Chap. 129.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Middleburg, in
Loudoun County, Virginia; and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict
herewith. [H 229]

Approved March 3, 1944

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. Section 1. The inhabitants of the territory embraced within the
present limits of the Town of Middleburg, as hereinafter defined, or as
the same may be hereafter altered and established by law, shall constitute
and continue a body politic and corporate, to be known and designated
as the Town of Middleburg, and as such shall have and may exercise all
powers which are now, or may hereafter be, conferred upon or delegated
to towns under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Vir-
ginia as fully and as completely as though such powers were specifically
enumerated herein, and no enumeration of particular powers herein shall
be held to be exclusive. The territory embraced within the present limits
of the Town of Middleburg is described by metes and bounds as follows:

Beginning at “one”, a stake in the field of Raymond Belmont, and in
the center line of Madison street, extended, being north twenty degrees
west eight hundred and ninety-one feet from the intersection of the cen-
ter lines of Madison and Washington streets, the center line of Wash-
ington street being determined by the highway markers on said street.
Thence running parallel to Washington street and eight hundred and
ninety-one feet from the center line of said street north seventy degrees
east two thousand and five feet, crossing the property of Belmont, the
High School, Preston Luck and Aldrich Dudley, to “two”, a stake and
stones in Dudley’s field, and on the eastern line of the present corporation
extended. Thence with the eastern line of the present corporation and
its line extended, passing over a set stone, being the corner B, of the
present corporation at five hundred and seventy-four feet, and crossing
the property of Dudley and Anne C. Montague south twenty degrees
east two thousand, two hundred, forty-two and three-tenths feet to
“three”, a stake and stones in Montague’s field. Thence crossing the
property of Montague, Miss Julia Whiting, the Hill School and I. M.
Waddell, south seventy degrees west four thousand,,two hundred and
forty-three feet to “four”, a stake in the fence line dividing Waddell’s
land from that of General William Mitchell. Thence with General Mitch-
ell’s line north fifty-four degrees twenty-two minutes west one thou-
sand, two hundred and sixteen feet to a stake at the end of General
Mitchell’s fence. Thence crossing the property of Otto Furr and J. H.
[Lawrence north forty-eight degrees two minutes west one thousand five
hundred, ninety-two and eight-tenths feet to “six”, a stake on the north
side of the State highway to Upperville, one and one-half feet north of
a telephone pole, Thence through the property of Harry Hatcher, about
two feet west of the fence dividing Hatcher from Windy Hill, north
five degrees thirty-two minutes east one thousand, one hundred and
twenty feet to ‘seven’, a stake in an old stone fence line near Bel-
mont’s corner. Thence up a gully north eighty-six degrees thirty-seven
minutes east six hundred and twenty-eight feet to “eight”, a stake be-
tween Belmont’s stone and plank fences. Thence generally following a
stone fence dividing the Belmont land from Ridgeview south sixty-seven
degrees twenty-four minutes east one thousand four hundred and seventy-
six feet to “nine”, a point in the center of the stone fence. Thence across
Belmont’s land, north seventy degrees east one thousand four hun-
dred and ninety-eight and three-tenths feet to the beginning. It is the
purpose of the above description to embrace and include within the limits
of the Town of Middleburg all of the lands within the boundaries of the
said town as defined in the annexation proceedings of the Town of
Middleburg versus the Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County and
John F. Galleher, Commonwealth’s Attorney for Loudoun County, in
the Circuit Court of Loudoun County, Virginia, under date of June
fitteen, nineteen hundred thirty-two.

Section 2. The administration and government of the Town of Mid-
dleburg shall be vested in one body to be known as the council of the Town
of Middleburg, which said body shall consist of eight members, seven
of whom shall be knewn as councilmen and one to be known as mayor,
all of whom shall be residents and qualified voters of the town. Each
member of the council may receive a salary for his services as such
member, the amount thereof to be fixed by the council, but such salary
shall not be in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) per year for each
such member. The council may create, appoint or elect such boards,
bodies, departments or officers as may be permitted, required, or deemed
necessary or proper, and fix their compensation and define their duties.

Section 3. (a) At the regular municipal election to be held on the
second Tuesday in June, in the year nineteen hundred and forty-five,
and every two years thereafter, there shall be elected, in the manner pre-
scribed by law, seven councilmen and a mayor for terms of two years
beginning on the first day of September next following their election,
each of whom shall serve until his successor shall have been elected and
qualified. The council shall be a continuing body, and no measure
pending before such body shall abate or be discontinued by reason of -ex-
piration of term of office or removal of any of the members. Vacancies in
the council shall be filled for the unexpired term by a majority vote of
the remaining members. The present mayor and council shall continue
in office until the expiration of the terms for which they were respec-
tively elected.

(b) The council shall, by ordinance, fix the time for their regular
meetings. Special meetings shall be called by the clerk of the council
upon request of the mayor or any three councilmen; reasonable notice
of each special meeting shall be given each member of the council; nc
business shall be transacted at a special meeting except that for which
the special meeting is called, unless the council be unanimous.

Section 4. The council shall appoint a clerk, a treasurer and such
other officers as the council may deem necessary or proper, all of whom
shall hold office at and during the pleasure of the council, and shall qualify
for their respective offices as required by law, and shall furnish such
bonds as may be required by the council. The same person may hold
two or more of these offices, in the discretion of the council. The officers
as appointed by the council shall perform such services, and receive such
compensation, as the council may provide.

Section 5. The council shall appoint a town sergeant who shall qualify
and give bond in such amount as the council may require. The sergeant
shall be vested with the powers of a conservator of the peace, and shall
have the same powers and perform the same duties within the corporate
limits of the town and to a distance of one mile beyond, as are now or
were formerly had and performed by constables. He shall perform
such other duties, and receive such compensation, as the council may
provide.

Section 6. The mayor shall preside at the meetings of the council and
perform such other duties as may be prescribed by this charter, and by
general law, and such as may be imposed by the council consistent with
his office. He shall be entitled to vote upon measures pending before
the council only in event the other members voting are equally divided tor
and against such measure. He shall be ex-officio a conservator of the
peace within the town and within one mile of the cerporate limits there-
of. He shall see that peace and order are preserved and that persons and
property within the town are protected. He shall perform such other
services and functions as may be necessary or proper, and shall receive
such compensation as may be provided by the council.

Section 7. All contracts and obligations heretofore or hereafter made
by the council of the Town of Middleburg, while in office, not inconsistent
with this charter, or the Constitution, or the general laws of this State,
shall be, and are hereby declared to be valid and legal. .

Section 8. In addition to the powers elsewhere enumerated in this
charter and the powers conferred by general law and the Constitution, the
-Yown of Middleburg shall have the following powers:

(1) To raise annually, by levy of taxes and assessments in the said
town, on all such property, real and personal. as is now or may be sub-
ject to taxation by towns by the laws of this Commonwealth, such sums
of money as the council thereof shall deem necessary for the purpose of
the said town, in such manner as the 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 taxes on the bonds of
the said town.

(2) To impose special or local assessments for local improvements
and to force payment thereof, subject to such limitations prescribed by
the Constitution and laws as may be in force at the time of the imposi-
tion of such special or local assessments.

(3) a. The town 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, within the limi-
tations prescribed by the Constitution, and in accordance with the pro-
visions of law concerning bond issues by towns, upon the credit of the
town, or solely upon the credit of specific property owned by the town,
or solely upon the credit of income derived trom property used in con-
nection with any public utility owned and operated by the town.

b. Pending the issuance and sale of any bonds, notes or other obli-
gations by this act authorized, or in anticipation of the receipt of taxes
and revenues of the current fiscal year, it shall be lawful for the town
to borrow money temporarily and to issue notes or other evidences of
indebtedness therefor, and from time to time to renew such temporary
loans or to use current funds to be ultimately repaid from the proceeds
of the said bonds, notes or other obligations or from the town taxes and
revenues, as the case may be.

(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 therein within or without
the town, 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 own, operate and maintain water works and to acquire in
any lawful manner in any county of the State, such water, lands, prop-
erty rights, and riparian rights as the council of the said town may deem
necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate water supply to the
said town and of piping and conducting the same; to lay, erect and main-
tain all necessary mains and service lines, either within or without cor-
porate limits of the said town, for the distribution of water to its cus-
tomers and consumers, both within and without the corporate limits of
the said town and to charge and collect water rents thereof; to erect and
maintain all necessary dams, pumping stations and other works in con-
nection therewith; to make reasonable rules and regulations for pro-
moting 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 control over all land 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 injunc-
tion any pollution or threatened pollution of such water supply, and any
and all acts likely to impair the purity thereof ; and to carry out the pow-
ers herein granted, the said town may exercise within the State all powers
of eminent domain provided by the laws of this State.

(7) To collect and dispose of sewage, offal, ashes, garbage, car-
casses of dead animals and other refuse, and to make reasonable charges
therefor; to acquire and operate reduction or any other plants for the
utilization or destruction of such materials, or any of them; to contract
or regulate the collection and disposal thereof and to require and regulate
the collection and disposal thereof. '

(8) To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity or com-
modities, or articles of consumption for use within the town; and to estab-
lish, regulate, license and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

(9) To license and regulate the holding and location of shows,
circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals, and other similar shows or fairs,
or prohibit the holding of the same, or any of them, within the town or
within one mile thereof.

(10) May require every owner of motor vehicles residing in the
said town, on a date to be designated by the council, to annually register
such motor vehicles and to obtain a license to operate the same by mak-
ing application to the treasurer of the said town, or such other person
as may be designated by the council of the said town, to issue said license,
and to require the said owner to pay an annual license fee therefor to be
fixed by the council provided that the said license fee shall not exceed
the amount charged by the State on the said machine.

(11) To construct, maintain, regulate and operate public improve-
ments of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings, armories.
sewage disposal plants, jails, comfort stations, markets, and all buildings
and structures necessary or appropriate for the use and proper operation
of the various departments 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; either within or without the
town, and to construct, maintain or aid therein, roads and bridges to
any property owned by the said town and situate beyond the corporate
limits thereof, and to acquire’ land necessary for the aforesaid by con-
demnation or otherwise.

(12) To acquire, establish, enter, open, widen, extend, grade, 1m-
prove, construct, maintain and clean public highways, streets, sidewalks.
boulevards, parkways, and alleys, and to alter, vacate, or close the same:
to establish and maintain parks, golf courses, playgrounds, and public
grounds, to keep them lighted and in good order; to construct, maintain
and operate bridges, viaducts, subways, tunnels, sewers and drains and
to regulate the use of all such highways, parks, public grounds and works:
to plant and maintain or remove shade trees along the streets and upon
such public grounds; to prevent the obstruction of such streets and high-
ways: to regulate the operation and speed of cars, and vehicles upon
said streets and highways, within the town and for a distance of one
mile from the limits thereof; and to do all other things whatsvever
adapted to make said streets and highways safe, convenient and attrac-
tive.
(13) To construct in such parks, playgrounds, and public grounds,
as it may maintain, or upon any town property, stadium, swimming
pools, gymnasia, and recreation or amusement buildings, structures, o1
enclosures of every character, refreshment stands, restaurants, et cetera ;
to charge admission, and use of the same, and to rent out or lease the
privileges of construction or using such stadiums, swimming pools, rec-
reation or amusement buildings, structures, or inclosures of every char-
acter, refreshment stands, or restaurants, et cetera.

(14) To establish, impose, and enforce the collection of water and
sewage rates, and rates and charges for public utilities, or other services,
products, or conveniences, operated, rented or furnished by the town;
and to assess, or cause to be assessed, after reasonable notice to the owner
or owners, water and sewage rates and charges directly against the
owner or owners of the buildings or against the proper tenant or tenants ;
and in event such rates and charges shall be assessed against a tenant
then the council may by ordinance, require of such tenant a deposit of
such reasonable amount as it may by such ordinance prescribe before
furnishing such service to such tenant.

(15) To establish, construct, and maintain sanitary sewers, sewer
lines and systems, and to require the abutting property owners to con-
nect therewith and to establish, construct, maintain and operate sewage
disposal plans, 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, assess.
and collect reasonable fees, rentals, assessments or costs of service for
connection with and using the same.

(16) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and general laws
of Virginia and this charter to grant franchises for public utilities; pro-
vided. however, the town shall at any time have the power to contract
for, own, operate, manage, sell. encumber or otherwise dispose of, either
within or without the town any and all public utilities for the town and
to sell the services thereof. any existing franchise to the contrary not-
withstanding.

(17) Tocharge and to collect fees for permits to use public facilities
and for public services and privileges. The said town shall have the
power and right to charge a different rate for any service rendered or
convenience furnished to citizens without the corporate limits from the
rates charged for similar service to citizens within the corporate limits.

(18) To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances within
the town or upon property owned by the town beyond its limits at the
expense of the person or persons causing the same, or of the owner or
occupant 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 anc
sanitary and free from stagnant water, weeds, filth and unsightly deposits.
or to make them so at the expense of the owners or occupants thereof,
and to collect said expense by suit or motion or by distress and sale:
to regulate, or prevent slaughter houses or other noisome or offensive
business within the said town, the keeping of hogs, or other animals,
poultry or other fowl therein, or the exercise of any dangerous or un-
wholesome business, trade or employment therein ; to regulate the trans-
portation of all articles through the streets of the town; to compel the
abatement of smoke and dust and prevent unnecessary noise; to regu-
late the location of stables and the manner in which they shall be kept
and constructed; to regulate the location, construction, operation, and
maintenance of billboards, signs, advertising, and generally to define,
prohibit, abate, suppress and prevent all things detrimental to the health.
morals, aesthetic sensibilities, safety, convenience and welfare of the in-
habitants of the town; and to require all owners or occupants of property
having sidewalks in front thereof to keep the same clean and sanitary,
and free from all weeds, filth, unsightly deposits, ice and snow.

(19) To extinguish and prevent fires, and to establish, regulate
and control a fire department or division, to regulate the size, height,
niaterials and construction of buildings, fences, walls, retaining walls and
other structures hereafter erected in such manner as the public safety
and conveniences may require; to remove or require to be removed or
reconstructed any building, structure or addition thereto which by reason
of dilapidation, defect of structure or other causes may have become
dangerous to life or property, or which may be erected contrary to law;
to establish and designate from time to time fire limits, within which
limits wooden buildings shall not be constructed, removed, added to, en-
larged or repaired and to direct that any or all future buildings within
such limits shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial, concrete,
brick, iron or other fireproof materials; 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.

(20) To direct the location of all buildings for storing explosives or
combustible substances ; to regulate the sale and use of gun powder, nitro-
glycerine, fireworks, kerosene oil or other like materials; to regulate the
exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of fire arms, and the making
of bonfires in the streets and yards.

(21) To provide for regular and safe construction of houses in the
town for the future, and to provide a building code for the town, to pro-
vide set back lines on the streets beyond which no building may be con-
structed, to require the standard of all dwelling houses be maintained
in residential section in keeping with the majority of residences therein
and to require the standard of all business houses be maintained in busi-
ness sections in keeping with the majority of the business houses therein.

(22) To provide for the preservation of the general health of the
inhabitants of said town, make regulations to secure the same, inspect
all foodstuffs and prevent the introduction and sale in said town of any
articles or thing 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 liabil-
ity to the owner thereof; to prevent the introduction or spread:of con-
tagious or infectious diseases, and prevent and suppress disease gen-
erally ; to provide and regulate hospitals within or without the town limits,
and if necessary to the suppression of disease. to enfotce the removal of
persons afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases to hospitals pro-
vided 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 the power to invest any or all the officials or employees of
such department of health with such powers as the police officers of the
town have, to establish quarantine ground within or without the town,
and establish such quarantine regulations against infectious and con-
tagious diseases as the council may see fit, subject to the laws of the
State and of the United States; and to provide for a bureau of vital
statistics and require physicians, mid-wives or parents to make reports
thereto.

(23) To provide and maintain, either within or without the town,
charitable, recreative, curative, corrective, detentive or penal institutions.

(24) To prevent fowls and animals being kept in or running at
large in the town, or any thickly populated portion thereof, and to sub-
ject the same to such taxes, regulations and penalties as the council may
think proper.

(25) To prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals
at an improper speed; to prevent the flying of kites, throwing of stones,
or engaging in any sort of employment in the public streets which is
dangerous or annoying to passersby, and to prohibit and punish the
abuse of animals.

(26) In so far as not prohibited by general law; to control, regu-
late, limit and restrict the operation of motor vehicles carrying passengers
for hire upon the streets or alleys of the town; to regulate the use of
automobiles and other automotive vehicles upon the streets; to regulate
the routes in and through the town to be used by motor vehicle carriers
operating in and through said town and to prescribe different routes for
different carriers; to prohibit the use of certain streets by motor trucks;
and generally to prescribe such regulations respecting motor traffic there-
in as may be necessary for the general welfare.

(27) To acquire, by condemnation, purchase or otherwise, provide
for, maintain, operate and protect aircraft landing fields either within or
without the corporate limits of the town.

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

(29) To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street beggars,
to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assemblages; to
suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling houses; to prevent and pun-
ish 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.

(30) To make and enforce ordinances, in so far as not prohibited
by the general laws of this State, to regulate, control, license and/or
tax the manufacture, bottling, sale, distribution, transportation, han-
dling, advertising, possession, dispensing, drinking and use of alcohol,
brandy, rum, whisky, gin, wine, beer, lager beer, ale, porter, stout, and
all liquids, beverages and articles containing alcohol by distillation, fer-
mentation or otherwise.

(31) To prohibit and punish for mischievous, wanton, or malicious
damage to school and public property, as well as private property.

(32) To offer and pay rewards for the apprehension and conviction
of criminals.

(33) To give names to or alter the names of streets.

(34) To enjoin and restrain the violation of any town ordinance
or ordinances, although a penalty is provided upon conviction of such
violation.

(35) In so far as not prohibited by general laws, to pass and en-
force all by-laws, rules, regulations and ordinances which it may deem
necessary for the good order and government of the town, the man-
agement of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace, comfort,
convenience, order, morals, health and protection of its citizens or their
property and to do such other things and pass such other laws as may
be necessary or proper to carry into full effect, all powers, authority,
capacity, or jurisdiction, which is or shall be granted to or vested in
said town, or in the council, court, or officers thereof, or which may be
necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

(36) Todo all things whatsoever necessary or expedient and lawful
to be done for promoting or maintaining the general welfare, comfort,
education, morals, peace, government, health, trade, commerce, or indus-
tries of the town, or its inhabitants.

(37) To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any town ordi-
nance, rule, or regulation or of any provision of this charter, not ex-
ceeding five hundred dollars or twelve months’ imprisonment in jail, or
both.

(38) To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the town, and to
that end all plats and re-plats hereafter made subdividing any land within
the town or within two miles thereof, into streets, alleys, roads, and
lots or tracts shall be submitted to and approved by the council before
such plats or re-plats are filed for record or recorded in the office of the
clerk of Loudoun County, Virginia.

(39) To own, operate and maintain electric light and gas works,
either within or without the corporate limits of the town and to supply
electricity and gas whether the same be generated or purchased by said
town, to its customers and consumers both without and within the cor-
porate limits of the said town, at such price and upon such terms as tt
may prescribe, and to that end it may contract and purchase electricity
and gas from the owners thereof upon such terms as it may deem ex-
pedient.

(40) To exercise the power of eminent domain within this State
with respect to lands and improvements thereon, machinery and equip-
ment for anv lawful purpose of the said town.

(41) Except when prohibited by general law, the town may levy
a tax or a license on any person, firm or corporation pursuing or conduct-
ing any trade, business, profession, occupation, employment or calling
whatsoever within the boundaries of the town, whether a license may
be required therefor by the State or not, and may exceed the State license,
if any be required, and may provide penalties for any violation thereof.

(42) A lien shall exist on all real estate within the corporate limits
for taxes, levies and assessments in favor of the town, together with
all penalties and interest due thereon, assessed thereon from the com-
mencement of the year for which the same were assessed and the pro-
cedure for collecting the said taxes, for selling real estate for town taxes
and for the redemption of real estate sold for town taxes shall be the
same as provided in the general law for the State to the same extent
as if the provisions of said general law were herein set out at length.
The said town and its treasurer shall have the benefit of all other and
additional remedies for the collection of town taxes which are now or
hereafter may be granted or permitted under the general law.

(43) All goods and chattels wheresoever found may be distrained
and sold for taxes and licenses assessed and due thereon; and no deed
of trust or mortgage upon goods and chattels shall prevent the same from
being distrained and sold for taxes and licenses assessed against the
grantor in such deed while such goods and chattels remain in the gran-
tor’s possession.

(44) Ordinances making the annual tax levy, appropriation ordi-
nances, ordinances and resolutions pertaining to local improvements and
assessments, ordinances and resolutions providing for or directing any
investigation of town affairs, resolutions requesting information from
administrative bodies, or directing administrative action and emergency
measures shall take effect at the time indicated in such ordinances. Ex-
cept as otherwise prescribed in this charter, all ordinances and resolu-
tions passed by the council shall take effect at the time indicated in such
ordinances, but in event no effective date shall be set forth in any such
ordinance, resolution or by-law passed by the council, the same shall
become effective thirty days from the date of its passage.

(45) The town of Middleburg may levy a tax on all subjects of
taxation not prohibited to it by, nor exempted in, the Constitution and
general laws of Virginia.

Section 9. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this act
shall for any reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction
to be invalid, said judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the re-
mainder of said act, but shall be confined in its operation to the part of
the act directly involved in the controversy in which said judgment shall
have been rendered.

Section 10. This act may be referred to or cited as the Middleburg
Charter of nineteen hundred and forty-four.

2. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this
charter, in so far as the operation of this charter is affected, and all
former charters and amendments thereto for the Town of Middleburg,
are hereby repealed.

3. Anemergency existing, this act shall be in force from its passage.