CHAPTER 34

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 8 and 5 of Chapter 39, Acts of Assembly,
1986, approved February 18, 1986, which provided a charter for the
town of South Hill, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and to amend
the chapter by adding a section numbered 10.1, the amended and new
sections relating, respectively, to powers of the town; the election and
terms of office of the mayor and councilmen, and the duties of the
town manager. (H 16)

Approved February 23, 1966

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 3 and 5 of Chapter 39, Acts of Assembly, 1936, approved
February 18, 1936, be amended and reenacted, and that the chapter be
amended by adding a section numbered 10.1, as follows:

§ 3. The town of South Hill shall have power:

(a) To raise money by taxation, assessment and levy, annually such
amounts as may appear necessary to carry on the government of said town,
in such manner as the town council shall deem proper, in accordance with
the Constitution and the laws of the State of Virginia and of this charter;
and by the assessment and collection of fees, licenses, assessments on per-
sons, property, privileges, amusements, businesses, professions, occupation,
and public service agencies, whether the headquarters of such institution
are located in the town of South Hill or elsewhere, to the extent not pro-
hibited by general law.

(b) To impose local assessments for local improvement, and to collect
the same by processes subject to the limitations prescribed by the Constitu-
tion and the laws of the State of Virginia, as in force at the time of such
assessment.

(c) To contract debts, borrow money, and make and issue evidences
of indebtedness, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the
State of Virginia and to have a common seal.

(d) To expend the money of the town for all lawful purposes.

(e) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation or otherwise,
property, real and personal, or any estate therein, within or without the
town, for any of the purposes of the town, and to hold, improve, sell, lease,
mortgage, such property or any part thereof, including any property now
owned by the town.

(f) To construct, maintain, operate, regulate and use public improve-
ments of all kinds, including municipal building, grounds and structures
necessary or appropriate to the proper operation and conduct of the busi-
ness and government of the town in any of its several departments.

(g) To own and to operate water works, gas and electric plants, and
sewer disposal plants, to build or to buy the same, within or without the
town for the use of the town, from any legitimate source, and to acquire the
necessary real estate in connection therewith, to build and to improve
otherwise, such property, to the end that adequate water supply may be
had and maintained at all times as well as ample supplies of electricity and
gas for lighting and fuel. And, to construct and maintain lines for the con-
veyance of such commodities to the town and to its inhabitants. To pro-
mulgate rules for the regulation of such distribution. To exercise full police
power and sanitary patrol over the lands comprising the watershed tribu-
tary to the water supply to avoid pollution and provide purity of the same.
To impose and enforce adequate penalties for the violation of such regula-
tions, and to prevent by injunction any pollution or threatened pollution
of such water supply, and to carry out the privileges herein granted the
town of South Hill, may, within the State exercise all the powers of emi-
nent domain provided in the laws of the State.

(h) To supply water, electricity or gas, whether the same shall be
provided by purchase or otherwise by the town, to its purchasers or con-
sumers, whether within or without the town, and at such price and such

as the council may elect, and with provision that the price to cus-
tomers without the town and to customers using or consuming the same in
volume at different price and upon a different basis from that charged
other customers. ee

(i) To establish, open, widen, grade, improve, extend, construct, main-
tain, light, sprinkle, and keep clean of all obstruction or rubbish, streets,
highways, alleys, ways, parks, parkways, and alter in any manner, or close
the same; to regulate the loads to be hauled over the same, as to weight,
quantity, sizes or kind of material to be transported; to require any rail-
road company operating a train through the town at any crossing of any
of the ways of the town to construct gates, stiles or other conveniences, or
safety devices, and to keep all such crossings in a manner comparable to
the condition of the street or way crossed. To regulate the speed of trains
while within the corporate limits, and of all vehicles upon the ways of the
town, not in conflict with general laws of the State relating thereto. To
require such railroad to keep a flagman or watchman at any crossing, in
accordance with the laws of Virginia. To permit or prohibit the construc-
tion of lines for gas, electricity, telephone or telegraph within the town
and to regulate such construction, and to determine such charges as may
be deemed expedient for the construction of or the annual operation of
such lines hereafter within the town; to require the owner or lessee of any
such lines to move or remove poles or other appurtenances as the good of
the town may at any time seem to demand.

(j) To acquire by gift, devise, grant, or otherwise, or by the right of
eminent domain, lands or interest therein, for rock, gravel, sand, soil,
water or other right, and the necessary ways of egress and regress th ,
either within or without the town, and to erect buildings and install equip-
ment for the operation of such properties for the use of the town.

(k) To construct sanitary sewer lines and cisterns, and to require
abutting property owners to connect with the same; to construct disposal
plants, within or without the town, and provide ways of egress and regress
thereto, by the right of eminent domain, or otherwise, and to charge and
collect fees and annual service charges for connection with and use of the
sewer lines maintained by the town.

(1) To grant franchises for public utilities subject to the Constitution
and laws of Virginia and the terms of this charter.

(m) To collect and dispose of sewerage, offal, ashes, litter, garbage,
carcasses of dead animals, and other refuse, and to fix fees and charges
for the same. To require the abatement of nuisances, whether upon public
or private property, at the expense of the person causing the same, or the
owner or lessee of the property, and to collect such charges by motion or
distress sale; to require all lands and lots within the town to be kept clean
and sanitary and free from rubbish, water, weeds, litter, and filth of any
kind that might be unsanitary or unsightly, at the expense of the owner or
lessee, and to collect such expense by suit, motion or distress sale; to pre-
vent slaughter houses or other noisome or offensive business in the town
or adjacent thereto; to prevent the keeping of noxious or dangerous
animals or noxious and unsanitary odors; to prevent unnecessary noises:
to regulate the keeping of stables and the operation of any dangerous
unwholesome business within the town; to regulate the placing of awnings,
bill boards, signs, the sale of goods, wares, newspapers, and their display
upon the streets and sidewalks of the town; and generally to define, pro-
hibit, regulate, abate, suppress and prevent all operations detrimental to
the health, morals, safety, convenience, and welfare of the people of the
town; to require the owners or lessee of property with sidewalks abutting
to keep such sidewalks free of weeds, grass, rubbish, dangerous or un-
sightly obstruction, including ice and snow.

(n) The Council may, in its discretion, appoint a board of health for
the town and prescribe its duties and invest it with authority for the per-
formance of the same. And may, by ordinance, create the office of police
justice, and such police justice shall have jurisdiction and powers similar
to the jurisdiction and powers of police justices in the cities of this State,
msofar as the same shall be permitted by the general law of the State
relating to * county judges in criminal matters. Such police justice shall
be chosen by majority vote of the Council and his term of office * shall be
at the pleasure of the Council. ; .

(o) To inspect, test measure or weigh any commodity or article
offered for use or consumption by the citizens of the town; and to check
and regulate measures, weights, meters, and scales employed within the

wn.

_(p) To establish, maintain and regulate a fire department and to
equip the same; to regulate the size, height, material and construction of
buildings, walls, fences, and other structures, hereafter located in the town.
To move or require to be removed, remodeled, improved and made safe
any structures or buildings in dilapidated and dangerous condition or
defective in construction; to prescribe fire limits and regulate all future
buildings therein; and shall enact stringent laws governing the safety of
persons from fire in meeting places whether public or private.

(q) To prevent beggars, paupers, undesirables, operators of any busi-
ness, or in person, dangerous to health or morals, from coming into or
remaining in town, unless a resident for twelve months at the time this
charter becomes effective.

(r) To provide suitable cemeteries for burying the dead, separate for
white and colored people, and to maintain and beautify the same, and the
approaches thereto. The funds for such purposes may be had from gifts,
benevolences, devise, the sale of burial plots, and from the general funds
of the town not otherwise appropriated.

(s) To restrain and punish drunkards, beggars, vagrants, quell riots,
disturbances, disorderly assembly; to suppress houses of ill-fame or gam-
bling in any form, to prevent indecency, lewd exhibitions and language,
swearing, fighting, and by the exercise of full and complete police power
protect the citizens of the town from any disturbance, annoyance and
inconvenience from unnecessary sources. And to expel from town guilty
persons in the foregoing category, who have been in the town for less than
ie months, after the effective date of this charter and prior to such
offense.

(t) To license and regulate shows, carnivals, exhibitions and enter-
tainments, and to prohibit objectionable performances.

(u) To require every owner of a motor vehicle within the town annu-
ally to register the same and to pay a fee for such registration, not in
excess of the fee charged by the State for the same machine, and to procure
and display a license plate of the town.

(v) To make and to enforce ordinances in conformity with the laws
of the State governing the use and possession of ardent spirits and of
illegal hquors.

(w) To prohibit and to punish wanton damage to property of any
kind both public and private.

(x) To prohibit minors from entering or playing in pool rooms, bil-
liard parlors, and like amusements, and to punish owners and proprietors
who encourage or allow such offenses.

(y) To pass and enforce ordinances, bylaws and rules, from time to
time found expedient, in the promotion of good government and good order,
for the management of the town’s property, the conduct of its business, the
welfare of its people, touching every subject; and for the full exercise of
all powers and privileges under this charter, and under the Constitution
and laws of Virginia.

(z) To prescribe penalties for the violations of its rules and ordi-
nances and the provisions of this charter, not to exceed five hundred
dollars, twelve months in jail, or both, but in no case to exceed the punish-
ment provided by general law of Virginia, where prescribed for like
offenses.

The town of South Hill may maintain a suit by injunction to prevent
the violation of any ordinance, notwithstanding punishment for the viola-
tion of that ordinance is provided.

§ 5. The mayor and council serving at the time of the passage of
this act shall continue in office till their successors are elected and qualify.
An election for mayor and councilmen shall be held on the second Tuesday
of June, nineteen hundred and * sixty-seven, and every two years there-
after. The candidate for the office of mayor receiving the highest number
of votes at such election shall be elected for a term of four years, and the
three candidates for councilmen receiving the highest number of votes at
such election shall be elected for a term of four years, and the three can-
didates for councilmen receiving the next highest number of votes in such
election shall be elected for a term of two years, and at the expiration of
the said two year term, their successors shall be elected for a term of four
years. Thereby, the term of office of three councilmen shall alternately
expire each two years. The mayor and council elected at such elections
shall enter upon their duties the first day of September next succeeding.

§ 10.1. The town manager shall manage the business of the town,
shall direct the operations of the several departments of the town, shall be
the chief zoning official, building inspector and purchasing agent. He shall
perform such other duties as are not inconsistent with the office and as
directed by the council or mayor.

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