CHAP. 212.—An ACT to incorporate Pennington Gap, Lee coun-
ty, Virginia.

Approved February 15, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the settlement of Pennington Gap, in Lee county, as
the same is now, and shall hereafter be, laid off into lots,
squares, streets, and alleys, be, and the same is hereby,
made a town corporate by the name of Pennington Gap,
and by that name shall have and exercise all the powers
conferred on towns of less than five thousand inhabitants
by the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven, and to all laws now in force or which may hereafter
be enacted in reference to the government of towns of less
than five thousand inhabitants, so far as the same are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

2. The limits of said town shall be as follows: Begin-
ning in the middle of Cane creek, at a point where Doctor
J. E. Burk’s line crosses said creek; thence down said
creek as it meanders to a spring east of G. W. Russell’s
dwelling-house; thence a straight line to the middle of
the old road leading to the Pocket country ; thence with the
meanderings of said road to the Hanging Rock; thence
a straight line to the Day Gap, in Cumberland moun-
tain; thence a straight line to the beginning point.

3. The government of said town shall be vested ina
mayor, recorder, seven councilmen, and such other officers
as may be provided for by the mayor and council. W1-
liam S. Hurst is hereby appointed mayor thereof; W.N.G.
Barron, F.-R. Stickley, E. W. Pennington, J. C. Noel, A.
Johnson, D. H. Howard, and J. F. Skaggs, are hereby ap-
pointed councilmen thereof, and Harvey Barton 1s hereby
appointed recorder thereof; and the said mayor, recorder,
and councilmen shall have and exercise all the powers
hereinafter granted to said officers, and shall continue in
office until the first day of July, eighteen hundred and
ninety-two, and thereafter until their successors shall be
elected and qualified according to law, a majority of
whom shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of
business. The mayor, recdrder, and councilmen shall
compose the town council.

4. The election for mayor, recorder, and councilmen
shall be held on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen
hundred and ninety-two, and on the fourth Thursday in
May in every year thereafter. Such election shall be held
at the place in said town, and conducted under the supervi-
sion of three commissioners, appointed by the town council
for the purpose. Within two days after any election has
been held under this act, the commissioners who con-
ducted the cause shall certify the names of persons elected
to the clerk of the county court of Lee county, and to the
officers elected, which certificates shall be entered among
the records of said county and corporation.

5. In all elections for the offices of this corporation all
persons who are by laws of this state entitled to vote for
members of the general assembly, and who shall have
resided in the said town for three months next preceding
the day of election then to be held, shall be entitled to vote.

6. The persons to be elected under the provisions of this
act shall be inhabitants of said town; and it shall be their
‘duty, on or before the first day of July next after their
election, to take and subscribe the oaths required by law
to be taken by county and district officers, before a justice
of the peace or a notary public of Lee county, and they
shall enter upon the discharge of their duties as such
officers on the first day of July next after their election,
and hold their offices for a term of one year, and until
their successors are elected or appointed and qualified.
The oaths taken and subscribed under this section shall
be filed with the records of said town.

7. When from any cause a vacancy may occur in the
office of mayor, recorder, or councilmen, the town council
hall, by a vote of a majority of such as remain, fill such
racancy from the citizens of the town eligible to the office
inder this act.

8. The mayor of said town shall take care that the or-
jinances, resolutions, and by-laws of the town council
ire faithfully executed. He shall be ex-officio a conserv-
ator of the peace within said town, and shall, within the
ame, exercise all the powers and duties vested by law in
justices of the peace in criminal and civil cases. He
shall have power to render judgment and issue execu-
Lions in all matters wherein he has jurisdiction by reason
of the authority vested in him under this act; and in
case Of a trial and.conviction of any party for the viola-
tion of any provision of this act, or of any ordinance, by-
law, or regulation of said town, or any crime against the
the laws of this state, wherein the punishment is by fine,
and the fine be not immediately paid, together with all
costs; it shall be lawful to require such offender to work
out such fines, and all jail fees and other costs, on the
streets or other public works of said town, at the rate of
fifty cents per day. In all matters where it may be nec-
essary to carry into effect the purposes of this act, said
town authorities shall have the right to use the jail of Lee
county for that purpose.

9. The mayor, recorder, and any four councilmen, or
the mayor, or recorder, and any five councilmen, or in the
absence of both the mayor and recorder, any six council-
men, shall constitute a quorum todo business. The mayor
shall preside at the meetings of the council. In his ab-
sence the council shall select one of their number to pre-
side, and the proceedings shall be signed by the person
presiding. If at any meeting the recorder be absent, the
person presiding shall appoint some other person to dis-
charge the duties of recorder for that meeting.

10. The town council shall cause to be kept in a journal
an accurate record of all its proceedings, which shall be
open to the inspection of any person residing in said town.
The mayor and recorder shall have votes as members of
said council, and the person presiding at the time of any
tie vote shall have the casting vote. The recorder shal]
attend all meetings of the council, keep a journal of its
proceedings, have charge of and preserve the records of
the town, and perform such other duties as the town coun-
cil may prescribe.

11. It shall be the duty of the town council, at their
first meeting after their appointment or election, or as
soon thereafter as practicable, to appoint a sergeant, whc
shall hold his office during the term of the council which
elected him and until his successor is duly elected and
qualified; and who shall, within the limits of said towr
and one mile beyond its said limits, have the powers anc
be subject to all the laws applicable to constables by the
laws of this state and not inconsistent with the provisions
of this act. The town council shall require of said ser-
geant a bond in such penalty and with such conditions
and such securities as it may prescribe; which bond shall
be filed with the record of said town, and a copy thereof,
certified by the mayor, recorded in the bond-books of the
county court of Lee county; and said sergeant shall take
and subscribe the oaths required by law of county and
district officers, and execute the bond required by the
town council before entering upon the duties of his office.

12. It shall be lawful for said town council to make and
pass orders, by-laws, ordinances, and resolutions for the
the government of said town, so that the same be not con-
trary to the laws and constitution of this state and of the
United States, and for the violation of the same to pre-
scribe reasonable fines, but in no case to exceed fifty dol-
lars.

13. To meet any expenditures that may be necessary
and chargeable to said town for any purpose, the town
council may, at such times as to it seems proper, levy a
town levy of so much as in its opinion may be necessary,
upon all persons and property in said town not exempt
from taxation by the laws of this state: provided, that a
capitation tax greater than twenty-five cents per head on
all male inhabitants of said town over the age of twenty-
one years shall not be levied in one year; and provided
further, that the tax levies from all other purposes shall
not exceed twenty-five cents on every hundred dollars of
the value thereof for any year: provided, however, that
said council, by a two-thirds vote of the entire council,
may exempt any real or personal estate used for manufac-
turing purposes or other enterprises from all municipal
taxes for a period not exceeding five years at a time, if it
shall deem it expedient to do so, in order to encourage
the establishment of any enterprise in said town.

14. The town sergeant shall have power to collect the
town taxes, fines, and levies, and one month after the time
he shall have received the book of the assessor of said
town, to distrain and sell therefor in like manner as is
now provided by law for the collection of state taxes, and
shall have the same powers as constables and county trea-
surers to enforce the collection and payment of such tax-
es, fines, and levies, and examinations of the mayor in
civil causes. And such sergeant may at any time be re-
moved by the said council for any neglect or default in
duty, or for failure to properly and promptly account for
any money in his hands, as the council may direct.

15. There shall be a lien on real estate for town taxes
and levies assessed thereon from the commencement of the
year for which they are assessed, and the town council
may order and require real estate within said corporate
limits,.delinquent for the non-payment of the town taxes
thereon, to be rented or sold by the sergeant at public auc-
tion, an@at some public place in said town, for the ar-
rears, with interest, with such a per centum as said coun-
cil may prescribe for all costs and charges, and the sur-
plus, if any, shall be paid to the person entitled thereto. But
before offering such delinquent property for sale or rent,
the time, terms, and place of sale, the amount due there-
on, and person in whose name the same is charged, shall
be advertised by posting notices at the front door of the
court-house of Lee county, and at three or more public
places in said town, for at least thirty days. Said council
shall fix a time within which such property may be re-
deemed by any person who has an interest in such prop-
erty, or as creditor of such person; and if there be a fail-
ure to redeem within the time prescribed by said council,
the recorder of said town shall make conveyance of the
real estate so sold in the same manner as is now provided
by law for conveyance by clerks of courts of lands sold
for taxes, and such conveyance shall operate to pass what-
ever title the party charged had in such property. The
lien for town taxes and levies, and any conveyance under
this section, shall be subject to the lien of all state and
county taxes, and all prior liens of every kind belonging
to any individual, firm, or corporation, due on the real es-
tate upon which such lien is, or which may have been so
conveyed.

16. The said town and the taxable persons and property
therein shall be exempt and free from the payment of any
road tax until after said town shall have failed, at its
own expense, to keep its streets in order.

17. The county court of Lee county shall in no case
grant license to any person for the sale of liquors within
the corporate limits of said town, nor within one mile of
the same, unless such person shall present a certificate
from said town council, certifying that such person is a
suitable person for the business, and that in the place
where such business is proposed to be conducted is suita-
ble, convenient, and appropriate. Any manufacturer of
spirituous or malt liquors who shall sell the same by the
gallon or otherwise within said town, or within one mile
of its corporate limits, without the consent of said town
council in writing, shal] be fined fifty dollars for each of-
fence, and he may be arrested on the warrant of the mayor
and tried by him.

18. The persons named in the third section of this act
shall, immediately after their appointment hereunder,
take the oath of office required by section sixth of this
act; and if any fail to so qualify, those who do so qualify
shall appoint other inhabitants from said town in their
room and stead.

19. The town council may levy a tax or license to agents
of insurance companies; to theatrical or other ferform-
ances or shows; to keepers of billiard or pool tables; to
other persons engaging in any other business for which a
license may be required by the laws of the state.

20. This act shall be in force from its passage.

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