Chap. 99.—An ACT to amend the charter of the town of Suffolk.

Approved February 8, 1884.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section sixteen, as amended by an act of the general assem-
bly. approved the first day of March, eighteen hundred and
seventy-five, and sections one and twenty- nine, as amended by
anact approved the eighth day of February, eighteen bun-
dred and seventy-nine, and section two, as amended by the
acts approved respectively the first day of March, eighteen
hundred and seventy-five, and the twenty-first day of April,
elfhtcen hundred and vighty- -two, and sections six, fifteen
and twenty-two, as amended by said act, approved the twen-
ty-first day of April, eighteen hundred and cighty-two, and
sections four, seven, nine, twenty-one, twenty-three and
twenty-six of an act entitled an act to provide a new charter
for the town of Suffolk, in force March the nineteenth, eigh-
teen handred and seventy -two, be amended and re- enacted so
as tg read as follows :

sl. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That all the land lying, being ‘and contained within the fol-
lowing boundaries, to-wit : Bevinning on Nansemond river,
in Nansemond county, at the mouth of the first branch that
enipties into said river, west of the bridge over said river, at
the north end of Main street, of the present town of Suffolk,
and running thence southw: ard up and along said) branch to
the point on said branch near Second street, of said town
where the water from a spring west of said branch, and ne: ar
the north end of Pine street, of said town, north of the
railroud of the Seaboard and Roanoke railroad company,
empties into said branch ; thence southwestward up and along
the water run to said spring; thence on southward along the
west side of said Pine street, on the north side of said rail-
roud, to the northern boundary line of said railroad com-
pany’s land; thence along the north side of said railroad
company’s land and railroad north fifty-nine degrees, west
one hundred twenty and one-half poles; thence south across
suid railroad eleven degrees, west eighty poles, more or
less, to the public road ‘leading from said town to Kilby’s
mill; thence with the course last above mentioned across said
public road and the land of Jacob Lawshe sixty-two poles;
thence south sixty-five devrees, east forty-six poles to Wel-
lons street, of said town; thence with the course last above
mentioned, forty -six poles tothe Norfolkand Western railroad ;
thence with said last above mentioned course across said last
above mentioned railroad, thirty poles toa persimmon tree ina
vrave-yard on the land of Robert R. Smith; thence south
sixty-nine devrees, east thirty-six poles to a pine tree on
Joxeph P. Hall's land ; thence with the course last above men-
tioned across the land of said Joseph P. Hall and the railroad
of Suffolk Lumber company, seventy-one poles to Culloden
road ; thence north along the west side ot said Culloden road
twenty devrees, east eighty- -two poles to the southern bound-
ary line of the Nortolk and Western railroad company’s
land; thence east along the south side of said last above men-
tioned company’s Jand and railroad sixty poles; thence due
north across the railroad of said last above mentioned com-
pany one hundred and forty-eight poles, more or less, to the
point where the railroad of William H. Gay an’ company
passes under the railroad of said Seaboard and Roanoke Rail-
road Company; thence a short distance north along the west
side of said railroad of said William If. Gay and company to
the northern boundary line of said Seaboard and Roanoke
railroad company; thence west along the north side or
northern boundary line of said Seaboard and Roanoke rail-
road company’s land and road to the eastern boundary line
of the vaibvont of said Suffolk Lumber company, at the point
where it passes under the railroad of said Seaboard and
Roanoke railroad company; thence north along the eastern
boundary line and side of the said Suffolk Lumber company’s
land and railroad to the east end of the extension of First
street of said town, at the point where the railroad of said
Suffolk Lumber company crosses it; thence east a short dis-
tance along the south side of a dam, or causeway, to Allen’s
branch, on 1 the west side of the said railroad of said William
H. Gay and company ; thence north along said Allen’s branch
and the west side of said raid railroad of said William H. Gay
and company to said Nansemond river; and thence west
along. the south side of said river, and the front of the
wharves thereon, to the beginning, shall be and the same is
hereby made and declared to be a town corporate and politic
by the name and style of Suffolk, and by that name may sue
and be sued, and shall have perpetual succession and a com-
mon seal, which seal it may alter or amend at its pleasure,
and may contract and be contracted with, purchase, hold and
grant estates, real and personal, and make ordinances, by-
laws and regulations consistent with the laws of this state
and of the United States, for the government of all under its
authority, for the management of its estates and the due and
orderly conducting of its affairs, and generally shall have and
exercise all the rights and powers conferred by the laws of
Virginia and the amendments thereto, and shall be subject
to all the provisions, regulations, and restrictions imposed by
said laws, so far as the same are not inconsistent with this
act.

§ 2. On and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred
and eighty-five, the municipal authorities of said town shall
consist of a mayor and six councilmen, who shall be residents
of said town, and qualified by the constitution and laws of
the state of Virginia, to vote and hold office under said con-
stitution and laws. They shall be elected on the fourth
Thuysday in May, eighteen hundred and eighty-five, for a
term of two years, and on the fourth Thursday in May,
every two years thereafter, for a like term, and shall enter
upon the discharge of their duties, as such authorities, on
the first day of July next after their election, and shall con-
tinue in office until their successors are elected and qualified.
Such persons as may be elected to fill the office of mayor or
the position of councilmen, shall neither hold nor exercise
under the municipal government of said town, any other
office or position created by this charter, or the council or
ordinances of said town, during their continuance in office.

$4. At its first meeting after the first day of July, eighteen
hundred and eighty-five, and annually thereafter, at its first
meeting after the first day of July, the council of said town
shall elect the following officers for said town, to-wit: a
treasurer, town sergeant, overseer of the poor, commissioner
of the revenue, strect commissioner, superintendent of the
cemetery, clerk of the council, and clerk of the market, who
shall also be the janitor of the town hall. They shall enter
upon the discharge and performance of the duties of their
respective offices, “and their terms of office shall beign on the
first day of August after their election, and they shall continue
in office until their successors are elected and qualified. The
compensation for their services shall be fixed by the council,
and shall neither be increased nor diminished during the
terms of office for which they shall have been elected. Their
duties shall be such as may be prescribed by this charter, or
the council, or ordinances of said town, or the laws of the
state, in so far as said laws may be adapted to the wants and
necessities of said town, or may be made to scrve its pur-
poses, and in so far as they are not inconsistent with the pro-
visions of this charter or the said ordinances. The said
officers shall bold no office created by this charter, or the
council or ordinances of said town during their continuance
in utfice, except that to which they may each be elected
respectively as aforesaid.

$6. The mayor and councilmen of said town, before enter-
ing upon the discharge of the duties of their respective offices
or positions, shall take and subscribe the oaths or aftirmations
prescribed by the constitution and laws of the state, for per-
sons elected to office under said constitution and laws, and
all the other officers of said town before entering upon the
discharge of the duties of their respective offices or positions,
shall take an oath faithfully to execute and discharge the
duties of their respective offices or positions to the best of
their judyment and ability; and if said mayor or any one of
said councilmen or officers fail to do as above required, on
or before the commencement of the term for which he may
have been elected, the office or position to which he may have
been elected, shall be deemed vacant.

$7. Whenever, for failure of the persons elected to qualify,
or for any cause, a vacancy shall occur in the office or posi-
tion of mayor or councilmen, or of any officer of said town,
the same shall be filled by the council at its next regular
meeting, or as soon thereafter as possible, either from its own
body or from the qualified voters of said town. and a proper
minute made of the election, on the record of its proceedings.

§9. The mayor and three councilmen, or in the absence of
the mayor, four councilmen shall constitute a quorum of the
council, for the transaction of any and all business.

§ 15. The mayor and each one of the councilmen of said
town, for the time being, are hereby declared to be, and are
hereby constituted conservators of the peace within said
town, and within one mile from the corporate limits thereot,
and shall have such powers, rights, authority, and jurisdic-
tion in the trial and examination of civil as well as criminal
cases, including the examination of persons suspected of
lunacy, ay may “be conferred by the general laws ot the state,
upon justices of the peace in similar cases, subject, however,
in all respects, to all such provisions of said laws, as to the
manner in which said cases shall be tried or examined, and
as to the manner in which, and terms and conditions upon
which new trials may be granted, or appeals had or allowed,
or cases removed to the county or circuit courts of Nanse-
mond county, as the case may be, as may be prescribed by
said laws in the case of justices of the peace, generally in said
state.

§ 16. The council of said town shall annually make or cause
to be made, and entered upon the record of its proceedings,
an estimate and statement of all sums of money which may
lawfully be, or may lawfully become chargeable to said town,
and which ought to be paid within one year, for any and all
purposes, including tor the poor and publie schools, together
with a statement of the purposes or objects tor which said
sums of money may be, or may become so chargeable to said
town, and shall raise by levy, so much money as in its dis-
cretion shall be suflicient to meet all just demands against the
corporation or town, on any account including the poor and
public schools. The said lev y may be made upon does and
upon all such persons residents of said town, and over the
age of twenty-one years, and upon all such real and personal
estate, and all such other subjects of taxation, (except the
hall of the friends of temperance, and the armory of the Suf-
folk grays, and the lot upon which said hall and armory are
situated,) as may be subject to state taxation. and not exempt
from taxation by the constitution and laws of the state: pro-
vided, however, that the said levy tor the benefit of the poor
may be such annually as may be necessary to enable the
council to provide tor them, and for the benetit of the public
schools it shall not annually excced the levy or tax allowed
by the general laws of the state for such purposes, and for
all the other purposes of said town, it shall not annually ex-
ceed three fifths of one per centum of the assessed value of
the taxable subjects or property, nor fifty cents per head per
annum, upon persons in said town, at the time said levy may
be made; and provided further, th at no town tax nor levy
shall be imposed upon the bonds of said town: and provided
further, that the assessment of property within said town, for
town taxation, shall in no case exeeed the value at which
such property may be assessed for the purpose of state taxa-
tion. but the assessment for state taxation may be adopted
for the purpose of said town taxation: and provided further,
that the said town taxes may he assessed or levied, and col-
lected in the same manner in which state taxes are levied or
assessed, and upon the same subjects of taxation.

§21. The sergeant shall have the power to collect the
town taxes, fines and levies, and shall have the power, one
month after he shall have received the books of the com-
missioner of the revenue of said town, to distrain and sell
theretor, in like manner as the collector of taxes may sell and
distrain for state taxes, and shall have in all other respects,
the same power as such collector to enforce the payment and
collection thereof; and the said sergeant shall have the power
to exercise within the corporate ‘limits of said town, and
within one mile thereof, all the duties that a constable can
legally exercise in regard to the collection of claims, and exe-
cutions, and levying process, and he shall be entitled to the
same compensation therefor, and he and his securities shall be
subject to the same liabilities as a constable for any failure in
the performance of the duties of, or dereliction in his said
office.

$22. The mayor shall have power to suspend, and the
eontetl shall have power to remove all other town officers,
whether they be elected or appointed, for misconduct in office,
or neglect of duty, to be specitied in the order of suspension
or removal; but no such removal shall be made without rea-
sonable notice to the officer complained of, and an oppor-
tunity afforded him to be heard in his own defence.

$23. Real estate in said town shall be, and the same is
hereby declared to be subject to a lean for town taxes, and the
council may order, and require real estate in said town delin-
quent for the non-payment of town taxes, to be sold by the
seryeant at public auction for the arrears, with interest
thereon, and with such additional per centum as the council
may prescribe for charges, and the surplus shall be paid to
the owner of said real estate; and they may prescribe and
regulate the manner and terms upon which the said delin-
quent real estate shall be sold and redeemed: provided that
a list of said delinquent lands with the arrearage of taxes due
thereon, shall be published for at least four w vecks in some
hewspaper published in said town, and posted at the front
door of the courthouse of Nansemond county; and provided
also that such lien and sale shall be subject to the Hen of the
state and said county, for all taxes and levies due on such
property.

$26. All monevs of said town shall be paid over to the
treasurer, who shall not disburse or pay out any money
(except that to the credit of the public schools), except in
the manner and according to the rules and regulations pre-
scribed by the council, and as the council shall have appro-
priated and ordered the same to be paid.
§29. The overseers of the poor shall have charge of the
poor of said town, and the council shall have the power to
levy the tax as herein provided, which may be necessary
tor their support t and maintenance, and to meet the eXpenses
in connection therewith, and to provide and furnish such
quarters or places for the residence of said poor, as in thei dis-
cretion they may deem necessary: provided however, that
the people and property of said town shall not) be liable to
taxation, assessment, or levy. by the officers of Nansemond
county, as heretofore, for the support or maintenance of the
poor of said county outside the e corporate limits of said town.

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

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