Chap. 351.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 2, as amended, of Article II
of an act entitled “An act to incorporate the Town of Phoebus, in Elizabeth
City County.”, approved January 22, 1900, the section relating to duties and
compensation of certain officers and when removed. [(H B 428]

Approved March 27, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That section two, as amended, of Article II of an act entitled
‘An act to incorporate the town of Phoebus, in Elizabeth City county.”,
ipproved January twenty-second, nineteen hundred, be amended and re-
snacted, as follows:

Section 2. (Article IT).—(a) At the first meeting of each council
ifter the members thereof shall have qualified, such council shall appoint
. town sergeant who shall be an elector of the said town and not a mem-
yer of the council. The town sergeant shall perform the duties herein
pecified and hold office for two years, or until his successor shall have
been appointed and have qualified, subject to the general laws and the
powers of this charter as to removal before the expiration of his term of
office, and in the event of any vacancy existing in said office, the council
shall fill such vacancy for the unexpired term of such office.

(b) The mayor shall be chief magistrate of the municipal corpora-
tion hereby created, and he shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of
all offenses of whatever nature against the ordinances of the town, and
the general laws of the State of Virginia, and in addition is vested with
all rights, powers and privileges conferred upon such office by the general
laws governing towns of less than five thousand inhabitants; and in civil
cases that arise within the corporate limits, he shall have and exercise
all powers vested in a justice of the peace by the laws of this State. The
mayor shall be president of the council, and as such, shall preside at its
meetings, but he shall have no vote, except that in case of a tie, upon
any question which may be before the council for consideration, then
the mayor shall have the casting vote. He, or any three members of the
council, may call special sessions of that body. _ °

(c) The mayor shall receive for his services such a salary as the
council may deem proper, provided the same shall not exceed one thou-
sand five hundred dollars per year, which salary shall be in full compen-
sation for all services and in lieu of all fees for the trial of State and
municipal offenses, but the mayor shall receive, in addition to his salary,
the fees allowed by law for the hearing of civil cases; he shall tax and
collect the usual fees for violation of State and municipal laws prescribed
by the statute, or by the ordinances of the town, and all fees so collected
shall be paid into the town treasury monthly, and the mayor shall perform
such other duties required of him by the general laws of this State and
of this charter.

(d) It shall be the duty of the recorder to keep a fair and proper
record of the proceedings of the council, and to publish in such manner
as the council may indicate, the by-laws, ordinances and resolutions that
may from time to time be adopted. He shall, under such ordinances and
resolutions as the council may adopt issue licenses to all persons en-
gaged in a pursuit, business, occupation, calling, profession or other pur-
pose for which a license shall be required, and shall perform such other
duties as may be required of him by the council and by the provisions of
this act, for which services he shall receive such compensation as the
council may fix and determine to be right and proper.

But before entering upon the discharge of his duties, the recorder
shall enter into a bond, with security to be approved by the council in the
penalty of five hundred dollars, payable to the Town of Phoebus, Virginia,
conditioned upon the faithful performance of his duties.

(e) The treasurer shall keep all funds and other moneys belonging
to the corporation, and pay out the same on the order of the council,
drawn by the mayor and attested by the recorder. The said treasurer
shall be required to give bond before entering upon the discharge of
the duties of his office, with surety bond in a sum of not less than twenty-
five per centum of the total moneys handled by the office of the treasurer
the preceding fiscal year, which bond shall be payable to the said Town of
Phoebus, Virginia; and shall make to the council monthly and at such
other times as the council may require a statement of all his receipts
and disbursements. The treasurer shall collect and receive all taxes and
assessments which may be levied by the said Town of Phoebus, and per-
form such other duties as may hereafter be prescribed and ordained by the
council, The treasurer shall be required to keep all money in his pos-
session belonging to the town upon deposit to his credit as treasurer of
the Town of Phoebus, Virginia, in some safe banking institution in the
Town of Phoebus, Virginia. The treasurer shall receive such salary as
the council may by ordinance prescribe for collecting, receiving, and dis-
bursing the revenues, town and school levies, and all other town or school
funds or moneys, and for performing such other duties as the council may
from time to time require of him. The town treasurer shall receive all
the money belonging to the town and shall keep his books and accounts
in such manner as the council may prescribe, and such books and ac-
counts shall be subjected to the inspection of the mayor, or any council-
man, or committee of the councilmen authorized to examine same. The
treasurer shall keep his books of account of moneys received in the form
and manner prescribed by ordinance of the council, and shall further
collect all taxes and levies; he shall further collect delinquent taxes in the
manner prescribed by law and under the provisions of any ordinance of
the council of the Town of Phoebus for collecting, receiving and disburs-
ing the revenues of all kinds of the Town of Phoebus, Virginia.

(f{) The town sergeant shall be a conservator of the peace, and, in
civil cases that may arise within the corporate limits of the town, he shall
be vested with all the power which the general laws of this State confer
upon constables; his jurisdiction as a police officer shall extend one mile
beyond the corporate limits. He shall possess the like right of distress
and power in collecting municipal taxes possessed by a sheriff or con-
stable in collecting State and county taxes.

(g) All fees arising from the performance of his duties, other than
in civil matters, shall be collected by the mayor and turned into the treas-
urer of the town. He shall receive as the full compensation for the dis-
charge of his duties, other than those in purely civil matters, such salary
as may be prescribed by the council, not exceeding one hundred and
fifty dollars per month. The sergeant before entering upon the discharge
of his duties, shall execute a bond, with security to be approved by the
council, in the sum of one thousand dollars, payable to the Common-
wealth of Virginia, and conditioned upon the faithful discharge of his
duties, and the payment to the said town of all moneys and fines col-
lected and received. by him by virtue of his office, and such bond shall be
recorded in the clerk’s office of the circuit court of Elizabeth City coun-
ty; the town sergeant shall be under the direct control of the council and
shall perform such duties as may be required of him by this act and by
the resolutions or ordinances of the council; and he shall be subject to
removal by a vote of at least six members of the council for incompetence,
misconduct or negligence of duty after reasonable notice. The town
sergeant shall be ex-officio chief of police of the town, and as chief of po-
lice shall see that all the laws of the State are faithfully executed and
carried out by the police force and shall be at all times subject to such
rules and regulations as may be passed by the council governing the po-
lice force and the management thereof.

(h) Any failure to perform any of the duties prescribed for any
officer of the Town of Phoebus, Virginia, by the laws or statutes or the
United States of America, State of Virginia, or by the charter and ordi-
nances of the Town of Phoebus, Virginia, shall be deemed a misfeasance
in office for which such officer may be removed by proceedings instituted
in the circuit court of the County of Elizabeth City, Virginia. In case of
his removal, the judge of the circuit court of the County of Elizabeth
City, Virginia, shall appoint a qualified person to fill said office until the
next general election, which may be held in the town, where the qualified
voters of such town shall fill the vacancy by the election of his successor
who shall hold office for the remainder, if any, of the unexpired term
of the officer removed.