CHAPTER 115

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 7, as amended, and 67, 78, 77 and 112
of Chapter 84 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, approved February 7,
1918, as amended, which chapter provided a charter and special form
of government for the City of Norfolk, and which sections, respec-
tively, relate to vacancies in the council, the annual budget, money
in fund, the city purchasing agent, and rules of the civil service
commission; and to amend said chapter by adding thereto four
sections to be numbered 2 (e), 2(f), 74(a) and 75(a), relating,
respectively, to penalties for violation of ordinances, city jail, supple-
menting the salary of the city treasurer, and supplementing the salary
of the commissioner of the revenue. CH 286]

Approved February 23, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 7, as amended, and 67, 73, 77 and 112 of Chapter 34 of the
Acts of Assembly of 1918, approved February 7, 1918, be amended and
reenacted as follows:

§ 7. Vacancies.—Any vacancy in the council, except as otherwise
provided in this charter, shall be filled by the remaining members. No
person shall be deemed to be elected unless he shall have received at
least four votes in his favor. If by reason of resignation, death, or other
circumstances, except in the case of vacancies resulting from a recall
election, four or more vacancies exist or occur at the same time in said
council, then the members of the board of sinking fund commissioners
CH. 115] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 117

and the members of the civil service commission shall at once convene
in joint session, a majority of each of said boards being required to
constitute such joint board, and by a majority vote of the members of
said joint board present, forthwith make such number of appointments
as may be necessary to constitute a council of * four qualified members,
which * four members shall at once proceed to fill the remaining vacan-
cies, as herein provided. And if in any case the council shall fail to fill a
vacancy therein for a period of thirty days after the happening of the
same, such vacancy shall be filled by said joint board as provided herein.
The city clerk shall act as the clerk of the joint board so constituted,
and shall cause his certificate of its action to be entered on the journal
of the council. .

If the term of office so filled, either by the council or by said joint
board, does not expire for two years after the next regular election of
councilmen following such vacancy, and such vacancy occurs in time to
permit it, an additional councilman shall then be elected; and of those
councilmen elected at such election, the one having the lowest vote shall,
from and after the date of his qualification, succeed such appointee,
and serve the unexpired term. In the event of more than one vacancy
to be filled by election, the same provision shall apply. The foregoing pro-
visions of this section are subject to the further provision that any
vacancy resulting from a recall election shall be filled in the manner
provided in such case.

§ 67. The annual budget.—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 esti-
mates furnished by the several departments and other divisions of the
city government according to a classification as nearly uniform as pos-
sible. The budget shall present the following information: .

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

(b) An itemized statement of the taxes required and of the estimated
revenues of the city from all other 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) : Such other information as may be required by the council.

Copies of such budget shall be printed and available for distribution
* after its submission to the council; and a public hearing shall be given
thereon by the council before final action.

§ 73. Money in fund.—All moneys actually in the treasury to the
credit of the fund from which they are to be drawn and all moneys
applicable to the payment of the obligation or appropriation involved
that are anticipated to come into the treasury before the maturity of such
contract, agreement or obligation from taxes, assessments, license fees,
or from sales of property or of services, products, or by-products of any
city undertaking or federal or state grants, and moneys to be derived
from lawfully authorized bonds, for the purpose of such certificate shall
be deemed in the treasury to the credit of the appropriate fund and sub-
ject to such certification.

§ 77. City purchasing agent.—The city purchasing agent shall, *
under the supervision of the director of finance, and until the council shall
otherwise provide by ordinance, 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 * ,except the purchase of such
supplies and the sale of such personal property for which the counctl may
make other provisions.

He may require from the director of each department, at such times
as contracts for supplies are to be let, a requisition for the quantity and
kind of supplies to be paid for from the appropriations of the department.
Upon certification that funds are available in the proper appropriations,
such * supplies shall be purchased and shall be paid for from funds in the
proper department for that purpose. He shall not purchase any supplies
for any department unless there be to the credit of such department an
available appropriation balance sufficient to pay for such supplies. How-
ever, this procedure shall not prevent * him from purchasing * supplies
for cash * on account of storehouse stock for future use by the various
departments under such regulations as the director of finance ‘may
prescribe.

Before making any purchase or sale, * he shall give opportunity for
competition * under such rules and regulations as may be established by
the director of finance.

He shall perform such other duties in connection with the purchase
of supplies and the sale of personal property of the city as may be from
time to time prescribed by the council.

§ 112. Rules.—The civil service commission shall prescribe, amend
and enforce rules for the classified service, which shall have the force and
effect of law, shall keep minutes of its proceedings and records of its
examinations, and shall make investigations concerning the enforcement
and effect of said rules. It shall make an annual report to the council.

tules shall provide:

(1) For the classification of all positions in the classified service.

(2) For open, competitive examinations to test the relative fitness of
the applicants for such positions. ,

(3) For public advertisement of all examinations at least ten days
in advance in at least one newspaper of general circulation, published in
the City of Norfolk.

(4) For the creation of eligible lists, upon which shall be entered the
names of successful candidates in the order of their standing in examina-
tion. Selections for positions to be filled in the classified service shall be
made from the five standing highest on said list. Such lists shall remain
in force not longer than two years. .

(5) For the rejection of candidates or eligibles who fail to comply
with the reasonable requirements of the commission in regard to age,
residence, sex, physical condition, or who have been guilty of crimes or of
infamous or disgraceful conduct, or who have attempted any deception or
fraud in connection with an examination.

(6) For the furnishing of the eligible list to the city manager or
other appointing power.

(7) For a period of probation not to exceed * twelve months in the
case of members of the divisions of fire and police, and not to exceed six
months in the case of other officers and employees in the classified service,
before appointment or promotion is made complete, during which periods
a probationer may be discharged or reduced at the will of the city manager.
After such period of probation, no officer or employee in the classified
service shall be reduced in rank, removed or discharged except for cause
and upon written charges, and after an opportunity to be heard in his
own defense. Such charges shall be investigated and disposed of by the
city manager, whose decision shall be final.

(8) For noncompetitive examinations for menial positions in the
city institutions, when competition is found to be impracticable.
CHS. 115, 116] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 119

(9) For temporary employment by the city manager, without exami-
nation; but no such temporary employment shall continue longer than
sixty days, nor shall successive temporary employments be allowed.

(10) For transfer from one position to a similar position in the same
class and grade, and for reinstatement within one year of persons who,
without fault or delinquency, are dismissed from the service or reduced.

(11) For promotion, based on competitive examination and records
of efficiency, character, conduct and seniority. Lists shall be made and
promotions made therefrom i in the same manner as prescribed for original
appointment. An advancement in rank or increase in salary beyond the
limit fixed for the grade by the rules shall constitute promotion. Whenever
practicable, vacancies shall be filled by promotion.

(12) For the appointment of unskilled laborers and such skilled la-
borers as the commission may determine and after such tests of fitness as
the commission may prescribe.

2. That said Chapter be amended by adding thereto four sections to be
numbered 2(e), 2(f), 74(a) and 75(a), to read as follows:

§ 2. (e). Penalties for violation of ordinances, rules and regula-
tions, and providing for the confiscation of property.—Notwithstanding
the penalties provided by subsection (27) of § 2 of this charter, the city
is empowered to provide and impose penalties for the violation of its
ordinances, rules and regulations, or any of them, by a fine not exceeding
one thousand dollars or imprisonment in jail not exceeding twelve months,
either or both.

In addition to the above penalties, all money, gambling paraphernalia,
office equipment, and all other personal property of any kind or character,
used in any gaming case, or in connection with the promotion, operation
or conduct of any lottery, or attempted lottery, in violation of any ordi-
nance of the city, shall be forfeited to the city of Norfolk and may be
seized by any officer and held to await proceedings for condemnation. The
procedure for the condemnation of said property so forfeited shall be in
@ manner provided under existing state law or by such procedure as may
be determined by the council of the city of Norfolk, not in conflict with
the Constitution and laws of this State.

§ 2. (f) City Jail—In addition to the other powers conferred by
law, the said city shall have the power to establish, maintain and operate,
within or without the city, a jail for the confinement of prisoners ordered
or sentenced to be confined therein. The courts, city sergeant and his
deputies, and police justices of the city, shall have the same jurisdiction
and powers over any jail that may be established, maintained and oper-
ated by the city without its corporate limits as they may now or may here-
after have by law over any jail that may be located within the city.

§ 74 (a). Supplementing salary of city treasurer.—The city may
supplement the salary of the city treasurer for additional services not
required by state law, provided, however, that such supplementary salary
shall be paid wholly by the city.

§ 75 (a). Supplementing salary of commissioner of the revenue.—
The city may supplement the salary of the commissioner of the revenue
for additional services not required by state law, provided, however, that
such supplementary salary shall be paid wholly by the city.