CHAPTER 144

AN ACT to provide a new charter for the city of Colonial Heights,
Chesterfield County, Virginia; to repeal chapter 186 of the
Acts of Assembly of 1930, approved March 21, 1980, as
amended, which provided a ‘charter for the town of Colonial
Heights, the existing charter of the city and amendments
thereto; and to validate all contracts and obligations of the

city.
{H173 ]
Approved March 10, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. §1. That the inhabitants of the City of Colonial Heights
as its limits now are or may hereafter be established shall con-
tinue to be a body corporate and politic by the name of City of
Colonial Heights, and as such, shall have and exercise all powers
and privileges conferred on it by this charter or which are now
or may be hereafter conferred upon or delegated to the cities of
its class in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, as fully and completely as though
such powers were specifically enumerated herein, and no enumer-
ation of particular powers in this charter shall be held to be
exclusive.

§ 2. Contracts and Exercises of Powers of Present Coun-
cil.—All contracts and obligations of the Town of Colonial
Heights prior to its becoming a city of the second class and all
contracts and obligations thereafter made or incurred by the
Council and governing body thereof while in office, not incon-
sistent with this charter and the general laws or the Constitution
of the State, shall be and are hereby declared to be valid and legal.

§ 3. City Boundaries—The metes and bounds of said
City as its limits now are, are as follows:

Beginning at a point in the eastern right of way line of
the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company on the northern side
of the Appomattox River, at a point coincident with the cor-
poration line of the City of Petersburg; thence from the be-
ginning, in a northernly direction along the said eastern right
of way of the said Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company for
a distance of eleven thousand eight hundred and forty feet
more or less to a point at the intersection of the eastern line
of the said right of way and the center line of Old Town
Creek; thence in a westwardly direction, crossing the right of
way of the said Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company, and
along the meanderings of the said creek a distance of two
thousand four hundred and fifty feet to a point; thence north
thirty degrees twenty-three minutes and forty seconds west,
along a monumented line, and crossing State Road number
six hundred and twenty-six, (Riverview Road), a distance of
five thousand and thirty-six point six feet more or less, to a
point in the eastern line of State Road number six hundred
and twenty-five, (Branders Bridge Road), which point is two
hundred feet south of the southern end of Branders Bridge;
thence in a northerly direction along the eastern line of the
said Road number six hundred and twenty-five, crossing Swift
Creek, a distance five hundred and eighty-four feet, to a point
two hundred feet north of the northern end of Branders
Bridge; thence south sixty-six degrees twenty-three minutes
forty seconds east, along a monumented line, crossing the
right of way of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad Company, a
distance of four thousand two hundred and twenty point five
zero feet to a monument; thence south thirty-one degrees
forty-six minutes east, along a monumented line two hundred
and fifty feet, to a point in the center line of Swift Creek;
thence in a northerly and eastwardly direction, along the mean-
derings of the said center line of Swift Creek, five thousand
and seventy feet, more or less to the center line of United States
Route number One (Jefferson Davis Highway); thence along
the center line of Swift Creek as it meanders, in a southeast-
wardly direction three thousand nine hundred and fifty feet,
more or less, to a point in the western right of way line of the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company; thence in a southerly
direction along the said western line of the right of way of the
said Railroad Company, as originally located, fourteen thousand
one hundred and forty feet more or less to a point in the north-
ern line of the Appomattox River, as diverged by the United
States Government; thence in a westwardly direction along
the said northern line of the diverged Appomattox River two
thousand feet more or less, to a point immediately west of
United States Route number One; (Jefferson Davis Highway) ;
thence westwardly, along the northern side of the Appomattox
River, and along a line coincident with the corporation line of
the City of Petersburg, a distance of four thousand feet, more
or less, to the point of beginning.

§ 4. Powers of the city of Colonial Heights.—In addition
to the powers mentioned in § 1 hereof, the said city of Colonial
Heights shall have the following powers and privileges to the
extent that they, or any of them, may not be prohibited by the
Constitution or the general laws of the Commonwealth of
Virginia.

§ 5. Powers.—(1) To raise annually by taxes and assess-
ments in the City such sums of money as the council thereof
shall deem necessary for the purposes of the City, and in such
manner as said council shall deem expedient, in accordance with
the Constitution of this State and of the United States; pro-
vided, however, that it shall impose no tax on the bonds of the
City.

(2) To impose special or local assessments for local im-
provements and enforce payment thereof, subject, however, to
such limitations prescribed by the Constitution and laws 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 Vir-
ginia, and of this charter, to contract debts, borrow money
and make and issue evidence of indebtedness. —

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

(5) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation,
or otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate or in-
terest therein, within the City for any of the purposes of the
City; 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 City.

(6) To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the
City, and record the same in the office of the clerk of the cir-
cuit court of the county of Chesterfield, and when the plan is
so adopted and recorded all plats and re-plats of subdivisions
of any land within the City into three or more lots, or 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 circuit court of
the county of Chesterfield.

(7) To construct, maintain, regulate and operate public
improvements of all kinds, including municipal and other build-
ings, armories, jails, comfort stations, markets, and all build-
ings and structures necessary or appropriate for the use and
proper operation of the various departments of the City; and
to acquire by condemnation or otherwise all lands, riparian and
other rights and easements necessary for such improvements,
or any of them.

(8) To own, operate and maintain water works and to
purchase water therefor from any city, company or companies
which may have the same for sale and distribution. For any
of the purposes aforesaid the City may, if the council shall so
determine, acquire by condemnation, purchase or otherwise,
any estate or interest in such lands or any of them in fee, re-
serving to the owner or owners thereof such property rights or
easements therein as may be prescribed in the ordinance pro-
viding 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 City,
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 pur-
chased by the City, to its customers and consumers, both within
and without the corporate limits of the City, at such price and
upon such terms as it may prescribe, and to that end it may
contract with the 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 City 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 springs, water sup-
plies, pipe lines, reservoirs, land, property, easements, contracts,
contract rights, property rights, riparian rights, or any interest
or interests therein for the purpose of supplying, the City of
Colonial Heights, or its inhabitants, with water, in accordance
with the provisions of § 15-715 of the Code of Virginia.

(11) To establish, impose and enforce the collection of
water, light and sewerage rates, and rates and charges for pub-
lic utility, or other service, products, or conveniences, operated,
rendered, or furnished by the City; and to assess, or to cause
to be assessed, water, light and sewerage rates and charges
directly against the owner or owners of the building, 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 rates or charges are assessed; and in event
such rates and charges shall be assessed against the tenant then
the council may, by an ordinance, require of such tenant a de-
posit of such reasonable amount as may be by such ordinance
prescribed before furnishing such service to such tenant.

(12) To establish, open, widen, extend, improve, con-
struct, maintain, light, sprinkle and clean, public highways,
streets, alleys, boulevards and parkways, and to alter or close
the same; to establish and maintain parks, playgrounds and
such public grounds; 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 shade trees along the streets and upon
such public grounds: to prevent the obstruction of such streets
and highways, abolish and prevent grade crossings over the
same by railroads in the manner prescribed by general law for
elimination of grade crossings; to require any railroad company
operating a railroad at the place where any highway or street
is crossed within the city 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 pro-
visions of § 56-410 and other sections of the Code of Virginia
and to regulate the length of time such crossings may be closed
due to any operations of the railroads; to regulate the oper-
ations, 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 City; to regulate the service
to be rendered, including route traversed, and rates charged by
buses, motor cars, cabs and other vehicles for carrying pas-
sengers and by vehicles for the transfer of baggage; to permit
railroads and bus 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 maintenance
of the streets between the rails and on either side thereof for
such distance as such streets may be affected by the construc-
tion, operation, repair or maintenance of such railroads, bus
lines, and to require the construction of so much of said street
as may he damaged by the removal of such railroad or bus line:
to permit or prohibit poles and wires for electric, telephone and
telegraph purposes, to he erected and gas pipes to be laid in
streets and alleys, and to prescribe and collect an annual charge
for such privileges, 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 open, lay out, and improve new
streets across the track or tracks, yard or yards, of any rail-
road in the City and any such new or existing street or streets
may cross any such track or tracks, of any railroads in the
City, in the discretion of the council, either at grade, or pass
above or below any such existing structure or structures; pro-
vided, 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
specifications for such crossing, as the council shall have de-
termined upon, shall be submitted to the principal agent of such
railroad company in the City, and in the event the City 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
City shall submit such plans and specifications to the State
Corporation Commission, and the State Corporation Commis-
sion, after reasonable notice to such railroad company and after
hearing such evidence as either party may adduce, shall ap-
prove, or revise and approve, the plans for such crossing as the
council shall have determined shall be made, or substitute 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 com-
pany whose track is to be crossed and the expense thereof shall
be borne equally by the said company and the City, and
after such crossing shall have been constructed, it shall be main-
tained by such railroad company or by the lessee thereof; and
to do all other things whatsoever adapted to make said streets
and highways safe, convenient and attractive.

(13) 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 road-
ways thereto, either within or without the City 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 construction, repair and
maintenance of streets, highways, sidewalks, water works, reser-
voirs, sewer, electric lights and public buildings in the City;
and to acquire by gift, purchase, 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 fixing of materials for the con-
struction of improved streets and other public improvements,
and the maintenance and repair thereof; and to build and oper-
ate coal tipples and yards in connection therewith.
(14) To establish, construct and maintain sanitary sew-
ers, sewer lines and systems, sewer abatement plants and to re-
quire 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 City, all lands, rights of way, riparian and other
rights and easements necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and
to charge and collect reasonable fees or assessments or costs of
service for connecting with and using the same, by individuals,
towns, sanitary districts, public or private institutions.

(15) In connection with its system of sewerage, the City
may use and continue to use the Appomattox River, as
heretofore, subject to the general laws of the State.

(16) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Vir-
ginia and of this charter to grant franchises for public utilities.

(17) 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 plants 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.

(18) To compel the abatement and removal of all nuis-
ances within the City, or upon property owned by the City be-
yond 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 he, and to collect said expense by suit
or motion; to require all lands, lots and other premises within
the City, to be kept clean and 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 col-
lect said expense by suit or motion, to regulate or prevent
slaughter houses or other noisome or offensive business within
said City, the keeping of hogs, cattle or other animals, poultry
or other fowls therein, or the exercise of any dangerous or un-
wholesome business, trade or employment therein; to regulate
the transportation of all articles through the streets of the City;
to compel the abatement of smoke and dust, and prevent un-
necessary noise; to regulate the location of stables and the man-
ner in which they shall be kept and constructed; to regulate the
location, construction and operation and maintenance of bill-
boards, 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 City;
and to require all owners or occupants of property having side-
walks in front thereof to keep the same clean and sanitary, and
free from all weeds, filth and unsightly deposits.

(19) To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity
or article of consumption for use within the City, and to estab-
lish, regulate, license and inspect weights, meters, measures
and scales.

(20) 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, within or without the
corporate limits of the said City; to license, regulate, control
and locate slaughter houses within the corporate limits of the
City; and for such services of inspection to make reasonable
charges; and to provide such. reasonable penalties for the vio-
lation of such ordinances.

(21) To extinguish and prevent fires and to compel
citizens to render assistance to the fire department in case of
need, and to establish, regulate, and control a paid or voluntary
fire department or division; to regulate the size, height, mater-
ials and constructions of buildings, fences, walls, retaining walls
and other structures hereafter erected in such manner as the
public safety and convenience 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, damage by fire, or other causes, may have become
dangerous to life or property, or which may be erected con-
trary to law; to establish and 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 con-
structed 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 amuse-
ments.

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

(23) To provide for the care, support and maintenance
of children and of sick, aged, insane or poor persons and
paupers.

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

(25) To prevent any person having no visible means of
support, paupers, and persons who may be dangerous to the
peace or safety of the City, from coming to said City from
without the same; and for this purpose to require the owner
of any conveyance other than a common carrier bringing such
person to the City 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 City with-
in one year from the date of his arrival; also to expel from the
City all persons found therein dangerous to the peace, safety,
and welfare of the City.

(26) To provide for the preservation of the general
health of the inhabitants of said City, make regulations to se-
cure the same, inspect all food and foodstuffs and prevent the
introduction and sale in said City of any articles or thing in-
tended 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 with-
out liability to the owner thereof; prevent the introduction or
spread of contagious or infectious diseases, and prevent and
suppress disease generally; to provide and regulate hospitals
within or without the City limits, and if necessary to the sup-
pression 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 City; to provide for the organization of a depart-
ment or bureau of health, to have the powers of a board of
health for said City, with the authority necessary for the prompt
and efficient performance of its duties, with power to invest any
or all the officials or employees of such departments of health
with such powers as the police officers of the City have, to estab-
lish quarantine regulations against infectious and contagious
diseases as the council may see fit, subject to the laws of the
State and of the United States.

(27) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise; condemnation
or otherwise, lands, either within or without the City, 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 regu-
lations for the protection and use thereof; and generally to
regulate the burial and disposition of the dead. |

(28) To accept and receive, unconditionally or upon con-
ditions, absolutely or in trust, gifts, grants, bequests and de-
vises of any kind of property, real or personal, for educational,
charitable or other public purposes; and to do all 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 ac-
cordance with the terms and conditions of such gifts, grants.
bequests and devises.

(29) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise or condem-
nation property adjoining its parks, or lots on which its monu-
ments are located, or other property used for public purposes,
or in the vicinity of such parks, plats or property which are
used and maintained in such a manner as to impair the beauty,
usefulness or efficiency of such parks, plats or public property;
and to 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
City may subsequently dispose of the property so acquired,
making limitations as to the use thereof, which will protect the
beauty, usefulness, efficiency or convenience of such parks, plats
and property.

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

(31) To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and
street beggars; to prevent vice and immorality ; to preserve the
peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances
and disorderly assemblages; to supress houses of ill-fame and
gambling houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and
disorderly exhibitions in said City; and to expel therefrom
persons guilty of such conduct who have not resided therein
as much as one year.

(82) 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 City.

(33) To make and enforce ordinances similar to the pro-
hibition laws of the State, which are now or may hereafter be
enacted by the said State.

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

(35) 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 ac-
quire by condemnation or otherwise within or without the city,
land, interests in land, water, power sites, easements, property,
and property rights necessary for such purpose.

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

(37) To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any
City ordinance, rule or regulation or of any provisions of this
charter, consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United
States and of this State.

(38) 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 city, 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 things and pass such other laws as may be neces-
sary or proper to carry into full effect and power, authority,
capacity, or jurisdiction which is or shall be granted to or vested
in said city, or in the council, court, or officers thereof, or which
may be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

(39) To contract with the County of Chesterfield regard-
ing the health and welfare of the citizens residing in said
city, pending the setting up of a Board of Health and Welfare
Department in said city; and also regarding any water, sewer,
sewer disposal, garbage disposal or other municipal functions
which may be for the best interest of the citizens of said city
and county.

(40) To contract with the City of Petersburg for the
furnishing of educational training and facilities to pupils re-
siding in said city of Colonial Heights and for the use of the
jail of the City of Petersburg for the detention or confinement
of prisoners charged or convicted of crime committed in the
City of Colonial Heights.

«§ 6. Administration and government.—The administra-
tion and government of the City of Colonial Heights shall be
vested in one principal office, styled “The Mayor” and one Board
composed of five persons, styled, “The Council of the City of
Colonial .Heights”, together with a Clerk, Commissioner of
Revenue, Treasurer, and Chief of Police, whose qualification to
hold such offices respectively shall be the same as required of
persons to vote and to hold office under the Constitution and
laws of the State of Virginia. The Mayor and councilmen in
office at the effective date of this act shall continue in office un-
til the expiration of the term for which they were elected.
Vacancies in the council shall be filled within thirty days for
the expiration term by a majority vote of the members thereof.
The membership of said council shall be divided into two classes,
to be known and designated as Class one, composed of three mem-
bers, and Class two, composed of two members, and at the next
annual election for said officers to be held on the second Tuesday
in June, nineteen hundred fifty, three of said councilmen of
Class one shall he elected and at the next regular election to be
held on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred fifty-two,
two councilmen of Class two shall be elected. All of said council-
men shall be elected at large and for a term of four years from
September one, of said election year, and continue in office until
their successor shall have been duly elected and qualified.

§ 7. The term of the office of the Mayor shall be four
years. The present Mayor shall continue in office until Septem-
ber one, nineteen hundred fifty-two. At the regular election to
be held on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred fifty-
two, and every four years thereafter, the Mayor shall be elected
for said four year term. The Mayor and Council elected under
this charter shall enter upon the duties of their office on the first
day of September following their election.

§ 8. All other City Officers required by the laws of the
Commonwealth to be elected by the qualified voters of the City
shall be elected on the first Tuesday following the first Monday
in November preceding the expiration of the terms of office of
their respective predecessors, for such terms as are required by
law. The Commissioner of Revenue and Treasurer shall con-
tinue in office until January one, nineteen hundred fifty-four.
No primary for the nomination of said officers shall be held.
Any vacancy in the office of the Commissioner of Revenue
and/or the Treasurer shall be filled by the Council by the
majority vote of all its members for the unexpired portion of
the term.

§ 9. Unless and until the Council of said city shall by
ordinance determine otherwise, the mayor shall continue to pre-
side over the Court in all criminal matters affecting the viola-
tion of the ordinances of said City. The Trial Justice of the
combined courts of the County of Chesterfield and city of
Colonial Heights as now constituted shall continue to be Trial
Justice of both of said Courts. When said Council shall by
proper ordinance decide to have a separate Trial Justice and/or
Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court for the trial of civil
and criminal cases arising in said City, then at least six months
notice of such change shall be given to the Judge of the Circuit
Court of Chesterfield County. Said Council by its ordinance
shall make any and all necessary provisions as to said Court and
appointment of the Judge therefor not inconsistent with the
general laws of this State. Pending the appointment and qualifi-
cation of a resident Clerk of the Trial Justice Court of said
City as it is now constituted, any Justice of the Peace of the
said City shall have the right to issue any civil or criminal war-
rant, attachment where the amount is within the Jurisdiction
of the said Court, and any distress warrant, in cases arising 1n
said City. oo

§ t0. The Mayor and other municipal officers of said City,
before entering upon the duties of their respective offices, shall
be sworn in according to the laws of the State by anyone author-
ized to administer oaths. ,

§ 11. The council shall fix the salary of the mayor, clerk,
commissioner of the revenue, treasurer, sergeant, and City
counsel, subject to the provisions of the laws of Virginia.

§ 12. The Council may in its discretion, appoint a board
of health for the City of Colonial Heights and invest it with
authority for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties.

§ 18. The Council shall, by ordinance, fix the time of its
meetings. It shall have authority to adopt such rules as it may
deem proper for the regulation of its proceedings and compel
the attendance of its members, and to punish its members for
misconduct, and by a vote of three-fourths of the whole council
expel a member for good cause.

§ 14. A majority of the Council shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business; but no ordinance or resolution
shall be adopted, having for its object the levying of taxes or
appropriation of moneys, except by a vote of majority of the
whole council. The mayor shall preside at all meetings of the
Council, and in the absence or inability of the mayor the mem-
bers of the Council present shall elect one of their body to pre-
side over said meetings, but the mayor or presiding officer over
said meetings shall not be entitled to vote, except in case of a
tie.

§ 15. Limitations on powers and disqualifications.—

(a) Any member of the council who shall have been con-
victed of a felony while in office shall thereby forfeit his office.

(b) No member of the council or other officer shall be in-
terested directly or indirectly in the profits of any contract of
work, or be financially interested, directly or indirectly, in the
sale to the City of any land, materials, supplies, or service (other
than official services). Any member of the council, or any
other officer of the City, 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 thirty days, or
both, in the discretion of the court, and shall forfeit his office.

§ 16. Organization rules of the council.—

(a) At nine o’clock, antemeridian, on the first day of Sep-
tember following a regular municipal election, or if such day be
a Sunday then on the day following, the council shall meet at
the usual place for holding the meetings of the council of the
City, 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, or any two members of the council, may call special
meetings of the council, at any time, upon,twelve hours notice
or notice in writing, 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
and the mayor 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. Except that two-thirds of the members
of the council may by a recorded vote declare that the public
welfare demands an executive session.

(c) The mayor shall appoint the members of such boards,
committees and commissions as are necessary for the conduct
of its municipal affairs and for the government of the City.
The mayor may appoint all such other boards, committees and
commissions as may be deemed proper, and the council shall
prescribe the powers and duties thereof. The council may de-
termine 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 mem-
bers of the council shall constitute a quorum to do business, but
a smaller number may adjourn from time to time, and compel
the attendance of absentees. All elections by the council shall
be viva voce and the vote recorded in the journal of the council.

§ 17. Powers of Mayor.—The mayor shall preside at the
meetings of the council and perform such other duties consistent
with his office as may be imposed by the council, but he shall
have no vote in the proceedings, except in the case of a tie. He
shall be the official head of the City, and he shall be clothed with
all the powers and authority in civil and criminal matters as
may be prescribed by this charter and the laws of the State. In
times of public danger, or emergency, he 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 disability, his duties shall be
performed by another member elected by the council. He shall
authenticate by his signature such instruments as the council,
this charter, or the laws of the State shall require.
§ 18. Appointments or elections.—Upon the passage of
this act, and thereafter on the first day of September following
each regular municipal election and organization of the council,
or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, the council shall
elect a city clerk, a city attorney and a chief of police, and such
other officers as may come within their jurisdiction, each of
whom shall serve at the pleasure of the council; provided, that
the council may elect the city clerk, and city attorney for terms
of one year each, beginning September first, subject to removal
by the council for cause; and in no event shall the council elect
any officer for a term extending beyond the thirty-first day of
August next succeeding each regular biennia] municipal election
for members of the council. Said council may by resolution dele-
gate the mayor of said City as the Chief of Police to serve at its
pleasure.

§ 19. Ordinances; legislative procedure.—Except in deal-
ing with parliamentary procedure the council shall act only by
ordinance or resolution, and with the exception of ordinances
making appropriations, or authorizing the contracting of in-
debtedness, an ordinance or resolution shall be confined to one
subject.

§ 20. Enactments.—(a) Each proposed ordinance, or
resolution, shall be introduced in a written or printed form, and
the enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall
substantially be “be it ordained by the Council of the City of
Colonial Heights, Virginia’.

(b) No ordinances, or resolution having the effect of an
ordinance, or resolution suspending an ordinance, unless it be
an emergency meaure, 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 requirements of a
second reading by the affirmative vote of three 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 amend-
ed 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 reenacted. The ayes and
noes shall be taken and recorded upon the passage of all ordi-
nances or resolutions and entered upon the journal of the pro-
ceedings of the council. Except 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.
§ 21. 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 affir-
mative vote of two-third of its members, pass emergency
meaures to take effect at the time indicated therein.

(b) An emergency measure is an ordinance for the im-
mediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or
safety, or providing for the daily operation of a municipal de-
partment. The emergency shall be stated in every such measure.
Ordinances appropriating money may be passed as emergency
measures, but no measure, selling or conveying any real estate
or making a grant, renewal, or 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.

§ 22. Record and Publication—(a) Every ordinance, or
resolution having the effect of an ordinance, when passed shall
be recorded by the City Clerk in a book kept for that purpose,
and shall be authenticated by the signature of the presiding
officer and the City clerk.

(b) Every ordinance of a general or permanent nature
shall be published in full once within ten days after its final
passage by posting a copy thereof at the front door of the muni-
cipal building and at two other public places in the city or
when ordered by the council by publication in a newspaper pub-
lished or circulated in the city for such time as the council may
direct ; provided, that the foregoing requirements as to publica-
tion shall not apply to ordinances reordained in or by a general
compilation or codification of ordinances printed by authority
of the council.

(c) A record or entry made by the City Clerk, or a copy
of such record or entry when certified by him shall be prima
facie evidence of the terms of the ordinance and its due publi-
cation.

All ordinances and resolutions of the council may be read
as evidence 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 City Clerk,
or from any volume of ordinances printed by authority of the
council.

§ 23. Printing.—The council shall, from time to time,
direct the publication, with suitable index, of the city ordinances.

§ 24. Municipal elections.—A municipal election shall be
held on the second Tuesday in June of every second year, be-
ginning with the year nineteen hundrd fifty, and shall be known
as the regular municipal election for mayor and councilmen. All
other municipal elections that may be held shall be known as
special municipal elections.

§ 25. Method of conducting municipal elections.—The
candidates at any regular municipal election for the election of
mayor or councilmen, 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 na
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 mayor or councilmen shall be
void, but no ballot shall be void for containing a less number of
names than is permitted hereby.

§ 26. Administrative Department.—Enumeration of de-
partments. The following administrative Departments are here-
by created:

(a) Department of Finance.

(b) Department of Fire.

(c) Department of Law.

(d) Department of Public Property.
(e) Department of Water and Sewer.

§ 27. Chairman of departments.—(a) At the head of
each department the mayor shall act as the chairman. Unless
and until the council shall otherwise provide by ordinance the
City Attorney shall be the chairman of the Department of Law.

(b) The council shall by ordinance prescribe and determine
the functions and duties of each department and may create
new departments, or combine existing departments and establish
new departments for special work, when, in its opinion, the
proper administration of the city requires it.

§ 28. The City Clerk.—(a) The City 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 City
of Colonial Heights, the custody of which is not otherwise pro-
vided for. ,

(b) He shall be custodian of the city seal, and shall affix it
(0 all documents and instruments requiring the seal, and shall
attest the same. He shall give to the proper department or offi-
sials ample notice of the expiration or termination of any fran-
ehises, contracts or agreements.

(c) He shall, upon final passage, transmit to the proper
lepartments or officials copies of all ordinances or resolutions
yf the council relating in any way to such officials. He shall per-
‘orm such other duties as are required by this charter or by
he council by ordinance or resolution.

§ 29. The City Treasurer.—(a) The City Treasurer shall
ye the disbursing agent of the city and have the custody of all
noneys, the City Clerk’s bond and all evidence of value belong-
ng to the city or held in trust by the city.

(b) He shall receive all moneys belonging to and received
oy the city and keep a correct account of all receipts from all
sources and expenditures of all departments. He shall collect all
axes, assessments, light bills, water rents, and other charges be-
longing to and payable to the city.

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

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

(e) He shall be subject to the supervision of the council of
the City of Colonial Heights 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
mayor or by ordinance or by resolution of the council.

(zg) The Treasurer shall not be entitled to any commis-
sion whatsoever for handling the funds of the city, but shall be
paid for his services as treasurer such salary as may be pro-
vided by the council.

(h) He shall as soon as the Commissioner of the Revenue
of the city completes the city land and personal property books
take the books and carefully audit the same, and compare them
with the hooks of the previous year. The land book and per-
sonal property books shall be compared with the assessor’s
book lodged with the Commissioner of Revenue, and the personal
property shall be compared with the books of the previous year,
and the 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 city council at its next meeting. The 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 corrected. The Commis-
sioner 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
Finance Committee shall, upon being notified, at once deter-
mine the question in dispute; when said books are corrected and
audited the total thereof shall be charged to the City Treasurer
on his account. The Treasurer shall take the delinquent lists
and lay the same before the finance committee and it shall be
the duty of the Finance Committee to carefully examine said
delinquent report of both real and personal tax. If the Treas-
urer has returned any tax, either real or personal, delinquent
that should not under the provisions of the ordinances of the
City have been returned delinquent, the Finance Committee,
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.

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

30. The City Attorney.—(a) Together with the mayor,
the City Attorney shall have the management, charge and entire
control of all the legal business of the City and shall be the legal
advisor of, and the attorney and the counsel for, the municipality
and all its officers in matters relating to their official duties, he
shall give written opinions to any officer or department or offi-
cial of the City when requested so to do, and shall file a copy of
the same with the City clerk.

(b) He shall conduct for the city all cases in court when-
ever the city is a party thereto, and upon request of the mayor he
shall appear before the mayor to represent the city for violations
of city ordinances.

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

- (d) He‘ shall perform such other duties as may be pre-
scribed by this charter or by the council.

§ 31. The Commissioner of Revenue.—(a) The Commis-
sioner of Revenue of the City shall, subject to the supervision
of the Finance Committee, perform such duties as may be re-
quired by the laws of the State and the ordinances of the city,
in relation to the assessment of property and license taxes.

(b) He shall have power to administer oaths in the per-
formance 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 finance committee or by the council.
§ 32. The Purchasing Agent.—(a) The City council shall
designate a Purchasing Department composed of the mayor and
at least two members of the council, by whom all purchases of
supplies for the city shall be made, and who shall approve all
vouchers for the payment of same. The Department shall also
conduct all sales of personal property that may be of no further
use to the city.

(b) All purchases and sales shall conform to such regula-
tions 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) By a majority vote of all members of the Council and
by proper ordinances relating to his appointment, qualifications
and duties, the Council may appoint a City Manager for said
city, who shall hold his office during the pleasure of said Council.

§ 33. Financial Provisions; Finance Committee. — The
Finance Committee shall have direct supervision over the De-
partment of Finance and administration of the financial affairs
of the city including the keeping of accounts and financial rec-
ords, the collection of taxes, special assessments and other rev-
enues, the custody and disbursements of City funds and moneys,
and shall perform such other duties as the council may by ordi-
nance provide.

§ 34. The annual budget.—Not later than sixty days before
the end of each fiscal year, the Finance Committee 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 city government, accord-
ing to a classification as nearly as possible uniform, and in
accordance with the statute laws of the State.

§ 35. Public improvement contracts, et cetera.—Any pub-
lic work or improvement, costing more than one thousand dol-
lars, shall be executed by contract, except where a specific work
of improvement is, by the council, authorized and directed to
be done by force account, such work to be based on detailed esti-
mates submitted by the department authorized to execute such
work or improvement, and approved by the council. All con-
tracts for more than one thousand 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 mayor
shall have made due advertisement for such time as the council
may prescribe, by newspaper or posted notices. But the mayor
and council shall have the power to reject all of the bids and
advertise again; and all advertisements shall contain a reserva-
tion of this right.
In an emergency requiring immediate action the council
may proceed to do the work by procuring the required labor
and materials without the necessity of advertising.

§ 36. Sinking fund provision.—(a) All sinking funds or
any bonds heretofore or hereafter issued shall be used exclu-
sively in the payment or purchase and redemption of the out-
standing bonds of the city, and when such sinking funds are not
required or may not within a reasonable time be required for
the payment of any bond of the city, or cannot be used to advan-
tage in the purchase and redemption of any bonds of the city,
which may be outstanding, the same shall be securely invested
in interest-bearing municipal, State or government bonds or
loaned upon otherwise unencumbered 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 all of its bonds.

(b) The council shall require of any bank or banks receiv-
ing on deposit its revenues or any of its sinking fund a fidelity
bond.

§ 37. Bond issues.—(a) The council may, in the name of
and for the use of the city, 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 city, or solely upon the
credit of specific property owned by the city, or solely upon the
credit of income derived from property used in connection with
any public utility owned and operated by the city. But except
as provided in subsection (b) of this section no debt shall here-
after be contracted for a longer period than that of the probable
life of the work or object for which the debt is to be contracted,
to be determined by 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
be in no case for a greater period than thirty years.

(c) In lieu, however, of creating a sinking fund or sinking
funds as in § 33 provided, the city may issue bonds, called
“serial bonds”, payable in annual installments, the first of
which shall be payable at any time the council may prescribe
in the ordinance authorizing the issue of such bonds; and the
last of which shall be payable within the period of the probable
life of the work or object for which the debt evidence by said
bonds was created, ascertained and certified as hereinbefore
provided.

(d) Pending the issuance and sale of any bonds, notes,
other obligations authorized by this section, or in anticipation
of the receipt of taxes, and revenue of the current fiscal year,
it shall be lawful for the city to borrow money temporarily and
to issue notes or other evidences of indebtedness therefor, and
from time to time renew such temporary loans, or to use cur-
rent funds, to be ultimately repaid from the proceeds of said
bonds, notes or other obligations, or from the city 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 subsection, or for permanent improvements and utilities or
refunding matured issues.

(e) Restrictions on loans and credits.—The credit of the
city shall not directly, or indirectly, under any device or pre-
tense whatsoever, be granted to or in aid of any person, asso-
ciation or corporation. The council shall not issue any bonds,
notes or other obligations of the city, or increase the indebted-
ness thereof, to an amount greater than eighteen per centum of
the assessed valuation of the real estate in the City subject to
taxation; provided, however, that in determining the limitation
of the power of the city to incur indebtedness there shall not
be included the classes of indebtedness mentioned in subsections
(a) and (b) of section one hundred and twenty-seven of the
Constitution of the State.

(f) Bonds based solely upon the credit of specific property
owned by the city, or solely upon the credit of income derived
from property used in connection with any public utility owned
or operated by the City, shall be issued subject to this charter
and any law applicable thereto

(gz) 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 ordinance may be amehded 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 de-
termined by resolution within the limitations prescribed by
such ordinance or by this charter.

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

(i) Any bonds issued by the city under this charter shall
be signed by the mayor and attested by the clerk under the
seal of the city, and shall be made payable at the office of thi
City Treasurer or such other place, in or out of the State, a:
the council may provide. Such bonds shall be advertised by the
mayor and sold by the City Treasurer, under supervision of the
mayor and clerk and the sale reported to and approved by the
council, and the proceeds from said sale shall be paid to the
City Treasurer.

§ 38. Appropriation ordinance and levy.—At not less thar
thirty days before the first Monday in the month of April of
each year, the finance committee shall submit to the council
for its information, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year, and on
the first Monday of April in each year, the council shall lay its
levy, if any, on all property real and personal, subject to taxa-
tion for City purposes.

§ 39. Fiscal year.—Unless and until otherwise provided
by ordinance, the fiscal year of the City of Colonial Heights
shall begin July first, and end June thirtieth.

§ 40. Unencumbered balances.—At the close of each fiscal
year, or upon the completion or abandonment at any time within
the year of any work, improvement or other object for which a
specific appropriation 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 ap-
propriation; provided, however, this does not prohibit the coun-
cil from authorizing such transfer within a department as may
be necessary to meet unexpected obligations. No obligations shall
be incurred by an officer or employee of the City, except in ac-
cordance with the appropriations made by the council or under
continuing contracts and loans authorized under the provisions
of this charter.

§ 41. Payments of claims.—Payments by the city shall be
made only upon vouchers certified to by the head of the appro-
priate committee, or other division of the city government, and
by means of warrants on the City Treasurer, issued by the
Treasurer and countersigned by the mayor. The finance com-
mittee shall examine all payrolls, bills and other claims and
demands against the City, and no warrant shall be issued for
payment unless he finds that the claim is in proper form, cor-
rectly 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
nas been otherwise legally authorized; and that there is money
in the City treasury to make payment. He may require any
claimant to make oath to the validity of a claim. He may inves-
tigate any claim, and for such purpose may examine witnesses
under oath, and if he finds it is fraudulent. erroneous or other-
wise invalid, shall not issue a warrant therefor.
§ 42. Certification—No contract, agreement or other ob-
igation involving the expenditure of money shall be entered
into, nor shall any ordinance, resolution or order for the expendi-
ture of money be passed by the council or be authorized by an
officer of the City unless the treasurer shall first certify 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 forth-
coming and available in time to comply with or meet such con-
tract, agreement, obligation or expenditure; and no contract,
agreement, or other obligation involving the expenditure of
money payable from the proceeds of bonds of the city shall be
entered into until the issuance of sale of such bonds have been
duly authorized in accordance with the provisions of this char-
ter, in reference to city bonds.

§ 48. Contingent fund.—Provision shall be made in the
annual budget and annual appropriation ordinance for a reason-
able contingent fund for use in any of the affairs of the city.
Such contingent fund shall be under the city council.

§ 44. Taxation; license taxes.—(a) License taxes may be
imposed by ordinance on business, trades, professions and call-
ings and upon the persons, firms, associations and corporations
engaged therein, and agents thereof, except in cases where taxa-
tion 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 taxation.

(b) The council may subject any person, who, without hav-
ing first obtained a license therefor, shall do any act or follow
any business, occupation, vocation, pursuit, or calling in the city
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

ws.

(c) For every city license granted by the treasurer under
this charter he shall charge a fee to be prescribed by an ordi-
nance 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 treasurer by the person obtaining the license or transfer
= such license or transfer may be withheld until the fees be
paid.

§ 45. General taxes.—(a) The council of the City of
Colonial Heights is authorized to, and shall annually, order a
city levy for so much, as in their opinion, is necessary to be
raised in that way, in addition to what may be received from
licenses and from other sources, to meet the appropriation made
and to be made and all sums required by law to be raised for the
purposes of the city. The levy so ordered may be upon all per-
sons in the said City 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.

It is hereby expressly provided that said council shall, in
its discretion, be authorized to fix such annual levy on property
subject to taxation in the City of Colonial Heights for city pur-
poses, subject to the provisions of the general laws of the State.

(b) That all taxes, whether general or special, assessed
upon any land or lot in said city, are hereby declared to con-
stitute a lien upon such land or lot, as to general taxes and levies
from the commencement of the year for which they were as-
sessed, and as to special taxes and levies from the time assessed,
and if the Treasurer of the city shall not be able, with due dili-
gence, to collect the said taxes by the first day of August of the
year after the same assessed, he shall make out lists of such as
cannot be collected, in the same manner as county treasurers
are required to do in cases of delinquent State taxes, and pre-
sent said lists to the said council at its first regular meeting
thereafter. The council shall examine said lists, and if approved,
shall credit the Treasurer with the amount of same, and shall
have its clerk certify a copy of said list to the county clerk of
Chesterfield county, to be by him recorded in a separate delin-
quent land book provided by the City for the record of delin-
quent taxes on real estate due the City. This record shall be
held as notice of the lien thereof and the said real estate shall be
liable for such tax as against creditors and purchasers, or other
persons into whose hands the said real estate may pass. The
clerk shall be entitled for each entry of lots in said record book
to a fee of ten cents, and a fee of ten cents for the entry of each
name of purchasers, with date of sale, to be paid by the City
of Colonial Heights, and a fee of twenty-five cents for each re-
demption entered, to be paid by the person redeeming the same,
and to be charged against and be a lien upon said land along with
the taxes and levies against same. The sales and report of sales
and confirmation of same shall be in all respects in accordance
with the law connected with and regulating the sale of delinquent
lands for the nonpayment of county taxes, and the council shall
charge the Treasurer with whatever may be due from him on
account of said sales, less any commission which may be allowed
by law. No land, or lot, or parts thereof, shall be sold for less
than the amount of taxes, levies, interest, penalties and costs,
and if no bids shall be received at such sale for said amount and
the Commonwealth is not the purchaser, the same shall be bid
in and purchased by the said treasurer for the city, in which
event the treasurer shall execute to the city a certificate of sale,
in which the description and local situation of the property, the
name of the person assessed with the same, the amount of taxes,
levies, interest, penalties and costs and the date of sale, shall be
specified, and shall deliver the same to the clerk of the Council
to be by him preserved, and also to the county clerk of Chester-
field county, to be by him recorded in said book. Any one having
the right to redeem said land may redeem same within the time
allowed by law, for the redemption of real estate sold for de-
linquent taxes due the county, by paying to the county clerk of
Chesterfield county the taxes, levies, penalties, interest and costs
due upon said land, at the expiration of the time within which
the said real estate may be redeemed, as provided by law for
the redemption of real estate, it shall be sold for delinquent
taxes due the county, if same has not been redeemed, and a deed
shall be executed to the purchaser other than the City of Colon-
ial Heights, according to the provisions of the statute law. The
council of the city shall, after sixty days from the expiration
of the time for the redemption of such real estate as it may
have under the terms of this charter prescribed, have recorded
in the deed book of the clerk’s office of the county clerk of Ches-
terfield county the certificate of sale made by the City Treasurer
and hereinbefore referred to, with the oath prescribed by law
attached thereto, that the real estate has not been redeemed;
and thereupon the City of Colonial Heights shall acquire an abso-
lute title to same; provided, that four months’ notice of its in-
tention to have such certificate recorded shall be given to all
persons having the right to redeem the real estate and anyone
having such rights may redeem the same at any time before the
expiration of said four months. The said certificate, or record
thereof, or a certified copy thereof, shall be evidence of the facts
therein stated, in all courts and other places of this Common-
wealth; previded, however, that the failure to obtain on record
such certificate shall not affect the lien of the City of Colonial
Heights for the taxes assessed against such real estate, but the
city may, at any time, elect to enforce its lien for taxes in a
court of equity, and release its rights as purchaser or to be-
come a purchaser of the real estate. The council shall have the
right to impose a penalty of five per centum upon all taxes and
levies not paid by December first of the year in which the same
are assessed.

(c) If the Commissioner of Revenue ascertains that any
person or any real or personal property, or salary, has not been
assessed for city 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 as-
sess city taxes thereon at the rate prescribed for that year, add-
ing 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.
(d) The provisions of subsections (b) and (c) of section
forty-five of this charter, in so far as applicable, shall apply to
the assessment and collection and to the administration of the
assessment and collection of taxes on personal property and all
classes thereof.

(e) All goods and chattels of any person against whom
taxes for the city 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
is obtained, by distress or otherwise, of taxes or levies due the
city, by a person under whom he holds shall have credit for the
same against such person out of the rents he may owe him, ex-
cept when the tenant is bound to pay such taxes and levies by an
express contract with such person. And where taxes or levies
are paid to the city 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.

§ 46. Special assessments.—(a) All local or special as-
sessments shall be made and assessed by the council under such
regulations as it may by ordinance prescribe.

Provisions shall be made by ordinance for the method of
levying and apportioning such special assessments, for the publi-
cation 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 Chesterfield
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 assessment thereon, or for the
non-payment of any expense incurred by the city in abating any
nuisance thereon, or cutting or removing weeds therefrom, as
provided in § 5 (subsection 18) hereof.

§ 47. Audits of accounts.—Upon the death, resignation,
removal or expiration of the terms of any officer of the City,
the council shall order an audit and investigation to be made of
the accounts of such officer and such report shall be filed with
the said council.

As soon as practicable after the close of each fiscal year
an annual audit shall be made of all accounts of all city 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 affairs of the City or any of its officers or em-
ployees. The council may at any time provide for an examina-
tion or audit of the accounts of any officer or department of the
City government.

§ 48. Public Property and Franchise; transfer of fran-
chise.—
(a) 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 docu-
ments affecting the title or use of any such public utility shall
be filed with the City clerk within ten days after the execution
and delivery thereof.

(b) Rights reserved to the city.—All grants, renewals, ex-
tensions, or amendments of public utility franchise whether
so provided in the ordinance or not, shall be subject to the right
of the city.

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

(2) To require proper and adequate extensions of plants
and services and the maintenance of the plants and fixtures at
the highest practical standard of efficiency.

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

(4) Extensions.—All extensions of public utilities within
the city limits shall become a part of the aggregate property of
such public utility, shall be operated as such and shall be subject
to al] the obligations and reserved rights contained in the charter
and in any original grant hereafter made. The right to use
and maintain such extension shall terminate with the original
grant.

(5) However, if there shall be omitted from this charter
any provision essential to the valid sale, or granting, renewing,
extending, or amending, any franchise, privileges, 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 franchise heretofore granted, or
any contract heretofore made with a public utility corporation,
nor shall anything contained in this charter be construed to con-
flict with the jurisdiction of the Corporation Commission of the
State of Virginia.

§ 49. General provisions; — Salaries of councilmen. —

The council shall have the right to fix the salaries for the
members thereof, and of the school board but not to exceed the
sum of twenty-five dollars per month, and the same shall nat be
imcreased or diminished during their respective terms of office.
§ 50. Oath of office and qualification —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 City Clerk, before en-
tering upon the discharge of their duties, and if the require-
ments of this section have not been complied with by an 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.

§ 51. Officers to administer oaths.——The Commissioner of
the Revenue, City Clerk, and Town Treasurer, shall have power
to administer oaths and to take and sign affidavits in the dis-
charge of their respective official duties.

§ 52. 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 corporate 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 City Clerk before entering upon the
discharge of their duties. The city shall pay the premiums on
such bonds.

§ 58. Investigations——The council, the mayor and any
officer, board or commission authorized by them, or either of
them, shall have power to make investigation as to city 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 produce such books and papers, may by summons issued by
such board or officer be summoned before the mayor of the city
by the board or official making such investigation, and upon his
failure to give satisfactory explanation of such failure or re-
fusal may be fined by the mayor not exceeding one hundred
dollars or imprisoned not exceeding thirty days, and such per-
son shail have the right to appeal to the circuit court of Ches-
terfield county. Any person who shall give false testimony under
oath at any such investigation shall be liable to prosecution for
perjury.

§ 54. Revocable permits.—Every permit given or author-
ized by the council or mayor in violation. of the ordinances of
the City establishing fire limits and providing for the character
or materials which may be used in the construction of buildings
within such fire limits, and every permit authorizing the viola-
tion of the ordinances of the city relating to obstruction in, over
and under, or encroachments on the streets, alleys, parks and
other public grounds and property of the city and every permit
authorizing the violation of any ordinance of the city shall be
deemed to be a license and not a franchise or grant, and shall
be revocable at the will of the council.

§ 55. Actions against the city for damages.—No action
shall be maintained against the city for damages for an injury
to any person or property alleged to have been sustained by
reason of the negligence of the city, or of any officer, agent or
employee thereof, unless a written statement of the nature of
the claim and of the time and place at which the injury is alleged
to have occurred or have been received shall have first been filed
with the clerk of said city, and all actions against the city shall
conform to § 8-653 of the Code of Virginia.

§ 56. Books and papers delivered to successor or City
Clerk.—Any person holding a municipal office and vacating the
same on account of removal or otherwise shall deliver over to
his successor in office, or to the City Clerk, all property and
books and papers belonging to the city, or appertaining to such
office which may be in his possession or under his control, and
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 City Clerk,
he shall forfeit and pay to the city 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 ordinances or resolution
of the council, or by order of any superior officer of said city,
shall be deemed the property of said city as appertaining to said
office, and the incumbent of such office and his securities on his
bonds shall be responsible therefor.

§ 57. All elections shall be held at such place or places
within the city as the council by ordinance may prescribe.

§ 58. Working prisoners.—Subject to the general laws of
the State regulating the working of those convicted of offenses
against the city, the council shall have the power to provide by
ordinance for the employment or the working, either within or
without the city limits, or within or without any city prison or
jail, of all persons sentenced to confinement in the prison or
jail for the violation of the ordinances of the City of Colonial
Heights.

§ 59. Penalty for officers failing to perform duties.—If
any officer of the City of Colonial Heights, whether he be elected
by vote of the people or by the council, or appointed by the
council or the mayor, who shall fail or refuse to perform any of
the duties required of him by this charter or by ordinance or
resolution of the city council, 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 bonds shall be liable
for all damages which may accrue to the city or any other
person by reason of such failure or refusal.

§ 60. City plan.—The city council may cause to be pre-
pared and adopted a comprehensive city plan providing for the
future improvement and growth of the city within and without
the city limits, and including the altering and extending of
streets, and opening of new subdivisions, the changing and im-
proving the channels of the creeks running into and through
the city, the location and opening of the most practical and
direct highways from the city into the adjoining country, the
improvement of entrances, the weight load of bridges and ter-
minals to and from the city, including those of public service
corporations looking to the future harmonious development of a
city plan, the planning for playgrounds, parks and boulevard
system, the location of public buildings, including school build-
ings and other public works, and public utilities, and all such
other things as will tend to make the City of Colonial Heights
a more convenient, attractive and modern city.

The council may, in its discretion, appoint .an advisory city
planning commission, and define its powers and prescribe its
duties by ordinance.

§ 61. Laying out streets, rights therein, and subdividing
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 twenty years, the same shall thereby
become a Street, alley or lane for all purposes; provided, that
the city council shall, by ordinances, so declare, and after such
declaration the city shall have the same authority and jurisdic-
tion 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 lane reserved for other
public purposes, in the division or subdivision into lots of any
portion of the territory within the corporate limits of the City
by a plat or plan of record shall be deemed and held to be dedi-
cated 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 street or alley, park or lane reserved
for other public purposes, or any portion of the same. No agree-
ment between, or release of interest by the person owning the
lands immediately contiguous to any such alley or street, park
or lane 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 lane 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 anything in this section contained, the city
shall not be liable for any accidents which may occur upon any
street, alley, boulevard, or way, whether heretofore or here-
after laid out, until the said street, boulevard, alley or way shall
have been accepted or declared by the city council.

(b) The city shall have the use and control of all streets,
avenues and alleys, both below and above ground.

§ 62. Powers of policemen.—For the purpose of enabling
the city 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 State of Virginia and of the city may be neces-
sary to enable him to discharge the duties of his office.

§ 63. Use of county or city jail by city —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 violation of any of the ordinances of the city,
and may commit to the jail of the counties of Chesterfield, Hen-
rico or the City of Petersburg for safe keeping and confinement
at the expense of the city all prisoners who shall be sentenced
to imprisonment under the ordinances of the said city; and
until such fines and costs shall have been paid, 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 city.

§ 64. General powers.—(a) The council shall have power
to pass all ordinances, regulations, or orders not contrary to the
Constitution and laws of the United States, or of this State,
which the council may deem necessary and proper for the wel-
fare of the city, 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 regula-
tions 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 the city before the mayor,
or any councilman of the city in the absence of the mayor, and
applied in aid of the taxes imposed upon the city.

(b) The council shall have the right in its discretion to
appoint quin-quennially or oftener as it may see fit three land
assessors whose duty it shall be to make a comprehensive assess-
ment of all the lands, buildings and other real property located
in the city, said assessors shall be appointed on the basis of
their qualifications and need not be residents of the city. Their
salary shall be fixed by the council.

§ 65. Ordinances to continue in force, etc.—All ordinances
now in force in the City of Colonial Heights, not inconsistent
with this charter, shall be and remain in force until altered,
amended or repealed by the council of the city, and all acts or
parts of acts in conflict with this charter, and the original char-
ter of the Town of Colonial Heights and all amendments thereto,
are hereby repealed.

§ 66. Partial invalidity—If any clause, sentence, para-
graph, 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 directly involved in the controversy
in which said judgment shall have been rendered.

§ 67. Citation of act.—This act may for all purposes be
referred to or cited as the Colonial Heights charter of nineteen
hundred and fifty.

§ 68. General laws to apply.—The enumeration of particu-
lar powers and authority in this charter shall not be deemed or
held to be exclusive, but in addition to the powers enumerated
herein, implied hereby, or appropriate to the exercise thereof,
the city shall have and may exercise all other powers which are
now or may hereafter be possessed or enjoyed by cities of the
second class under the constitution and general laws of this

tate.

2. Chapter one hundred eighty-six of the Acts of Assembly
of nineteen hundred thirty, approved March twenty-one nine-
teen hundred thirty, as amended, and the charter of the City
of Colonial Heights as established by an order of the circuit
court of Chesterfield County entered March nineteen, nineteen
hundred forty-eight, are repealed.

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