CHAP. 712.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2 and 3 of an
act entitled an act to amend and re-enact sections 2, 8, 4and 6 of
an act entitled an act to incorporate the town of Clifton Forge,
in the county of Alleghany, Spprevee May 20, 1887, and to
amend and re-enact sections 3, 5, 6 and 11 of the original act, en-
titled an act to incorporate the town of Clifton Forge, in the
county of Alleghany, approved December 1, 1884, and to add
additional section.

Approved March 4, 1802.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of’ Virginia,
That sections two and three of an act entitled an act to
amend and re-enact sections two, three, four and six of an
act entitled an act to incorporate the town of Clifton
Forge, in the county of Alleghany, approved May twen-
tieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and sections
three, five, six and eleven of the original act, entitled an
act to incorporate the town of Clifton Forge, in the county
of Alleghany, approved December first, eighteen hundred
and eighty-four, be amended and re-enacted so as to read
as follows:

§ 2. That the boundaries of said town shall be as fol-
lows: Beginning at F. B. Westerman’s slaughter-house ;
thence with the county road toa point opposite the east
end of the Chesapeake and Ohio caboose track ; thence by
a diréct line crossing Jackson’s river to the county road
and with the north side of the said county road to the
southwestern corner of A. Jack Acord’s lot; thence by di-
rect line recrossing Jackson’s river to the southwestern
corner of the old Haynes house; thence by a direct line to
the south line of Ridgeway street opposite the east line of
Trevillian street, being the boundary line of the property
of the Chesapeake and Ohio development company;
thence eastwardly with said boundary line to the corner
near the junction of Dry creek with Smith’s creek; thence
northwardly along the said boundary line of the said de-
velopment company to Main street; thence westwardly
along Main street to the limit of the Clifton Forge com-
pany’s land at Dry creek; thence with the said boundary
line of the Clifton Forge company’s property to the north-
west corner of said company’s land; thence by direct line
to the northwest corner of the Clifton Forge company’s
land ; thence with the northern boundary of said company’s
land to the corner near block forty-six, section two; thence
by direct line to Hazel Run; thence down Hazel Run to
the place of beginning.

§ 3. The municipal officers shall consist of a mayor, a
treasurer, a commissioner of revenue, a sergeant, a clerk
of the council and a council of six, who shall be residents
of said town. They shall be elected every two years by
the qualified voters who reside in the corporate limits of
said town, except the treasurer and the commissioner of
the revenue, who shall be appointed by the town council,
to hold office until the first town election, from and after
which time they shall be elected every two years. The
town council shall be composed of the mayor and six coun-
cilmen thereof, and five of them shall constitute a quo-
rum for the transaction of business. Said mayor, coun-
cil, treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, together
with the town sergeant, who shall be a qualified voter
of said town, shall be chosen by ballot, on the fourth
Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-three,
and every second year thereafter, and shall enter upon
their duties on the first day of July succeeding their elec-
tion, and they shall hold their offices for two years and
until their successors are elected and qualified. Any
person qualified to vote in the county of Alleghany for
members of the general assembly, who has been a resi-
dent for three months in the corporate limits of the town
of Clifton Forge, shall be entitled to vote at all elections
under this act. The council shall appoint three qualified
voters of said town, one of whom shal! act as clerk, to
hold said election between sunrise and sunset. Said three
judges of election shall judge any contest with reference
to the right to vote of any individual, and shall count the
ballots, and in case it is impossible to determine the can-
didates who have the highest number of votes by reason of
a tie, the said clerk shall by lot determine the matter in
the presence of his associates and of not more than two
persons selected by each candidate affected by said lot.
Said three judges of election shall determine who have
received the greatest number of votes in such election,
and shall certify the same and abstract of the votes on
the poll books and return the same, together with the bal-
lots, to the clerk of the council, to be by him preserved ;
and the said clerk shall immediately thereafter make up
and return to each of the persons elected a certificate of
election.

§ 5. The said council shall have power to pass all by-
laws and ordinances necessary for the proper government
of said town, not in conflict with the constitution and
laws of the state of Virginia and the constitution of the
United States, and to punish the violation of the same by
fine and imprisonment; to issue special bonds, if, in their
judgment, they shall deem it right and proper to do so, in
the denomination of five hundred dollars each, either
registered or coupon, bearing six per centum interest, pay-
able semi-annually, to an amount not exceeding fifteen
thousand dollars, said bonds to run for a period of twenty
years from their date, and be redeemable at any time after
ten years at the option of the town of Clifton Forge, and
to apply the proceeds of the sale thereof to improving
streets and sewers where it is deemed advisable, and for
such other purposes for the benefit of said town as in the
judgment of said council may be proper: provided, how-
ever, that none of the aforementioned bonds shall be sold
for less than their par value.

8 6. The said council may annually levy a tax for cor-
poration purposes, which on no property shall exceed one
dollar on the one hundred dollars valuation. And the
tax now paid the county of Alleghany by the Chesapeake
and Ohio railrogd on its track and buildings within the
corporate limits of the town shall be paid to the corpora-
tion. The taxes on property hereby authorized, shall be
only upon such subjects of taxation as are taxed by the
state of Virginia (as are assessable and assessed for state
taxation) within the county of Alleghany, and shal! in all
cases be based upon the assessment made by the officers
of the state for state taxation.

§ 11. The sergeant of said town shall execute such bonds
and give such security as the council shall prescribe, shall
receive all moneys belonging to the town, turn the same
over to the treasurer and take his receipt therefor. The
said sergeant shall be vested with all the powers of a con-
stable within the limits of said town, and shall be a con-
servator of the peace, with power to arrest in said town, or
anywhere in the county of Alleghany, upon the warrant
issued by the mayor, any person charged with the viola-
tion of the laws or ordinances of the said town; and he
shall have power, upon a like warrant, to arrest anywhere
in Alleghany county any person charged with the commis-
sion of any crime in said town, or within one mile of its
corporate limits. When violation of the laws or ordi-
nances of said town is committed in his presence, he shall
have power and authority forthwith to arrest the offender
and carry him before some conservator of the peace of said
town to be dealt with according to law.

2. The town treasurer shall qualify before the town coun-
cil, and shall give bond, to be approved by the council, in
such sum as that body may prescribe. He shall receive
all money belonging to said town, he shall keep his books
and accounts in such manner as the council may prescribe,
and such books and accounts shall always be subject to
the inspection of the mayor and any member of the coun-
cil, or any committee thereof. No money shall be paid out
by the treasurer except on a warrant of the clerk of the
council], countersigned by the mayor; and he shall keep a
separate account of each fund and appropriation, and the
debits and credits belonging thereto, and shall perform
such other duties as may herein be prescribed or ordained
by the town council. The treasurer may be required to
keep all moneys in his hands belonging to the town in
such place or places of deposit as the town coun-
cil may by ordinance provide, order, establish or direct,
and such moneys shall be kept separate and distinct from
the treasurer’s own moneys; and he is hereby expressly
prohibited from using, directly or indirectly, the corpora-
tion money or warrants in his custody or keeping for his
own use or benefit, or that of any person or persons whom-
soever; and any violation of this provision shall subject
him to immediate removal from office. In case of his re-
moval, the town council shall elect a qualified person to
fill said office for the unexpired term of the officer so
removed.

3. The commissioner of revenue shall perform all of the
duties in relation to the assessment of property for the
purpose of levying the town taxes that may be ordered by the
town council. He shall keep his office in some convenient
place in said town, and shall keep therein such books,
schedules and records, and in such manner as the mayor
and town council may direct and prescribe; which books,
records and other papers shall be subject to the inspection
and examination of the mayor and members of the town
council, or of any committee thereof, and of the collector
of the town taxes. He shall receive for his services the
fees allowed by law and such other compensation as the
town council may, from time to time, direct. The com-
missioner of the revenue, in ascertaining the value of real
property taxable in said town, shall fix the same at the
actual cash value of said property at the time of assess-
ment, irrespective of the value assessed for the purpose of
state taxation, until the next general assessment, except
that assessments made by the board of public works shall
control.

4, This act shall become a law after it is ratified by a
three-fifths vote of the voters who reside in the bounda-
ries designated in section two of this act—said three-fifths
including a majority of the votes of freeholders cast at
such election—the vote to be held thirty days after the act
is certified to the mayor by the keeper of the rolls of the
house of delegates.

5. It shall be the duty of the mayor of Clifton Forge to
post by hand-bill, in five or more of the public places of the
town of Clifton Forge within five days after receiving a copy
of the act, notices of the time and manner of holding such
election—the election to be held as elections are now held
for town officers, and the ballot to be voted shall read:
“For amended charter,” or “Against amended chartér.”

6. Should three-fifths of the ballots so cast, including a
majority of freeholders as aforesaid, be “For amended
charter,” then this amended charter shal] have been carried
and become operative at once. Should less than such
number of ballots so cast be “Against amended charter,”
the same shall have been lost, and the charter shall fall
and be inoperative.

7. This act shall be in force from its passage, and all
acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
repealed.