Chap. 316.—An ACT to incorporate The Town of Falls’ Church, in the
County of Fairfax.

Approved March 30, 1875.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the follow-
ing described territory in the counties of Fairfax and Alex-
andria, shall be and the same is hereby made a town corpo-
rate, under the name and style of Tho Town of Falls’ Church,
and by that name and style shail bave and exercise the
powers hereinafter granted. —

2. Be it further enacted, That the government of said town
Shall be vested in a council of seven, to be chosen annually,
by ballot, on the fourth Thursday of May of each year.
Any person entitled to vote in the township of Falls’ Church,
and residing within the corporate limits of the town of Falls’
Church, shall be entitled to vote at all elections under said
act of corporation. ‘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 in reference 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 councilmen aforesaid,
by lot. Said clerk shall immediately thereafter make out and
deliver to each one of the councilmen elected, a certificate of
his election. |

3. Said councilmen shall meet on the first week day of
July following, and organize by choosing, by ballot, a mayor
from their own body. Said officers shall bold their respective
offices for one year, or until their successors have been clected
and qualified. Said officers shall qualify by taking the oath
of office before the clerk or other person authorized to ad-
minister oaths, and they may be removed from office by a
unanimous vote of the council, on proof of misdemeanor.
All the officers of the corporation shall serve without cont-
pensation, except as Hereinafter provided. Said council shall
appoint its own time of meeting. Five members shall con-
stitute a quorum, and any vacancy among any of the officers
of the corporation shall be filled by the said council.

4. The mayor shall be the presidihy officer of the council,
but shali have no vote, except in gase of a tie, and shall have
jurisdiction and authority of a justice of the peace of Fairfax
county, within the corporate limits of said town.

5. In addition to the above named officors there shall be
elected annually, by the qualified voters of said town, a clerk
and town sergeant. 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 election;
shall make out a list of property to be assessed, real and per-
sonal, within the corporation and assess the same, according
to the best information obtained by him; and shall issue
tickets for the taxes voted by the council, which tickets he
shall deliver to the sergeant when ordered by the council;
and shall have the power to administer the oath of office to
any of the town officers; and for said services he shall be
allowed annually a certain sum to be named by the council,
not to exceed one hundred dollars. The sergeant shall col-
lect the taxes voted by the council, for which he shall be
allowed two and one-half per centum for collecting and pay-
ing out the same; he shall have the power and authority of
any constable or collector in Fairfax county, and shall be
entitled to the same fees; he shall pay out the money of
the town in his hands on the warrant of the mayor and clerk
certifying that it is drawn by order of the council; he shall
perform all the duties of overscer of roads and streets within
the corporation in accordance with the laws of Virginia;
and for this purpose the town of Falls’ Church is hereby
declared to be one of the road districts of the township of
Falls’ Church. No road tax shall be assessed upon the pro-
perty within the corporation, except by the council afore-
said, which road tax shall be expended upon the roads and
streets of said town, by the sergeant aforesaid, under the
direction of the council; for his services as overseer of said
roads and streets, he shall be entitled to the same compensa-
tion allowed by law to overseers of roads. Said council and
sergeant shall have all the powers and perform all the duties
belonging tu overseers of roads under the general road law.
The sergeant shall, before Le enters upon tho duties of his
office, execute a bond for the faithful performance of his
duties, which bond shall be approved by the council and filed
with the clerk.

6. The council shall have power to mark accurately the
bounds of existing streets; to lay off new strects, alleys, and
sidewalks; to regulate or prohibit the running at large of
animals; to provide for order and quiet, and the observance
of the Sabbath within the corporation; to provide and protect
shade trees; to establish a fire department with suitable and
necessary convenicnees,; to regulate in reference to contagi-
ous diseases; to pass ordinances to carry into effect the
object of this incorporation, and to punish the violation of
the same by fine and imprisonment: provided further, that
private property for public use may be taken in the manner
now provided for by law, and for that purpose the mayor's
court of said town shall have the same jurisdiction for the
condemning of Jand for streets of said town as the county
court has for condemning lands for roads in the county.

7. The council may, annually, levy a tax for roads and
corporation purposes, which, on no property, shall exceed
Afty cents on an hundred dollars; except that on a petition
of two-thirds of the freeholders within the corporation, the
council may levy a corporation tax not to exceed the amount
named in said petition.

8. That any person applying to the county of Fairfax or
the county of Alexandria tor a ‘license to sell liquors of. any
kind, cither as keeper of an ordinary or eating-house, or as
merchant, within the corporation limits of the town of Falls
Church, in the said counties, or Within one mile of the limits
of said corporation, shall produce before the courts of said
counties, a certificate of the council of said town tothe effect
that the applicant is a suitable person, and that no good rea-
son is known to said council why said license should not be
granted. And the courts of said c8unties shall not grant
any license to sell liquors within the limits above prescribed,
unl and unless such certificate be given.

The following are hereby ‘declared to be the bounds of
said town: Beginning at the corner of Alexandrig and Fair-
fax counties, on J. C. DePutron’s farin; thenee to the corner
of W. IL. Ellison and Koon, on D. If. Barrett’s line;
thence to the corner of Sewell and Hollidge, on the new cut
road; thence to the corner of J. KE. Birch and IL. J. England,
on, the Falls’ Church and Fairfax Courthouse road; thence
to a stone in the road, being a corner of B. F. Shreve, New-
ton, and others; thence to the crossing of the Alexandria
and Georgetown roads at Taylor's corners; thence along the
line of said Georgetown road to the corner of Samuel Shreve
and John Febrey; thence toa pin oak tree near Dr. L. FE.
Gott’s spring; thence to the northeast corner of John Brown’s
barn; thence to the crossing of Isaac Crossmun’s and
Bowen’s line on the Chain Bridge road; thence to the place
of beginning.

10. J.J. Moran, T. T. Fowler, J. &. Birch, Isaac Crossmun,
L. BE. Gott, @. B. Ives, and Joel Carter, are hereby declared
and appointed. councitmen; and Henry J. England as clerk,
and E. Frank Crocker as sergeant of said town, ‘and may
quality before any magistrate of the county, and ‘thereupon
they shall constitute, until the first week day in July, eigh-
teen hundred and seventy-five, the council of said town of
Falls’ Church, and as such may organize and perform all the
duties of said council.

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

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