Chap. 161.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4, as heretofore amended, of
an act entitled ‘‘An act to provide a new charter for the town of Woodstock
and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith, and to declare all
contracts and obligations heretofore or hereafter made by the present council
and government of the town of Woodstock and all power heretofore or here-
after exercised by them, while in office, to be legal and valid.”’, approved March
24, 1922. [H B 188}

Approved March 8, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
section four, as heretofore amended, of an act entitled “‘An act to
provide a new charter for the town of Woodstock and to repeal all
acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith, and to declare all contracts
and obligations heretofore or hereafter made by the present council
and government of the town of Woodstock and all power heretofore
or hereafter exercised by them while in office, to be legal and valid.”’,
approved March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4. Powers of the town of Woodstock, Virginia.—In addi-
tion to the powers mentioned in section two hereof, the said town of
Woodstock shall have the following powers:

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

Second. To impose special and local assessments for local im-
provements and enforce payment thereof, subject, however, to such
limitations prohibited by the Constitution of Virginia, as may be in
force at the time of the imposition of such special and local assess-
ments.

Third. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia
and of this charter, to contract debts, borrow money and make and
issue evidences of indebtedness.

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

Fifth. To acquire by purchase, gifts, devise, condemnation or
otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein,
within or without the town or State, and for any of the purposes of
the town; and to hold, impose, sell, lease, mortgage, pledge or other-
wise dispose of the same or any part thereof, including any property
now owned by the town. ,

Sixth. To acquire in any lawful manner for the purpose of en-
couraging commerce, manufacture, education, lands within and
without the town, not exceeding at one time one thousand acres in
the aggregate, and from time to time, sell, dispose of, lease or donate
the same or any part thereof for commercial, industrial, educational
uses and purposes, including land now owned by the town, and in-
cluding the power to donate any land now or hereafter owned by
the town for hospital purposes.

Seventh. To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the
town and to that end all plats and replats subdividing any land
within the town into streets, alleys, roads and lots or tracts, shall
be submitted to and be approved by the council before the same are
filed or recorded in the clerk’s office of the county.

Eighth. Construct, maintain, regulate and operate public im-
provements of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings,
markets and other buildings for the use and operation of the various
departments of the town, and to acquire by condemnation or other-
wise all lands, riparian and other rights and easements necessary for
such improvements, or any of them.

Ninth. 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 pro-
viding an adequate water supply for said town and of piping or con-
ducting it; to lay all necessary mains and tunnels, to erect and main-
tain all necessary dams, pumping stations and other works in connec-
tion therewith; to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting
the purity of its water supply and for protecting the same from
pollution, and for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sani-
tary patrol over all lands comprised within the limits of the watershed
tributary to any such water supply where such lands may be located
in this State; to impose and enforce adequate penalties for the viola-
tion 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; pro-
vided that the lands which may be held for such purpose shall not
exceed in the aggregate one thousand acres at one time. ,

For any of the purposes aforesaid, the said town may, if the
council shall so determine, acquire by condemnation, purchase or
otherwise, any interest or interests 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 ordinances providing
such condemnation or otherwise.

Tenth. To acquire by purchase or exchange, or by the exercise
of the power of eminent domain, any spring, springs, water supplies,
pipe lines, reservoirs, land, property, easements, interests, contract
rights, property rights, riparian rights, or any interest or interests
therein in the State of Virginia, which is now, or may be at any time
used for supplying the inhabitants of the said town with water.

Eleventh. To establish, impose and enforce water rates and rates
and charges for public utilities, or other service, products or con-
veniences, operated, rendered or furnished by the town; and to assess
or cause to be assessed water rents directly against the owner or
owners of the buildings or against the proper tenant or tenants, and
may by ordinance provide that when charges are made against tenants,
the owner or owners shall be directly liable in case such tenant or
tenants fail to pay when the rents or charges are assessed.
Twelfth. To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, con-
struct, maintain, light and sprinkle and clean, public highways,
streets, alleys, and to alter or close the same; to establish and maintain.
public play grounds or other public grounds; to construct, maintain
and operate bridges, tunnels, sewers and drains, and to regulate the
use of all such highways, streets, parks, public grounds or works, to
prevent the obstruction of such streets and highways, abolish and
prevent grade crossings over the same by railroads in the manner
provided 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 crossing any style of gate, deemed proper and keep
a man in charge thereof or keep a flagman at such crossing during
such hours as the council may require in accordance with the laws,
or make any other ordinance which the council may deem proper
to accomplish the purposes desired; and to regulate the length of
time such crossings may be closed due to any operations of the rail-
road: and to regulate the operation, weight of load and speed of all
cars and vehicles using the same, as well as the operation and speed
of all engines, cars, trains or railroads in the said town; to prevent or
prohibit poles and wires for electric telephone or telegraph purposes
to be erected in the streets and alleys and to prescribe and to collect
annual license charges for such privileges heretofore or hereafter
granted.

The said town and citizens living within its corporate limits shall
be exempt from all road taxes and taxes for the support of the poor
and other local purposes, provided, the said town shall maintain
and keep its road and streets in good repair, support its poor and levy
its school taxes for the support of the local schools of the town. The
town may keep its poor in the parish house or poorhouse of the county,
provided, it pays all necessary expenses therefor.

Thirteenth. To establish, construct and maintain sanitary sew-
ers, sewer lines and systems and to require the abutting property
owners to connect therewith and to establish, construct, maintain
and operate sewage 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 service for connecting with and using the same. To collect
and dispose of sewage, garbage, carcasses of dead animals and fowls
and other refuse, and to acquire and operate plants for the utilization
or destruction of the same or any of them.

Fourteenth. To compel the abatement and removal of all nut-
sances within the town at the expense of the person or persons causing
the same or the owner or occupant of the ground or premises wherein
the same may be found, and to require all lands and lots and other
premises within the town to be kept clean and sanitary and free
from stagnant water, weeds, filth and unsightly deposits or to make
them at the expense of the owners or occupants thereof; to regulate
or prevent slaughter houses or other noisome and offensive business
within the town, the keeping of hogs or other animals; to regulate
the transportation of all articles through the streets, to compel the
abatement of smoke and dust and prevent unnecessary noise; to
regulate the location of stables, and other obnoxious buildings, and
the manner in which they are to be kept and constructed and generally
to define, prohibit, abate and suppress and prevent all things detri-
mental to health, morals, safety, convenience and welfare of the
inhabitants of the town.

Fifteenth. To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity
or articles of consumption or use within the town and to establish,
regulate, license and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

Sixteenth. To establish, regulate and control a fire department,
to regulate the size, height and construction of buildings, fences,
walls and altered structures as public safety may require; to remove
or require to be removed any structure which by reason of dilapida-
tion or other causes may have become dangerous to life or property
and enact efficient laws to secure the safety of persons from fires in
halls or buildings used for public assemblies or entertainments.

Seventeenth. To provide for the care, support and maintenance
of aged, insane, poor persons or paupers.

Eighteenth. To establish, organize and administer public schools
and libraries as provided in section forty-seven hereof.

Nineteenth. To prevent paupers and persons having no visible
means of support or who may be dangerous to the peace and safety
of the town from coming into the town and to expel any one from
the town dangerous to the peace, safety and welfare of the town and
its inhabitants.

Twentieth. To provide for the promotion of the general health
of the residents of said town; make regulations to protect the same,
inspect all foods and foodstuffs and to prevent the introduction and
sale in said town of any articles or things intended for human con-
sumption, which is adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to
health; to prevent the introduction and spread of contagious or in-
fectious diseases, and prevent and suppress disease generally; and to
establish quarantine grounds within or without the town and regula-
tions respecting the same, subject to the laws of the State.

Twenty-first. 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 public purposes and to do all things necessary to carry out the
purpose of the donor in accordance with the terms and conditions of
such gifts, grants, bequests or devises.

Twenty-second. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and
street beggars, to prevent vice and immorality; to preserve peace
and good order; to prevent riots, disorderly assemblages and suppress
houses of ill-fame and gambling and punish lewd, indecent and dis-
orderly exhibitions in the town.

Twenty-third. To license and regulate the holding of shows and
their location, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals, or fairs, or
prohibit the holding of the same within the town.
Twenty-fourth. To make and enforce ordinances similar to the
prohibition laws of the State. No license to sell strong drink in said
town, within two miles thereof, without first obtaining permit of
the council and then on such terms as may be required by said council.

Twenty-fifth. The town is authorized to exempt, by four-fifths
vote of the members of the council, the buildings, machinery and
equipment of factories and industries from town taxes for a reason-
able period of time not exceeding ten years.

Twenty-sixth. To contract, own and maintain power and light
and operate facilities necessary thereto and to acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise, within or without the town, land, waterpower sites,
easements, property and property rights necessary for such purposes.

Twenty-seventh-thirty-second. In addition to the right of the
town under the general law to negotiate temporary loans and thereby
anticipate its income for and during any year, the council in the
name of and for the use of the said town of Woodstock, may contract
loans, incur debts and cause certificates of debt or bonds to be issued
whenever two-thirds of its members, by a recorded vote, decide that
such course is in the best interest of the town and necessary in the
acquirement and establishment of some needed public improvement
or utility, but such council may borrow money in such manner and
for such purposes only to the extent and subject to the provisions
prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Virginia. The council
shall not have the power to issue any bonds or certificates of debt
except such as are to be paid and discharged within one year from
date of issue out of the regular income of the town until it shall have
first submitted to the qualified voters of said town whether or not
such bonds shall be issued and the majority of the qualified voters
voting at any election held for such purposes have voted for such
issue. Such election shall be held in the manner prescribed and under
the provisions of the general laws of the State of Virginia, except
that the council shall have the power to call such election and fix the
date thereof by ordinance, copies of which shall be published in some
newspaper published in said town or the nearest paper published
thereto and posted at least twenty days from such election in at
least five public places by the sergeant thereof. The judges con-
ducting any such election shall certify the return to the clerk of the
circuit court of Shenandoah County and to the said council, and the
court shall enter of record such order as the case may require and as
provided by law. Any bonds which may be issued under this act
may be either registered or coupon bonds and the purpose for which
said bonds are issued shall be clearly set forth therein. They shall
be issued in such denominations and bear such rate of interest, not
exceeding six per centum, as may be determined by the council.
They shall be made payable at such time as the council may pre-
scribe, not exceeding thirty years from their date, and may at the
option of the council be made redeemable after such time and in such
amounts as the council may prescribe. The interest thereon may
be made payable at such place as the council may designate, either
annually or semi-annually. All bonds issued under this act shall be
signed by the mayor and countersigned by the clerk of the council
with the seal of the town attached. They shall be sold in such manner
as the council may prescribe, and the proceeds from such sale used
and expended under the orders of the council.

Thirty-third. To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any
town ordinance, rule or regulation, or any provision of this charter,
not exceeding five hundred dollars, or twelve months imprisonment
in jail, or both. And to carry into effect the police regulations of
said town, the said town shall be allowed to use the jail of Shenandoah
County for the safekeeping and imprisonment of all persons sen-
tenced to prison under the ordinance of said town.

Thirty-fourth. Creation of wards and council.—The town shall
be divided into two wards, as follows:

The first ward shall consist of that portion of the town south of
Court street of the town, and the second ward shall consist of that
portion of the town north of Court street of the town, and there is
hereby created a council consisting of three members from each of
said wards, and a mayor to be elected by both wards, numbers one
and two, which shall have full power and authority, except as herein-
after otherwise provided, to exercise all the power conferred upon
the town and to pass all laws and ordinances, relating to its municipal
affairs, subject to the Constitution and general laws of the State and
of this charter.

Thirty-fifth. The said mayor and six councilmen shall be elected
on the sixth day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and
shall serve for a term of four years from the first day of September
next following the date of election and until their successors shall be
duly elected and qualified. Vacancies in the council, except as other-
wise provided by general laws, shall be filled within thirty days for
the unexpired term by a majority vote of the remaining members.
Any person qualified to vote in the town shall be eligible to the office
of mayor and councilman. But no member of the council or other
officer shall be interested directly or indirectly in the profits of any
contract or work, to be financially interested directly or indirectly in
the sale to the town of any land, materials, supplies or unofficial
services, but this prohibition shall not apply if the council by unani-
mous vote of the members thereof shall declare that the best interests
of the town are served despite a personal interest, direct or indirect.

Thirty-sixth. The council shall make such rules for its organiza-
tion, government and order of business, appointment of committees,
as it may deem proper, including the times of meeting and special
meetings.

Thirty-seventh. The mayor shall preside at the meetings of the
council and perform such duties consistent with his office and pre-
scribed by the ordinances of the town. During his absence or dis-
ability the council shall elect a member of the council to perform the
duties of the mayor. The mayor shall have the right to vote in case
of a tie.

Thirty-eighth. On the first day of September following the next
regular municipal election and organization of the council, and on
the first day of September each four years thereafter, or as soon after
the first day of September as may be practicable, the council shall
elect a clerk or secretary for the council, a treasurer of the town,
sergeant, town attorney, superintendent of water works, town phy-
sician or health officer, overseer of the poor, chief or captain of the
fire department, and such other officers as may come within their
jurisdiction, each of which officers shall serve at the pleasure of the
council or for such term or terms as the council may see fit to elect
them, but no single term shall exceed four years; provided, however,
that nothing in this act shall apply to the present incumbents in
office during their present terms of office.

Thirty-ninth. Legislative procedure.—Except in dealing with
parliamentary procedure as set forth in the ordinances, the council
shall act only by ordinance or resolution and with the exception of
ordinances making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of
indebtedness, shall be confined to one subject.

Forty. Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be intro-
duced in writing or printed form and the enacting clause of all ordi-
nances hereinafter passed by the council shall substantially be “be it
ordained by the council of the town of Woodstock.” and all ordinances
shall be read at two meetings not less than a 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 four members of the council may
be confined to the reading of the title only, but this provision shall
not apply to an emergency measure. No ordinance shall be amended
unless such section or sections as is intended to be amended shall be
re-enacted. The ayes and noes shall be taken and recorded upon the
passage of all ordinances, and so entered upon the minutes of the
proceedings of the council.

Forty-first. No ordinance passed by the council shall take effect
until at least thirty days from the date of its passage, except the
council may by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members,
pass emergency measures to take effect at the time indicated therein.
Every ordinance passed shall be recorded by the clerk in a book kept
for that purpose and shall be authenticated by the signatures of the
presiding officer and the clerk. Every ordinance of a public and
permanent character passed shall be published in full once within
ten days after its final passage.

Forty-second. Nominations and elections; municipal elections.—
A municipal election shall be held on the second Tuesday in June
of every fourth year after nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and
shall be known as the regular municipal election for the election of
mayor and six councilmen, sergeant and treasurer. All other municipal
elections that may be held shall be known as special municipal elec-
tions. The elections held under this charter shall be in accordance
with the general laws of the State.

The duties of the officers as elected by the council and general
election shall be as defined and provided for in the ordinances of the
town, and as shown by said ordinances.
Forty-third. Licenses and taxation.—License taxes may be im-
posed by ordinances on business, trades, profession and callings and
upon the persons, firms, associations and corporations engaged therein
and the agents thereof, except in cases where licenses or taxations
are expressly prohibited by the general laws of the State. Any one
who shall fail to procure the license required by the council shall be
subject to such penalty as provided by ordinances of the town.

Forty-fourth. General taxes——The council may impose a tax of
one dollar per annum upon the residents of the town who have at-
tained the age of twenty-one years. The council may also tax dogs.

Forty-fifth. The council of the town of Woodstock is authorized
to and shall annually order a town levy of so much as is in their
opinion necessary to be raised in that way, in addition to what may
be raised for licenses and from other sources, to meet the appropria-
tions made and to be enabled to pay the indebtedness of the town
and meet all of its municipal expenses, required by law to be raised.
The levy or assessment shall be on all real and tangible personal
property owned or possessed by any and all of the residents and
corporations located in said town; provided, however, that the rate
assessed does not at any time exceed the maximum rate provided
by the law of the State in force at that time. The values of such
property as fixed by the State shall be accepted as the basis of the
taxation and assessment by the council, or as the general laws of the
State may hereafter prescribe. There shall be a lien on real estate
for the town taxes as assessed thereon, from the commencement of
the year for which they are assessed. The council may require real
estate in the town delinquent for the non-payment of taxes to be
sold for taxes, with interest thereon and said council may regulate
the terms on which real estate so delinquent may be sold or redeemed,
provided, that such sales shall be made subject to the prior lien of
the Commonwealth for taxes. And all town taxes shall be due and
payable as and when similar State taxes are due and payable otherwise
by ordinance.

The town shall also have a lien for its taxes and levies upon all
such corporate property as is authorized by law. All goods and chat-
tels of any person against whom taxes 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.

Forty-sixth. Franchises—The granting of franchises by the
council shall be as provided by the general law of the State and
ordinances not in conflict therewith.

Forty-seventh. The town of Woodstock shall constitute a sep-
arate school district. It shall have a school board consisting of three
members, to be appointed by the town council, the first appoint-
ment to be made on or before the first day of July next following the
date this act becomes effective, one member for a term of one year,
one for a term of two years and one for a term of three years, begin-
ning on the said first day of July; and on or before the first day of
July of each year thereafter one member shall be appointed for a
term of three years; the eligibility and compensation of the members
of the school board shall be the same as prescribed by law.

The school board shall be a body corporate under the name of
the Woodstock school board, by which name it may sue and be sued,
contract and be contracted with, purchase, take, hold, lease, and
convey school property, both real and personal. The title to all
public school property within the corporate limits of the town shall
be and the same is hereby by operation of law transferred to and
vested in the Woodstock school board.

By mutual consent of the school board and the council of the
town, the title to the said school property may by the said board be
transferred to and vested in the said town.

The school board shall submit to the council annually or oftener
an estimate of what funds may be needed for the proper maintenance
and growth of the public schools of the town, and the council may
levy a tax upon property subject to local taxation for the purpose of
maintaining the schools, to be collected along with other taxes by
the treasurer of the town and placed in a special account, subject
to the order of the school board. The State school fund shall be
apportioned to the Woodstock school district separately from the
county of Shenandoah, and all such funds designated for the benefit
of the schools therein shall be paid by the disbursing officers of the
State to the treasurer of the said town and by such treasurer kept in
his school account, to be paid out on the orders of the said school
board.

The said school board shall establish and maintain in the said
town a general system of public schools in accordance with the re-
quirements of the Constitution and general education policy of the
Commonwealth, for the accomplishment of which purpose it shall
have the following powers and duties:

First. To explain, enforce and observe the school laws, and to
make rules for the government of the schools and for regulating the
conduct of pupils going to and returning therefrom.

Second. To determine the studies to be pursued, in accordance
with the regulations of the State Board of Education, the methods
of teaching, the government to be employed in the schools, and the
length of the school term.

Third. To employ teachers from a list or lists of eligibles to be
furnished by the division superintendent, and to dismiss them when
delinquent, inefficient, or in any wise unworthy of the position, but
no teacher shall be employed unless such teacher has the qualifications
prescribed by law. ,

Fourth. To suspend or expel pupils when the prosperity and
eficiency of the schools make it necessary; to decide what children
entering the schools of the town are entitled by reason of the poverty
of their parents or guardians to receive textbooks free of charge, and
provide for supplying them accordingly; to establish a high school
or high schools; to see that the census of children is taken within the
proper time and in the proper manner, as prescribed by law.

Fifth. To hold regular and special meetings of the school hoard
ind to call meetings of the people of the town for consultation in
egard to the school interests thereof.

Sixth. To provide suitable schoolhouses with proper furniture
und appliances and to care for, manage and control the school prop-
arty of the town. For these purposes it may lease, purchase, or build
such schoolhouses according to the exigencies of the town and the
means at its disposal. The plans for all schoolhouses shall be sub-
mitted to and approved in writing by the division superintendent
of schools, before the same is contracted for or erected. All school
buildings shall be maintained in a safe and sanitary condition, with
due regard for health and decency, and for the lack of which the
division superintendent shall condemn the same and immediately
vive notice to the chairman of the said school board in writing,
and thereafter no school shall be held therein nor shall any State
or town funds be applied to support any such schoolhouses, until
the division superintendent shall certify in writing to the town school
board that he is satisfied with the condition of such building, and
with the equipment pertaining thereto.

Seventh. To visit the public schools of the town from time to
time and to take care that they are conducted according to law and
with the utmost efficiency; to manage and control the school funds
of the town, and to provide for the pay of the teachers, and for any
expenses attending the administration of the public school system in
the said town, so far as the same is under the control or at the charge
of the school officials.

Eighth. To examine all claims against the school board and
when approved pay the same, provided that a record of such approval
shall be made in the proceedings of the board and a warrant on the
town treasurer shall be drawn, signed by the chairman of the board
and countersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person or
persons entitled to receive such money and stating on its face the
purpose or service for which it is to be paid, and that such warrant
is ane in pursuance of an order entered by the board on the .......
day Of . 2... -s cee nee e eee

no equitable arrangements for its purchase are possible, the school
board is authorized, and it shall be its duty to cause the desired parcel
of land to be surveyed by a competent surveyor, and a plat of the
same to be filed, together with a general statement of the case, with
the clerk of the circuit court; and thereupon, on application of the
school board, the same proceeding shall be had as is prescribed by
law relating to the exercise of the right of eminent domain; but nc
parcel of land thus condemned shall exceed five acres.

Tenth. And in addition to the foregoing enumerated powers anc
duties the said school board shall exercise such other powers anc
perform such other duties not inconsistent herewith as are prescribec
for county school boards in so far as applicable, or imposed by the
State Board of Education. ,

Eleventh. The school board of the town of Woodstock shal
have control over the school property and over the administration
of the public schools in said town, and shall have such representation
on the county school board as may be provided by general law.

Twelfth. The Woodstock school board is hereby obligated to
pay its proportion of the existing indebtedness of the Shenandoah
county school board, the proportion to be based on the school popu-
lation, as of date approved by town council.

Thirteenth. The Woodstock school board is hereby authorized
to make necessary arrangements for the instruction of pupils who
reside beyond the corporate limits of the said town with authority to
make provision for proper tuition fees for such pupils, in compliance
with sections seven hundred and nineteen and seven hundred and
twenty of the Code of Virginia.

Forty-eighth. The present mayor and councilmen, and all other
officers of the town of Woodstock shall continue to hold office and to
perform the duties of their respective offices for the said town for the
terms for which they were elected until their successors be elected
and qualify, and all liabilities, actions, claims, contracts heretofore
existing under the former charter and amendatory acts under the
corporate name of the council of the town of Woodstock shall remain
and continue in force and effect as if this act had not been passed.

And all now in force in the town of Woodstock, not inconsistent
with this charter, shall be and remain in full force until altered,
amended or repealed by the council of said town.

If, however, any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act
shall for any reason be adjudged by any act of competent jurisdiction
to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the
remainder of this act.

Forty-ninth. The enumeration of particular powers and authority
in this charter shall not be held exclusive, but the said town shall have
and may exercise all other powers which are now or may hereafter
be possessed or applied to towns under the Constitution and general
laws of the State.