CHAPTER 567
AN ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Boydton; and to repeal

Chapter 114 of the Acts of Assembly of 1874, approved March 16,
1874, which incorporated such town, and all amendments thereof.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. The inhabitants of the territory embraced within the present
limits of the town of Boydton, as hereinafter defined, or as the same may
be hereafter altered or established by law, shall constitute and continue a
body politic and corporate, to be known and designated as the town of
Boydton, and as such shall have and may exercise all powers which are
now, or may hereafter be, conferred upon or delegated to towns under the
Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia as fully and as
completely as though all such powers were specifically enumerated herein.

§ 2. The administration and government of the town shall be vested
in one principal officer styled the mayor, and six councilmen, all of
whom shall be residents and qualified voters of the town. Each council-
man may receive a salary for his services as such, the amount thereof to
be fixed by the council.

§ 3. The mayor and councilmen shall be elected by the qualified
voters of the town on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred fifty-
eight, and every two years thereafter, in the manner prescribed by law.
Vacancies in the offices of mayor or councilmen shall be filled by the council
for the unexpired terms. The present mayor and councilmen shall continue
i aire until the expiration of the terms for which they were respectively
elected.

§ 4. The council shall, by ordinance, fix the time for its regular
meetings. Special meetings shall be called by the clerk of the council upon
the written request of the mayor or any three councilmen. At least twelve
hours written notice shall be given to the other members of the council, of
the purpose, place and time of any such special meeting. Special meetings
may also be held at any time without notice, provided all members of the
council are present. No business shall be transacted at any such special
meeting which is not stated in the notice calling the same, unless all mem-
bers of the council attend the meeting or waive notice thereof.

§ 5. The council may appoint a clerk, a commissioner of the revenue,
and a treasurer, and may appoint a town attorney and such other officers
and create such boards and departments as it deems necessary or proper,
and define their duties and functions. Such officers so appointed shall hold
office during the pleasure of the council, shall give such bonds as the
council requires, and shall receive such compensation as the council
prescribes. The same person may hold two or more of such offices, in the
discretion of the council.

§ 6. The council may appoint a sergeant who shall qualify as pro-
vided by law, and give bond in such amount as the council requires. The
sergeant shall be a conservator of the peace, and shall have the same powers
and perform the same duties within the corporate limits of the town and
to a distance of one mile beyond the same, as were formerly had and
performed by constables. He shall perform such other duties and receive
such compensation as the council prescribes, and shall hold office during
the pleasure of the council.

§ 7. The mayor shall be a conservator of the peace, and shall, unless
and until a police justice is appointed as hereinafter provided, have power
to issue warrants and summon witnesses, and exclusive original jurisdic-
tion to try cases involving violations of town ordinances, or the collection
of town taxes or assessments, or any other form of debts owing to the
town, and shall have like powers in the matter of collecting fines and costs
imposed by him, as are vested by law in trial justices. The fees and costs
in connection with such cases shall be the same as are authorized by law to
be charged, taxed and collected by trial justices for similar services, and
such fees, and all fines collected by the mayor shall be promptly paid by
him into the town treasury, unless the council by ordinance directs some
other disposition thereof; provided that the council may, at any time it
deems the same expedient, appoint a police justice for the town, who shall
be a resident and qualified voter of the town, shall give such bond as the
council requires, shall serve during the pleasure of the council, and shall
receive such compensation as the council prescribes. __

In the event of the appointment of such police justice, he shall have,
during such time as he serves, and to the exclusion of the mayor, the same
powers and jurisdiction as are hereinabove conferred upon and vested in
the mayor, and shall exercise the same in like manner as they are above
authorized and directed to be exercised by the mayor.

§ 8. In addition to, and supplementary of the powers conferred
upon towns and town councils by general law, the town of Boydton and
its council shall have the powers set forth in the following sections of
this charter. ; o,

§ 9. The town is empowered to acquire, establish, enlarge, maintain
and operate such water works and systems as the council deems necessary
for the purpose of providing an adequate supply of water to consumers
within the corporate limits of the town and within such adjacent terri-
tory as the council deems it expedient or proper to serve, at such rates as
the council prescribes.

The council may discontinue serving water to any consumer who
defaults in payment for such service within the time prescribed by the
council for the payment thereof, for so long as such default continues.

§ 10. The town is empowered to establish, construct, enlarge, and
maintain such sanitary sewer lines and systems as the council deems
necessary or expedient, and to require owners or occupiers of real estate
within the corporate limits of the town, which fronts or abuts on any such
sewer line, to make connection with and use the same; and shall have
power to assess and collect reasonable fees and rates for making sewer
connections and for sewer service, of the reasonableness of which, the
council shall be the sole judge; and sewer service may be discontinued for
default in payment for such service within the time prescribed by the
council for payment thereof, for so long as such default continues.

The town is empowered to acquire by condemnation or otherwise, such
properties or interests or estate therein, either within or without its
corporate limits, as the council deems necessary for the purpose of es-
tablishing, enlarging, maintaining or operating any such sewer line or
ines.

§ 11. The town is empowered to acquire by condemnation or other-
wise, property, real or personal, or any interest or estate therein, either
within or without its corporate limits, for any of its proper purposes, in-
cluding that of providing playgrounds, parks, golf courses and other
recreational facilities, and to make reasonable charges for the use of such
facilities, and to otherwise handle and deal with such properties in such
manner as the council deems proper or expedient; and shall have power
to acquire by condemnation or otherwise, rights of way from the town
to any property acquired by it under any of the provisions of this charter,
which lies without its corporate limits, and to construct and maintain
upon such rights of way, such roads or bridges as may reasonably neces-
sary for the full enjoyment thereof ; provided, however, that the provisions
of § 25-233 of the Code of Virginia, 1950, shall apply to any property
owned by a corporation possessing the power of eminent domain that may
be sought to be taken by condemnation under the provisions of this chap-
ter; and shall also have power to sell such properties or any of them, or
any other property owned by the town, whenever the council deems it
expedient to do so.

. § 12. In so far as not expressly prohibited by general law, the town
is empowered (a) to control and regulate the operation upon its streets
and alleys, of motor vehicles carrying passengers or freight for hire, and
to require the owners or operators of such carriers to provide and main-
tain within the town, suitable terminals for the convenient loading and
unloading of passengers and freight; (b) to regulate the fares to be
charged by operators of taxicabs or other motor vehicles operating from
established stands within the town, for carrying passengers within its
corporate limits, and to require that the drivers of such vehicles be of
such moral character as meets with the approval of the council; and (c)
to prescribe rules and regulations with respect to motor traffic of all
kinds, within the town, and the parking of motor vehicles on its streets
and alleys.

§ 18. The town is empowered (a) to regulate the holding of shows,
carnivals, fairs and other similar public exhibitions, or to prohibit the
holding of same, or any of them, within its corporate limits or within one
mile thereof; (b) except as prohibited by general law, to require licenses,
prohibit the conduct of any business or profession without such a license,
require taxes to be paid on such licenses in respect of all businesses and
professions which cannot, in the opinion of the council, be reached by the
ad valorem system; and to require licenses of owners of vehicles of all
kinds for the privilege of using the streets, alleys and other public places
in the town, require taxes to be paid on such licenses and prohibit the
ad of streets, alleys and other public places in the town without such
icenses.

§ 14. The town is empowered to levy taxes upon all subjects of
taxation in the town, the taxation of which by towns is not prohibited by
general law; to collect the same in the same manner as State taxes are
collected; and to expend the revenues so raised for any lawful purpose.
The fiscal year of the town shall begin on September one and close on
August thirty-one.

§ 15. The town is empowered (a) to provide a building code for the
town; to provide for the orderly and safe construction of houses and other
buildings; to prescribe setback lines on designated streets; to designate
standards to be observed in the construction of dwellings and business
houses on designated streets and in designated sections; and (b) to
adopt a comprehensive plan concerning the subdivision of lands within
the corporate limits of the town or within two miles thereof; to require
that plats of all such subdivisions shall, after having been approved by
the council as hereinafter provided, be recorded in the clerk’s office of
Mecklenburg County; and the term “subdivision”, when and as used in
this charter, means the division of a tract of land into five or more lots,
with appropriate streets and alleys, and with the intention on the part
of the owner of the land, of developing the same, or making it available
for development by others, for residential and business purposes.

§ 16. The town is empowered (a) to prohibit, and to punish for mis-
chievous or wanton damage to school property or any other property,
either public or private, within the town; (b) to prohibit minors from
frequenting or loitering in public pool rooms, billiard parlors or bowling
alleys, and prescribe punishment therefor, and to punish the proprietors
of such places, or their agents in charge, for permitting the same; (c) to
compel persons sentenced to confinement in jail for violations of town
ordinances, to work on the streets or other public places of the town.

§ 17. The town is empowered to prohibit encroachments upon the
streets or alleys, or upon parks or other public places of the town by any
fence, building, porch, or other projection, and to require the removal
of any such encroachment heretofore or hereafter made, unless made
with the consent and approval of the council, and to punish for any such
encroachment hereafter made without such consent first obtained; and
any such encroachment made without such consent shall be deemed a
nuisance, of which the town may compel the abatement and removal by
and through appropriate court action or proceeding, against which right
of the town, no statute of limitation shall run.

§ 18. The town is empowered to permit and regulate, or to prohibit,
the erection of poles and wires for electric, telegraph or telephone service
or the laying of any kinds of pipes in the streets or alleys of the town, and
to prescribe, assess and collect annual or other periodical charges for the
doing of any such things under permits hereafter granted; and the power
to require the owners or operators of any such electric light, telephone or
telegraph lines to change the location of any of their poles whenever the
council deems any such change expedient; and to require all wires or
cables carrying electric current, whether heretofore or hereafter installed,
to be placed in suitable conduits, underground, in the discretion of the
council; provided that none of the powers above enumerated shall be exer-
cised in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of any franchise
granted by the town.

§ 19. The town is empowered to exercise all such police powers as
the council deems reasonably necessary for the promotion and protection
of the health, morals and safety of the inhabitants of the town, for the
protection of the property of the town and its inhabitants, for the preserva-
tion of peace and good order, and for the general welfare; and the council
is empowered to make ordinances and by-laws for the purpose of carrying
into effect the enumerated powers conferred upon the town by this
charter, including police powers, and to prescribe punishments for viola-
tions thereof, provided that no such punishment shall exceed the maximum
punishment prescribed by general law for a misdemeanor; and provided
further, that all ordinances, by-laws and resolutions made and adopted by
the council shall become effective thirty days after their passage, unless a
different date is specified in any such ordinance, by-laws or resolution,
upon which the same shall become effective.

§ 20. (a) The council may appoint a town manager who shall be the
chief administrative officer of the town and shall be chosen solely on the
basis of his executive and administrative qualifications, and shall have some
knowledge of civil, mechanical and electrical engineering. He shall be
appointed for such term as he and the council agree upon, not to
exceed two years, but in any event, to end with the term of the council
making the appointment. The town manager may be suspended or re-
moved by the council for any cause it deems sufficient, provided that no
order of suspension or removal shall be made until after he shall have been
given at least five days’ notice in writing, stating the cause for such
suspension or removal and fixing a day when he may be heard thereon.
The action of the council, suspending or removing the town manager, shall
be final. The council may place the control and supervision of the police
force of the town under either the mayor or the town manager.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this charter, the town manager
may, with the consent of the council, appoint or employ, and remove or
discharge, such officers, employees and assistants as he deems necessary to
carry on the work of such departments of the town as are committed to
him by the council, in all their respective details, in an economical and
satisfactory manner. The salary or compensation, and the terms of office
or employment of such officers, employees and assistants shall be fixed by
the town manager, subject to approval by the council; and his actions in
all respects shall be subject to review by the council, and he shall be ac-
countable to the council only.

§ 21. No plat of any subdivision within the corporate limits of the
town or within two miles thereof shall be recorded in the clerk’s office of
Mecklenburg County unless and until it shall have been approved by the
council, and the council shall not approve any plat of any such subdivision
unless the streets, alleys or other roadways provided for therein are of
such widths and grades and are so located as to, in the opinion of the
council, meet the probable traffic needs in the reasonably near future.
Before approving any such plat, the council may, in its discretion, require
the owner of the land so subdivided to enter into an agreement in writing,
and to give satisfactory security for the performance thereof, to the
effect that he will, when and as the same becomes necessary, grade and
surface the streets, alleys or roadways shown thereon, in such manner as
to meet with the approval of the council.

The approval of any such plat by the council shall not be construed
or held to impose any obligation upon the town to grade or surface such
streets, alleys, or roadways unless and until the same is, in the opinion
of the council, for the best interest and general welfare of the town and
its inhabitants.

§ 22. All ordinances now in force in the town of Boydton, not in-
consistent with this charter, shall be and remain in full force and effect
until altered, amended or repealed by the council of the town, after the
effective date of this act.

2. Chapter 114 of the Acts of Assembly of 1874, approved March 16,
1874, and all amendments thereof, are repealed.
8. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.