Chap. 188.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 93 of the charter
of the city of Richmond, concerning the Fire Department.

Approved February 23, 1888.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
section ninety-three of the charter of the city of Richmond,
concerning the fire department, be amended and re-enacted
so as to read as follows: ;

§93. The fire and fire alarm departments of the city of:
Richmond, shall be under the direction and control of a board §
composed of six citizens, voters in said city, of whom one
shall reside in each ward, such board to be called the board
of fire commissioners of the city of Richmond. The first 1
board of commissioners chosen under this act shall be elected ‘
by the board of public interests of the said city on the first
Monday in June, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight; all
other elections of said commissioners shall be by the council
of said city on the nominations of said board of public inter-
ests in the following manner, namely: At least ten days be-
fore any election after the first, of a member of the board of
fire commissioners, an order for such election shall be entered
on the journals of the two branches of the city council, and
a copy of the same certified to the board of public interests
of said city. It shall then be the duty of said board of pub-
lic interests to nominate by a viva voce vote (which shall be
recorded on their minutes, and a copy certified, with their
nominations, to the joint meeting of the council), three per-
sons residing in each ward for which any fire commissioner
is to be elected, which persons shall be voters in said city, and
shall hold no office, municipal, state, or federal, and the
names of these persons shall be certified by the president of the
board of public interests, with the recorded vote nominating
them as aforesaid, to the council in joint session, as the per-
sons from whom the council shall elect the member or mem-
bers of said board of fire commissioners, and the council shall
elect one fire commissioner for a ward from the three names
certified to it from that ward by the president of the board
of public interests as aforesaid. But no person shall be elected
who does not receive a majority in each branch of the coun-
cil of all the members elected to such branch, and in case
there is no election, or any person elected declines to act, or
whenever there is an election of a fire commissioner to fill a
vacancy caused by the expiration of a term of one of those
elected, or by the resignation, death, or inability of a com-
missioner to act, the board of public interests shall in like
manner proceed to nominate to the council three times as
many persons as there are vacancies, and said vacancies shall
be filled as above prescribed.

2. The members of the first board of fire commissioners
elected under this act, shall hold their offices for one, two,
three, four, five, and six years respectively, from the first day
of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and until their
successors are elected and qualified in the month of July,
eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, and in July in each suc-
ceeding year thereafter, one member of said board of fire
commissioners shall be elected in the same manner as above
provided, to fill the vacancy which will then be caused by the
expiration of the term of one member. All members thus
elected to fill a vacancy caused by the expiration of the term
of a member, shall be elected for a term of six years from
the time of said expiration. The members of the board of
fire commissioners shall not receive any compensation for
their services as such. They may be removed from office by
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to the council
for good cause shown; and any member who shall during his
term of office be nominated for any office elected by the
people, and shall not decline the said nomination ten days
from the time he has notice thereof, shall be deemed ipso
facto to have vacated his office.

3. The members of the board of fire commissioners shall
meet on the second day of July, eighteen hundred and eighty-
eight, at the headquarters of the fire department, or other
suitable place, and after taking the oath of office, proceed to
organize by electing one of their number president, and by
electing a secretary. They shall then proceed to draw lots,
and by numbers, for the term of office that each shall serve—
that is to say, the member drawing the lowest number shall
serve one year; the one drawing next lowest number, two
years; and so.on until each member shall have designated

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his term by the number drawn by him. Four members of:
the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of

business. Each member of the board shall be entitled to one

vote, and the board may determine the manner in which any

vote may be taken on any subject brought before it. The:
said board shall have power to elect a president pro tempore,
to serve in the absence, or in case of the temporary disability

of the president.

4, The force of the fire department of the city of Rich-
mond shall be appointed by the said board of fire commis- |
sioners as herein provided. The said force shall consist of a:
chief engineer, one or more assistant engineers, and a secre-
tary, and as many foremen, station-men, horse-men, and lad-
der-men as from time to time may be required, except that
the force of foremen, station-men, horse-men, and ladder-men
shall not be reduced below the number employed at the date
of the passage of this act. The chief engineer, assistant
engineers, secretary, and other members ‘of the department,
shall be appointed for a period of three years. The said offi- |
cers and members of the fire department may be removed by |
the said board for cause at any time, or such fines or suspen-
sions may be imposed for cause as the board may deem
proper, as hereinafter provided. In any investigation per-
taining to their duties, the board shall have power to send
for persons and papers, and by their presiding officer admin-
ister an oath. The board of fire commissioners are hereby
empowered to prescribe the duties of the chief engineer,
assistant engineers, and secretary, as well as of other mem-
bers or employees of the fire department, assigning to them
such duties in the department as the board may deem proper.

5. The board of fire commissioners shall have and exer- |
cise fully and exclusively, all powers necessary for the gov-'
ernment, management, maintenance, and direction of the fire
and fire-alarm departments of the city, and the premises and
property thereof. All real estate, fire apparatus, hose, imple-
ments, bells, and bell-towers, fire-telegraph, and all property
of whatever nature in use by the firemen, or fire and fire-
alarm departments of the city belonging to said city, shall
be under the control of the fire commissioners, and for the
use of said departments, but the said property shall remain
the property of the city of Richmond, subject to the public
uses of said departments as aforesaid, and for the purposes
provided by this act. The said board shall, subject to the
other provisions of this act, have full power to provide sup-.
plies, horses, tools, implements, and apparatus of any and all
kinds incident to or to be used in the control, prevention, and
extinguishment of fires, and for fire-telegraph purposes; food
and provender for horses of said departments; and to buy,
sell, construct, repair, and have the care of the same, and to
take any and all such action in the premises as it may deem
to be reasonably necessary and proper. The said board may,
with the approval of the city council, increase the number of
companies in service as from time to time they may deem
necessary.

6. The said board of fire commissioners shall have exclu-

‘sive right and power, from time to time, to designate and fix
the location of all fire alarms telegraph, signal and alarm
stations in the city, and shall have access to and the control
of the same for the purposes of the departments.

7. The said board of fire commissioners shall, subject to
the other provisions of this act, provide such offices and busi-
ness accommodations as may be requisite for the transaction
of the business of the departments. The board of fire com-
missioners may adopt a common seal and direct its use.

8. The city attorney shall be the attorney for the board of
fire commissioners, and shall perform such duties, connected
with the departments under their control, as are prescribed
herein, or as may be properly required of him by the board
of fire commissioners.

9. It shall be the-duty of said board of fire commissioners
to make such suitable regulations for the government of the
officers, men and property of the fire and fire alarm depart-
ments of said city as it may deem necessary and proper for
the control and management of the same.

10. No person holding office by appointment of the board
of fire commissioners, shall be liable to military or jury duty
nor 10 arrest on civil process while in the actual performance
of duty in answer to an alarm of fire.

11. Every member of the departments herein named, shall
take an oath for the faithful performance of his duties, and
subscribe the same before a member of the board of fire com-
missioners.

12. The board shall have power, in its discretion, on con-
viction of a member of the force of any offence against its
rules or neglect of duty, or neglect or disobedience of orders,
or incapacity or absence without leave, or immoral conduct,
or conduct unbecoming an officer, or other breach of disci-
pline, to punish the offending party by reprimand, forfeiture,
and withholding of pay for a specific time, or by dismissal
from the force.

' 13. The said board shall fix the salaries and compensation
of the officers and members of the fire department, but the
aggregate of such salaries and compensations shall not be re-
duced below the sum appropriated by the city council annu-
ally for pay-rolls of the said departments at the date of the
passage of this act, and they may be increased only by the
city council after recommendation of the said board.

14. The said board of fire commissioners shall appoint a
superintendent of fire alarms, and such other employees as
the proper working of the fire alarm department may require,
and shall fix their compensation; such compensation to be
not less than that paid such employees at the date of the pas-
sage of this act, and may be increased only by the council
after recommendation of said board of fire commissioners.

15. It shall be the duty of the board of fire commissioners,

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once in each year and oftener if deemed necessary, to submit |
to the city council, in writing, a classified estimate of what
funds will be needed for the proper maintenance and growth
of the fire and fire alarm departments, and to request the
council to make appropriations accordingly. It shall be the
duty of the city council to appropriate annually, upon the
recommendation of the board of fire commissioners, such
sums of money as said council shall deem sufficient for the

roper maintenance of both fire and fire alarm departments,
or pay-rolls, expense, equipment and construction: provided
such appropriations shall not be reduced below the sums ap-
propriated to the said fire and fire alarm departments for the
fiscal year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven—eighty-eight.
The said board of fire commissioners are authorized and em-
powered to draw warrants on the auditor of the city to pay
claims against said departments, said warrants to be signed
by the president of the board or by a president pro tempore,
to be appointed by the said board as hereinbefore provided,
after the same shall have been approved by the board in
regular session.

16. It is hereby declared to be unlawful for the board of
fire commissioners, or any member thereof, to be personally
interested in any contract, purchases, or sales made for the
department under their -control; or in any way, directly or
indirectly, to receive compensation or profit arising from the
performance of the duties of their office, and any member of
said board who shall be found guilty thereof shall be punished,
by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or confinement
in the city jail not exceeding six months.

17. The said board shall keep, in a book to be prepared by
them for the purpose, a detailed account of their expenditures,
and shall report said expenditures to the city council at its
first meeting in the months of January and July of each year,
and they shall be at all times prepared to substantiate such
expenditures by propor papers and vouchers. They shall
also report to the city council at its first meeting in Jan-
uary in each year the condition of the departments under
their control, with all information germain thereto and not
prejudicial to the service.

18. Nothing in this act shall be construed to interfere in
any manner with any contract or agreement that may exist
at the date of the passage of this act between the city of
Richmond and any railway, telephone or telegraph company
in reference to the occupany of the streets by telegraph or
telephone wires. ,

19. The fire and fire alarm departments of the city of
Richmond shall remain as at Present organized, until July the
second, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, at which time the
said board of fire commissioners shall proceed to organize the
said departments as herein described, and to assume all the
powers and duties conferred upon them by this act.

20. All acts or portions of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed.

21. This act, shali be, inofiorce from its passage.