or supplying the town of Appalachia, Virginia, or its inhabi-
tants, with water, notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in
section thirty hundred and thirty-one, or other section, or sections,
of the Code of Virginia.

(11) To establish, impose and enforce water, light and sewerage
rates, and rates and charges for public utilities, or other service,
products, or conveniences, operated, rendered or furnished by the town
and to assess, or to cause te be assessed, water, light and sewerage
rates and charges directly against the owner or owners of the build-
ings, or against the proper tenant or tenants, and may by ordinance
provide that where charges are made against tenants, the owner or
owners shall be directly liable in case such tenant or tenants fail to
pay when the rate or charges are assessed: and in event 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 reason-
able amount as may be by such ordinance prescribed before furnishing
such services to such tenant.

(12) To construct, maintain, regulate and operate public improve-
ments of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings, armories,
comfort stations, markets, and all buildings and structures necessary
or appropriate for the use and proper operation of the various depart-
ments of the town; and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise all
lands, riparian and other rights and easements necessary for such
improvements, or any of them.

(13) To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, construct,
maintain, light, sprinkle, and clean public highways, streets, alleys,
boulevards and parkways, and temporarily to alter or close the same;
to establish and maintain parks, playgrounds, and other public grounds ;
to construct, maintain and operate bridges, viaducts, subways, tun-
nels, sewers and drains, and to regulate the use of all such highways,
parks, public grounds and works; to plant and maintain shade trees
along the streets and upon such public grounds; to prevent the obstruc-
tion of such streets and highways, abolish and prevent grade crossings
over the same by railroads, other than street railroads, in the manner
prescribed by general law for the elimination of grade crossings; to
require 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 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 in accordance with the pro-
visions of section thirty-nine hundred and ninety-eight and other sec-
tions of the Code of Virginia; and to regulate the length of time such
crossings may be closed due to any operations of the railroads; in
accordance with general law to regulate the operations, weight of load,
and speed of all cars and vehicles using the same, as well as the
operation and speed of all engines, cars and trains, or railroads within
the town; to regulate the services to be rendered including route
traversed, and rates charged by busses, motor cars, cabs, and other
vehicles for the carrying of passengers and by vehicles for the transter
of baggage; to permit railroads and street car lines to be built in the
streets and alleys, and to determine and designate the route and grade
thereof; and to specify and require the proper construction and main-
tenance of the streets between the rails and on either side thereof for
such distances as such streets may be affected by the construction,
operation, repair or maintenance of such railroads or street car lines,
and to require the reconstruction of so much of said streets as may
be damaged by the removal of such railroads or street car lines; to
permit or prohibit poles and wires for electric, telephone and tele-
graph 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 priv-
ileges, 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 erected, to change the location or move the
same; to require all telephone and telegraph wires and all wires and
cables carrying electricity, now in use or hereafter used, to be placed
in conduits underground and prescribe rules and regulations for the
construction and use of such conduits, if and when the State Corpor-
ation Commission shall so order, after due notice to all parties con-
cerned, and hearing thereon; to open, lay out, and improve new
streets across the track or tracks, of any railroad in the town, and
any such new or existing street or streets may cross any such track
or tracks, 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 speci-
fications 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_ specifica-
tions to 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 approve, the plans for such
crossing as the council shall have determined shall be made, or substi-
tute such other plans or character of crossing, whether at grade, over-
head or underpass, as the State Corporation Commission may deem
proper under all the facts, circumstances and conditions in the case,
the said improvements shall be made by the corporation 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
and to do all other things whatsoever adapted to make said streets
and highways safe, convenient and attractive.

(14) To acquire by gift, purchase, exchange, or by the exercise
of the power of eminent domain within this State, lands, and any
interest or estate in lands, rock quarries, gravel pits, sand pits, water
and water rights, and the necessary roadways thereto, either within
or without the town, and acquire and install machinery and equipment,
and build the necessary roads or tramroads thereto, and operate the
same for the purpose of producing materials required for the con-
struction, repair and maintenance of streets, highways, sidewalks,
water works, reservoirs, sewers, electric lights, public buildings, and
any and all purposes not in contravention of section thirty hundred
and thirty-one-a of the Code of Virginia. and to acquire by gift, pur-
chase, exchange, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain
within this State, lands and machinery and equipment, and build and
operate a plant or plants for the preparation and mixing of materials
for the construction of improved streets and other public improve-
ments, and the maintenance and repair thereof. and to build and oper-
ate coal tipples and yards in connection therewith.

(15) In so far as permitted by general law to construct and
maintain, or aid in constructing and maintaining, public roads, State
highways, boulevards, parkways and bridges, beyond and within ten
miles of the limits of the town, in order to facilitate public travel to
and from said town and its suburbs, and to and from said town and
any property owned by said town, and situated beyond the corporate
limits thereof, regardless of distance, and to acquire land and property
rights necessary ‘for such purpose by condemnation or otherwise.

(16) To establish, construct, and maintain sanitary sewers, sewer
lines and systems, and to require the abutting property owners to
connect therewith and to establish, construct, maintain and operate
sewerage disposal plants, and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise
within or without the town, all lands, rights of way, riparian and
other rights and easements necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and
to charge and collect reasonable fees and assessments or costs of serv-
ice for ‘connecting with and using the same.

(17) In connection with its system of sewerage, the town may
continue to use Callahan Creek, Powell’s River, and such other water
course aS may be necessary as heretofore.

(18) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia and
of this charter to grant franchises for public utilities,

(19) To collect and dispose of sewerage, offal, ashes, garbage,
carcasses of dead animals, and other refuse, and to make reasonable
charges therefor; and to acquire and operate reduction or other plant
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.

(20) To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within the town or upon the 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 of 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, 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 exer-
cise 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 abatersent 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 and unsightly
deposits.

(21) If any ground in the said town shall be subject to be covered
by stagnant water, or if the owner or occupant thereof shall permit
any offensive or unwholesome substance to remain or accumulate
thereon, the said council may cause such ground to be filled up, raised
or drained, or may cause such substance to be covered or removed
therefrom, provided, that reasonable notice shall be first given to the
said owner or occupant or his agent. In case of non-residence owners
who have no agent in said town, such notice may be given by publica-

tion for not less than ten days, in any newspaper published in said
town.

(22) To direct the location of all buildings for storing gun-
powder or other explosive or combustible substance; to regulate or
prohibit the sale and use of dynamite, gunpowder, firecrackers, kero-
sene oil, gasoline, nitro-glycerine, camphene, burning fluid and all
explosive or combustible materials, the exhibition of fireworks, the
discharge of firearms, the use of candles, and lights in barns, stables,
and other buildings, the making of bonfires and the carrying of con-
cealed weapons.

(23) To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity or arti-
cle of consumption for use within the town, and to establish, regulate,
license and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

(24) To provide by ordinance for a system of meat and milk
inspection, and appoint meat and milk inspectors, agents, or officers
to carry the same into effect, license, regulate, control and locate
slaughter houses within or without the corporate limits of the town,
and for such services of inspection to make reasonable charges there-
for; and to provide such reasonable penalties for the violation of such
ordinances.

(25) To extinguish and prevent fires and to compel citizens to
render assistance to the fire department in case of need; and to es-
tablish, regulate and control a fire department or division; to regulate
the size, height, materials and constructions 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 re-
quire to be removed or reconstructed any building, structure or addition
thereto which by reason of dilapidation, defect of structure, or other
causes, may have become dangerous to life or property, or which may
be erected contrary to law; to establish or 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.

(26) To charge and to collect fees for permits to use public
facilities and for public service and privileges.

(27) To provide for the care, support and maintenance of chil-
dren and of sick, aged, insane or poor persons and paupers.

(28) To establish a child welfare board, through which to pro-
vide for making money allowances to aid in maintaining and educating
poor and destitute children.

(29) To establish, organize and administer public schools and
libraries subject to the general laws.

(30) To provide and maintain, either within or without the town,
charitable, recreative, curative, corrective, detentive, or penal institu-
tions.

(31) To prevent any person having no visible means of support,
paupers and persons who may be dangerous to the peace or safety
of the town, from coming to said town from without the same; and
for this purpose require the owner of any conveyance bringing such
person to the town to take such person back to the place whence he
was brought, or enter into bond with satisfactory security that such
person shall not become a charge upon said town within one year
from the date of his arrival; and also to expel therefrom any such per-
son who has been in said town less than six months; also to expel
from the town all persons found therein dangerous to the peace, safety
and welfare of the town, or any person who may be advocating the
overthrow of the federal, State or municipal government by force of
violence or inciting the people, or any of them, to riot, or to any un-
lawful effort against the social, governmental, industrial, educational
or moral welfare of the people.

(32) To provide for the preservation of the general health of
the inhabitants of said town, make regulations to secure the same,
inspect all foods and foodstuffs and prevent the introduction and sale
in said town of any articles or things intended for human consumption,
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 introduc-
tion or spread of contagious or infectious diseases, and prevent and
suppress disease generally; to provide and regulate hospitals within
or without the town limits, and if necessary to the suppression of
diseases, to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious
or infectious diseases to hospitals provided for them; to construct and
maintain or to aid in the construction and maintenance of a hospital
or hospitals for the use of the people of the town; to provide for 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 of the officials or employees of such departments of health
with such powers as the police officers of the town have: to establish
quarantine grounds within or without the town limits, and such quaran-
tine regulations against infectious and contagious diseases as the
council may see fit, subject to the laws of the State and of the United
States.

(33) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation or
otherwise, lands, either within or without the town, or both, to be
used, kept and improved as a place for the interment of the dead and
to make and enforce all necessary rules and regulations for the pro-
tection and use thereof; and generally to regulate the burial and dis-
position of the dead.

(34) To accept and receive, unconditionally or upon conditions,
absolutely or in trust, gifts, grants, bequests and devises of any kind
of property, real or personal, for educational, charitable or other public
purposes; and to do all the things and acts necessary to carry out
the purposes of such gifts, grants, bequests, and devises, with power
to manage, maintain, operate, sell, lease or otherwise handle or dispose
of the same, in accordance with the terms and conditions of such
gifts, grants, bequests and devises.

(35) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise or condemnation prop-
erty adjoining its parks, or lots on which its monuments are located,
or other property used for public purposes, or in the vicinitv of such
parks, plats, or property which is used and maintained in such a
manner as to impair the beauty, usefulness or efficiency of such parks,
plats or public property, and may likewise acquire property adjacent
to any street, the topography of which, from its proximity thereto,
impairs the convenient use of such street, or renders impracticable,
without. extraordinary expense, the improvement of the same, and the
town may subsequently dispose of the property so acquired, making
limitations as to the use thereof, which will protect the beauty, use-
fulness, efficiency or convenience of such parks, plats and property.

And when the town proposes to open or widen a street, or change
the channel of a creek, by taking any part of a block or square in such
manner that the value of the property abutting the proposed street
or creek would be injuriously affected, unless the property on such
block or square is replatted and the property line or lines readjusted,
then and in that event the town at the same time it acquires by pur-
chase, gift, condemnation or otherwise, all or any part of the property
on such squares or blocks and may subsequently replat and dispose
of the property so acquired, in whole or in part, making such limita-
tions as to the use thereeof as it may see fit.

(36) To do all things whatsoever necessary or expedient for pro-
moting or maintaining the general welfare, comfort, education, morals,
peace, government, health, trade, commerce or industries of the town
or its inhabitants.

To make and enforce all ordinances, rules and regulations necessary
or expedient for the purpose of carrying into effect the powers con-
ferred by this charter or by any general law, and to provide and
impose suitable penalties for the violation of such ordinances, rules
and regulations, or any of them, by fine not exceeding five hundred
dollars or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or both, the
town may maintain a suit to restrain by injunction the violation of
any ordinance, notwithstanding such ordinance may provide punish-
ment for its violation.

The enumeration of particular powers in this charter shall not be
deemed or held to be exclusive, but in addition to the powers enu-
merated herein, implied thereby, or appropriate to the exercise thereof,
the said town shall have and may exercise all other powers which are
now or may hereafter be possessed or enjoyed by towns under the
Constitution and general laws of this State.

(38) To exercise full police powers and establish and maintain
a department or division of police.

(39) To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street beg-
gars; to prevent vice and immorality; to preserve the peace and good
order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assem-
blages; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling houses; to pre-
vent 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.
(40) 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.

(41) To establish, maintain and operate a market or markets
in and for said town; to prescribe the times and places for holding
the same; and to make and enforce such regulations as shall be neces-
sary to prevent huckstering, forestalling or regrating.

(42) To provide for the development of power and light and
the distribution and sale of same, and to construct, own, maintain,
and operate facilities necessary thereto, and to acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise, within or without the town, land, interests in land,
water, power sites, easements, property, and property rights necessary
for such purpose.

(43) To pass and enforce all by-laws, rules, regulations and
ordinances not repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the State,
which it may deem necessary for the good order and government 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 the 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 corpora-
tion.

Section 3. Creation of Council—There is hereby created a coun-
cil which shall have full power and authority, except as herein other-
wise provided, to exercise all powers conferred upon the town, and
to pass all laws and ordinances relating to its municipal affairs, subject
to the Constitution and general law of the State and of this charter.

Section 4. Composition of Council; Vacancies.—The council shall
consist of five members, whose term of office, except as hereinafter
fixed, shall be for a term of four years. The five members, who now
constitute the said council, shall continue in office until September
the first, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, and thereafter until their
successors have been elected and qualified. At the June election, nine-
teen hundred and thirty-nine, five members shall be elected who shall
immediately after their qualification, cast lots to ascertain which two
shall serve for a term of two years from September first, nineteen
hundred and thirty-nine and thereafter until his successor shall have
been elected and qualified; and the remaining three members shall
serve for a term of four years from September the first, nineteen
hundred and thirty-nine, and thereafter until their successors shall
have been elected and qualified. And at the June election nineteen
hundred and forty-one and every four years thereafter, two council-
men shall be elected who shall serve for a term of four years from
September first, nineteen hundred and forty-one and thereafter until
his successor shall have been elected and qualified. At the June elec-
tion nineteen hundred and forty-three, and every four years there-
after, three councilmen shall be elected, who shall serve for a period
of four years from September first, nineteen hundred and forty-three
and thereafter until their successors shall have been elected and
qualified.

Vacancies in the council shall be filled within thirty days, for the
unexpired term, by a majority vote of the remaining members.

Section 5. Qualification of Members——Any person qualified to
vote in the town shall be eligible to the office of councilman. No
candidate for the office of councilman shall promise any money, office,
employment, or other thing of value, to secure a nomination or election,
or expend in connection with his candidacy any money except as per-
mitted by the general laws of the State; and any such candidate
violating this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred
dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or both
in the discretion of the court or jury, and shall forfeit his office, if
elected; in which event, the person receiving the next highest number
of votes, who has not violated the said provisions, shall be entitled to
said office.

Section 6. Limitations on Powers and Disqualifications.—(a)
Any member of the council who shall have been convicted of a felony
while in office shall thereby forfeit his office.

(b) No member of the council or other officer shall be interested
directly or indirectly in the profits of any contract or work, or to be
financially interested directly or indirectly in the sale to the town of
any land, materials, supplies or services (other than official services).
Any member of the council or any other officer of the town, offending
against the provisions of this section, shall, upon conviction thereof, be
fined not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned not more
than ninety days, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall for-
feit his office. The prohibitions of this section shall not apply if the
council shall declare by unanimous vote of the members thereof that
the best interest of the town are to be served despite a personal interest
direct or indirect.

(c) Except for the purpose of inquiry, the council and its mem-
bers shall deal with the administrative service solely through the town
manager, and neither the council nor any member thereof, shall give
orders to any of the subordinates of the town manager, either publicly
or privately. Any such orders or other interferences on the part of
the council or any of its members with subordinates or appointees of
the town manager, instead of dealing or communicating direct with
the town manager, is prohibited.

Section 7. Organization Rules of the Council—At seven thirty
o'clock post meridian on the first day of September following a regular
municipal election, or if such day be a Sunday, then on the day follow-
ing, the council shall meet at the usual place for holding the meetings
of the legislative board of the town, at which time the newly elected
councilmen, after first having taken the oaths prescribed by law,
shall assume the duties of their office. Thereafter the council shall
meet at such times as may be prescribed by ordinance or resolution,
except that they shall regularly meet not less than once each month.
The mayor, any member of the council, or the town manager may
call special meetings of the council, at any time after, (at least twelve
hours), written notice, with the purpose of said meeting stated therein,
to each member served personally or left at his usual place of business
or residence, or such meeting may be held at any time without notice,
provided all members of the council attend. No business other than
that mentioned in the call shall be considered at such meeting.

(b) All meetings of the council shall be public and any citizen
may have access to the minutes and records thereof at all reasonable
times.

(c) The council shall elect one of its members as chairman, who
shall be ex-officio mayor; also a town manager. The council shall
also appoint the members of such boards and commissions as are
hereinafter provided for. The council may appoint all such other
boards and commissions as may be deemed proper, and prescribe the
powers and duties thereof, under the supervision of the director of
the department pertaining thereto. The council may determine its
own rules of procedure, may punish its own members for misconduct
and may compel attendance of members. It shall keep a journal of
its proceedings. A majority of all members of the council shall con-
stitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn
from time to time, and compel the attendance of absentees. All elec-
tions by the council shall be viva voce and the vote recorded in the
journal of the council. The council may at any time, for good cause
or reason, abolish any municipal office, whether the term of office
of the incumbent has expired or not.

Section 8. Powers of the Mayor—-The mayor shall be elected
for a term of two years and shall preside at meetings of the council
and perform such other duties consistent with his office as may be
imposed by the council and he shall have a vote and voice in the pro-
ceedings, but no veto. He shall be the official head of the town, and
he shall be clothed with the powers and authority in civil and criminal
matters as may be prescribed by the laws of the State. In times of
public danger, or emergency, he, or during his absence, or disability,
then the town manager, may take command of the police and maintain
order and enforce the laws, and for this purpose, may deputize such
assistant policeman as may be necessary. During his absence or dis-
ability, except as above provided, his duties shall be performed by
another member appointed by the council. He shall authenticate by
his signature such instruments as the council, this charter, or the laws
of the State shall require.

Section 9. Salaries and Compensation——From and after the nac-
sage of this act, the salaries of the councilmen and the chairman,
who is ex-officio mayor, shall be such as may be fixed by the council;
provided, however, that the salary of no councilman shall exceed ten
dollars per month, and that the salary of the chairman of the council
who is ex-officio mayor, shall not exceed the sum of fifty dollars per
month, in addition to his salary as councilman, should he also be ap-
pointed and act as Trial Justice.

All charges, cost and fees taxable and collectible by the chairman,
who is ex-officio mayor, in the trial of all cases, civil and criminal,
when taxed and collected, shall be paid into the treasury of the town,
and the mayor shall have no personal financial interest therein. The
salaries and compensation of all other officers and employees of this
town shall be such as may from time to time be fixed and prescribed
by the town manager and approved by the council.

Section 10. Appointments or Elections——On the first day of Sep-
tember, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, following the regular
municipal election and organization of the council, or as soon there-
after as may be practicable, the council shall elect a town manager,
and such other officers as may come within their jurisdiction, each of
whom shall serve at the pleasure of the council.

Section 10%. Appointment of Justice—The council, in its dis-
cretion, may appoint a justice of the peace, or police justice for the
Town of Appalachia, who shall have power and authority and juris-
diction to try violation of all ordinances of the said town, and who
shall be clothed with all the powers and authority in both civil and
criminal matters within said town as is now conferred upon the mayor
of towns in Virginia by the general laws of this Commonwealth.
When such appointment is made, the mayor thereof shall by virtue
of his office possess no power, authority or jurisdiction to try violations
of the ordinances of said town or to act as justice of the peace or
police justice in either civil or criminal matters, and shall only receive
a salary such as is provided for councilmen.

The said justice of the peace or police justice shall serve at the
pleasure of the council, who shall fix his salary at a sum not exceeding
seventy-five dollars ($75.00) per month. All charges, costs, and tees
taxable and collectible by the justice of the peace or police justice in
the trial of all cases, civil and criminal, when taxed and collected,
shall be paid into the treasury of the town and the said justice shall
have no personal financial interest therein.

ORDINANCES

Section 11. Legislative Procedure-——Except in dealing with par-
liamentary procedure the council shall act only by ordinance or reso-
lution, and with the exception of ordinances making appropriations,
or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness, shall be confined to
one subject. ,

Section 12. Enactments—(a) Each proposed ordinance, or reso-
lution, shall be introduced in a written or printed form, and the enact-
ing clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall substantially
be, “Be it ordained by the council of the town of Appalachia, Vir-
ginia”’.

(b) No ordinance, or resolution having the effect of an ordinance,
or resolution suspending an ordinance, unless it be an emergency
measure, shall be passed until it has been read at two meetings not
less than one week apart, one of which shall be a regular meeting
and the other of which may be either an adjourned or called meeting,
provided the requirement of a second reading by the affirmative vote
of two members of the council may be confined to the reading of the
title only. Any ordinance or resolution read at one such meeting may
be amended and passed as amended at the next such meeting, provided
that the amendment does not materially change the ordinance. No
ordinance shall be amended unless such section or sections as are
intended to be amended shall be re-enacted. The ayes and noes shall
be taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordinances or resolutions
and entered upon the journal of the proceedings of the council, Ex-
cept as otherwise provided in this charter an affirmative vote of a
majority of the members elected to the council shall be necessary to
adopt any ordinance or resolution.

Section 13. Emergency Measures.—(a) No ordinance passed by
the council shall take effect until at least thirty days from the date
of its passage except that the council may, by the affirmative vote of
three of its members, pass emergency measures to take effect at the
time indicated therein.

(b) No measure selling or conveying any real estate or making a
grant, renewal, extension of a franchise or other special privilege or
regulating the rate to be charged for its service by any public utility,
shall ever be so passed.

Section 14. Record of Publication—(a) Every ordinance or
resolution having the effect of an ordinance when passed shall be re-
corded by the town clerk in a book kept for that purpose, and shall
be authenticated by the signature of the presiding officer and the town
clerk.

(b) Every ordinance of a general or permanent nature shall be
published in full once within twenty days after its final passage by
posting a copy thereof at the front door of the municipal building,
or when ordered by the council by publication in a newspaper published
or circulated in the town for such time as the council may direct;
provided, that the foregoing requirements as to publication shall not
apply to ordinances reordained in or by a general compilation or codi-
fication of ordinances printed by authority of the council.

(c) A record or entry made by the town clerk or a copy of such
record or entry duly certified by him shall be prima facie evidence of
the terms of the ordinance and its due publication.

All ordinances and resolutions of the council may be read in evi-
dence in all courts and in all other proceedings in which it may be
necessary to refer thereto, either from the original record thereof,
from a copy thereof certified by the town clerk, or from any volume
of ordinances printed by authority of the council.

Section 15. Printing.—The council shall, from time to time, direct
the publication with suitable index, of the town ordinances.

NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS

Section 16. Municipal Elections—-A municipal election shall be
held on the second Tuesday in June of every second year after the
year nineteen hundred and thirty-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 special munic-
ipal elections. |

Nothing in the laws of the State applying to party registration,
enrollment or other party procedure, shall apply to registration, nomi-
nations, and elections held hereunder. 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 17. Method of Conducting Municipal Elections—The
candidates at any regular municipal election for the election of coun-
cilmen, equal in number to the places to be filled, who shall receive
the highest number of votes at such election, shall be declared elected.

In any such election each elector shall be entitled to vote for as
many persons as there are vacancies to be filled, and no more; and
no elector shall in such election cast more than one vote for the
same person.

In counting the vote any ballot found to contain a greater number
of names for the office of councilmen than the number of vacancies
in the council to be filled shall be void, but no ballot shall be void for
containing a less number of names than is permitted thereby.

THE TOWN MANAGER

Section 18. General Provisions.—The town manager shall be the
administrative and the executive head of the municipal government.
He shall be chosen by the council solely on the basis of his executive
and administrative qualifications. The choice shall not be limited to
inhabitants of the town or State. He shall be appointed for an indefi-
nite period and shall serve at the will of the council; provided, how-
ever, that he may not be removed without a public hearing or written
charges prior to his final removal, if he so desire, but during such
hearing the council may suspend him from office. During the absence
or disability of the town manager the council shall designate some
properly qualified person to perform the duties of the office.

Section 19. Powers and Duties of the Town Manager.—The town
manager shall be responsible to the council for the proper admunistra-
tion of all affairs of the town coming within his jurisdiction under
this charter, the general law or the ordinances or resolutions of the
council,

(a) The town manager shall have all the power and authority
that is now vested in manager of town under the statutes of Virginia
for such cases made and provided, or as same may be hereinafter pre-
scribed, and appoint the sergeants, deputies, policemen, clerks, and other
employees not otherwise herein provided for, including a clerk who
shall be ex-officio recorder and clerk of the council and town, and re-
move the same, and fix the salaries thereof, which salaries shall be
subject to approval of the council.

He shall have power and it shall be his duty:

(a) To see that all laws and ordinances are enforced.

(b) To appoint and fix the salaries of all such additional town offi-
cers and employees as may be determined are necessary for the proper
adnunistration of the town by him with the approval of the council,
which may be removed by the town manager; but the town manager
shall report each removal and appointment of any officer or employee
to the town council at the next meeting thereof following any such
appointment or removal; to see that all terms and conditions imposed
in favor of the town or its inhabitants in any public utility franchise
or any contract or faithfully kept and performed; upon knowledge
of any violation thereof to call attention of the same to the council,
whose duty it shall be forthwith to direct such steps as are necessary
to protect and enforce the same.

(c) To exercise supervision and control over all departments and
divisions created therein, or that may be hereinafter created by the
council and have general supervision over all public improvements,
works and undertakings, except as otherwise provided in this charter.

(d) To attend all meetings of the town council with the right
to take part in the discussion but having no vote.

(e) To recommend to the council for adoption such measures
as he may deem necessary or expedient.

(f{) To prepare the annual budget and keep the town council
fully advised as to financial conditions and needs of the town.

(g) To make all such contracts in behalf of the town as may
be authorized by this charter, or in accordance with the provisions
of the appropriation made by the council or under continuing con-
tracts or loans authorized under the provisions of this charter, or pur-
suant to resolution or ordinance of the council.

(h) Unless and until otherwise provided by the council, he shall
act as town purchasing agent.
(1) To perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this

charter to be required of him by ordinance or resolution of the
town council.
Section 20. Creation of Departments——The council may by ordi-
nance create administrative departments, and when such departments
are created may define the functions which such departments are to
administer, may provide for the appointment of heads of such de-
partments and define their duties and responsibilities.

Section 21. Enumeration of Departments—The following ad-
ministrative departments are hereby created:

(a) Department of law.

(b) Department of finance.

(c) Department of public works and utilities.

(d) Department of public safety.

(e) Department of public welfare.

Section 22. Directors of Departments.——(a) At the head of each
department there shall be a director; provided, that unless and until
the council shall otherwise provide by ordinance the town manager
shall be director of all departments except the department of law.
Unless and until otherwise provided by ordinance the town attorney
shall be director of the department of law.

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

(c) Except the directors of special departments who shall be
appointed by and be immediately responsible to the council, the di-
rector of each department shall be appointed by and be immediately
responsible to the town manager for the administration of his depart-
ment, and each director shall be chosen on the basis of his general
executive and administrative experience and ability, and his educa-
tion, training and experience in the class of work which he is to
administer.

Section 23. The Town Clerk.—The town clerk shall be elected
in the manner and for the term provided by this charter. He shall be
the clerk of the council, shall attend all meetings thereof, and shall
keep a permanent record of its proceedings. He shall keep all papers,
documents and records pertaining to the town of Appalachia, Virginia,
the custody of which is not otherwise provided for.

(b) He shall be custodian of the town seal, and shall affix it to
all documents and instruments requiring the seal, and shall attest
the same. He shall give to the proper department or officials ample
notice of the expiration or termination of any franchise, contracts or
agreements.

(c) He shall, upon final passage, transmit to the proper de-
partments or officials copies of all ordinances or resolutions of the
council relating in any way to such departments or to the duties of
such officials. He shall perform such other duties as are required by
this charter or by the council by ordinances or resolution.

Section: 24. The Town Treasurer—(a) The town treasurer
shall be the disbursing agent of the town and have the custody of
all moneys, the town clerk’s bond and all evidence of value belonging
to the town or held in trust by the town.

(b) He shall receive all monies belonging to and received by the
town and keep a correct account of all receipts from all sources and
expenditures of all departments. He shall collect all taxes, and assess-
ments, water rents, and other charges belonging to and payable to
the town, and for that purpose he is hereby vested with any and all
powers which are now or may hereafter be vested in county and city
treasurers, for the collection of county, city and State taxes under the
general law.

(c) He shall pay no money out of the treasury except in the
manner prescribed in this charter.

(d) He shall keep and deposit all monies or funds in such manner
and only in such places as may be determined by ordinance or by
the provisions of any law applicable thereto.

(ec) He shall be subject to the supervision of the director of
finance and shall perform such other duties not inconsistent with his
office, have such powers and be liable to such penalties as are now or
may hereafter be prescribed by law or ordinance.

(f) He shall make all such reports and perform such other duties
not inconsistent with his office as may be required by the director
of finance or by ordinance or by resolution of the council.

(g) The said treasurer shall not be entitled to any commission
whatsoever for handling the funds of the town, but he shall be paid
for his services as such treasurer such salary as may be provided by
the said town manager and approved by the council.

(h) He shall as soon as the commissioner of the revenue com-
pletes the land and personal property books take the said books and
carefully audit the same, and compare them with the books of the
previous year. The land book shall be compared with the assessor’s
book lodged in the clerk’s office of Wise county, and the personal
property book shall be compared with the books of the previous year,
and the said treasurer shall procure a copy of the poll books used in
the election next preceding the assessment from which said books
were made, and he shall ascertain which of the citizens and voters,
if any, have not been assessed by the commissioner of the revenue,
and the list of those not assessed shall be laid before the town council
at its next meeting. The said treasurer shall examine said books and
see that the amount of tax is correctly extended in accordance with the
rate of taxation at that time in force, and the columns of said book
shall be carefully audited and the errors therein, if any, shall be cor-
rected. The commissioner of the revenue is required to be present
and render the treasurer such assistance as he may desire, and in case
of a disagreement between the commissioner and the treasurer, the
director of finance shall, upon being notified, at once determine the
question in dispute; when said books are corrected and audited the
total thereof shall be charged to the town treasurer on his account.
The treasurer shall take the delinquent lists and lay the same before
the director of finance, and it shall be the duty of said director of
finance to carefully examine said delinquent report of both real and
personal tax. If said treasurer has returned any tax, either real or
personal, delinquent that should not under the provisions of the ordi-
nances of the town, have been returned delinquent, the said director
of finance shall refuse to allow him credit therefor and shall strike from
the delinquent report any and all such taxes; after said report has
been corrected as herein provided, the treasurer will be credited with
the amount of the same.

(1) He shall perform such other duties as may be required of him
by this charter or by the director of finance, or by the council.

(j) Unless and until otherwise provided by ordinance the duties
of the officer of town clerk, town treasurer, or commissioner of reve-
nue, shall be performed by the manager of the town, or some official
or employee under his direction and supervision, who is hereby ex-
pressly vested with all the authority and power of each of the afore-
said offices.

Section 24. The Town Attorney.—(a) The town attorney shall
have the management, charge and entire control of all the law business
of the town and shall be the legal adviser of and the attorney and
counsel for, the municipality and all its officers in matters relating to
their official duty; he shall give written opinions to any officer or de-
partment or official commission of the town, when requested so to do,
and shall file a copy of the same with the town clerk.

(b) He shall conduct for the town all cases in court whenever
the town is a party thereto, and upon request of the mayor or town
manager he shall appear before the mayor to represent the town for
violation of town ordinances.

(c) He shall prepare or officially pass upon all contracts, bonds
and instruments in writing in which the town is concerned, and shall
certify before execution as to the legality and correctness thereof.

(d) He shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by
this charter or by the council.

Section 25. The Commissioner of Revenue.—The commissioner of
revenue shall, subject to the supervision of the director of finance, per-
form such duties as may be required by the laws of the State and the
ordinances of the town, in relation to the assessment of property and
license taxes.

(b) He shall have power to administer oaths in the performance
of his official duties.

(c) He shall perform such other duties not inconsistent with his
office as may be prescribed for him in this charter, by the director of
finance or by the council.
Section 26. The Purchasing Agent—(a) The town council shall
designate some officer of the town other than the treasurer as its pur-
chasing agent, by whom all purchases of supplies for the town shall
be made, and who shall approve all vouchers for the payment of same.
He shall also conduct all sales of personal property that may be, by, the
proper official or officials declared of no further use to the town.

(b) All purchases and sales shall conform to such regulations
as the council may from time to time prescribe, but in either case
opportunity for competition shall be given if the amount involved is
in excess of two hundred dollars, except in case of emergency.

(c) Unless and until the council shall otherwise provide, the town
manager shall act as such purchasing agent.

FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Section 27. Director of Finance——The director of finance shall
have direct supervision over the department of finance and administra-
tion of the financial affairs of the town, including the keeping of ac-
counts and financial records, the collection of taxes, special assess-
ments and other revenues, the custody and disbursements of town funds
and monies, and shall perform such other duties as the council may
by ordinance provide.

Section 28. The Annual Budget—Not later than sixty days be-
fore the end of each fiscal year, the town manager shall prepare and
submit to the council an annual budget for the ensuing fiscal year,
based upon detailed estimates furnished by the several departments
and other divisions of the town government, according to a classifica-
tion as nearly as possible uniform.

Section 29. Public Improvement Contracts, etc—Any public work
on improvement, costing more than one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars,
shall be executed by contract, except where a specific work of improve-
ment 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 ap-
proved by the town manager. All contracts for more than one thou-
sand dollars shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder in such
manner and under such bond as may be prescribed by ordinance and
after the town manager shall have made due advertisement for such
time as the council may prescribe, by newspapers or posted notices.
But the town manager shall have the power to reject all of the bids and
advertise again; and all advertisements shall contain a reservation of
this right.

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

Section 30. Sinking Fund Provision—(a) There shall be set
apart annually from the revenues of the town a sinking fund equal tc
one per centum on the aggregate outstanding debt of the town. which
by its terms is not payable within one year, and the council may, ir
its discretion, annually or from time to time, set aside such additiona
sinking fund as may be deemed proper.

(b) When the taxes on real and personal property are collected
each year the town treasurer shall take therefrom and deposit in a
separate account to the credit of the sinking fund in such bank or
banks as the council may designate, and the said council may, if it shall
so elect, cause its sinking fund to be loaned on improved real estate
situated in said town, in the county of Wise, and secure the same by
first mortgage liens thereon, provided such funds shall not be loaned
at a greater rate than fifty per centum of the fair market value of such
real estate.

(c) All such sinking funds shall be used exclusively in the pay-
ment or purchase and redemption of the outstanding bonds of the
town, and when such sinking funds are not required or may not with-
in a reasonable time be required for the payment of any bonds of the
town, or cannot be used to advantage in the purchase and redemption
of any bonds of the town, which may be outstanding, the same shall be
securely invested in interest bearing municipal, State or government
bonds, loaned upon otherwise unincumbered real estate, within the
State, upon a basis not exceeding fifty per centum of the fair cash
value of such real estate, or invested in other securities approved by the
general laws of the State for the investment of such funds, or deposited
in bank on a reasonable rate of interest. Such sinking funds may be
used in the payment or purchase and a redemption of serial bonds,
as well as term bonds. .

(d) The council of the town of Appalachia shall constitute a
sinking fund commission for the town; or it may appoint a sinking
fund commission composed of three freeholders who are residents of
the town, and delegate to such appointed sinking fund commission, its
powers and duties relating to said sinking fund by ordinances, in which
ordinance the bond of such sinking fund commission shall be fixed.

Section 31. Bond Issues—(a) The council may in the name of
and for the use of the town contract debts and make and issue, or
cause to be made and issued as evidence thereof, bonds, notes or other
obligations, upon the credit of the town or solely upon the credit of
specific property owned by the town, or solely upon the credit of in-
come derived from property used in connection with any public utility
owned and operated by the town. But except as provided in subsec-
tion (b) of this section no debt shall hereafter be contracted for a
longer period than that of the probable life of the work or object for
which the debt is contracted, to be determined by the director of pub-
lic works and by him certified to the council. The probable life of
no public improvement shall be considered over thirty years, except that
the possible life of public buildings other than school houses may be
forty years: concrete bridges, forty years; and parks or other real
estate, fifty years.

(b) Bonds issued for the refunding of previous issues shall in no
case be for a greater period than thirty years.

(c) In lieu, however, of creating a sinking fund, or sinking funds,
as in section thirty herein provided, the town may issue bonds, here
aiter called “serial bonds”, payable in annual installments, the first o:
which shall be payable at any time the council may prescribe in th
ordinance authorizing the issue of such bonds; and the last of whicl
shall be payable within the period of the probable life of the work o1
object for which the debt evidenced by said bonds was created, ascer-
tained and certified as hereinabove provided.

(d) Pending the issuance and sale of any bonds, notes, or othe:
obligations by this section authorized, or in anticipation of the receipt
of taxes and revenues of the current fiscal year, it shall be lawful fot
the town to borrow money temporarily and to issue notes or other evi-
dences of indebtedness therefor, and from time to time to renew sucl-
temporary loans, or to use current funds, to be ultimately repaid from
the proceeds of said bonds, notes or other obligations, or from the town
taxes and revenues, as the case may be; provided that the proceeds of
sale of bonds shall not be used, except for the purposes set out in this
sub-section, or for permanent improvements and utilities or refunding
matured issues, unless approved by vote of the people.

(e) Restrictions on Loans and Credits—The credit of the town
shall not directly or indirectly, under any device or pretense what-
soever, be granted to or in aid of any person, association or corporation.
The council shall not issue any bonds, notes or other obligations of the
town, or increase the indebtedness thereof, to an amount greater than
eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation of the real estate in the
town, subject to taxation; provided, however, that in determining the
limitations of the power of the town to incur indebtedness there shall
not be included the classes of indebtedness mentioned in sub-sections
(a) and (b) of section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Constitu-
tion of the State.

({) Bonds based solely upon the credit of specific property owned
by the town, or solely upon the credit of income derived from prop-
erty used in connection with any public utility owned or operated by the
town, shall be issued subject to this charter and any law applicable
thereto. |

(¢) Every ordinance authorizing the issuance ‘of bonds shall
specify the purpose or purposes for which they are to be issued, the
aggregate amount of the bonds, the term for which they shall be issued,
and the maximum rate of interest to be paid thereon. Any such ordi-
nance may be amended by ordinance at any time before the bonds to
be affected by such amendment have been sold. All other matters
relating to such bonds may be determined by resolutions within the
imitations prescribed by such ordinance or by this charter.

(h) However, if there shall be omitted from this charter any pro-
vision essential to the valid authorization, sale, execution and issuance
of any of the bonds of said town, the provisions of the general law
with reference to similar bonds shall supply said omission.

(1) Any bonds issued by the town under this charter shall be
signed by the mayor and attested by the clerk under the seal of the
own, and shall be made payable at the office of the town treasurer. or
such other place, in or out of the State, as the council may provide.
Such bonds shall be advertised by the town manager and sold by the
town treasurer, under supervision of the mayor, town manager and
clerk, and the said sale reported to and approved by the council, and
the proceeds from said sale shall be paid to the town treasurer.

Section 32. Appropriation Ordinance and Levy.—At not less than
thirty days before the first Thursday in the month of September of
each year, the town manager shall submit to the council for its infor-
mation a budget for the ensuing fiscal year, and on the first ‘Thursday
of September in each year, the council shall lay its levy on all property,
real and personal, subject to taxation for town purposes, and not later
than October tenth following, the council shall pass its annual appro-
priation ordinance.

Section 33. Fiscal Year—Unless and until otherwise provided by
ordinance the fiscal year of the town of Appalachia shall begin Septem-
ber first, and end August thirty-first.

Section 34. Unencumbered Balances.—At the close of each fiscal
year, or upon completion or abandonment at any time within the year
of any work, improvement or other object for which a specific appro-
priation has been made, the unencumbered balance of such appropriation
shall revert to the respective fund from which it was appropriated, and
shall be subject to further appropriation; provided, however, this does
not prohibit the council from giving the town manager permission to
authorize such transfer with a department as may be necessary to meet
unexpected obligations. No obligations shall be incurred by an officer
or employee of the town, except in accordance with the provisions of
the appropriations made by the council or under continuing contract
and loans authorized under the provisions of this charter.

Section 35. Payment of Claims——Payment by the town shall be
made only upon vouchers certified to by the head of the appropriate
department or other division of the town government, and by means of
warrants on the town treasurer, issued by the director of finance and
countersigned by the town manager, except that when the town mana-
ger acts as director of finance then such warrants shall be issued by the
town treasurer and countersigned by the town manager. The director
of finance or the town treasurer, if the town manager is acting as
director of finance, shall examine all pay rolls, bills and other claims
and demands against the town and shall issue no warrant for payment
unless he finds that the claim is in proper form, correctly computed and
duly certified ; that it is justly and legally due and payable; and that an
appropriation has been made therefor which has not been exhausted.
or that the payment has been otherwise legally authorized; and that
there is money in the town treasury to make payment. He may require
any claimant to make oath to the validity of a claim. He may investt-
gate any claim, and for such purpose may examine witnesses undet
oath and if he finds it is fraudulent, erroneous or otherwise invalic!
shall not issue a warrant therefor.

Section 36. Certification—-No contract, agreement or other obli.
gation involving the expenditure of money shall be entered into, nots
shall any ordinance, resolution or order for the expenditure of money
be passed by the council or be authorized by an officer of the town
unless the treasurer shall first certity to the council or to the proper
officer, as the case may be, that the money required for such contract,
agreement, obligation or expenditure is in the treasury or safely assured
to be forthcoming and available in time to comply with or meet such
contract, agreement, obligation or expenditure; and no contract agree-
ment, or other obligation involving the expenditure of money payable
from the proceeds of bonds of the town shall be entered into until the
issuance and sale of such bonds have been duly authorized in accord-
ance with the provisions of this charter in reference to town bonds.

Section 37. Contingent Fund.—Provision may be made in the an-
nual budget and annual appropriation ordinance for a reasonable con-
tingent fund for use in any of the affairs of the town. Such contingent
fund shall be under the joint control of the town manager and the
town council. :

TAXATION

Section 38. License Taxes.—(a) License taxes may be imposed
by ordinance on businesses, trades, professions and callings and upon
the person, firms. associations and corporations engaged therein, and
the agents thereof, except in case where taxation by the localities shall
be prohibited by the general law of the State, and nothing herein shall
be construed to repeal or amend any general law with respect to tax-
ation.

(b) The council may subject any person, who, without having
obtained a license therefor, shall do any act or follow any business,
occupation, vocation, pursuit, or calling in the town for which a license
may be required by ordinance, to such fine or penalty as it is authorized,
to impose for any violation of its laws. }

(c) For every town license granted by the commissioner of reve-
nue under this charter he shall charge a fee to be prescribed by an
ordinance not in excess of seventy-five cents, and for transferring a
license, the fee shall be fifty cents; all such fees shall be paid to the
commissioner of revenue by the person obtaining the license or trans-
fer and such license or transfer may be withheld until the fees are
paid, provided that the council may by ordinance prescribe that such
tees be paid into the town treasury for town purposes, and the com-
missioner of revenue be paid a salary in lieu thereof.

Section 39. General Taxes—(a) The council may impose a tax
of one dollar per annum upon all residents of the town who have
attained the age of twenty-one years.

(b) The council may impose a tax upon every dog in the town
unless the general law of the State provides for such tax on behalf of
the town.

_ (c) The council of the town of Appalachia is authorized to and
shall annually order a town levy for so much, as in their opinion is
1ecessary to be raised in that way, in addition to ‘what mav he re.
ceived 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
purposes of the town. The levy so ordered may be upon all persons
in the said town 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 under general law.

It is hereby expressly provided that said council shall, in its dis-
cretion, be authorized to fix such annual levy on property subject to
taxation in the town of Appalachia, for town purposes, without any
limit as to the rate thereof, any provision of the general laws of the
State to the contrary notwithstanding.

(d) That all taxes, whether general or special, assessed upon
any land or lot in said town, are hereby declared to constitute a lien
upon such land or lot, as to general taxes and levies from the com-
mencement of the year, for which they were assessed, and as to special
taxes and levies from the time assessed, and if the treasurer of said
town shall not be able, with due diligence, to collect the said taxes by
the first day of August of the year after the same were assessed, he
shall make out lists of such as cannot be collected, in the same man-
ner as county treasurers are required to do in cases of delinquent
county taxes, and present said lists to the said council at its first
regular meeting thereafter. The said council shall examine said lists,
and if approved, shall credit the said treasurer with the amount of
same, and shall have its clerk certify a copy of said list to the county
clerk of Wise county, to be by him recorded in a book to be provided
by the town and kept in his office, after which, said delinquent real
estate may be redeemed, or sold, in the manner prescribed by general
law. , , |

(e) If the commissioner of revenue ascertains that any person
or any real or personal property, or income, or salary, has not been
assessed for town taxation for any year, or that the same has been
assessed at less than the law requires for any year, or that the taxes
thereon for any cause have not been realized, it shall be the duty of
the commissioner to list the same and assess town taxes thereon at
the rate prescribed for that year, adding thereto interest at the rate
of six per centum per annum. Where the same was omitted by no
fault of the person charged with the taxes, no interest shall be charged.

({) The provisions of subsections (d) and (e) of section thirty-
nine of this charter, insofar as applicable shall apply to the assessment
and collection, and to the administration of the assessment and col-
lection of taxes on personal property and all classes thereof. .

(g) All goods and chattels of any person against whom taxe
for the town are assessed, may be distrained and sold for said taxes
when due and unpaid in the same manner and to the same extent
that goods and chattels may be distrained and sold for State taxes.

A tenant by whom payment is made or from whom payment 1s
obtained, by distress or otherwise, of taxes or levies due the town,
by a person under whom he holds, shall have credit for the same
against such person out of the rents he may owe him, except when
the tenant is bound to pay such taxes and levies by an express con-
tract with such person. And where taxes or levies are paid to the
town by any fiduciary on any estate in his hands or for which he may
be liable, such taxes and levies shall be refunded out of the said estate.

Section 40. Special Assessments—(a) All local or special as-
sessments shall be made and assessed by the town manager under
such regulations as the council may by ordinance prescribe.

Provisions shall be made by ordinance for the method of levying
and apportioning such special assessments, for the publication and for
giving to such owners an opportunity to be heard before final action
on the assessment.

Any person affected by such special or local assessment may appeal
from the decision of the council as to any such assessment against
him to the circuit court of Wise county.

(b) The council may by ordinance provide the method of making
sale of any lands, lots or premises for non-payment of the amount
of any local or special assessments thereon, or for the non-payment
of any expense incurred by the town in abating any nuisance thereon,
or cutting or removing weeds therefrom as provided in section two
(subsection twenty) hereof.

(c) That the said town and the taxable persons and property
therein shall be exempt and free from any poor rates and road taxes,
and from contributing to any county expense except as hereinafter
provided, and the said town may, at its own expense, provide for
its own poor and keep its own streets in order.

Section 41. Audit of Accounts——Upon the death, resignation, re-
moval or expiration of the term of any officer of the town, the town
manager shall order an audit and investigation to be made of the
accounts of such officer and report to the council.

As soon as practicable after the close of each fiscal year an annual
audit shall be made of all accounts of all town officers. Such audit
shall be made by qualified public accountants, selected by the council,
who have no personal interest, direct or indirect, in the financial at-
fairs of the town or any of its officers or employees. The council may
at any time provide for an examination or audit of the accounts of
any officer or department of the town government.

PUBLIC PROPERTY AND FRANCHISE

Section 42. Transfer of Franchise—No public utility franchise
shall be transferable except with the approval of the council expressed
by ordinance, and copies of all authorized transfers and mortgages or
other documents affecting the title or use of any such public utility
shall be filed with the town clerk within ten days after the execution
and delivery thereof.

(b) Rights Reserved to the Town.—All grants, renewals, ex-
tensions or amendments of public utility franchises, whether so pro-
vided in the ordinance or not, shall be subject to the right of the

town.
(1) To repeal the same by ordinance at any time for mis-use or
non-use or for failure to begin construction within the time prescribed,
or otherwise to comply with the terms prescribed.

(2) To impose such other regulations as may be conducive to
the safety, welfare and convenience of the public.

(3) Extensions.—All extensioins of public utilities within the town
limits shall become a part of the aggregate property of such public
utility, shall be operated as such and shall be subject to all the obli-
gations and reserved rights contained in this charter and in any origi-
nal grant hereafter made. The right to use and maintain such exten-
sions shall terminate with the original grant.

(4) However, if there shall be omitted from this charter any
provisions essential to the valid sale, or granting, renewing, extending,
or amending, of any franchise, privilege, lease, or right of any kind
to use any public property therein, the provisions of the general law
with reference to this subject shall supply said omissions. Provided,
however, that nothing contained in this charter shall affect any fran-
chise heretofore granted, or any contract heretofore made with a
public utility corporation nor shall anything contained in this charter
be construed to conflict with the jurisdiction of the Corporation Com-
mission of the State of Virginia.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 44. Vacancies.—Vacancies in any offices provided for in
this charter shall be filled by the authority and in the manner provided
herein for the original appointment or election of such officers.

Vacancies in the council shall be filled by the remaining members
of the council, except as otherwise provided by general law.

Section 45. Salaries and Compensation——The salaries of the
councilmen and mayor as now constituted shall be and remain the
same as now fixed, until the expiration of their respective terms.
Thereafter the salaries of such councilmen and chairman, who is ex-
officio mayor, such as may be fixed and prescribed by the council
as then constituted; and the salaries of such councilmen and chairman,
who is ex-officio mayor, shall not be increased or diminished during
the terms of their respective terms of office; provided, however, the
salary of no councilman shall exceed the sum of ten dollars per
month, and the salary of the chairman, who is ex-officio mayor, shall
not exceed the sum of twenty dollars per month in addition thereto.
The salaries and compensation of all other officers and employees of
the town shall be such as may from time to time be fixed and pre-
scribed by the council and/or town manager.

Section 46. Oath of Office and Qualifications—Except as other-
wise provided by general law or by this charter, all officers elected or
appointed under the provisions of this charter shall take the oath of
office and execute such bond as may be required by general law, by
this charter, or by ordinance or resolution of the council, and file
the same with the town clerk, before entering upon the discharge of
their duties, and if the requirements of this section have not been
complied with by any officer within thirty days after the term of office
shall have begun or after his appointment to fill a vacancy, then such
office shall be considered vacant.

Section 47. Officers to Administer Oaths——The commissioner of
the revenue, town clerk, town treasurer, and town manager shall have
power to administer oaths and to take and sign affidavits in the dis-
charge of their respective official duties.

Section 48. Bond.—All officers elected or appointed under the
provisions of this charter, shall, unless otherwise provided by general
law or by this charter, execute such bonds, with such approved cor-
porate security, as may be required by general law, by this charter,
or by ordinance or resolution of the council, and file the same with
the town clerk before entering upon the discharge of their duties.
The town shall pay the premiums on such bonds.

Section 49. Investigations—The council, the town manager, and
any officer, board or commission authorized by them, or either of
them, shall have power to make investigation as to town affairs, and
for that purpose to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and compel
the production of books and papers.

Any person refusing or failing to attend, or to testify or to pro-
duce such books and papers, may by summons issued by such board
or officer be summoned before the mayor of said town by the board
or official making such investigation, and upon failure to give satis-
factory explanation of such failure or refusal, may be fined by the
mayor not exceeding one hundred dollars or imprisoned not exceeding
thirty days, and such person shall have the right to appeal to the
circuit court of Wise county. Any person who shall give false testi-
mony under oath at any such investigation shall be liable to prosecution
for perjury.

Section 50. Revocable Permits—Every permit given or authorized
by the council or town manager to violate the ordinances of the town
establishing fire limits and providing for the character of materials
which may be used in the construction of buildings within such fire
limits, and every permit authorizing the violation of the ordinances of
the town relating to obstructions in, over and under, or encroachments
on the streets, alleys, parks and other public grounds and property
of the town, and every permit authorizing the violation of any ordi-
nance of the town, shall be deemed to be a license and not a franchise
or grant, and shall be revocable at the will of the council.

Section 51. Actions Against the Town for Damages.—No action
shall be maintained against the said town for damages for an 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 under oath of claimant or his duly
authorized agent. of the nature of the claim and of 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 within ninety days
from date of alleged accident.
Section 52. Books and Papers Delivered to Successor or Town
Clerk.—Any person holding a municipal office, or any employee of said
town, and vacating the same on account of removal or otherwise shall
deliver over to his successor in office, or to the town clerk, all property
and books and papers belonging to the town, or appertaining to such
office which may be in his possession or under his control, ar.d in case
of his failure to do so within ten days after he shall have vacated the
office, or within such time thereafter as the council shall elect, and upon
due notification or request of the town clerk, he shall forfeit and pay
to said town a sum not in excess of five hundred dollars, to be sued
for and recovered with costs, and all books, records and documents
used in such office by virtue of any provisions of this act or of any
ordinance or resolution of the council, or by order of any superior
officer of said town, shall be deemed the property of said town as ap-
pertaining to said office, and the incumbent of such office and his sureties
on his bond shall be responsible therefor.

Section 53. All elections shall be held at such place or places within
said town as the council by ordinance may prescribe.

Section 54. Working Prisoners.—Subject to the general laws of
the State regulating the working of those convicted of offenses against
the State, the council shall have the power to provide by ordinance for
the employment or the working, either within or without <he town
limits, or within or without any town prison or jail, of all persons sen-
tenced to confinement in said prison or jail for the violation of the laws
of the State of Virginia, or the ordinances of the town of Appalachia.

Section 55. Penalty for Officers Failing to Perform Duties.—
If any officer of the town of Appalachia, whether he be elected by vote
of the people or by the council, or appointed by the council, or the
town manager, shall fail or refuse to perform any of the duties re-
quired by him by this charter or by ordinance or resolutions of the
town council, he shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than
one hundred dollars for each offense, and he and his sureties on his
official bond shall be liable for all damages which may accrue to the
town or any other person by reason of such failure or refusal.

Section 56. Police Agents—Any person, firm, association or
owner or owners, or the president of any corporation owning any
industrial plant or commercial house or houses, or education or ele-
emosynary institutions in the town may, with approbation of the town
manager or mayor, appoint one or more police agents, who shall
have authority in all cases in which the rights of such person, firm,
association, or owner or owners, or the president of such owning cor-
poration are involved, to exercise within the town and State all powers
which can be lawfully exercised by any constable or police officer for
the preservation of the peace, the arrest of offenders, and disorderly
persons, and for the enforcement of laws against crimes, and such
person, firm, association, or owner or owners, or the pres:dent of
such owning corporation may remove any such agent at pleasure, and
the town manager or mayor, or the successor of either, giving such con-
sent may at any time revoke it. Such police agents shall qualify before
the officer approving their appointment and a record shall be kept of
their appointment and qualification; but the town shall not on account
of said approval or consent of the mayor or town manager to said
appointment, be liable to any person for the negligence or acts of
omission or commission of said police agents.

Section 57. Town Plan.—The town council may cause to be pre-
pared and adopted a comprehensive town plan providing for the fu-
ture improvement and growth of the town within and without the
town limits, and including the altering and extension of streets, and
opening of new subdivisions, the changing and improving the chan-
nels of the creeks running into and through the town, the location and
opening of the most practical and direct highways from the town
into the adjoining country, the improvement of entrances and termi-
nals to and from the town, including those of public service corpor-
ations looking to the future harmonious development of a town plan,
the planning for playgrounds, parks, and boulevard system, the
location of public buildings, including school buildings and other pub-
lic works, and public utilities, and all such other things as will tend
to make the town of Appalachia a more convenient, attractive and
modern town.

Ihe council may, in its discretion, appoint an advisory town plan-
ning commission, and define its powers and prescribe its duties by
ordinance.

Section 58. Laying Out Streets, Rights Therein, and Sub-dividing
Lands and Recording Plats Thereof—(a) Whenever any street, alley
or lane shall have been opened to and used as such by the public for
the period of five years, the same shall thereby become a street, alley
or lane for all purposes, provided that the town council shall by
ordinance, so declare, and after such declaration the town shall have
the same authority and jurisdiction over and right and interests therein
as it has by law over the streets, alleys and lanes laid out by it.

And any street or alley, park or land reserved for other public
purposes, in the division or subdivision into lots of any portion of the
territory within the corporate limits of the town by a plat or plan of
record shall be deemed and held to be dedicated to the public use,
and the council shall have authority upon the petition of any person
interested therein or upon its own initiative, to open such streets or
alleys, park or lane reserved for other public purposes, or any portion
of the same. No agreement between or release of interest by the
person owning the lands immediately contiguous to any such alley
or street, park or land reserved for other public purposes, whether the
same has been opened and used by the public or not, shall avail
or operate to abolish said alley or street, park or land reserved for
other public purposes, so as to divest the interest of the public therein,
or the authority of the council over the same. Notwithstanding any-
thing in this section contained, the said town shall not be liable for
any accidents which may occur upon any street, alley, boulevard, or
way, whether heretofore or hereafter accepted or declared by the town
council.
(b) The said town shall have the use and control of all streets
and alleys, both below and above ground.

(c) No plat of any subdivision of lots or lands within the town,
or contiguous to its corporate limits, such as is mentioned in section
fifty-two hundred and seventeen of the Code of Virginia shall be
recorded in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Wise county
as provided by said section fifty-two hundred and seventeen of the
Code of Virginia until the same shall have been submitted to the town
manager, and to the council and approved by the council by ordinance
or resolution, a copy of which shall be certified thereon by the town
clerk and mayor, and recorded with such plat.

(d) Before approving such plat, and thereby accepting the dedi-
cation of the streets, alleys, parks and public places thereon, the
council shall require that the streets and alleys thereon shall be properly
laid out and located with reference to the topography of the land
so platted and the relation thereof to the streets and alleys contiguous
thereto and the adjoining lands, both as to connections and widths,
which widths of such streets and alleys shall be plainly raarked in
figures or written on such plat, and which street and alleys shall be
laid out in harmony with the general plan of the town.

(e) And, before approving such plat, and thereby accepting the
dedication of the streets and alleys thereon, the council shall require
the owner thereof to execute and deliver to the town of Appalachia
a release and waiver of any claim or claims for damages which such
owner, his heirs, successors or assigns may have or acquire against
the town of Appalachia by reason of establishing proper grade lines
on and along such streets and alleys and by reason of doing necessary
grading or filling for the purpose of placing such streets and alleys
upon the proper grade and releasing the town of Appalachia from
building any retaining wall or walls along the streets and alleys and
property lines; and the council may require such release and waiver
to be written and executed on said plat and recorded therewith or
by an instrument of writing to be executed and recorded in said clerk’s
office, circuit court of Wise county.

And the council may, in its discretion, require the owner of such
platted lands to submit profiles of such streets and alleys, showing the
contour thereof, together with proper grade lines laid thereon, and if
and when the council is satisfied that the proper grade lines are laid
on such profiles, the profiles shall be approved by the council and
recorded by the owner or at his expense in the record of the profiles
of the streets and alleys of the town, and the council may, in its
discretion, require such release and waiver to be made with reference
thereto.

(f{) Before approving any such plat of any subdivision of lots
ot lands, the town council may, at its discretion, require the owner
of such lots or lands to grade the streets and alleys therein, according
to grade lines approved and established by the council.

(g) Before approving any such plat of any such subdivision of
lots or lands within the town, the council may, in its discretion, require
the owner thereof to lay out and establish proper building lines
thereon, and to show on such plat that all conveyances of lots shown on
such plat are to be made with reference thereto for the benefit of the
respective lot owners of the town of Appalachia.

(h) Before approving any such plat of any such subdivision of
lots or lands the town council may, in its discretion, require the owner
thereof to designate and establish segregation districts thereon as is
provided by sections thirty hundred and forty-three, thirty hundred
and forty-four, thirty hundred and forty-five, thirty hundred and
forty-six, thirty hundred and forty-seven, thirty hundred and forty-
eight, thirty hundred and forty-nine, thirty hundred and fifty, thirty
hundred and fifty-one, thirty hundred and fifty-two and thirty hundred
and fifty-three of the Code of Virginia.

Section 59. Powers of Policemen.—For the purpose of enabling
the town to execute its duties and powers each member of the police
force and each policeman is hereby made and constituted a conservator
of the peace and endowed with all the power of a constable in criminal
cases and all other powers which under the laws of the town may be
necessary to enable him to discharge the duties of his office.

Section 60. Use of County Jail by Town.—The council shall have
power to enforce the collection of all fines not exceeding five hundred
dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, for the vio-
lation of any of the ordinances of the said town, and may commit to
the jail of the county of Wise for safe keeping and confinement
all prisoners who shall be sentenced to imprisonment under the ordi-
nances of the said town; and until such fines and costs shall have been
paid, and compel such person or persons so committed to the said jail
for violation of such ordinances, to work on the streets and public
works, or buildings of said town for a term not exceeding twelve
months, and shall have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases arising under
the ordinances of said town, and to issue any and all proper process
whether mesne or final, which may be necessary to enforce its au-
thority.

Section 61. General Power.—Said council shall have power to
pass all ordinances, regulations, or orders not contrary to the Con-
stitution and laws of the United States, or of this State, which the
said council may deem necessary and proper for the welfare of said
town or any of its citizens, and such other powers as are now or may
hereafter be vested in it by the laws of this State, and to amend or
repeal the same at its pleasure, and to enforce the observance of such
ordinances, orders, and regulations under penalties not exceeding five
hundred dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or
both, fines to be recovered, with costs, in the name of said town
before the mayor, or any councilman of said town, in the absence of
the mayor, and applied in aid of the taxes imposed upon said town.

Section 62. Ordinances to Continue in Force.—All ordinances
now in force in the town of Appalachia, not inconsistent with this char-
ter, shall be and remain in force until altered, amended or repealed by
the council of said town.

Section 63. Council to Settle Controversies—In the event the
town manager, or other officers elected by the council, in the adminis-
tration of their respective duties, shall disagree or have any con-
troversy with any of the officers of the town elected by the voters,
such matter in dispute or controversy shall be referred to the council
for review and decision.

Section 64. Partial Invalidity—I{f any clause, sentence, paragraph,
or part of this act, shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of
competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
impair or invalidate the remainder of said act, but shall be confined in
its operations to the clause, sentence, paragraph, or part thereof di-
rectly involved in the controversy in which said judgment shall have
been rendered.

Section 65. Citation of Act.—This act may for all purposes be
referred to or cited as the Appalachia charter of nineteen hundred and
thirty-eight.

Section 66. General Laws to Apply.—The enumeration of par-
ticular powers and authority in this charter shall not be deemed or
held to be exclusive but, in addition to the powers enumerated herein,
implied thereby, or appropriate to the exercise thereof, the said town
shall have and may exercise all other powers which are now or may
hereafter be possessed or enjoyed by towns under the Constitution
and general laws of this State.

Section 67. Repeal Clause——All acts and parts of acts in conflict
with this charter are hereby repealed in so far as they affect the pro-
visions of this charter, and all former charters and amendments thereof,
of the town of Appalachia, are hereby repealed.

Section 68. When Charter Takes Effect—In order thar this act
may be given effect as soon as practicable, an emergency is declared
to exist, and this act shall be in force from its passage.