Chap. 315.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4, as amended, and Section
11 of Chapter 335 of the Acts of the General Assembly of 1938, approved
March 31, 1938 and known, designated and cited as the ‘ ‘Sanitation Districts
Law of Nineteen hundred and Thirty-eight”, in relation to the rights, powers,
duties, compensation, officers and functions of the boards or commissions cre-
ated in and for sanitation districts. {fH B 432]

Approved March 26, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section four, as amended, and section eleven of chapter
three hundred and thirty-five of the Acts of the General Assembly of nine-
teen hundred and thirty-eight, approved March thirty-first, nineteen hun-
dred and thirty-eight, and known, designated and cited as the ‘“Sanita-
tion Districts Law of Nineteen hundred and Thirty-eight”, be amended
and re-enacted so that the said amended sections shall read as follows:

Section 4. Incorporation of district and creation and organization
of commission.—(a) Each district heretofore or hereafter created pur-
suant to this act or pursuant to a special act of the General Assembly,
and the inhabitants of its territory as the same has been or may be es-
tablished and from time to time altered pursuant to law, is hereby cre-
ated as a body corporate and politic under the name and style of, and to
be known by, the name of the district with the word ‘commission’ ap-
pended. Each commission, constituting a corporation as aforesaid, 1s
hereby invested with the rights, powers and authority and charged with
the duties set forth in this act as amended, and shall constitute a political
subdivision of the Commonwealth of Virginia established as a govern-
mental instrumentality to provide for the public health and welfare, and
the bonds of such district or commission, and the property owned or
operated by such district or commission shall be exempt from all taxation,
and the interest on the bonds shall take the same status under tax laws
as the interest on bonds of other political subdivisions of the State.

(b) In:and for each district, a board or commission is hereby cre-
ated to manage and control the functions, affairs and property of the
corporation and to exercise all of the rights, powers and authority and
perform all of the duties conferred or imposed upon the corporation.
Except as a special act creating the district shall otherwise provide, such
board or commission shall consist of five members, residents of the dis-
trict, appointed by the Governor. Except as a special act creating the
district shall otherwise provide, in making the original appointments, one
of the members shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for a term
of two years, one for a term of three years, and two for a term of four
years each; subsequent appointments shall be made for a term of four
years, except appointments to fill vacancies which shall be for the unex-
pired terms. The commission shall elect from its members a chairman,
whose term of office as such shall be one year, and who shall be eligible
for re-election. The commission under such rules as it may adopt, may
elect one of its members vice-chairman, and may appoint a secretary,
who need not be a member of the commission, and a treasurer or sec-
retary-treasurer, who shall not be a member of the commission; in the
event that the commission appoints a treasurer or secretary-treasurer,
his compensation shall be fixed by the commission.

(c) The members of the commission shall receive no salary, but
shall be paid their necessary traveling and other expenses incurred in at-
tendance upon meetings of the commission or while otherwise engaged in
the discharge of their duties under this act, and the sum of ten dollars
per diem for each day or portion thereof in which they are engaged in
the performance of such duties, but the total of such per diem compensa-
tion so received by any member during any one year shall not exceed
three hundred dollars.

(d) Regular meetings of the commission shall be held at least once
every month at such time and place as the commission shall from time
to time prescribe. Special meetings of the commission shall be held upon
one day’s mailed notice, or actual notice otherwise given, to each member
of the commission upon call of the chairman or of any two members of
the commission, at such time and at such place within the district as such
notice may specify, or at such other time and place with or without no-
tice as all of the members of the commission may expressly approve.
Three members of the commission shall constitute a quorum, and the vote
of three members of the commission shall be necessary to take any ac-
tion. , ;
(e) Members of the commission may be suspended or removed by
the Governor at his pleasure.

(f) Each member of the commission shall, before entering upon the
discharge of his duties under this act, take and subscribe the oath of of-
fice required by section thirty-four of the Constitution of Virginia, and
give bond payable to the Commonwealth of Virginia in form approved
by the Attorney General, in such penalty as shall be fixed from time to
time by the Governor, with some surety or guaranty company duly au-
thorized to do business in Virginia and approved by the Governor, as
security, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his duties. The
premium of such bonds shall be paid by the commission and the bonds
shall be filed with and prescribed by the Comptroller.

(g) No member, agent or employee of the board or commission
shall contract with the commission-or be interested, either directly or in-
directly, in any contract with the commission, or in the sale of any prop-
erty, either real or personal, to the commission. This subsection shall
not prevent any member, agent, or employee of the commission from
granting to the commission, for a nominal consideration, any right of
way, easement or lease.

(h) All contracts, except in cases of emergency, over five thou-
sand dollars that the commission may let for construction or materials
shall be let after public advertising. The commission shall advertise for
bids for the work or materials at least ten days prior to the letting of any
contracts therefor. The advertisement shall state the place where bid-
ders may examine the plans and specifications and the time and place
where bids for the work or materials will be opened. Each bidder shall
accompany his bid with a certified check, payable to the commission, for
a reasonable sum to be fixed by the commission, as a guarantee that if
the contract is awarded to him, he will enter into a contract with the
commission for doing the work or furnishing the materials. The con-
tract shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, and the successful
bidder shall give bond or other security for the faithful performance of
the contract, in such form and amount as the chairman may require.
The commission is authorized to reject any and all bids. In the event that
all bids are rejected, the commission shall advertise for new bids as in
the first instance. All bids and contracts shall be public records. The
commission is authorized, in its discretion, to do any and all such work
by force account.

(1) The powers of condemnation or eminent domain conferred on
the commission by this act shall be exercised by the board or commission
under the same conditions and provisions and in accordance with the
same procedure as in the case of the exercise of similar powers by the
governing bodies of counties and cities or towns so far as they can be
applied to the same.

(j) No pecuniary liability of any kind shall be imposed upon any
county, city or town constituting any part of any district because of any
act, agreement, contract, tort, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance,
by or on the part of the commission of such district, or any member of
such commission, or its agents, servants and employees, except as other-
wise provided in this act with reference to contracts and agreements be-
tween the commission and any county, city or town.

Section 11. Agents and employees of commission.—The commis-
sion is hereby authorized and empowered, except as otherwise provided
in subsection (b) of section four of this act, to appoint all agents and em-
ployees of the commission, dismiss them, fix their salaries or remunera-
tion, assign their positions and titles, define their respective powers and
duties, and require them or any of them to give bond payable to the
Commonwealth of Virginia in such penalty as shall be fixed by the com-
mission conditioned upon the faithful discharge of their duties. Any
salary or remuneration payable to any agent or employee in excess of
one thousand two hundred dollars per annum shall first be approved by
the Governor.

2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.