CHAPTER 21

An Act to amend and reenact § 4-86 of the Code of Virginia, relating to
transportation into the State, holding in warehouses, and delivery
from the warehouses in the State. rH OBT]

Approved February 19, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

L That § 4-86 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted, as
ollows:

§ 4-86 (a) Alcoholic beverages may be transported into Virginia
under United States internal revenue bonds, and be held in Virginia in
United States internal revenue bonded warehouses; and alcoholic beverages
may be removed from any such warehouse, wherever situated, to such a
warehouse located in Virginia and be held in Virginia.

(b) Such alcoholic beverages so transported or removed to such ware-
houses in Virginia, shall be released from internal revenue bonds in
Virginia, only on permits issued by the Board for delivery to ships actually
engaged in foreign trade or trade between the Atlantic and Pacific ports
of the United States or trade between the United States and any of its
possessions outside of the several states and the District of Columbia, or
on permits issued by the Board for delivery to installations of the United
States Department of Defense.

(c) The Board shall have the power to make such regulations as it
deems expedient or necessary for the purpose of carrying out the provi-
sions of this section, and to insure that such alcoholic beverages shall be
handled only in a manner provided by law.

2 CHAPTER 21
General Provisions

21.01.— Vacancies.

' Vacancies in any offices provided for in this charter shall be filled by
the authority and in the manner provided herein for the original appoint-
ment or election of such officers, except as otherwise provided by this

rter.

21.02.—Oaths of Office and Qualifications.

Except as otherwise 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 entering upon the discharge of
their duties.

21.03.—Officers to Administer Oaths.

The commissioner of the revenue, clerk of council, city treasurer, city
manager, and finance officer shall have power to administer oaths and to
take and sign affidavits in the discharge of their respective official duties.

21.04.—Investigations.

The council, the city manager, and any officer, board or commission
authorized by them, or either of them, shall have power to make investiga-
tion as to city affairs, and for the purpose to subpoena witnesses, administer
oaths, and compel the production of books and papers. Any person refus-
ing 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
civil and police justice of the said City by the board or official making
such investigation, and upon failure to give satisfactory explanation of
such failure or refusal, may be fined by the civil and police justice not
exceeding one hundred dollars or imprisonment not exceeding thirty (30)
days, and such person shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court
having jurisdiction over the City. Any person who shall give false testi-
mony under oath at any such investigation shall be liable to prosecution
for perjury.

21.05.—Action Against the City for Damages.

No action shall be maintained against the City for injury to any person
or property or for wrongful death 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 by the claimant, his agent, attorney or repre-
sentative, of the nature of the claim and of the time and place at which
the injury is alleged to have occurred to been received, shall have been
filed with the city attorney or president of council, or with the mayor, or
city manager, within sixty days after such cause of action shall have
accrued, except that when the claimant is an infant or non compos mentis,
or the injured party dies within such sixty days, such statement may be
filed within one hundred and twenty days.

21.06.—Officers Not to be Interested in Contracts.

No officer or employee of the City shall be interested in any contract
entered into by the City with any person, firm or corporation, but this
prohibition shall not apply to nonsalaried officers or nonsalaried members
of boards and commissions in respect of contracts other than those in the
making of which they have a part.

21.07. Contractual Relationships.—The City of Galax may, at the
option of the council, enter into contractual relationships with the Com-
monwealth and/or its departments, bureaus, boards and agencies, neighbor-
ing political subdivisions, and private agencies for the performance of any
part of, or all of the functions, or purposes of the City, on such terms and
for such periods as the council may determine to be in the public interest,
where such contractual relations are not specifically prohibited by the
Constitution and general laws of the Commonwealth.

21.08. May Combine Offices.—The council may, in its discretion, com-
bine in one person an elective and an appointive office, or combine in one
person two or more appointive offices, where the duties of such offices do
not conflict, and are not prohibited by law.

21.09. Voting Precincts.—For the convenience of the electors the
council shall establish two or more voting precincts in the City.

21.10. Recording Acts.—For the purpose of the recording acts all
deeds, contracts and other instruments in writing, shall be recorded in the
clerk’s office of the same county in which they were required to be recorded
before the transition of the Town of Galax to a city.

21.11. Nominations of Candidates for Council.—Candidates for the
office of councilman may be nominated either by petition or under the
general law. The requirements for nomination by petition shall be as
follows: the person who intends to become a candidate for the council shall,
at least sixty days before the election, notify the clerk of the circuit court
having jurisdiction over the city, and also the clerk of the City, in writing,
attested by two witnesses, of his intention to become a candidate for the
office of councilman. Such written notice shall be signed by such candidate.

21.12. Severance Clause.—If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part
or this act shall, for any reason, be adjudged by any court of competent
jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment, order or decree shall not affect,
impair, or invalidate the remainder of said act, but shall be confined in
its operation to the clause, paragraph or part thereof directly involved in
the controversy in which said judgment, order or decree shall have been
rendered.

21.13. Citation of Act.—This act may for all purposes be referred to
or cited as the Galax Charter of Nineteen Hundred Fifty Four.

21.14. Resolutions and Ordinances to Remain in Force.—All resolu-
tions and ordinances in force in the Town of Galax at the time of its transi-
tion into a City, not in conflict with this charter, shall be and remain in
force until altered or repealed by the council of the City.

2. Chapter 101 of the Acts of Assembly of 1922, approved February 25,
1922, as amended, is repealed, and all other Acts or parts of Acts in conflict
with this charter, or anything contained in the orders entered in the circuit
courts of Carroll and Grayson counties in the transition proceedings to
make the Town of Galax a City in conflict with this charter, are hereby
repealed in so far as they affect the provisions of this charter.
An emergency exists and this Act is in force from its passage.

appeal from the order of the * board of viewers, as provided by Chapter 21
of Title 8, and on such appeal only the issue raised in the answer shall be
considered. After the * board of viewers shall have ordered the additional
issue of bonds the further procedure as to the assessment rolls, the levy
and collecting of drainage taxes, the disbursement of the revenue there-
from for the payment of the bonds and interest thereon, and all future
procedure shall be the same as required by the preceding sections of this
chapter, and amendments thereto, for the establishment of drainage *
projects.

§ 21-411. The additional bonds issued shall not exceed twenty-five
per centum of the total amount originally issued, and shall bear not more
than six per centum interest per annum, and may be made payable in ten
annual instalments, or lesser number of annual instalments as nearly equal
as may be, as recommended by the * board of viewers having jurisdiction
over the same.

§ 21-412. When any drainage * project operating under the provi-
sions of this chapter shall have bonds outstanding, either due or to become
due, and when it shall seem to the * board of viewers having jurisdiction
over such drainage * project that it is to the best interests of such drainage
* project to refund such outstanding bonds in whole or in part, such *
board of viewers is hereby authorized to refund all or part of such out-
standing bonds by the issuance of the negotiable refunding bonds of such
* nroject.

§ 21-413. The refunding bonds so authorized shall mature at one time
or in installments, not more than forty years from their date, shall bear
interest at not to exceed six per cent per annum, may be made callable
on any interest payment date and may be made registerable as to prin-
cipal, all as provided in the resolution of the * board of viewers authorizing
the issuance thereof.

§ 21-414. The * board of viewers may provide for the exchange of the
refunding bonds for a like or greater par amount of the bonds to be re-
funded, or may provide for the sale of such refunding bonds and the appli-
cation of the proceeds of the sale thereof to the retirement of the bonds
to be refunded.

§ 21-415. If to be sold, such refunding bonds may be sold at public
or private sale, as in the judgment of the * board of viewers may seem
best, provided that such refunding bonds may be sold below par only if a
like par amount of the bonds to be refunded may be retired at a price
correspondingly below par, it being the intent hereof that in no event
shall there be issued an amount of refunding bonds larger than the par
amount of bonds refunded thereby.

§ 21-416. All uncollected assessments levied for payment of prin-
cipal of and interest on bonds of such * project refunded and retired by
the issuance of refunding bonds hereunder may be continued in force,
and the proceeds of the collection thereof pledged and applied to the pay-
ment of principal of and interest on the refunding bonds issued in lieu
of such original bonds, and if the outstanding bonds are retired at less
than their par value in such manner as to reduce the bonded indebtedness
of the * project the assessments theretofore levied for the payment of
such indebtedness may in the discretion of the *board of viewers be pro-
portionately reduced.
§ 21-417. If the proceeds of the assessments levied for the payment of
the original bonds shall at any time prove insufficient to pay principal of
and interest on such refunding bonds, or if it shall at any time appear to
the * board of viewers that there is likelihood of the insufficiency of such
assessments, the board shall provide for the levy and collection of additional
assessments sufficient for such purpose and the holder or holders of refund-
ing bonds issued hereunder shall have a right of action to compel such levy
in the manner provided in this chapter.

§ 21-418. If the * board of viewers deems it advisable it may, prior to
the issuance of refunding bonds, order the cancellation of the assessments
levied for the payment of the bonds refunded, except in so far as such
assessments were levied for the payment of bonds not actually retired by
the issuance of refunding bonds, and may direct the preparation of new
assessment rolls and the levy and collection of new assessments sufficient
for the payment of principal of and interest on such refunding bonds.

§ 21-420. If additional or new assessments are so levied, such assess-
ments shall be * made on the same basis as the original assessments, and
shall be levied only after all persons interested shall have been given full
hearing by the * board of viewers on the question of benefits and any other
question on which they shall desire to be heard. Notice of such hearing
shall be given by publication once a week for two consecutive weeks in a
newspaper of general circulation published in a county in which such *
project is located in whole or in part, and the determination of the * board
of viewers shall be final.

§ 21-421. Except as herein otherwise provided, refunding bonds is-
sued hereunder shall be authorized and issued in the manner provided in
this chapter for the authorization and issuance of other bonds of such
drainage * project, and except as above provided no notice or hearing of
any kind shall be necessary to the authorization, sale or issuance of such
refunding bonds or to the readjustment of assessments or levy additional
or new assessments as herein provided, and it shall not be necessary that
any. orders or resolutions of the * board of viewers incident thereto have
court approval.

§ 21-422. Any drainage * project desiring to refund all or part of
its outstanding bonds pursuant to the provisions of this section, is au-
thorized to enter into contracts and agreements with the United States
government or with any subdivision or agency thereof for the purpose of
securing the aid of the United States or such subdivision or agency of the
United States, and to do all things and make all agreements reasonably
required by the United States or by such subdivision or agency of the United
States in order to accomplish such refunding.

§ 21-423. Any engineer employed under the provisions of this chapter,
shall receive such compensation as is commensurate with the relative area
and importance of the proposed * project. * The amount when decided
upon by the judge of the court, after conferring with the engineer, shall
be entered as an order of record in the drainage record. The viewers,
other than the engineer, shall receive five dollars per day each. The
transitmen, rodmen, chainmen, axemen, and other laborers shall receive
wages not to exced the wages current at the time in the locality for such
services. The members of the * board of viewers shall receive, from time
to time, out of the respective drainage * project funds, such compensation
as the court shall determine to be reasonable for the time expended and
services performed by them on each * project. All other fees and costs in-
curred under the provisions of this chapter shall be the same, as provided
by law for like services in other cases, or as fixed by the court if not
provided by law. The costs and expenses shall be paid by order of the
court out of the proper * project drainage fund provided for that purpose,
and the * board of viewers shall issue warrants therefor when funds of a
drainage * project, for which service shall have been rendered, shall be in
the hands of the treasurer or treasurers.

§ 21-424. The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to
promote the leveeing, ditching, draining, and reclamation of wet and over-
flowed lands. The collection of the assessment shall not be defeated where
the proper notices have been given by reason of any defect in the proceed-
ings occurring prior to the order of the court confirming the final report of
the board of viewers; but such order or orders shall be conclusive and final
that all prior proceedings were regular and according to law, unless they
were appealed from. If, on appeal, the court shall deem it just and proper
to release any person or to modify his assessment or liability, it shall in
no manner affect the rights and liabilities of any person other than the
appellant, and the failure to perfect an appeal within sixty days from the
order of the court finally establishing the * project shall be a waiver of
any illegality in the proceedings, and the remedies provided for in this
chapter shall exclude all other remedies.

Proceedings under this chapter shall have precedence over all others
excepting writs of habeas corpus, prohibition, and mandamus and shall
be heard at the time set for a hearing by the court or the judge thereof in
vacation with the least possible delay. The widest latitude shall be allowed
by the court to hasten urgent cases, where evidence is available to prove
the serious consequences resulting from the flooding of the cultivated
lands for which relief is asked.

§ 21-426. The governing body of any county in which is located in
whole or in part any legally established drainage * project may, in its
discretion, appropriate and pay out of the funds of such county accruing
from the general county levy, to such drainage * project, such sum of
money as it may deem proper, for application on the bonded or other in-
debtedness or for any other legitimate purpose of such drainage *project.
The * board of viewers of any such drainage* project in such county may
accept and receive any and all moneys so appropriated and use the same,
in their discretion, for any of the purposes hereinabove mentioned.

In lieu of such appropriation, the governing body of any such county
may appropriate and pay out of the funds of such county accruing from the
general county levy to the holders of any bonds, notes or other obligations
of any legally established drainage * project located in whole or in part in
such county, such sum of money as the governing body may deem proper
for the acquisition and purchase for and on behalf of the county, of all or
any of such bonds, notes and other obligations; and the governing body of
any such county may also invest moneys, or any part thereof, credited to
any sinking fund of the county or of any * project thereof, in, and with
such moneys to purchase for any such sinking fund, bonds, notes and other
obligations of any such legally established drainage *project located in
whole or in part in such county, provided no such moneys shall be invested
in any such bonds, notes or other obligations issued prior to January first,
nineteen hundred and twenty-eight. The governing body of any such
county may, in consideration of additional levies or assessments heretofore
or hereafter made against the real estate located in such drainage * project,
release any or all of such real estate from the lien or liens of any or all
drainage taxes heretofore or hereafter assessed against such real estate,
provided that the drainage bonds of such * project or * projects are owned
and held solely by any such county.

2. §§ 21-298, 21-313 and 21-320 of the Code of Virginia are repealed.
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 51-111.29 and 51-111.41 of the Code of
Virginia, relating, respectively, to cessation of membership in the re-
tirement system and prior service credit.

[S 325]

Approved April 7, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 51-111.29 and 51-111.41 of the Code of Virginia be amended
and reenacted as follows:

§ 51-111.29. The membership of any person in the retirement system
shall cease (a) if he ceases to be an employee for a period of * ten years,
or if in any * fifteen year period after he last became a member he renders
less than five years of service; unless, in either case, the member leaves
the service after fifteen or more years of creditable service, without with-
drawing his accumulated contributions, or (b) upon the withdrawal of his
accumulated contributions, or (c) upon retirement, or (d) upon death.

§ 51-111.41. Subject to the above restrictions, and to such other rules
and regulations as are prescribed by the Board, the Board shall ascertain,
as soon as practicable after such statement is filed, the amount of prior
service, if any, to which each member is entitled. The Board shall issue
prior service certificates, covering all creditable service in the abolished
system, to all members who were members of the abolished system pro-
vided such members transfer their accumulated contributions in the abol-
ished system to the retirement system by February one, nineteen hundred
fifty-three; except that: (i) any such member on leave of absence from
service on March one, nineteen hundred fifty-two, (ii) any such member
not in service and not on leave from service on such date and, in either case,
not transferring their accumulated contributions in the abolished system,
to the retirement system, nor, in either case, being refunded accumulated
contributions in the abolished system by February one, nineteen hundred
fifty-three, may within one year after re-entry into service, transfer their
accumulated contributions in the abolished system to the retirement system
provided, in the case of a member not in service and not on leave from
service, re-entry into service is within * ten years after date of last being
in service. In any case in which a member who was a member of the
abolished system is in service on March one, nineteen hundred fifty-two,
and has at least ten years service as a State employee or teacher prior to
July one, nineteen hundred forty-two, with which such member has not
been credited, the Board shall issue a prior service certificate covering
such service if since first becoming a member of such abolished system the
member has not withdrawn his accumulated contributions thereto.

Any member of the retirement system may be credited with prior service
which might otherwise have been credited, except for cessation of member-
ship under § 51-109 of the abolished system if, since becoming a member
of the retirement system, not more than ten years have elapsed since being
an employee in service and a member of the abolished system, provided
such member repays within two years of the effective date of this amend-
ment to this section and while an employee in service and a member of the
retirement system the amount so withdrawn, together with interest at the
rate of three per cent per annum, compounded annually from the date such
funds were last credited with interest by the Board. Two-thirds of such
interest payment, in addition to the amount previously withdrawn and re-
paid, shall be credited to the account of the member in the members’ con-
tribution account.
For such employee and member to qualify under the provisions of § 51-
111.58 the repayment herein permitted shall be made at least five years
prior to the date of first becoming eligible to retire under the provisions
of this chapter and the provisions of § 51-111.56 shall not apply unless a
medical report is provided by the employee when the repayment 1s made
which report shows that the employee is at that time of sound mind and
body.