CHAPTER 468

An Act to provide a charter for the consolidated City of Newport News,
to provide, under certain conditions, for the holding of a referendum
to determine whether the same shall be adopted; and to provide the
effect of such charter if adopted.

| [fH 540]

Approved April 1, 1952

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. If the provisions of this charter shall be adopted by the govern-
ing bodies of the City of Newport News, and the City of Hampton, the
counties of Warwick and Elizabeth City, or any of them, or any city suc-
ceeding and comprising the same territory as any of such counties, as the
consolidation agreement required under the provisions of Article 4,
Chapter 9 of Title 15 of the Code of Virginia, or if ten per centum of the
qualified voters of the City of Newport News and any of such political
subdivisions shall petition for a consolidation election to be held on the
basis of such charter as provided in § 15-222.4, as amended, then there
shall be at the general election to be held in each of the counties and cities
adopting such agreement or in which such petitions are filed in the Novem-
ber following the adoption of such agreement or the filing of such petition,
a referendum on the following question:

Shall the counties and cities a majority of whose voters vote in favor
inereot be consolidated under the Newport News consolidation charter of
[] For
[] Against
The election shall be held and the returns canvassed and certified as
provided in § 24-141 of the Code of Virginia. If it shall appear that a
majority of the electors of the City of Newport News and of one or more
contiguous political subdivisions voting at such referendum have voted
in favor of the consolidation, the judge of the corporation court of the
City of Newport News shall enter of record that fact and the names of
each county and city in which a majority of the electors have voted in
favor of consolidation, and this charter shall become fully effective on the
first day of September next following such election, and thereupon any
county or counties and city in which a majority of the electors have voted
in favor of consolidation shall be consolidated with the city of Newport
News; provided, that the election of council of the consolidated city shall
be held as set forth in § 1-a of this act.

If this charter becomes effective as hereinabove provided, it shall for
all purposes supersede the existing charter of the City of Newport News,
and if any other city or town is so consolidated with the City of Newport
News, its charter likewise shall be superseded.

All the territory contained within the present boundaries of the
political subdivisions so consolidating, as the same now are or may
hereafter be established by law, shall be deemed and taken as the City of
Newport News, and said boundaries shall be construed to embrace all
wharves, docks and other structures of every description that have been
or may hereafter be erected along said waterfront, and the inhabitants of
the city shall for all purposes for which cities are incorporated in this
Commonwealth, continue to be a body politic in fact and in name, under
the denomination of the City of Newport News, and as such, shall have,
exercise, and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges con-
ferred upon cities by law; but subject to all laws now in force and hereafter
enacted for the government of cities of the first class and subject to all
duties and obligations now incumbent upon and pertaining to said city
as a municipal corporation. Said city shall have perpetual succession, may
sue and be sued, contract and be contracted with, and may have a corporate
seal which it may alter, renew or amend at its pleasure.

§ l-a. The circuit court of each county or city which is to be
consolidated as hereinabove provided shall issue a writ of election for an
election to be held on the first Tuesday in June following the referendum
provided for in § 1 hereof, at which time there shall be elected by the
voters of all the counties and cities which are to be consolidated, the
council of the consolidated city. Such election shall in all respects conform
to the provisions of this act.

The municipal government provided by this charter shall be
the ‘“‘council-manager government.” The legislative power and adminis-
trative functions of the city shall be vested in the council of the City of
Newport News and an administrative officer to be styled the city manager
and such other bodies and officers as are hereinafter provided for. The
city council, subject to the limitations of the Constitution and the general
laws of the Commonwealth, shall enact local legislation, adopt budgets,
determine policies and appoint the city manager who shall execute the
laws and administer the government of the city.

§3. The city council shall be elected from the city at large and shall
serve for a term of four years from the first day of September next fol-
lowing the date of their election and until their successors shall have been
elected and shall qualify; provided, however, that at the first election
hereunder, four of the councilmen shall serve for four years and three of
the councilmen shall serve for two years and those who shall serve for
two years shall be determined by lot.

§ 4. Any person desiring to become a candidate for the office of
councilman shall file a notice of his candidacy, and a petition therefor
signed by at least two hundred qualified electors of the city with the
secretary of the electoral board of the city at least twenty days previous
to the date of the election. No other notice of candidacy need be given by
the person filing same. There shall be printed on the ballots to be used
in any municipal election for councilmen the names of all candidates who
have filed such notice and the petition herein required.

The ballots used in all elections of councilmen shall be without party
marks or designations. No elector shall cast more than one vote for the
same person; but a voter may write in the name of another person and
cast his vote therefor. The candidates receiving the highest number of
votes shall be declared elected.

No candidate for the office of councilman shall promise any money,
office, employment or other thing of value to secure a nomination or
election or expend in connection with his candidacy any money, except as
permitted by the general election law of the State; and any such candi-
date violating this provision shall be punished as provided by general law,
and shall forfeit his office, if elected; in which event the office so vacated
shall be filled by the council until the next regular or special election of
councilmen as provided for herein.

§ 5. Vacancies in the office of councilmen, from whatever cause
arising, shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term within sixty
days of the occurrence of the vacancy. If a single vacancy exists, it shall
be filled by the remainder of the council. If more than one vacancy exists,
they shall be filled by a vote of the people at a special election called for
that purpose.

§ 6. The council shall consist of seven members elected as provided
in this act. Councilmen shall be qualified electors of the city. Councilmen
shall receive in full compensation for their services the sum of $1,200 each
per year. The mayor shall receive $1,500 per year. Neither the council-
men nor the mayor shall hold any other office of profit in the city
government.

The council, after the election of members, every two years, shall, at
its first meeting on or after the first day of September next following the
date of said election, elect one of its members to preside over its meetings,
who shall be ex-officio mayor and shall have the same powers and duties
as other members of the council, with a vote but no veto; and he shall be
official head of the city and shall perform such other duties, consistent
with his office, as may be imposed by the council, but shall have no regular
administrative duties. His term of office shall be for two years. The
council, at said meeting, shall alse elect a mayor protempore, who shall
serve in the absence or disability of the mayor and shall receive such
additional compensation for such services as the mayor would receive
therefor if present and acting.

The council shall have authority to adopt such rules and to appoint
such officers, committees and clerks as may be proper for the regulation
of its proceedings and the convenient transaction of its business; to compel
the attendance of absent members; to punish its members for disorderly
behavior, and by a vote of five-sevenths of its members to expel a member
for malfeasance or misfeasance in office, or gross neglect of official duty.
It shall keep a journal in which the clerk shall record the proceedings of
such session, and the same shall be properly indexed. All resolutions and
ordinances shall be signed by the presiding officer and the city clerk and
shall be recorded in a book which shall be properly indexed. All ordinances
of the council shall be taken judicial cognizance of by all courts of this city.

The council shall meet at such times as may be prescribed by ordi-
nance or resolution; provided, however, that it shall hold at least one
regular meeting every two weeks. No business shall be transacted at a
special meeting, except that for which it shall have been called, unless
all members of the council attend such special meetings or give their
written consent thereto. |

The meetings of the council shall be open to the public. A majority of
the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business,
but no ordinance shall be passed, and no resolution adopted having for
its object the appropriation of money, except by a concurrence of a
majority of all the council. All voting except on procedural motions shall
be by roll call and the ayes and noes shall be recorded in the journal. No
member of the council shall participate in the vote on any ordinance, reso-
lution, motion or vote in which he, or any person, firm or corporation for
which he is attorney or agent, has a financial interest other than as a
minority stockholder of a corporation or as a citizen of the city.

§ 7. The city shall have and may through the council exercise all
powers which are now or may hereafter be conferred upon or delegated
to cities under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth and all
other powers pertinent to the conduct of the city government the exercise
of which is not expressly prohibited by the said Constitution and laws
and which are necessary or desirable to promote the order, comfort, con-
venience and morals of its inhabitants, as fully and completely as though
said powers were specifically enumerated in this charter and no enumera-
tion of particular powers in this charter shall be held to be exclusive but
shall be held to be in addition to this general grant of powers.

§ 8. The council shall have control of the fiscal and legislative affairs
of said city, and shall adopt such ordinances and by-laws relative to the
same as it may deem proper. It shall have all powers granted by general
law and by this charter and shall have in addition the specific powers set
forth in this charter.

§ 9. The council shall have power:

(1) To preserve the peace and good order within the city and the
property of the city, its residents and others therein.

(2) To secure its inhabitants from contagious, infectious, or other
dangerous diseases; to establish, to erect, and to regulate hospitals; to
provide for and to enforce the removal of patients to the hospital or
hospitals established by the city, or to a private hospital or hospitals; to
appoint and organize a board of health for said city, and to clothe it with
authority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties.

(8) To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and street beggars;
to prevent vice and immorality; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and
disorderly conduct or exhibitions in said city.

(4) To prohibit gambling, lotteries and games of chance within said
city and to provide for the seizure and confiscation for and in the name
of the city, of all money, paraphernalia and devices used in gambling,
lotteries and games of chance.

(5) In accordance with general law to prevent, forbid and punish the
selling or giving away of narcotics, liquors and intoxicating drinks to be
drunk in any public place not duly licensed, and the selling or giving to be
drunk of any intoxicating drinks or liquors to any child or minor, and
the selling or giving away of cigarettes to any minor under sixteen years
of age. .

(6) To prevent the coming into the city of persons having no
ostensible means of support, and of persons who may be dangerous to
the peace and safety of the city.

§ 10. The council is further empowered:

(1) To determine and to designate the route and grade of any rail-
road to be hereafter laid in said city; to restrain the speed of locomotive
engines and of cars upon railroads in said city; to grant franchises to
railroads and other corporations through, along, and under the streets of
said city upon such conditions as the council may determine; and to require
the establishment of all necessary railroad crossings within said city
subject, however, to the conditions, limitations and provisions provided
by the general laws of this Commonwealth relative to railroad crossings.

(2) To make provisions for and to regulate the weighing or measur-
ing of commodities.

(3) To hold such lands as may have already been acquired by the
City of Newport News, to be used as a place for the burial of the dead,
and to acquire, by purchase or otherwise, such additional lands as may
be necessary for that purpose, and to prescribe all needful rules and
regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the State in connection
therewith. .

§ 11. To the extent permitted by the Constitution of Virginia the
council may assess against and collect from the owners of real property
benefited thereby, not exceeding fifty per centum of the cost of public
improvements. The council shall prescribe the time and manner in which
the said assessment shall be payable, and when levied it shall be a lien
on the property against which it is assessed from the date of such assess-
ment; but no such assessment on abutting property shall be made until
a plan of such improvement shall have been made by the city engineer,
an estimate of the cost and the amount to be paid by each abutting
owner, such plan and estimate to be filed in the clerk’s office of the
council and a hearing given to said abutting owners before said council
or committee thereof, after notice. But no owner of abutting property
shall be required to pay the cost of paving sidewalks adjacent to his
property until the streets along said property shall have been opened,
graded, guttered and curbed.

§ 12. For the execution of its powers and duties, the council may
raise taxes annually by assessment in said city on all subjects not withheld
from city taxation by the State and such subjects of taxation as have been,
or may be, segregated to the city by the State, for the purpose of taxation,
such sums of money as may be necessary to defray the expenses of the
same, and in such manner as it shall be expedient.

All goods and chattels, wheresoever found, may be distrained and
sold for taxes assessed and due thereon, and no deed of trust or mortgage
on goods and chattels shall prevent the same from being distrained and
sold for taxes assessed against the grantor in such deed.

There shall be a lien on real estate for the city taxes as assessed
thereon from the commencement of the year for which they are assessed.
The council may require real estate in the city delinquent for nonpayment
of taxes to be sold for said taxes, with interest thereon at the legal rate.
a real estate shall be sold and may be redeemed in the manner provided

y law.
§ 18. The tax rate on all property of the same class within the city
shall be uniform; provided that the council shall have power to levy a
higher tax in such areas of the city as desire additional or more complete
services of government than are desired in the city as a whole and, in such
case, the proceeds therefrom shall be so segregated as to enable the same
to be expended in the areas in which raised. Provided further, that such
higher tax rate shall not be levied for school, police or general government
services but only for those services which prior to consolidation were not
offered in the whole of all of the consolidated political subdivisions.

§ 14. At least thirty days before the end of each fiscal year, the
council shall pass an annual appropriation ordinance which may be based
on the budget submitted by the city manager, and shall levy such tax as
shall not be in conflict with the general law for the ensuing fiscal year as
may be necessary to meet the appropriations made and all sums required
by law to be raised for account of the city debt, together with such addi-
tion, not exceeding five per centum, as may be necessary to meet the
commissions, fees and abatements from the estimates in the amount of
taxes collected. The total amount of appropriations shall not exceed the
estimated revenues of the city.

§ 15. 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 unen-
cumbered balance of each appropriation shall revert to the respective fund
from which it was appropriated and shall be subject to further appropria-
tion; except that balances due, or to become due, on contracts for public
improvements shall not so revert. No money shall be drawn from the
treasury of the city, nor shall any obligation for the expenditure of money
be incurred, except pursuant to the appropriations made by the council.

§ 16. The council may, in the name, 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 otherwise provided by law; provided that no bond shall be for a
longer term than the probable life of the improvement for which the bonds
are issued, as determined by the council by ordinance, and provided
further, that all bonds so issued shall be either serial bonds or sinking fund

onds.

§ 17. All bonds, contracts, deeds and other papers shall be executed
by the city manager, under the direction of the council, and the seal of the
corporation shall be affixed and attested by the city clerk.

§ 18. The council shall not take any private property for public
purposes without making the owner thereof just compensation for the
same except money, paraphernalia and devices used in gambling, lotteries
and games of chance as otherwise provided herein; and when the council
cannot, by agreement with the owner, obtain the title to or the use of such
property for such purposes, it shall be lawful for the said council to
institute and prosecute proceedings for the condemnation thereof accord-
ing to law.

§ 19. In every case where a street in said city has been or may be
encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise, the council may
require the owner (if known, or if unknown, the occupant of the premises
encroaching) to remove the same, and if the removal be not made within
the time prescribed by the council, it may impose a penalty of five dollars
a day for each and every day it is allowed to continue thereafter, and may
cause the encroachment to be removed, and may collect from the owner
all reasonable charges therefor, with costs, by the same process by which
it is empowered to collect taxes; and whatever amount the occupant or
tenant may have to pay therefor, for the said amount he shall have a valid
and lawful offset against the rent due or to become due to his landlord.

§ 20. Whenever any street or lane in said city shall have been
opened to and used by the public for a period of five years, the council may
declare the same a street, lane or alley for public purposes, and the council
shall have the same jurisdiction over and rights and interests therein as it
has over the streets, alleys and lanes laid out by it; and any street or alley
reserved in the division or subdivision into lots of any portion of the
territory within the corporate limits of said city by a plan or plat of record
which may be filed in the clerk’s office of the corporation court of the city,
shall be deemed to be dedicated to the public use, unless it appears by
said record that the said street or alley so reserved is designated for
private use.

§ 21. In the building of any sewers through the streets or alleys of
said city, the council shall have the authority to contract with the adjacent
property owners for the temporary use of the adjacent property, and pay
adequate compensation therefor; and in case the compensation cannot be
agreed upon, the temporary use of such property may be had by
proceedings similar to those employed in the condemnation of the freehold
under the general laws of the State.

§ 22. Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the inter-
ference by the council of said city with the existing use of the avenues,
streets, alleys and lanes of the said city, with the tracks, pipes, poles, and
other appurtenances of any railroad, street railway, gas, electric light,
telegraph, telephone, or other incorporated company, but such use is
hereby confirmed, subject to such reasonable regulations as the council
may from time to time prescribe; provided, that nothing in this section
shall be held to authorize the unreasonable blocking or obstructing of any
public highway.

§ 28. The council shall enact stringent and efficient laws for securing
the safety of persons from fires in halls and buildings used for public
assemblies, entertainments, and amusements.

§ 24. Whenever any building in the said city shall be on fire, it
shall be the duty and be lawful for the Chief of the fire department to
order and direct such building or buildings, which he may deem hazardous
and likely to communicate fire to other buildings, or any part of such
buildings, to be pulled down and destroyed, and no action shall be main-
tained against any person or against the city therefor. But any person
interested in such building so destroyed or injured may, within three
months thereafter, apply to the city council to assess and pay the damages
he has sustained. At the expiration of the three months, if any such
application shall have been made in writing, the city council shall either
pay the claimant such sum as shall be agreed upon by the council, and
the said claimant for such damage, or if such agreement shall not be
effected shall proceed to ascertain the amount of such damages, and shall
provide for the appraisal, assessment, collection and payment of the same
in the same manner as is provided for the ascertainment, assessment,
collection and payment of damages sustained by the taking of land for the
purpose of public improvement. |

§ 25. All contracts for the erection and construction of public
improvements shall be let by competitive bids, but the council, in its
discretion, may reject any or all bids, and notice shall be given thirty days
before the work is finally let by advertisements in one or more newspapers,
and the party to whom said contract shall be let shall give such bond as
the council may require; but in no event shall any contract be let to any
member of the council or other officer of the city government, nor shall
any member have any interest in said contract; provided, however, that
the council may have such work done and public improvements made under
its immediate direction in any case involving expenditures of sums not
exceeding twenty-five hundred dollars, and may employ such superin-
tendents, mechanics, laborers and teams and purchase such material as
may be necessary therefor.

§ 26. After bids shall have been advertised for and received for
making any public improvements or doing any public work, the council
may authorize the making of such improvements or doing of such work
by the direct employment of the necessary labor and purchase of the
necessary materials and supplies on the basis of detailed estimates sub-
mitted by the department authorized to execute such work or improve-
ments; provided the probable cost of such work or improvement as-shown
by such estimates is less than the bid of the lowest responsible bidder for
the same work or improvement; and provided, further, that the city
manager shall certify in writing to the council that in his opinion the cost
of making such improvement or doing such work will not exceed the said
estimate. Separate accounts shall be kept of all work and improvements
so done or made.

§ 27. In emergency requiring immediate action, the city manager
may cause any such improvement to be made or other public work to be
done by direct employment of the necessary labor and purchase of the
necessary material and supplies without previously advertising for or
receiving bids therefor.. Every such case shall be reported by him in
writing to the council at its next regular meeting with a statement of the
facts constituting such emergency. Separate accounts shall be kept of all
such work; provided, that nothing in this or the next preceding section
shall prevent the said city from doing maintenance and repair work by
direct labor and from maintaining a reasonable force of men for that
purpose.

§ 28. When it becomes necessary in the prosecution of any work or
improvement under contract to make alterations or modifications of such
contract, such alterations or modifications shall be made only on the order
of the city manager. No such order shall be effective until the price to be
paid for the work and materials, or both, and the credits, if any, to be
allowed the city, under the altered or modified contract, shall have been
agreed upon in writing and signed by the contractor and by the city
manager. Provided, however, that alterations or modifications involving
an increase or decrease of more than $2,500 in the aggregate shall be first
approved by council.

§ 29. The council may establish and maintain a jail or jails and a
jail farm, within or without the city, and subject to the general laws of
the State, 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 the city prison, jail or city farm, of all prisoners
sentenced to confinement in said prison, jail or city farm for the violation
of the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia or the ordinances of the city.

§ 30. The council shall, prior to the first of December next succeed-
ing their election, and prior to the first day of December every four years
thereafter, elect a city attorney and a city auditor, each of whom shall
serve for a term of four years from January first following his election
and until his successor shall have been elected and shall have qualified.

§ 31. All city officers required 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 the respec-
tive predecessors, for such terms as are prescribed by law. All such
elective officers shall be nominated and elected as provided in the general
laws of the Commonwealth. Vacancies in the elective offices referred
to in this section shall be filled for the unexpired portion of the term as
follows: In the offices of the clerks of courts by the judge of the respective
court; in the office of the attorney for the Commonwealth, by the judge
of the corporation court; or in any of the above cases by the judge of the
designated court in vacation. The officers so elected or appointed shall
qualify as prescribed by law and shall continue in office until their suc-
cessors are elected and qualified.
§ 32. The term of office of councilmen shall begin on the first day
of September next succeeding their election. The terms of the first council
drawing lots for a term of two years shall end August thirty-one of the
second year following their election, and the terms of the councilmen
drawing lots for four years shall end August thirty-one of the fourth
year following their election. Thereafter the term of each member shall
be four years.

The terms of officers elected by the council shall begin on the first
day of January following their election. The term of all other elective
officers shall begin as provided by general law; provided, however, the
first officers elected by the council shall assume office immediately upon
their election or as soon thereafter as may be possible. Elections there-
after shall conform to the provisions of this charter and the general laws.

§ 38. All officers provided for in this charter shall, before entering
upon the discharge of their duties, execute bond, payable to the City of
Newport News, in such penalty and with such surety as the council may
prescribe, conditioned for the faithful discharge of their respective duties.

§ 34. The officers elected by the council may be removed from office
for cause after a proper investigation and hearing.

§ 35. The council shall appoint a city clerk and shall have power to
remove him from office. He shall be the clerk of the council, shall keep
the journal of its proceedings and shall record all ordinances in a book
kept for the purpose. He shall be the custodian of the corporate seal of
the city and shall be the officer authorized to use and authenticate it. All
records in his office shall be public records and open to inspection at any
time. He shall receive compensation to be fixed by the council.

§ 36. There shall be one clerk of each court of record for said city,
who shall be elected in the manner and for the term provided by general
law. Such clerks shall receive in compensation for their services the fees
and emoluments allowed by law to clerks, as provided by general law
and such allowances as the council may from time to time deem just and
proper.

§ 37. The city sergeant of the City of Newport News shall be the
city sergeant of the consolidated city. He and his deputies shall act as
bailiff for the circuit and corporation courts of the city, shall have the
powers conferred on city sergeants by general law as to the service of
process, and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him
by law; provided, that he shall have no duties with relation to the city
jail or jail farm. His compensation shall be fixed as provided by general
law ; provided, that the council may, for the performance of duties assigned
to him by it, supplement such compensation as is allowed by general law.

38. The corporation court of said city, or the judge thereof in
vacation, shall appoint for said city one justice of the peace for each ten
thousand or fraction thereof of the inhabitants thereof, as shown by the
last United States census, but in no event less than five justices, each of
whom shall serve for a term of four years from the first day of January
next following the date of his appointment, and until his successor shall
have been appointed and qualified.

§ 39. There shall be one city attorney who shall be the director of
the department of law. He shall devote his full time to the duties of his
office and shall not engage in the private practice of law. The department
of law shall consist of the city attorney and such assistant city attorneys
and other employees as may be provided by the council. The city attorney
shall commence and prosecute all and every suit or suits, action or actions
brought by the city for or on account of the estate, rights, trusts, priv-
ileges, claims or demands of the same, and defend all actions or suits
brought against the city or any official thereof before any court of this
Commonwealth. All matters of law to which the city may be a party, or
in anywise interested, shall be under his supervision, direction and
control, subject to the direction of the council.

§ 40. (a) There shall be the following municipal courts for the city:

(1) A police court.

(2) A civil justice court.

(3) A juvenile and domestic relations court.

(b) The justices of such courts in office when this charter takes
effect shall continue in office until January one following such effective
date. Thereafter there shall be appointed by the council of the city a
justice for each of such courts to serve for a term of four years, subject
to removal for cause. Each such justice shall be an attorney at law who
has had not less than five years experience as such. Each such justice shall
receive such compensation as may be provided by the council. Vacancies
shall be filled by the council for unexpired terms.

(c) The council may appeint a substitute justice for each such court
who shall have the same qualifications as the justice who shall serve in
the absence, illness or inability of the justice to serve and shall during the
period of such service receive the same compensation as the justice.

(d) The police court shall have the jurisdiction in criminal matters
exercised by trial justice courts in counties under general law and shall
have jurisdiction of all violations of ordinances of the city.

(e) The civil justice court shall have the same jurisdiction of all
civil matters as is provided by general law for trial justices of the counties.

(f) The juvenile and domestic relations court shall have the juris-
diction prescribed by general law for juvenile and domestic relations
courts.

(g) Appeals and removals for each of such courts shall be the same
as provided by genera) law as to appeals and removals from trial justice
courts in counties.

§ 41. There may be a city auditor to be appointed by the council
for an indefinite term. He shall be qualified by training and experience
for the duties of his office. It shall be his duty to examine and audit all
accounts, books, records and financial transactions of the city, and of any
department, court, board, commission, office or agency thereof, excluding
such accounts as are audited by the auditor of public accounts of the Com-
monwealth but including all trust and special funds. It shall be his duty to
make annually to the council, as soon after the end of the fiscal year as
possible but in any event not later than ninety days, a complete audit
report covering the transactions of the preceding fiscal year as they
appear in the accounts, books and records kept in the department of
finance, with such comments and recommendations as he may deem
advisable. He shall make examinations and audits of the accounts, books
and records of other departments, courts, boards, commissions, offices and
agencies subject to examination and audit by him at such times as he or
the council shall deem necessary and upon completion of each such exami-
nation or audit shall file with the council a report thereof in writing. He
shall also transmit a copy of each such report to the city manager and
to the department, court, board, commission, office or agency covered
thereby. If he shall at any time discover any unauthorized, illegal, irregu-
lar or unsound practice he shall forthwith lay such facts before the city
manager and council. In performing his duties he shall have access at
any and all times to all books, records and accounts of each department,
court, board, commission, office or agency of the city subject to examina-
tion and audit by him. A copy of each audit report made to the council
by the city auditor shall always be available for public inspection in the
office of the city clerk during regular business hours.

§ 42. The council may, by the affirmative vote of five of its members,
pass emergency measures to take effect at the time indicated therein. An
emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution for the immediate preser-
vation of the public peace, property, health or safety, in which the reasons
for the emergency are set forth and defined. Ordinances appropriating
money for any such emergency may be passed as emergency measures,
but no measure for the sale or lease of city property, or making a grant,
renewal or extension of a franchise or other special privilege, or the
regulation of the rate to be charged for its services by any public utility
shall be so passed.

§ 43. No ordinance, unless it be an emergency measure as here-
inafter defined, or the annual appropriation ordinance, shall go into effect
until the expiration of thirty days after its final passage. If, at any time
within said thirty days, a petition signed by qualified voters equal in
number to twenty-five per centum of the electors who cast their votes at
the last preceding regular municipal election for the election of council-
men be filed with the city clerk, requesting that any such ordinance be
repealed or amended as stated in the petition, such ordinance shall not
become operative until the steps indicated herein shall have been taken,
or until the time allowed for taking any such step shall have elapsed with-
out action. Such petition shall state therein the names and addresses of
at least five electors, who shall constitute a committee to represent the
petitioners, and who shall be officially regarded as filing the petition and
shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose hereinafter
stated. Referendum petitions need not contain the text of the ordinance
or ordinances, the amendment or repeal of which is sought, but shall
contain the proposed amendment if an amendment is demanded.

The city clerk shall present the petition to the council at its next
regular meeting, and thereupon the council shall proceed to reconsider
the ordinance. If, within thirty days after the filing of such petition, the
ordinance be not repealed or amended as requested in such petition, the
city clerk shall, if so requested, by a writing signed by a majority of the
committee and presented to the city clerk without twenty days after the
expiration of said period of thirty days, present to the electoral board
of said city, the petition and all copies thereof as one instrument, together
with a copy of the ordinance, the repeal of which is sought. Within ten
days after the filing of said petition, the board shall ascertain and certify
whether the required number of qualified voters have signed the petition.
If the required number of qualified voters have signed the said petition,
then within five days after the expiration of said ten days, the petition,
with the certificate attached, shall be presented by the said committee to
the corporation court of the city, or the judge thereof in vacation, and
thereupon the court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall forthwith enter
an order calling and fixing a date for holding an election for the purpose
of submitting the ordinance to the electors of said city. Thereupon the
ordinance shall ipso facto be further suspended from coming into effect
until such election shall have been held, and the council of said city shall,
at its next regular meeting, repeal said ordinance. Any such election shall
be held not less than thirty, nor more than sixty, days after’ the date of
the entering of such order. If any other election is to be held within said
period, said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall direct that the
ordinance shall be submitted to the vote of the electors at such election.
At least ten days before any such election, the clerk of said court shall
cause the ordinance to be published once in one or more newspapers of
general circulation published in said city.

The ballots used when voting upon such ordinances shall conform in
all respects to the ballots required for an initiative election under this
section, and the method of voting in any such election shall be as prescribed
in said section.

If in any such election the ordinance so referred or submitted be
approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon, the said ordinance
shall, upon the ascertainment and certification of the results of said
election by the commissioner of election, be enacted by the council at its
next regular meeting.

Ordinances passed as emergency measures, providing for any work,
improvement or repairs certified by the city manager to be immediately
necessary to protect public property or health from imminent danger, or
to protect the city from imminent loss or liability, shall not be subject to
referendum. The certificate of the city manager in any such case shall
be conclusive. All other ordinances passed as emergency measures shall
be subject to the referendum in like manner as other ordinances, except
that they shall go into effect at the time indicated in such ordinances. If,
when submitted to a vote of the electors, an emergency measure shall be
not approved by a majority of the voters voting thereon, it shall be con-
sidered repealed, as regards any further action thereon but such measure
so repealed shall be deemed sufficient authority for the payment in accord-
ance with the ordinance of any expenses incurred previous to the ascer-
tainment and certification by the commissioners of election of the results
of the referendum vote thereon.

§ 44. Proposed ordinance or ordinances, including ordinances for
the repeal or amendment of an existing ordinance, may be submitted to
the ‘council by petition signed by qualified voters equal in number to ten
per centum of the number of electors who cast their vote at the last pre-
ceding regular municipal election for the election of councilmen. Such
petition shall contain the proposed ordinance in full and shall have
appended thereto, or written thereon, the names and addresses of at least
five qualified voters, who shall be officially recorded as filing the petition,
and who shall constitute a committee of the petitioners for the purpose
hereinafter stated.

All papers comprising the petition shall be assembled and filed with
the city clerk as one instrument within one hundred and twenty days from
the date of the first signature thereon; and when so filed, the clerk shall
submit the same to the council at its next regular meeting, and provision
shall be made for public hearings upon the proposed ordinance.

The council shall at once proceed to consider such petition and shall
take final action thereon within thirty days from the date of the submission
thereof. If the council rejects the proposed ordinance, or proposes it in
a form different from that set forth in the petition, or fails to aet finally
on it within the time stated, the committee of the petitioners may require
that it be submitted to a vote of the electors in its original form, or that it
be submitted to a vote of the electors with any proposed change, addition
or amendment. In such event procedures shall conform to that prescribed
in § 43 for referenda on ordinances adopted by the council.

44a. There shall be a city manager who shall be the chief executive
officer of the city and shall be responsible to the council for the proper
administration of the city government. He shall be appointed by the
counci] for an indefinite term. He shall be chosen solely on the basis of
his executive and administrative qualifications. At the time of his appoint-
ment he need not be a resident of the city or the Commonwealth but during
his tenure of office he shall reside within the city.

The city manager shall have power, and it shall be his duty:

(a) To see that all laws and ordinances are enforced.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this charter to appoint all heads
or directors of departments, and all subordinate officers and employees
of the city in both the classified and unclassified service, with the power
to discipline and remove any officer or employee so appointed; and in the
classified service all appointments and removals to be subject to the civil
service provisions of this act. Such appointments and removals shall be
reported to the council at its next regular meeting.

(c) To exercise supervision and contro] over all departments and
divisions of the city government.

(d) To attend all regular meetings of the council, with the right to
take part in the discussion, but having no vote. He shall be entitled to
notice of all special meetings.

(e) To recommend to the council for adoption such measures as he
may deem necessary or expedient.

(f{) To make and execute all contracts on behalf of the city, except
as may be otherwise provided in this act or by ordinance, passed in pur-
suance thereof.

(g) To act as budget commissioner, and as such to prepare and
submit to the council the annual budget, after receiving estimates made
by the heads or directors of the departments, or of any board or commis-
sion not within a department.

(h) To keep the council at all times fully advised as to the financial
conditions and needs of the city.

(i) To perform all such other duties as may be prescribed by law
or be required of him by ordinance or resolution of the council.

§ 45. Neither the council nor any of its members shall direct or
request the appointment of any person to or his removal from any office
or employment by the city manager or by any of his subordinates or in
any way take part in the appointment of or removal of officers and
employees of the city except as specifically provided in this charter. Except
for the purpose of inquiry the council and its members shall deal with the
administrative services solely through the city manager and neither the
council nor any member thereof shall give orders either publicly or pri-
vately to any subordinate of the city manager. Any councilman violating
the provisions of this section or voting for a motion, resolution or ordi-
nance in violation of this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and
upon conviction thereof shall cease to be a councilman.

At least sixty days before the end of each fiscal year, the city manager
shall prepare and submit to the council an annual budget for the ensuing
fiscal year, based upon detailed estimates furnished by the several depart-
ments and other divisions of the city government, including the schools,
elected officers, boards and commissions, according to a classification as
nearly uniform as possible. The budget shall present the following
information:

(a) An itemized statement of the appropriations recommended, with
comparative statement in parallel columns showing appropriations made
for the current and next preceding year.

(b) An itemized statement of the taxes required and of the estimated
revenues of the city from all sources for the ensuing fiscal year, with
comparative statements in parallel columns of the taxes and other revenues
for the current and next preceding year and of the increases or decreases
estimated or proposed. :

(c) A fund statement showing condition of the various appropria-
tions, the amount of appropriation remaining unencumbered and the
amount of revenues remaining unappropriated.

(d) Such other information as may be required by the council.

§ 47. The budget message shall contain the recommendation of the
city manager concerning the fiscal policy of the city, a description of the
important features of the budget plan, an explanation of all salient changes
in the budget submitted, as to estimated receipts and recommended
expenditures as compared with the current fiscal year and the last pre-
ceding fiscal year, and a summary of the proposed budgets. Also a work
program showing the undertakings to be begun and those to be completed
during the next fiscal year and each of the several fiscal years in advance.

§'48. After the budget has been adopted and before the beginning
of the fiscal year the head of each department, board, commission or
agency shall submit to the city manager a work program which shall show
the requested allotments of the appropriations for such department, board,
commission or agency for the entire fiscal year by quarterly periods. The
city manager shall approve, with such amendments as he shall determine,
the allotments for each such department, board, commission or agency and
shall file the same with the comptroller who shal] not authorize any
expenditure to be made from any appropriation except on the basis of
approved allotments. The aggregate of such allotments shall not exceed
the total appropriation available to said department, board, commission
or agency for the fiscal year. An approved allotment may be revised during
the fiscal year m the same manner as the original allotment was made.
If at any time during the fiscal year the city manager shall ascertain that
the revenue cash receipts of the general fund or any utility for the year,
plus any cash surplus available from the preceding year, will be less than
the total appropriations to be met from such receipts, he shall reconsider
the work programs and allotments of the several departments, boards,
commissions and agencies concerned, except the school board, and revise
the allotments so as to forestall the incurring of a deficit.

§ 49. Administrative Departments.—The following administrative
departments are hereby created:

1. Department of Personnel

. Department of Finance

. Department of Public Works
Department of Public Safety

. Department of Public Welfare

. Department of Public Health

. Department of Law

. Department of Parks and Recreation
. Department of Public Utilities

The council may, by ordinance adopted by the affirmative vote of a
majority of its members, create such other departments as it may deem
necessary or expedient, and distribute the functions thereof, or establish
temporary departments for special work; and in like manner may eliminate
or combine the functions of any departments.

§ 50. At the head of each department there shall be a director. The
city manager may be the director of any one or more departments, as
provided by the council.

The director of each department shall be chosen on the basis of his
general executive and administrative ability and experience, and of his
education, training and experience in the class of work which he is to
administer.

The director of each department, except the department of law, shall
be appointed by the city manager and may be removed by him at any
time, but such appointment or removal shall be reported by the city
manager to the council at its next regular meeting. The director of the
department of finance shall be the city manager unless the council other-
wise provides.

The directors of the several departments shall be immediately respon-
sible to the city manager for the administration of their respective depart-
ments, and their advice in writing may be required by him on all matters
affecting their departments. They shall make all other reports and
recommendations concerning their departments when required by the city
manager, under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe.

CO 00 I Cn 09 DO
§ 51. There shall be a department of personnel to consist of a
director of personnel, a personnel administrator and such employees as
may be provided by ordinance or by the order of the director consistent
therewith.

The city manager shall be director of personnel.

The personnel administrator shall be appointed by the director of
personnel. He shall be a person trained and skilled in personnel adminis-
tration, with a knowledge of and interest in public personne] administra-
tion. He shall be administrative assistant in personnel matters to the
director of personnel. Among the duties of the administrator will be the
following: recruit prospective employees; conduct and rate the examina-
tions; prepare and maintain a list of eligibles; certify to the appointing
officer the names of the five highest on the list; prepare and recommend
to the board position classification and pay plans for all employees in the
classified service; maintain a roster of all persons in the city’s service
which will show each person’s work or position, title, salary, and other
useful information; certify pay rolls of all persons employed according to
the provisions of the ordinance; recommend to the board a system of
in-service training and employee welfare activities; be continuously
watchful of the operation of the personnel policies; and through his pro-
fessional literature and otherwise keep up with the experience of other
cities, so that he may be in a position to suggest to the board and to the
personnel director practices that will promote morals and efficiency in the
public service.

The personnel administrator shall within six months after his appoint-
ment prepare and submit to the city manager a plan of classification and
grading for all positions in the classified service according to similarity
of authority, duties and responsibilities. The city manager shall give
public notice and hold public hearings prior to adoption of the initial plan.
Thereafter, changes in the plan may be recommended by the administrator
which go into effect when approved by the city manager.

§ 52. Within thirty days after adoption of the classification plan,
the administrator shall prepare and recommend to the director of personnel
a pay plan consisting of a salary range for each class of positions in the
classified service, which shall provide for regular increases within such
range to be earned by length of service and by satisfactory service. The
city manager shall transmit the pay plan with his recommendation to the
city council which shall have the power to adopt. the same by ordinance
with or without changes. After adoption by the council the pay plan shall
remain in effect until amended by the council on the recommendation of
the city manager.

53. The retirement system for city employees hitherto established
by ordinance of the City of Newport News shall continue in force and
effect and shall apply throughout the city to all employees of said city
subject to the right of the council to amend or repeal the same as set forth
in such ordinance, with the further provision that this ordinance shall
not be repealed or amended in such a manner as to lessen or in any way
jeopardize the vested rights of the members of the retirement system and
those who have retired under the system, without first establishing
adequate and actuarially sound funds or reserves acknowledging and pro-
tecting such vested rights as they exist under the ordinance at the time of
such amendment or repeal.

§ 54. (a) The director of finance shall be the head of the depart-
ment of finance and as such have charge of the administration of the
financial affairs of the city, including the supervision of the expenditures
of the city, the disbursement of funds, the purchase, storage and distribu-
tion of all supplies, materials, equipment and contractual services needed
by any department, office or other using agency of the city unless some
other officer or employee is designated for this purpose, the keeping and
supervision of all accounts, and such other duties as the council may by
ordinance or resolution require.

(b) The director of finance shall audit all claims against the city for
goods or services, and ascertain that such claims are in accordance with
the purchase orders or contracts of employment from which the same
arise. He shall draw all checks in settlement of such claims. He shall
keep such accounts and records of the affairs of the city as shall be
prescribed by the Auditor of Public Accounts.

(c) The director of finance shall have custody of all funds belonging
to the city and the school board and deposit all funds coming into his hands
to the account of the city or the school board, as the case may be, in such
banks as may be designated for the purpose by the council and the school
board, respectively, subject to the laws of the Commonwealth applicable
to deposit of public funds.

(d) The director of finance shall have custody of all investments and
invested funds of the city or in its possession in a fiduciary capacity, unless
otherwise provided by this charter or by law, ordinance or the terms of
any trust, and the safekeeping of all bonds and notes of the city and the
receipt and delivery of city bonds and notes for transfer, registration and
exchange.

§ 55. The city purchasing agent shall, in manner provided by
ordinance, and under the supervision of the director of finance, purchase
all supplies for the city, and sell all personal property of the city that
may have been condemned as useless by the director of a department. He
shall have charge of such storerooms and storehouses of the city as may
be provided by ordinance, in which shall be stored all supplies and
materials purchased by the city and not delivered directly to the various
departments, and he shall inspect or cause to be inspected all supplies
delivered to determine quality and quantity and conformity to specifica-
tions, and no voucher shall be honored unless the accompanying invoice
shall be endorsed as approved by the city purchasing agent.

The city purchasing agent may require from the director of each
department, at such times as contracts for supplies are to be let, a requisi-
tion for the quantity and kind of supplies to be paid for from the appro-
priation of the department.

Upon certification that funds are available in the proper appropria-
tions such goods shall be purchased and shall be paid for from funds in
the proper department for that purpose. However, this procedure shall
not prevent the city purchasing agent from purchasing goods for cash to
the credit of the store’s account to be furnished the several departments
on requisition, goods so furnished to be paid for by the department fur-
nished therewith by warrant made payable to the credit of the store’s
account.

Before making any purchase or sale, the city purchasing agent shall
give opportunity for competition, all proposals to be upon precise specifica-
tions, and under such rules and regulations as the council shall establish.
Whenever practicable, the city purchasing agent shall furnish standard
specifications and invite bids or proposals on the basis thereof. Each
order of purchase or sale to be approved and countersigned by the city
manager or the person discharging his duties for the time being.

In cases of emergency, purchases may be made without competition.
In such cases a copy of the order issued shall be filed with the city pur-
chasing agent, together with a certificate by the head of the department,
stating the facts constituting the emergency. A copy of this certificate
shall also be attached to and filed with the voucher covering payment for
the supplies.
§ 56. The council of the City of Newport News shall have the power,
in lieu of the means and methods prescribed by law, to provide by ordi-
nance for the annual assessment and reassessment and equalization of
assessments of real estate for local taxation.

§ 57. If such annual assessment or reassessment is provided for, it
shall be made by a board of three assessors appointed by the corporation
court of the city, or judge thereof in vacation. Initial appointments here-
under shall be for terms of one, two and three years, respectively, com-
mencing on January one, following the appointment; subsequent appoint-
ments shall be for terms of three years, except appointments to fill
vacancies which shall be for the unexpired term.

§ 58. The members of the board shall receive such per diem com-
pensation as shall be fixed by the council. The council shall likewise pro-
vide such clerical or other assistance as may be necessary, and provide for
the payment of such salaries and other expenses as may be properly
incident to the work involved. And all such per diem compensation,
salaries, expenses and other costs incurred in connection with such assess-
ment or reassessment shall be paid out of the treasury of the city.

§ The council of the city may provide for a clerk for the board
of assessors and fix his compensation. Such clerk shall be appointed by
the director of finance of the city and shall serve at his pleasure. If no
such clerk be provided for, then the commissioner of revenue of the city
shall act as clerk of the board. ,

§ 60. Such board shall make such assessments and reassessments on
the same basis as real estate is required to be assessed under the provi-
sions of Title 58 of the Code of Virginia and as of the first day of January
of each year, shall have the same authority as the assessors appointed
under the provisions of Title 58 of the Code of Virginia, and shall be
charged with duties similar to those thereby imposed upon such assessors,
except that such assessments or reassessments shall be made annually and
the assessments and reassessments so made shall have the same effect as
if they had been made by assessors appointed under the provisions of
Title 58 of the Code of Virginia.

§ 61. Notwithstanding any provision of §§ 58-895 to 58-902, or
58-914 of the Code of Virginia, the Corporation Court of the City of New-
port News, Virginia, or the judge thereof in vacation shall appoint for
said City of Newport News a board of review of real estate assessments,
to be composed of three members, who shall be freeholders of the city
for which they serve. The members next appointed after this amended
section takes effect shall be appointed for terms of one, two and three
years, respectively, commencing on January one, following their appoint-
ment; ‘subsequent appointments shall be for terms of three years, except
appointments to fill vacancies, which shall be for the unexpired terms.
The members of the board shall receive per diem compensation for the
time actually engaged in the duties of the board, to be fixed by the council
of the City of Newport News, and to be paid out of the treasury of such
city, and the council may limit the per diem compensation to such numbers
of days as, in its judgment, is sufficient for the completion of the work
of the board.

§ 62. Such board of review shall have and may exercise the power
to revise, correct and amend any assessment of real estate made by said
assessor in the year in which they serve, and to that end shall have all
powers conferred upon boards of equalization by §§ 58-895 to 58-914,
inclusive, of the Code of Virginia. Notwithstanding any provision of said
sections, however, the board of review may adopt any regulations provid-
ing for the oral presentation, with formal petitions or other pleadings of
requests for review, and looking to the further facilitation and simplifica-
tion of proceedings before the board.
§ 63. Any person, or the city, aggrieved by any assessment made
by said board of review may apply for relief in the manner provided by
§§ 58-1145 to 58-1151, inclusive, of the Code of Virginia.

§ 68a. This act shall not apply to the assessment of any real estate
assessable under the law by the State Corporation Commission.

The council shall cause to be made annually an independent
audit of all accounts, books, records and financial transactions of the city
by the auditor of public accounts of the Commonwealth or by a firm of
independent certified public accountants to be selected by the council. The
report of such audit shall be filed within such time as the council shall
specify and one copy thereof shall be always available for public inspection
in the office of the city clerk during regular business hours.

§ 65. There shall be a department of public works, which shall be
headed by the director of public works who shall be a qualified engineer
who has had experience in municipal or county engineering. He shall
manage and have charge of the construction, improvement, repair and
maintenance of streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes, bridges, viaducts and
other public highways; of sewers, drains, ditches, culverts, canals and
streams and water courses; of all public landings, public wharves and
docks; of all public buildings, boulevards, squares and other public places
and grounds belonging to the city or dedicated to public use; and shall
manage all sewage disposal and reduction plants owned and operated by
the city. He shall have charge of the making and preservation of all
surveys, maps, plans, drawings and estimates for any public work, and
shall also have charge of the cleaning, sprinkling and lighting of the
streets and public places, the collecting and disposal of waste, and the
preservation of contracts, papers, plans, tools, applications and equipment
belonging to the city, and pertaining to said department.

§ 66. The head of the department of public safety shall be the
director of public safety. He shall have such powers and duties as may
be assigned to him by this charter or by ordinance.

§ 67. There shall be within the department of public safety a bureau
of police which shall consist of the chief of police and such other officers
and employees of such ranks and grades as may be established by ordi-
nance. The bureau of police shall be responsible for the preservation of
the public peace, prevention of crime, apprehension of criminals, protec-
tion of the rights of persons and property, and enforcement of the laws
of the State, the ordinances of the city and all rules and regulations made
in accordance therewith. The chief of police and the other members of
the police force of the city shall have all the powers and duties of police
officers as provided by the general laws of the Commonwealth. Orders of
the city manager or the director of public safety relating to the bureau
of police shall be transmitted in all cases through the chief of police or
in his absence from the city or incapacity through an officer of the bureau
designated as acting chief by the director of public safety. Disobedience
to the lawful commands of the chief of police or violation of the rules and
regulations made by him with the approval of the director of public safety
shall be ground for removal or other disciplinary action as provided in
such rules and regulations and subject to the provisions of this charter.

§ 68. There shall be within the department of public safety a bureau
of fire protection which shall consist of the fire chief and such other officers
and employees as may be provided by ordinance. The bureau of fire pro-
tection shall be responsible for the protection from fire of life and property
within the city.

The head of the bureau of fire protection shall be the fire chief. Orders
of the city manager or the director of public safety relating to the bureau
of fire shall be transmitted in all cases through the fire chief or in his
absence from the city or incapacity through an officer of the bureau
designated as acting chief by the director of public safety. Disobedience
of the lawful commands of the fire chief or violation of the rules and
regulations made by him with the approval of the director of public safety
shall be ground for removal or other disciplinary action as provided in
such rules and regulations, subject to the provisions of this charter. The
council may by ordinance establish volunteer fire companies.

§ 69. The members of the fire and police forces, other than the
chiefs, shall be appointed from the list of eligibles prepared by the per-
sonnel department and in accordance with such rules and regulations as
may be prescribed by the said city manager; provided, however, that in
case of riot, conflagration or emergency, the city manager may appoint
additional firemen and patrolmen, and officers for temporary service who
need not be in the classified service.

§ 70. There shall be a department of public welfare, which shall
be headed by a director of public welfare who shall be a person trained
and experienced in welfare administration.

The director of public welfare shall be responsible for: (a) the duties
imposed by the laws of the Commonwealth relating to public assistance
and relief to the poor; (b) the operation of the city home; and ‘(c) such
other powers and duties as may be assigned to the department by law
or ordinance.

The director shall have, subject to the laws of the Commonwealth
relating to public assistance, general management and control of the
department.

The director of public welfare shall be responsible for the operation
and maintenance of the city jail or jails and jail farm.

§ 71. There shall be a department of public health which shall be
headed by a director of public health who shall be the health officer of
the city. He shall be a graduate of an approved medical school with not
less than three years experience in public health work.

The director of public health shall be responsible for: (a) enforcing
all laws and ordinances and all lawful rules and regulations of the depart-
ment as hereinafter provided, relating to the preservation and promotion
of public health and sanitation; (b) the protection of the inhabitants of
the city from contagious, infectious and other diseases; (c) the abatement
of nuisances detrimental to public health; (d) the operation of city
hospitals, sanatoria and laboratories and the furnishing of medical aid
and care to the indigent; (e) the conducting of clinics, nursing and educa-
tional services for the preservation and promotion of public health; (f)
the collecting of morbidity and vital statistics; and (g) such other powers
and duties as may be assigned by ordinance.

The director of public health shall have all the powers and duties
which are now or may hereafter be conferred or imposed on municipal
boards of health and health officers by the laws of the Commonwealth,
as well as all the powers and duties conferred or imposed on him by this
charter and the ordinances of the city.

§ 72. There shall be a department of parks and recreation which
shall be headed by a director of parks and recreation who shall be a person
trained and experienced in recreation activities, with experience in the
administration of public recreation or parks.

The director of parks and recreation shall be responsible for: (a)
organizing and conducting recreation programs for all age groups in
various parts of the city; (b) operating and maintaining all public parks,
grounds, playfields and playgrounds of the city both within and without
its boundaries except those under the jurisdiction of the school board; (c)
operating and maintaining all city cemeteries; (d) operating and main-
taining nurseries for flowers, vines, shrubs and trees for use in the public
parks, grounds, streets and ways of the city; (f) operating and maintain-
ing all buildings, museums, gardens, monuments, lakes, swimming pools,
rest rooms, restaurants, refreshment stands and other facilities and estab-
lishments situated in the public parks and grounds under the jurisdiction
of the department; (g) promoting, sponsoring and managing public con-
certs, entertainments and other recreational activities; and (h) such other
powers and duties as may be assigned to the department by ordinance.
The department of recreation and parks shall be permitted to utilize
grounds and buildings under the jurisdiction of the school board at such
hours and on such days as they are not in use for other educationa.
purposes, subject to such reasonable rules and regulations as the school
board may establish, and provided that the department of parks and
recreation shall be responsible for any damage or extra expense arising
from its use of the school grounds and buildings. When authorized by the
council and upon such terms and conditions as it may provide, the depart-
ment of recreation may lease concessions and other facilities in the public
parks and grounds under its jurisdiction, fix and collect charges for
admission to concerts, entertainments and other recreational activities
sponsored by it, and sell or exchange the surplus products of the city
nurseries.

§ 73. The City of Newport News shall constitute a single school
division, which shall be under the control of a school board. From Septem-
ber one until December thirty-one, following the effective date of this
charter, the school board shall consist of those persons who were members
of the school boards of the respective political subdivisions consolidating
to form the city. The terms of office of all such school board members shall
terminate on December thirty-one, following the effective date of this
charter. The council shall appoint a school board of five members, to take
office January one, nineteen hundred fifty-four. The initial terms of office
of such members shall be one, two, three, four and five years, respectively ;
subsequent appointments shall be for terms of five years each, except
appointments to fill vacancies, which shall be for the unexpired terms.
No trustee shall be eligible to succeed himself for more than one five year
term. Except as provided in this charter the school board shall have all
the powers and duties relating to the management and control of the
public schools of the city provided by the general laws of the Common-
wealth. None of the provisions of this charter shall be interpreted to refer
to or include the school] board unless the intention to do so is expressly
stated or is clearly apparent from the context.

The school board shall, on the first days of the months of January and
July in each year, transmit to the council and to the director of finance a
detailed statement of all money received by said board or placed in its
credit and all moneys disbursed by said board during the preceding six
months whether such moneys shall have been appropriated by the council
or received from any other source for the purpose of public education.
Separate accounts shall be kept by the said board of the moneys appro-
priated by the council which shall show the balance of each class of funds
on hand under the control of said board as of the date thereof.

The said school board shall each year prepare and submit on or before
September one to the city manager for his information in making up the
annual budget a detailed estimate of the amount of money required for
the conduct of the public schools of the city for the ensuing school year,
with an estimate of the amount of all funds which will probably be
received by said board for the purpose of public education from sources
other than appropriations by the council.

The school board shall appoint a superintendent of public schools from
a list of eligibles prepared by the State Board of Education.

The school superintendent shall be the chief executive officer of the
city schools. The school board shall appoint a clerk, other than the superin-
tendent, to act as secretary of the school board.

§ 74. There shall be a department of public utilities, which shall be
headed by a director, who shall have charge of the waterworks system
of the city and such other public utilities as may be acquired and operated
by the city.

All of the provisions, obligations, and directions of the Acts of the
General Assembly of nineteen hundred twenty-six, and amendments
thereto, authorizing the City of Newport News to purchase, operate and
control a waterworks plant or system, shall continue in effect. :

The ordinances of the City of Newport News, as amended from time
to time, providing for the operation of said waterworks, including the
ordinances fixing the rates and charges for the use of water, shall likewise
remain in full force and effect, except the ordinance providing for the
operation of said waterworks by a commission. After the effective date
of this charter the waterworks shall be operated within the department
of public utilities and under the supervision of the director thereof.

§ 75. (1) The circuit and corporation eourts of the city of Newport
News are continued.

(2) The clerk of courts of the city of Newport News in office when
this charter takes effect shall be the clerk of the corporation court of the
consolidated city until the expiration of his term of office, whereupon his
successor shall be elected in the manner and for the term provided by
general law.

(3) There shall be a clerk for the Circuit Court of Newport News,

(a) If a single county is consolidated with the city of Newport News
under this act, then the clerk of the circuit court of such county shall
serve as clerk of the circuit court of the city until the expiration of the
term of office for which he was elected and thereafter his successor shall
be elected in the manner and for the term prescribed by general law.

(b) If more than one political subdivision is consolidated under the
provisions of this act, and the consolidated city has a population in excess
of one hundred twenty-five thousand, then the judges of the several courts
of record shall designate which of the clerks of the circuit courts of the
counties so consolidating shall serve as clerk of the circuit court of the
city, and which shall serve as clerk of the corporation court, part II,
created pursuant to paragraph (6) of this section. Each such clerk shall
serve as clerk for the remainder of the term for which he was elected and
his successor shall be elected as provided by general law.

(4) Upon the effective date of this charter, the circuit court of any
county or city which is consolidated with the city of Newport News here-
under shall be abolished. Any suit or action proceeding pending in any
such court shall be removed to the circuit court of the city and may there be
tried in all respects as though it had been originally instituted therein.
All papers in any such proceeding, and all records of any such court, shall
be transferred to the circuit court of the city.

(5) When an additional judge for the corporation court of the city is
appointed or elected as provided by law, the council shall provide for the
payment of the salary of such judge in such amount as is fixed by law
for other judges of courts of record until the same are provided for under
the general law of this State relating to the compensation of judges, and
for the additional expenses of such court resulting from the appointment
of an additional judge.

(6) If the consolidated city has a population in excess of one hundred
twenty-five thousand there shall be an additional corporation court for the
city, to be known as the corporation court, part II. Such court shall have
concurrent jurisdiction with the corporation court of the city. The judge
of such court shall be appointed or elected as provided by general law.
Until the compensation of such judge is provided for according to general
law, the council of the city shall provide for the payment thereof in such
amount as is fixed by law for other judges of courts of record.

_ § 76. Upon the effective date of this charter and during the transi-
tion period only, all persons regularly employed by each county and city
consolidating under this charter, shall become employees of the City of
Newport News at the same rate of pay received from said county or city
until changed by council. Said employees shall continue to perform the
duties they were assigned prior to consolidation, during the period of
transition and until the reorganization of the city departments has been
effected; provided that the city manager, however, may, during said
transition period, promote, demote, dismiss, change job classification,
reduce or increase wages and/or salaries of any employee, all subject to
approval of the city council; and provided further that the term of office
of any person who holds an office abolished by this charter either explicitly
or implicitly shall terminate upon the effective date hereof, but the council
may provide for the employment of each such person in the appropriate
department of the city government.

§ 77. All taxes, licenses, bills for services, water bills, or any other
debts, including penalties and interest, delinquent or current, now or
hereafter due and payable to the respective political subdivisions forming
said city, shall upon and after the effective date of this charter, be due
and payable to the City of Newport News. Said city is hereby vested with
all the powers and remedies now provided by law for each of the political
subdivisions forming said city to enforce collection of all debts for and in
the name of the City of Newport News.

§ 78. At the time this charter becomes effective, all outstanding
indebtedness, including interest thereon of whatever nature, of each of
the political subdivisions forming said city, shall become the indebtedness
of the City of Newport News. All sinking funds for the retirement of any
outstanding debt and the interest on said indebtedness of any of the
political subdivisions forming said city shall become the property of said
city and the director of finance of the city shall be the custodian of said
funds thereafter.

All money, checks or other evidences of.value of any of the political
subdivisions forming the said city, now in the custody of any treasurer,
officer, or employee of said political subdivisions shall immediately become
the property of the City of Newport News and the director of finance of
said city shall become sole custodian of said funds. All] real and personal
property owned by the respective political subdivisions forming the con-
solidated city shall become the property of the City of Newport News
upon the effective date of this charter.

§ 79. Unless amended, modified or repealed by the city council, all
ordinances of the City of Newport News shall remain in full force and
effect unless reenacted by council as a general ordinance, all ordinances
of each of the other political subdivisions composing the consolidated city
shall be null and void, except zoning and plannjng ordinances.

§ 80. All persons committed to any jail, jail farm, penitentiary or
other institution under the provisions of any local ordinance prior to the
effective date of this charter, shall serve the sentence imposed by the court
making such commitment. Provided, however, the judge of either the
corporation or circuit court of said city may in his discretion exercise such
power and authority over said person confined, as may now be provided
by the general laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

§ 81. All leases, agreements, franchises, contracts, and obligations,
of whatever nature, in effect between any of the political subdivisions
forming said city and any person, firm, or corporation, at the time this
charter becomes effective, shall remain in full force and effect and the
obligations, conditions, covenants, and agreements therein contained, shall
be as binding and faithfully kept and performed by said city and by all
contracting parties as though they were made in the original instance
directly with the City of Newport News.

§ 82. All rights, title and interest of the political subdivisions
forming the consolidated city and participating in the Peninsula Airport
Commission arising under Chapter 22 of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen
cana forty-six, as amended, shall be vested in the City of Newport

ews.

All powers granted to the governing bodies of the political subdivi-
sions forming the consolidated city and participating in the Peninsula
Airport Commission shall be vested in the council of such city.

§ 838. All of the obligations, conditions and restrictions in connection
with the bonds issued by the political subdivisions forming said City of
Newport News shall be faithfully kept and performed by said city.

2. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this act shall for any
reason be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid,
such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of said
act, but shall be confined in its operations to the clause, sentence, para-
graph or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such
judgment shall have been rendered.

3. This act shall be known as the Newport News consolidation charter
of nineteen hundred fifty-two.