CHAPTER 198

An Act to amend and reenact § 2 of Chapter 875 of the Acts of Assembly
of 1946, approved March 28, 1946, which provided a charter for the
ctty of Radford, the section relating to powers of the city. tH 297]

Approved March 2, 1956

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 2 of Chapter 375 of the Acts of Assembly of 1946, approved
March 28, 1946, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 2. Powers of the city.—In addition to the powers mentioned in the
preceding section, the said city shall have power:

First: To raise annually in the manner provided by general law, such
sums of money as the council shall deem necessary for the proper purpose
of said city, provided that no tax upon real estate and tangible personal
property in said city shall exceed two dollars and fifty cents upon one
hundred dollars’ assessed value thereof.

Second: To impose special or local assessments for local improve-
ments, sidewalks, streets, curbs and gutters and enforce payment thereof
provided, however, that such assessments or improvements to that part
of the streets which constitute the roadway shall be made only with the
consent in writing of a majority of the owners of the property affected,
subject, however, to such limitations prescribed by the Constitution of
Virginia as may be in force at the time of the imposition of such special
or local assessments.

Third: Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia, and
of this charter; to contract debts, borrow money, and make and issue
CH. 198] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 199

evidences of indebtedness and to expend the moneys received therefor for
all lawful purposes.

Fourth: To establish a market in and for said city, provide for the
appointment of proper officers thereof, to prescribe and enforce such
regulations as shall be necessary and proper therefor.

Fifth: To acquire, by purchase, devise, condemnation or otherwise,
property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein within or with-
out said city, and for any of the purposes of the city, and to hold, improve,
sell, lease, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of the same or any part
thereof; to acquire in any lawful manner for the purpose of encouraging
commerce and manufacture, lands within and without the city, not
exceeding at any one time five thousand acres in the aggregate and from
time to time to erect thereon such buildings and structures as in the judg-
ment of the council can be used advantageously in developing its water
and power resources; and to this end the council, after a referendum, may
issue obligations of the city in such form as the council may prescribe.

Sixth: To acquire in any lawful manner within any county of the
State, such water, lands and lands under water as the council of the said
city may deem necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate water
and power supply for said city and of piping or conducting the same; to
lay all necessary mains; to erect and maintain all necessary dams, pump-
ing stations, water mains, power lines and other works in connection
therewith, to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting the
purity of its said water supply and for protecting the same from pollution;
and for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sanitary control
over all lands comprised within the limits of the watershed tributary to
any such water supply wherever such lands may be located in this State;
to impose and enforce adequate penalties for the violation of any such
rules and regulations, and to prevent by injunction any pollution or threat-
ened pollution of such water supply and any and all acts likely to impair
the purity thereof; and to acquire lands or materials for any such use.
For any of the purposes aforesaid said city may, if the council shall so
determine, acquire by condemnation, purchase or otherwise, any estate or
interest in such lands or any of them, or the right of easement therein, or
May acquire such lands or any of them in fee, reserving to the owner or
owners thereof such rights or easements therein as may be prescribed in
the ordinance providing for such condemnation or purchase. The said city
may sell or supply to persons, firms, or industries residing or located out-
side of the city limits any surplus of water it may have over and above
the amount required to supply its own inhabitants.

Seventh: To establish and enforce rates and charges for all public
utilities or other service, products or convenience, operated, rendered or
furnished by the city. To employ necessary competent inspectors to inspect
the reservoirs, watersheds, filtering plants, pumps and pumping machinery
and all other equipment of and all sources of water supply which may
furnish water for domestic purposes or use in the homes of the inhabitants
of the city.

Eighth: To regulate the services to be rendered and rates to be
charged by buses, motor cars, cabs and other vehicles for the carrying
of passengers and by vehicles for the transfer of baggage, and to do all
things whatsoever to make said streets and highways safe, convenient and
attractive.

Ninth: To take care, supervision and control of streets, alleys, squares
and commons and to construct and maintain, or aid in constructing and
maintaining streets, alleys and public roads * in order to facilitate public
cravel in, and to and from the said city, * and to and * from any property
owned by said city and situated beyond the corporate limits thereof; and
to close or vacate, extend, widen, narrow, lay out, pave, graduate, improve
and otherwise alter the streets, alleys and public highways in said city;
and to acquire land and property necessary for the purpose of establishing,
constructing, maintaining, widening or altering said streets, alleys, or
highways, either by condemnation or otherwise.

Tenth: To collect and dispose of sewage, offal, ashes, garbage, car-
casses of dead animals and other refuse, and to acquire and operate reduc-
tion or other plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials or
oy “a them; or to contract for and regulate the collection and disposal
thereof.

Eleventh: To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within said city, or upon property owned by the city, beyond its limits;
to require all lands, lots and other premises within the city to be kept clean, -
sanitary and free from weeds and all manner of rubbish; to regulate or
prevent slaughter houses or other noisome or offensive business within
the said city, the keeping of animals, poultry or other fowls therein, or
the exercise of any dangerous or unwholesome business, trade, or employ-
ment therein; to regulate the transportation of all articles through the
streets of the city; to compel the abatement of smoke and dust, and prevent
unnecessary noise therein; and generally to define, prohibit, abate, sup-
press and prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, comfort,
safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the city.

Twelfth: If any ground in the said city shall be covered by stagnant
water or if the owner or occupant shall permit any offensive, unsanitary,
or unwholesome substance to remain or accumulate thereon, the said coun-
cil may cause such ground to be filled up, drained or may cause such sub-
stances to be covered or removed therefrom, provided, that reasonable
notice shall be first given to the said owner or occupant or his agent. In
case of unoccupied property of nonresident owners who have no agent in
said city, such notice shall be given by publication for not less than once
a week for two consecutive weeks in any newspaper published or having
& general circulation in said city.

Thirteenth: To direct the location of all buildings for storing gun-
powder or other explosive or combustible substances, and to regulate or
prohibit the sale and use of dynamite, gunpowder, firecrackers, and all
explosive or combustible materials, the exhibition of fireworks, the dis-
charge of firearms, the making of bonfires and the carrying of concealed
weapons.

Fourteenth: To prevent the running at large in said city of all
animals and fowls, and to regulate the keeping or raising of same within
said city, and to subject the same to such levies, regulations and taxes as
it may deem proper.

Fifteenth: To inspect, test, measure and weigh, any commodity or
article for consumption or use within the city, and to establish, regulate,
license and inspect weight meters, measures and scales.

Sixteenth: To extinguish and prevent fires and to compel citizens to
render assistance to the fire department in case of need, and to establish,
regulate and control a fire department or division, to regulate the size,
materials and construction of buildings, fences and other structures here-
after erected in such manner as the public safety and convenience may
require, to condemn, remove or require to be removed, any building,
structure or addition thereto which by reason of dilapidation, defect of
structure, or other causes, may have become dangerous to life, health,
public safety or property, or which may be erected contrary to law; to
establish and designate from time to time fire limits, within which limits
wooden buildings shall not be constructed, moved into, added to, or en-
larged and to direct that any or all future buildings within such limits
shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial, concrete, brick, iron or
other fireproof material.
CH. 198] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY 201

Seventeenth: To provide for the care, support and maintenance of
orphans, children of indigent parents and of indigent sick, aged, insane,
or poor persons and paupers.

__ Eighteenth: To provide and maintain, either within or without the
ony charitable, recreative, curative, corrective, detentive, or penal insti-
utions. ;

Nineteenth: To establish, organize and administer public libraries
and public schools, subject to the general laws establishing a standard of
education for the State.

Twentieth: To prevent persons having no visible means of support,
paupers and persons who may be dangerous to the peace and safety of the
city from coming to said city from without the same and to expel there-
from any such persons who have been in said city less than one year.

Twenty-first: To provide for the preservation of the general health
of the inhabitants of said city, make regulations to secure the same, in-
spect all food and foodstuffs and prevent the introduction and sale in said
city of any article or thing intended for human consumption which is
adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to health, and to condemn,
seize and destroy or otherwise dispose of any such article or thing without
liability to the owner thereof; prevent the introduction or spread of con-
tagious or infectious diseases, and prevent and suppress diseases general-
ly; to provide and regulate hospitals within, or those without the city
limits, serving the inhabitants of said city, and to enforce the removal
of persons afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases to hospitals,
State or private institutions, or places of quarantine provided for them,
to provide for the organizations of a department of health, to have the
powers of a board of health for said city, with the authority necessary for
the prompt and efficient performance of its duties, with power to invest
any or all the officials or employees of such department of health, with
such powers as the police officers of the city have; to establish a quaran-
tine ground within or without the city limits, and such quarantine regu-
lations against infectious and contagious diseases as the said council or
department of health may see fit, subject to the laws of the State and of
the United States; to provide and keep records of vital statistics and
epmpel the return of all births, deaths and other information necessary

ereto. :

Twenty-second: To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation
or otherwise, lands either within or without the city, to be used, kept and
improved as a place for the interment of the dead, and to make and en-
force all necessary rules and regulations for the protection and use there-
of, whether owned by the city or by others; and generally to regulate the
burial and disposition of the dead.

Twenty-third: To do all things necessary or expedient for promot-
ing or maintaing the general welfare, comfort, education, morals, peace,
government, health, trade, commerce or industries of the city or its in-
habitants.

Twenty-fourth: To enact and enforce ordinances pursuant to gen-
eral law to regulate the manufacture, transportation, sale, keeping or stor-
ing for sale, advertising or exposing for sale, receiving, giving away, or
dispensing ardent spirits, and to provide and enforce such penalties for
the violation of such ordinances as may be permitted by general laws.

Twenty-fifth: To enjoin and restrain the violation of any city ordi-
nance or ordinances although a penalty is provided upon conviction of
such violation.

Twenty-sixth: To prescribe and regulate the routes in and through
the city to be used by motor vehicle carriers and to prescribe different
routes for different carriers and to regulate motor vehicle traffic in such
manner as may be deemed necessary for the general welfare.
Twenty-seventh: To regulate the time for filing of returns of all
classes of property subject to taxation by said city, and assess penalties in
enforcing the same; and to require the commissioner of revenue to assess
property upon the failure of taxpayers to file returns, as directed by coun-
cil or in the absence of such direction, then as provided by general law.

Twenty-eighth: To appoint a collector of delinquent taxes and to
prescribe his powers, duties, compensation and term of office. __

Twenty-ninth: Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and
the general laws of the State to grant franchises for public utilities. _

_ Thirtieth: To exercise full police powers and to establish and main-
tain a department or division of police.

Thirty-first: To accept grants, gifts, and aid from the Government
of the United States, the State of Virginia and from all persons, associa-
tions, corporations and individuals.

Thirty-second: And in general to exercise all of the rights, powers
and privileges heretofore or hereafter conferred upon cities by the Con-
stitution and laws of Virginia.

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