CHAP. 221.—An ACT to provide for taking the sense of the people of
Norfolk county in regard to changing the site of the courthouse of
said county.

Approved March 6, 1880.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That it shall be
the duty of officers conducting elections at the several places
for holding elections in the county ef Norfolk, on the first
‘Tuesday in November after the first Monday, eighteen hundred
and eighty, to open a poll for the purpose of ascertaining the
sense of the people of said county as to whether or not the
courthouse of said county shall be removed from its present
site, in the city of Portsmouth, to some point in the county at
or near the geographical centre, as a site for the seat of justice
for said county. The said election shall be conducted by ballot,
as now provided by law for the election of state and county
officers, said ballots having written or printed thereon “For
removal” or “Against removal.” All persons then entitled to
vote for members of the general assembly, and none others,
shall have a right to vote in said election.

2. The said election shall be conducted as all other elections
are now conducted under the Code of eighteen hundred and
seventy-three for the election of county and state officers, un-
der the supervision of the same judges, who shall conduct and
superintend the election for clerk and other county officers, and
they shall take and subscribe the same oaths and make return
thereof in the same manner as in the election of county officers,
and for neglect or failure of duty shall be liable to the same
penalties.

3. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of election, ap-
pointed by the county court of Norfolk county, as now pro-
vided by law, to meet at the courthouse of said county on the
second day after said election, and after examining the returns
made by the judges of election at the several voting precincts
in the county, shall make report of the result to the clerk of
said court, who shall immediately certify the same to the board
of supervisors of said county. If a majority of the votes polled
are cast for removal, then it shall be the duty of the board of
supervisors of said county to call upon the county surveyors of
the counties of Nansemond and Isle of Wight, whose duty it shall
be to locate a site within the county cf Norfolk, and at its ex-
pense, for said courthouse, having reference to the geographical
centre of said county. Ifa majority of the votes polled shall
be cast against removal, then the present site of said courthouse
shall not be changed.

4. In the event of a majority of the votes polled being cast
for removal, then the board of supervisors of said county shall
take steps to carry into effect the wishes of the people so ex-
pressed, in erecting a court-house and other necessary buildings,
and for that purpose shall be authorized to dispose of the
county’s interest in the court-house and jail in the city of Ports-
mouth, now owned jointly with said city, and appropriate
the proceeds to the building of a new courthouse in the
county, and to levy a tax upon the citizens and property
in said county, or to borrow money in any sum or sums, which,
together with the proceeds of sale of the interest of said court-
house and jail in the city of Portsmouth, shall not exceed the
sum of twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).

5. It shall be the duty of the court of Norfolk county to give
at least thirty days’ notice of said election by publication in
one newspaper published in the city of Norfolk and by posting
notice thereof at the court-house door and at each voting place
in the county.

6. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are
hereby repealed.

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