Chap. 302.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Dayton, Rocking-
ham county.

Approved March 9, 1880.

» 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of
Virginia, That the town of Dayton, in the county of Rocking-
ham, shall be and the same is hereby declared to be a town
corporate under the name and style of The Town of Dayton,
and by that name shall have and exercise tue powers herein-
after granted.

2. The government of said town shall be vested in a council
of seven, to be chosen annually by ballot on the fourth Thurs-
day in May in each year. Any person entitled to vote in the
county of Rockingham, and residing in the corporate limits of
the town of Dayton, 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 after-
noon 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 hive
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 in the first week of July fol-
lowing, the mayor to be their president ; said officers shall hold
their respective offices for one year, or until their successors
yy 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 unani-
- mous vote of the council 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
vacancy among any of the officers of the corporation shall be
filled by said council.
4. In addition to the above-named officers, there shall be
elected annually by the qualified voters of said town a mayor,
3s a@ Clerk, and a town sergeant. The mayor shall be the pre-
siding officer of the council, but shall have no vote except in
case of a tie, and shall have jurisdiction and authority of a
justice of the peace of Rockingham county within the corpo-
rate limits of said town, and shall be entitled to the: same fees.
. The clerk shall keep a correct record of all the proceedings of
the council; shall provide the hooks and stationery therefor ;
make out the certificates of election; make out a list of pro-
perty to be assessed, real and personal, within the limits of the
corporation, and assess the same according to the best informa-
tion obtained by him; and shall issue tickets for taxes voiced
by the council, which tickets he shall deliver to the sergeant,

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when ordered by the council; and shall have power to admin-
ister the oaths of office to any of the town officers; and for
said services he sha]] be allowed annually 4 certain sum, to be
named by the council, not to exceed fifty dollars. 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 power and authority of any constable or collector in the
county of Rockingham within the corporate limits of the said
town, and shall be entitled to the same fees. He shall pay out
the money in his hands on the warrant of the mayor and clerk,
certifying that it is done by order of the council. He shall
perform all the duties of the overseer of roads and streets in
the corporation, in accordance with the laws of Virginia. No
road tax shall be assessed upon the property within the corpo-
ration except by the council aforesaid, which road tax shall be
expended upon the road and streets of said town by the ser-
geant aforesaid under the direction of the council, provided
said town supports its own poor. For his services, as overseer
of said road and streets, he shall be entitled to the same com-
pensation allowed by law to overseers of roads. Said council
and sergeant shall have all the powers and perform all the
duties belonging to overseers of roads under the general road
law. The sergeant shall, before he enters upon the 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.

5. The council shall have power to mark accurately the
bounds of existing streets, to lay off new streets, alleys and
sidewalks; to regulate or prohibit the running at large of ani-
mals; 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 neces-
sary conveniences; to regulate in reference to contagious
diseases, and pass ordinances to carry into effect the object of
this incorporation, and to punish the violations of the same by
fine and imprisonment: provided further, that private property
for public use may be taken in the manner provided for by law,
and for that purpose the council of said town shall have the
same jurisdiction for the condemning of land for streets for
said town as the county court has for the condemning of land
for roads in the county.

6. The council may, annually, levy a tax for roads and cor-
poration purposes, which on no property shall exceed fifty
cents on the hundred dollars’ valuation, except that, on a peti-
tion 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.

7. That any person applying to the county court of Rocking-
ham for license to sell liquors of any kind, either as the keeper
of a bar-room, wholesale or retail liquor dealer within the cor-
porate limits of said town of Dayton, Rockingham 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 i8 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 un.
less such certificate be given.

8. The following is hereby declared to be the boundary of
the town of Dayton: Beginning at the northwest corner, the
Payne property, running thence southeasterly to the corner of
Soloman Burtner’s farm, nearest the mill-dam; thence with
the line of said farm to the northeast corner of J. N. Frie’s
stable; thence southeasterly across the land of Burtner to the
northeast corner of W.J. Miller’s mill; thence easterly to a
double sycamore on the race-bank ; thence southeasterly to the
southwest corner of the Bechtel lot, adjoining the farm of Doc-
tor Sager; thence westerly with the public road to the middle
of the pike in front of Thompson’s; thence southwesterly with
‘said pike to the southeast corner of John Hedrick’s lot; thence
westerly with the line of said lot to the southwest corner of the
same; thence northerly to the nortwest corner of A.S. Kieffer’s
lot; thence westerly to the southwest corner of Thompson’s
lot; thence northerly to the place of beginning.

9. Ephraim Ruebush, W. J. Miller, A. Sime, S. Kieffer, Sam-
uel Shrum, John L. Thompson, Saint Clair Detamer and A. P.
Funkhouser are hereby declared and appointed councilmen, and
Joseph W. Rhodes as clerk, and William H. Peterson as ser-
geant, and J. N. Fries as mayor of said town, and may qualify
before any magistrate or notary public in the county, and there-
upon they shall constitute, until the first day in July, eighteen
hundred and eighty, the council of the said town of Dayton,
and as such they shall perform all the duties of said council.

10. All previous acts or parts of acts relating to the incorpo-
ration of said town are hereby declared to be null and void.

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