CHAP. 424. —An ACT to amend and re-enact an act to incorporate
the town of Dayton, approved March 9th, 1880, and all acts
amendatory thereof.

Approved February 29, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the act approved March ninth, eighteen hundred and
eighty, entitled an act to incorporate the town of. Dayton,
in Rockingham county, and all acts amendatory thereof,
since passed, be amended and re-enacted so.as to read as
follows:

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general] assembly of the state
of Virginia, That the municipal authorities of the town of
Dayton, in the county of Rockingham, shall have power to
extend the corporate limits of said town from the present
exterior boundaries thereof to the following described
boundaries: Beginning at the northwest corner of the
Dayton cemetery ; thence to the southwest corner of J. N.
Frie’s mill-dam; thence with the water’s edge to S. Burt-
ner’s corner at breast of mill-dam; thence with Burtner’s
line and Frie’s mill-race to a corner on north side of Light
street; thence with north side of said street to a corner on
east side of Warm Springs turnpike; thence with east side
of said turnpike to the middle of Cook’s creek ; thence with
middle of said creek to the crossing of the narrow-gauge
railroad bed; thence with said railroad bed to the south
side of South street; thence with south side of said street
to east side of Warm Springs turnpike; thence with east
side of said turnpike to crossing of narrow-gauge railroad
bed; thence with said railroad bed fifteen poles west toa
corner; thence northwest to J. W. Garber’s southwest cor-
ner; thence north to Hedrick and Burtner’s corner in Bow-
man’s line; thence north to the beginning, if sanctioned by
a majority of the qualified voters residing within the
limits of the part of said boundaries proposed to be in-
cluded in said extension; and that the same, as it has
been heretofore and may hereafter be laid off into lots,
streets and alleys, be, and the same is hereby, made a town
corporate by the name of Dayton, and by that name shall
have and exercise all the powers conferred by the
chapter of the code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and
, 80 far as the same may be applicable to the gov-
ernment of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants,
and not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

§ 2. The government of said town shall be vested in a
mayor and seven councilmen, who shall be residents and
freeholders in said town, to be chosen annually by ballot
on the fourth Thursday in May of each year. Any person
entitled to vote in Rockingham county, and residing within
the corporate limits of the town of Dayton six months,
shall be entitled to vote at all elections under said act of
incorporation. The mayor shall appoint two members of
the council, who, with the clerk of the council, shall hold
said election between the hours of one in the afternoon
and sunset, and they shall decide any contest with refer-
ence to the right to vote of any individual, and shall count
the ballots. In case it is impossible to decide the seven
who have the highest number of votes, by reason of a tie,
the said clerk shall decide in the presence of the two coun-
cilmen aforesaid by lot. Said clerk shall immediately
thereafter make out and deliver to each one of the coun-
cilmen elected a certificate of his election.

§ 3. Said councilmen shal] meet in the first week of July
following, the mayor to be their president; said officers
sball hold their respective offices for one year, or until
their successors are elected and qualified. Said officers
shall qualify by taking the oath of office before the clerk
or other person authorized to administer oaths; they may
be removed from office by a unanimous vote of the coun-
cil for good cause. All the officers of the corporation shall
serve without compensation, except as hereinafter provided.
Said council shall appoint its own time of meeting. Five
members shall constitute a quorum, and any vacanc
among any of the officers of the corporation shal] be filled
by said council.

§ 4. In addition to the above-named officers, the said
council shall, from the qualified voters, elect a clerk and
town sergeant. The sergeant, before he enters upon the
duties of his office, shall execute his bond with security to
be approved by the council in a sum double the amount of
the revenue of the said town the preceding year, and con-
ditioned for the faithful discharge of the duties of his
office. The sergeant shall collect the taxes voted by the
council, for which he shall be allowed a certain rate per
centum for collecting and paying out the same, the rate to
be fixed by the council. He shall have the like powers of
a constable of said county, to pursue and arrest anywhere in
said county of Rockingham all offenders for offences com-
mitted within the last aforementioned corporate limits, and
to convey any one so ordered to be committed to the coun-
ty jail, there to be dealt with as if committed by a warrant
of a justice of the peace, and receive the same fees. For
his services as overseer of roads and streets he shall be
entitled to the same compensation allowed by law to over-
seers of roads. The clerk shall keep a correct record of
all the proceedings of the council; shall provide the books
and stationery therefor; make out the certificates of elec-
tion; make out a list of property to be assessed, real and
personal, within the limits of the corporation, and assess
the same according to the best information obtained by
him, and shall issue tickets for taxes voted by the coun-
cil, which tickets he shall deliver to the sergeant, when
ordered by the council, and shall have power to issue the
oaths of office to any of the town officers; and for said ser-
vices he shall be allowed annually a certain sum to
named by the council, not to exceed fifty dollars. The
oath of office shall be administered to the town sergeant and
clerk before entering upon their dnties.

§ 5. The mayor shal] be the presiding officer of the coun-
cil, and shall have power to suspend any officer of said
corporation for neglected duty or disorderly behavior. He
shall have no vote except in the case of atie. He shall
have authority and be vested with all the powers of a jus-
tice of the peace within the precincts of said town, and
for one mile around the corporate limits thereof, and shall
have like powers with a justice of the peace to commit any
person charged with an offence before him to the county
jail, or let to bail on recognizance to appear before the
county court. His fees shall be the same as a justice of
the peace. .

§ 6. The council shall have power to remove.all officers,
and may fine members of their own body for disorderly
behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a
member. The council of said town shall have all the gen-
eral powers vested in it by the laws of the state; and it
shall also have power to mark accurately the bounds of
existing streets, and compel the removal of obstructions
therefrom; to close or extend, widen or narrow, lay out
and graduate, pave and otherwise improve streets and pub-
lic alleys in the town; and for these purposes, upon first
paying a just compensation therefor, it may take such pri-
vate property as may be necessary; and no order shall be
made and no injunction shall be awarded by any court or
judge to stay the proceedings of the town in the prosecu-
tion of such works, unless it be manifest that the interpo-
sition of a court is necessary to prevent injury that can-
not be repaired in damages. The method of ascertaining
what will be a just compensation for private property thus
taken, shall be as follows: After reasonable notice in wri-
ting by the clerk of the council to the owner of the free-
hold whose property is proposed to be taken, or to his ten-
ant or agent, the mayor of the town shall, at the time and
place mentioned in said notice, proceed to appoint two
freeholders of the town as commissioners, one of whom
may be nominated by the owner of the freehold, or by his
tenant or agent, if either be present, whose duty it shall
be to view the property proposed to be taken, and ascer-
tain what will be a just compensation therefor, and the
damage to the residue of such owner’s property beyond the
peculiar benefits to be derived in respect to such residue
from the work to be done. The said commissioners, if
they cannot agree, may select a third freeholder as com-
missioner to act with them, and shall, as soon as possible,
report their proceedings to the council. When such re-
port has been returned, the council may, by a vote of a
majority of its members, either reject or accept said report.
If the report be rejected, the council may refer the matter
to another commission, appointed in the same way and for
the same purpose as the first. If the report be confirmed,
the amount ascertained by it to bea just compensation for
the property shall be paid to those entitled thereto, before
work shall be begun on or through said property.

§ 7. Whenever any new street shall be laid out, graded
or paved, a culvert built or any other public improvement
whatever made, the town council may determine what
portion, if any, of the expense thereof should ,be paid
from corporation funds, and what portion by the owners
of real estate benefited thereby, or may order and direct
that the whole expense be assessed upon the owners of
real estate benefited thereby ; but no such public improve-
ment shall be made, to be defrayed in whole or in part, by
a local assessment, until first requested by a petition and
signed by at least a majority of the owners of property
to be assessed for such improvements, or unless two-thirds
of all the council shall concur in voting any improvement
to be expedient, or in determining to make the same after
allegations have been heard, in which case no petition or
request shall be necessary. The council shall have the
same powers tocollect such local assessments as are vested
in them for the collection of other taxes.

8 8. The said council shall have the power to provide
against and prevent accidents by fire; to regulate and es-
tablish markets; to prevent the running at large of hogs,
dogs, horses, cows, or other animals; to prevent the cum-
bering of streets, sidewalks, and alleys, in any manner
whatever; to make sanitary regulations in reference to con-
tagious or other diseases ; to regulate the building of all the
houses, stables, privies, hog-pens and slaughter-houses; to
abate nuisances at the expense of those who cause them;
to appoint police, and prescribe their duties and compen-
sation; and to make, pass and ordain such laws ‘as they
may deem necessary and proper for the internal and gen-
eral good, safety, health and convenience of the said
town and inhabitants thereof, and for enforcing the pro-
visions of this charter. They shall punish all violations
of law by.fine or imprisonment, or both, in the discretion
of the mayor, subject to the general laws of this state.
The authorities of the said town shall have the use of the
county jail of Rockingham county for the safe-keeping
and confinement of all persons who shall be sentenced to
imprisonment under the ordinances of said town. When-
ever judgment shall be rendered against any person for
fines, and there be no visible effects which the sergeant
may distrain and sell therefor, the person so in default
may be compelled to work out such fine on the public
streets or other improvements, and to suffer in addition
such terms of imprisonment as may be prescribed by ordi-
nances of said town.

§ 9. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created
and declared to be separate and distinct road district of
Rockingham county, and no road tax shall be levied on
any property within said limits, except by the council of
Dayton, which tax shall be expended within the limits of
the corporation on the streets and roads therein by the ser-
geant of the town under the supervision and directions of
the town council. The jurisdiction of the corporate au-
thorities of said town shall extend one mile beyond the
limits thereof for imposing and collecting a license tax
upon all shows, performances and exhibitions which may
take place anywhere within said extended boundaries; and
they shall als» have the power of imposing a license tax
upon bowling, billiard and bagatelle saloons, or on any
similar game or play recognized and taxed by the laws of
the state anywhere within the said extended boundaries;
and all money received for license tax, and also for all
fines accruing from a violation of the ordinances of the
said town, and that may result from the prosecution of
any misdemeanors covered by said ordinances within and
for one mile beyond the corporate limits thereof, shall be
paid into the treasury of the said town, and be appropri-
ated to the expenses of the corporation as the council may
direct.

§ 10. The council shall have power to levy such taxes as
it may deem necessary for the purpose of the corporation:
provided that no tax upon the real and personal property
in said town shall exceed fifty cents on the one hundred
dollars assessed value thereof, and provided, also, that no
such tax shall be levied upon the lands, stock of any kind,
utensils, or instruments within the limits of said corpora-
tion which are used strictly for farming purposes; but this
proviso is not intended to apply to milch cows, horses, and
other animals in domestic use, nor in Jands when laid off
and sold as town lots.

§ 11. Any person applying to the county court of Rock-
ingham for license to sell liquors of any kind, either as
the keeper of a bar-room, wholesale or liquor dealer
within the corporate limits of said town of Dayton, Rock-
ingham county, or within one mile of the limits of said
corporation, shall produce before the court of said county
a certificate of the council of said town, signed by each
member of the council, to the effect that the applicant is
a suitable person, and that no good reason is known to
said council why said license should not be granted; and
the courts having jurisdiction shall not grant any license
to sell liquors within the limits above prescribed until
and unless such certificates be given.

§ 12. All disbursements from the treasury shall be made
by order of the council, and al]l orders for the payment of
moneys shall be signed by the clerk and countersigned by
the mayor. These orders, when paid, shall be kept on file
by the sergeant as vouchers for the payment of same.

2. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act
are hereby repealed.

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