CHAP. 262.—An ACT to incorporate the city of Danville,

Approved February 17, 1890.

CHARTER OF THE CITY OF DANVILLE, VIRGINIA.

1. Be it enacted by the genera] assembly of Virginia,
Fhat the territory contained within the limits prescribed
by the act approved January twenty-eight, eighteen hun-
dred and sixty-seven, entitled an act to extend the limits
of the town of Danville, and by any other act which may
be hereafter passed by the general assembly of Virginia
altering or enlarging said boundaries, shall be deemed and
taken as the city of. Danville, and the inhabitants of the
city of Danville, for all purposes for which towns and
cities are incorporated, shall continue to be one body
politie in fact and in name, under the style and denomi-
nation of the “ City of Danville,” and as such shall have,
exercise and enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers and
privileges, and be subject to all the duties and obligations
now appertaining to and incumbent on said city as a
municipal corporation.

CHAPYreER ITI.

_ The government of the city of Danville shall be vested
in @ mayor, a council, aldermen, and such boards and
officers as are permitted or required by law and as may be
constituted and appointed by said council.
CuHaPpTer III.

Courts.

. 1. There shall continue to be for the said corporation a
court of record, which shall be called the corporation court
of Danville, and shall be held by the judge thereof, with
such powers and at such times as the constitution and
laws of the state now in force for the government of cor-
poration courts may provide. The judge of said court
shall reside in said city or within the jurisdiction of his
said court, and shall be paid such salary as the council
may determine, so that the same be not less than fifteen
hundred nor more than twenty-three hundred dollars.

Oircurtt court.

2. There shall continue to be held in the city of Danville
twice in each year a circuit court for said city, the juris-
diction whereof shall extend to all cases made cognizable
therein by the constitution and laws of the state arising
within the corporate limits of said city and within the
corporate limits of the town of North Danville, and for
one mile beyond the limits of either and both of said cor-
porations, over which the circuit court of Pittsylvania has
heretofore had jurisdiction, and the said court shall be
convened and held at such times as may be fixed by law
by the judge of the fourth judicial circuit.

Jurisdiction of corporation court.

_ 3. The jurisdiction of the said corporation court, except
as to matters of police, which shall belong to the council,
shall be the same as the constitution and laws of the state
now provide, and the said court shall have jurisdiction
not only within the corporate limits of the city of Dan-
ville and the town of North Danville, but also for the
space of one mile without and around the limits of said
city and said town, and in all matters arising within said
city and said town or the space of one mile beyond and
around the same, as aforesaid. And the court, jail, and
other proper expenses attaching or incident to the conduct
of the courts and legal’ business within the jurisdiction
aforesaid, and as fixed by law, shall be fairly and justly
apportioned between said city and said town by the re-
spective councils thereof; and in case of disagreement
between said councils, or the failure or refusal of either
or both of said bodies to act in the premises, the same
shall be apportioned and allowed by the circuit and cor-
poration courts of Danville, or the judges thereof, upon
meeting and consultation for that purpose, and the re-
spective amounts to be paid by Danville and North Dan-
ville certified by said courts or judges to the respective
councils for payment.
4. The said corporation court shall have the power to
settle tavern rates, and to license, in the manner prescribed
by law, tavern keepers, and retailers of wine, ardent
spirits, or a mixture thereof.

CHAPTER LV.

Election of city officers and their terms of office. -

1. The regular election of all municipal officers, who,
under the provisions of this charter, are to be chosen by
the vote of the people, shall be held on the fourth Thurs-
day in May, at the court-house in said city, and at such
other places as the corporation judge may direct or desig-
nate as precincts or voting places. At such election there
shall be elected two councilmen from each ward of the city,
except at the first election held under this charter, when
four councilmen shall be elected for each ward, two to
serve for two years, and two to serve for four years, and
thereafter there shall be elected at each biennial election
two councilmen from each ward to serve for four years.
At such elections there shall also be elected one mayor,
three aldermen (one for each ward), one commonwealth’s
attorney (who shall be attorney for both the corporation
and circuit courts), one clerk (who shall likewise be clerk
of both said courts), one sergeant, one treasurer, and one
commissioner of the revenue. All these officials shall
enter upon their duties on the first day of July succeeding
their election, and (except councilmen, who shall hold as
hereinbefore provided ), shall hold for the following terms,
namely: The mayor and aldermen for two years, sergeant
for two years, commissioner of the revenue for four years,
treasurer for three years, and clerk for six years.

In cases of vacancy arising in any municipal office

herein mentioned, except as otherwise provided, and in
case of any special election ordered by the city council for
any object not provided for in the general election laws
of the state, it shall be the duty of the countil to certify
the same, and communicate the facts and their order to
the judge of the corporation court, who shall issue his
writ for an.election to fill the vacancy named, or to carry
out the objects for which a special election is desired, in
the manner prescribed by the general election laws of the
State.

Eligibility to office.
2. No person shall be eligible to any municipal office
unless he be a resident of the city, and has been a resident

for at least twelve months before his election; nor shall
any person be capable of holding at the same time more
52 .
than one of the elective offices mentioned in this act, and
removal from the city of any one holding any municipal
office shall vacate the same.

Continuance in office, &c.

3. All persons elected or appointed to any municipal
office under the provisions of this charter, shall respect-
tively continue in office until their successors have quali-
fied, unless such discontinuance shall be brought about by
death, resignation, or removal from office in the manner
prescribed by law.

Oath of office, etc.

4. The mayor, members of the council, and all other offi-
cers of the city,whether elected by the people or the council,
before entering upon the duties of their respective offices
shall be sworn in accordance with the laws of the state.
Such oaths may be administered by any person competent
to administer oaths under the laws of the state, and a certifi-
cate of such oaths having been taken shall be filed bv each
officer with the clerk of the council, unless otherwise pro-
vided by law, and said-clerk shall enter the same upon the
journal of the council. If any person elected or appointed
to any office in said city shall neglect to take such oath
for thirty days after receiving notice of his election or

pointment, or shall neglect or refuse for the like space
of time to give such securities as may be required of
him by the city council as hereinafter provided, or as may
be hereafter required by any law or ordinance, his office
shall be deemed vacant, and another election or appoint-
ment shall be made.

Who shall give bond and the penalties of such bonds.

5. The following officers shall severally give bonds to
the city, with security to be approved by the council, con-
ditioned so as to secure the faithful discharge of the duties
of their respective offices to the city, and the several penal-
ties of said bonds shall not be less than the sum named
below, but may, at the will of the council, be greater—to
wit: The mayor, in a penalty not less than ten thousand
dollars; the treasurer, in a penalty not less than twenty
thousand dollars; the collector, in a penalty not less than
forty thousand; the commissioner of the revenue, in @
penalty not less than five thousand dollars; auditor, five
hundred dollars; chief of fire department, five hundred
dollars; clerk of market, five hundred dollars; chief of
police, one thousand dollars; the city engineer, in a penalty
not less than two thousand dollars; the constable, in a
penalty not less than five thousand dollars; aldermen, in
a penalty not less than five hundred dollars. And any
person holding a municipal office, whether such office is
enumerated above or not, and whether such office now
exists or may hereafter be created by act of assembly or
ordinance of the city, may be required by the council, sub-
ject to the above limitation, to give such official bond as it
may deem proper. The bonds provided for under this
section are only to secure official duties to the city, and
are intended in no wise to avoid or supersede the official
bonds to the state required of any of said officers by law.
All official bonds given by municipal officers shal] be filed
with the city treasurer, except that of the treasurer, which
shall be filed with the clerk of the corporation court.

Default.

6. In case of default on the part of any bonded official
of the city of Danville, the city shall have the same reme-
dies upon his bond against him and his sureties as are
provided for the state in enforcing the penalty of any
official bond given to it.

Preasurer, collector, commissioner of revenuc, and constable may
appoint deputies.

7. The treasurer, collector, commissioner of the revenue,
and constable may each appoint one or more deputies:
provided, such appointments meet the approval of the
council: and provided, further, that the securities of said
officers, respectively, shall be liable as well for the acts of
said deputies as for those of their principals.

CHAPTER V.

Mayor and his dutves.

1. The mayor shall be elected by the qualified voters of
the city for the term of two years. His salary shall be
fixed by the ordinances of the city, and paid as therein
directed; and the salary of mayor shall not be diminished
during his term of office.

2. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of said
city, and his powers and duties, with reference to his super-
vision over the conduct of municipal officers and those
acting in such relation, and the general affairs of the city,
shall be such as are prescribed by the constitution and
laws of the state.

3. It shall be his duty to enforce the laws and ordi-
nances of the city and all orders and resolutions of the
council.

4. He shall] report to the council, as often as it may
require, all moneys received by him for the use of the
city from fines, forfeitures, and taxes under the ordi-
nances and laws of the city, and shall pay the same over
at such times as he may be required to do so, and he shall,
at least once in every year, report to the council the situ-
ation and condition of the city in relation to its govern-
ment, finances, and improvement, with such recommen-
dation as he may deem proper.

5. In criminal cases under the laws of the state he
shall exercise all the power and authority of a justice of
the peace, not only within the corporate limits of said
city, but for the space of one mile without and around
the same, except wherein his authority and jurisdiction
would conflict with the jurisdiction and authority con-
ferred by law upon the mayor of North Danville within
the limits of that town; and in enforcing the laws and
ordinances of thé city he shall have authority to impose
and collect all fines and penalties, together with costs,
and inflict such other punishments as by the said laws
and ordinances are ordained as a penalty for any breach
thereof, and, except where otherwise provided, the said
last named fines, penalties, and punishments for the vio-
lation of the laws and ordinances of said city may,in the
sound discretion of the mayor, be imposed, collected, and
inflicted by him in addition tothe punishment prescribed
by the laws of the state for the offenses.

6. In civil suits, his jurisdiction within the corporate
limits shall be the same as that of a justice of the peace,
except that the maximum limit of such jurisdiction shall
be one hundred dollars, and when the matter in contro-
versy, exclusive of costs, does not exceed ten dollars, his
judgment shall be final.

7. An appeal may be taken from the judgment of the
mayor in imposing penalties for infraction of the city
ordinances to the corporation court of the city, except in
cases where the penalty imposed isa fine not exceeding ten
dollars, in which it shall be final.

8. The mayor shall hold a court every day, except Sun-
day, for the cognizance of such cases as may be brought
before him under the laws of the state or the ordinances
of the city, and he shall have power to enforce the pay-
ment of any fine or penalty imposed by him, not only for
violation of the laws of the state, and in accordance with
the laws of the state, but also for any infraction of a city
ordinance, by imprisonment in the city jail.

9. The mayor shall see that the duties of the various city
officers are faithfully performed. He shall have powers to
investigate their acts, have access to all books and docu-
ments in their offices, and may examine them and their
subordinates on oath, but the evidence given by persons
so examined shall not be used against them in any crimi-
nal proceedings. He shall also have power to suspend or
remove such officers, whether they be elected or appointed,
for misconduct in office or neglect of duty, the cause
thereof to be specified in the order of suspension or re-
moval, but no such removal shal] be made without reason-
able notice to the officer complained of, and an opportu-
nity afforded him to be heard in his defense.

10. In case of the absence or inability of the mayor,
the president of the council or such alderman as may
be designated by the council, shall act as mayor, and shall
possess the same powers and discharge the same duties as
the mayor during such absence or inability.

11. In case a vacancy occurs in the office of mayor, the
same shall be filled by the council until such vacancy 1s
filled by an election by the people according to law.

12. The corporation court of the city may remove the
mayor from office for malfeasance, misfeasance, and gross
neglect of official duty, and such removal ci:all be deemed
a vacation of the office. All proceedings under this sec-
tion shall be by order of or motion before said court, upon
reasonable notice to the party to be affected thereby.

‘CHAPTER VI.

City council—powers, duties, Kc.

1. The council shall, immediately after qualifying, or
as soon thereafter as may be, convene and elect a presi-
dent and a clerk. The president shall be one of their own
body and shall preside at all times when present, and the
council may elect a president pro tempore to preside in his
absence. The president may, at any time, call a meeting
of the council, and, in case of his absence, inability, or
refusal, the council may be convened by the order, in writ-
ing, of any seven members, addressed to its clerk.

2. The council shall have authority to adopt all needful
rules and regulations for its government and the proper
conduct of its business, and, in addition to its clerk, may
appoint such other officers as it deems proper and neces-
sary for the convenient dispatch of business; to compel
the attendance of absent members; to punish members
for disorderly behavior, and, by a vote of three-fourths of
its whole number, to expel a member for misconduct in
office. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and its
meetings shall be open, except when the public welfare
requires secresy.

3. A majority of the members of the council shall con-
stitute a quorum for the tranaction of business, except
that on all ordinances or resolutions appropriating money
exceeding one hundred dollars, imposing taxes or author-
izing the borrowing of money, a vote of two-thirds of all
the members elected shall be necessary, 2nd the yeas and
nays shall be taken and entered on the journal. No vote
shall be reconsidered or rescinded at any special or called
meeting, unless at such special or called meeting there be
then present as many members as were present when such
vote was taken. Noordinance or resolution appropriatin,
money exceeding the sum of one thousand dollars. impos
ing taxes, or authorizing the borrowing of money. shal! b
passed until after ten davs from the introduction thereot
No ordinance, resolution, or motion which creates. contin
ues, Or revives any appropriation of money or property, 0
releases, discharges, remits. or commutes anv claim o
demand of the city, shall have anv force or effect unles.
the same shal] receive the votes of at least two-thirds o
all the members elected to the city council.

4. Upon the announcement by the president of the adop
tion of resolutions or ordinances having for their object the
increase of the indebtness of the city, or the expenditure
of its revenue or resources, except in the payment of it:
salaried officers and current expenses, any two council.
men may give notice of a motion to reconsider, which
motion shall delay the question until said reconsideration
can be acted on at the next regular meeting, or at a meet-
ing called for that special purpose.

5. The council shall have all the general powers vested
m it by the laws of the state, and shall further have
power—

6. To fill vacancies in its body, and the person s0 ap-
pointed shall hold during the unexpired term of the person
in whose place he is appointed. -

7. To control and manage the fiscal and municipal
affairs of the city, and of all property, real and personal,
belonging to the city, and make such ordinances, orders
and by-laws relating to the same as if may deem proper
and necessary.

8. The council shall also have power to purchase, receive,
lease, and hold lands, tenements, goods, and chattels,
either in fee simple or any less estate therein, either for
the use of said city or in trust for the benefit of any per-
sons or associations therein, and the same to let, sell,
or grant or assign again; to purchase and hold any
quantity of land outside of the limits of the corpora-
tion, and in the county of Pittsylvania, not exceeding two
hundred acres, as may be necessary for the use, conve-
nience, and comfort of the people, and for one or more
public cemeteries, public parks, a poor-house, and a work-
house. Any lands so acquired and bona fide used for such
purposes shall be subject to the jurisdiction of said coun-
cil and the corporation court of said city in like manner
as if the same were within the corporate limits of said
city, and be free from state tax.

9. The council shall have power also to build a market-
house or market-houses, and establish markets in the city
and regulate the same, and enforce such regulations in
regard to the keeping and sale of fresh meat, vegetables,
eggs, and other green groceries and marketable produce,
and the trade of butchers, hucksters, and junk dealers, as
may be deemed necessary or advisable; to erect acity hall,
a station-house, a jail, and other buildings deemed neces-
sary and convenient for the wants of said city; to erect,
in or near the city, suitable. work-houses, houses of -cor-
rection or reformation, and a house or houses for the re-
ception and maintainance of the poor and destitute. It
shall possess and exercise exclusive authority over all per-
sons within the limits of the city receiving or entitled to
the benefit of the poor law; appoint officers and other per-
sons connected with any ‘house or institution which it
may establish, and regulate pauperism within the limits
of the city; and the council, through a committee of its
own body, or a steward or board of overseers, or such other
agencies as it may appoint for the direction and manage-
ment of the poor of the city, shall exercise the powers
and perform the duties vested by law in overseers of the
poor; to erect and keep in order all necessary public
buildings, including a city jail, and to open and regulate
public squares and parks.

Fire department—Its officers, é&c.

10. The council shall have all needful powers and
authority to organize a fire department for the city ; to take
all necessary steps to prevent accident by fire, and espe-
crally to organize, equip, and govern fire companies, and
to appoint a fire marshal and assistants of any kind
needed, with all powers now or hereafter to be vested in
such officers, and to purchase and keep in order fire-
engines and other apparatus; to prohibit the erection of
any buildings more than ten feet in length, breadth, or
height, unless the outer walls thereof be of brick and
mortar, or such material as cannot take fire, and provide
for the removal of any building or addition erected con-
trary to such prohibition within the limits of said corpo-
ration; and if at any time the council should deem it
advisable for the better protection of the city from fire, it
may, in itsdiscretion, select suitable citizens to be active
members of the fire companies, who, by the certificate of the
president, ordered by a vote of the council, may be released
from serving as jurors in the corporation and circuit courts
of Danville so long as they are bona fide active members of
such fire company, and also, in its discretion, may excuse
members of such fire companies from militia duty, except
in case of danger to or invasion of the state, so that they
be relieved from the payment of fines for failure to attend
the company and general musters prescribed by law; and
for greater security from fire, the council may designate and
prescribe from time to time the parts of the city within
which no building of wood shall be erected, and regulate
the construction of buildings in the city so as to protect
it against damages from fire.

Power to provide gas and water-works.

11. The council may provide, by purchase or otherwise,
all proper and necessary supplies of water and gas for the
use of said city, and for this purpose may build, erect,
purchase, hold and maintain water-works and gas-works,
and all other property, real and personal, requisite for
such work, and to manage and control the same as the
said council may see fit. It may also regulate and pre-
scribe the price at which gas and water shal] be furnished ;
and when gas or water mains are laid in a street the coun-
cil shall have power, for the purpose of meeting the
expenses of the gas-works and water-works of the city, to
levy an annual specia] assessment upon the real estate on
both sides of such street: provided, such assessment shall
not exceed one-fourth of one per centum of ita assessed
value; but it shall also be authorized to exempt any prop-
erty from such assessment to which gas and water is sup-
plied at the rates charged for gas and water. The council
may also establish or enlarge water-works or gas-works
within or without the city, and contract with the owners
of land for the use or purchase thereof, or may have the
same condemned for the location or enlargement of said
works, or the pipes or fixtures thereof. It may also protect
froin injury or pollution, by proper penalties, said works
or anything connected therewith, within or without said
city, and may underthis power prevent the pollution of
the water in Dan river by prohibiting the throwing of filth
or offensive matter therein for a distance of three miles
above the limits of the city.

Sewers, drains, &c.

12. The council shal] have power and authority to estab-
lish and maintain a proper system of sewers and drains
for said city; to make or construct sewers or public ducts
through said city, or wherever else within and around the
city it may be deemed expedient, and regulate the method
and terms upon which persons owning property abutting
upon the street in which said sewers or ducts are laid may be
allowed or compelled to connect their property therewith ;
to build bridges in 01 culverts under the streets or alleys
of the city; prevent or remove obstructions or encroach-
ments over, under, or in the same; plant shade trees along
the same, and prevent the cumbering of streets, alleys,
walks, public sqnares, lanes, or bridges in any. manner
whatever.

Streets.

13. The council shall have power to take the care of, super-
vision, and control of streets, squares and commons, and
to close, extend, widen, ‘narrow, lay out, pave, graduate,
improve and otherwise alter the streets in said city; have
the streets properly lighted and kept in good order, and to
have the footways or sidewalks of the city paved at the
expense of the owners or occupiers of the lots or parts of
lots; and in case they or any of them shall neglect or
refuse to pave the side when required, it shall be lawful
for the council to have the same paved, and recover the
expense thereof before the mayor or any alderman of the
corporation, or in cases where the amount involved exceeds
the jurisdiction of the mayor or an alderman, then before
the corporation court of the city; and in all cases where
a tenant shall be required to pave in front of the property
in his or her occupation, the expense of the paving so done
shall be a good offset against so much of the rent as he or
she shall have paid towards such pavement, but no tenant
shall be required to pay more for or on account of such
paving than such tenant may owe at the time of the com-
mencement of said work, or as may become due to the end
of his or her tenancy: provided, that no owner or occupier
of a lot or lots in front of which paving is laid shall be
required to repave said footways or sidewalks, in whole
or in part at their own expense oftener than once in five
years. :

Powers as to new streets, &c.

14. The city shall not take or use any private property
for streets or other public purposes without making just
compensation therefor, but when the city cannot obtain
ground necessary for its purposes, it may proceed to con-
demn the same in the mode prescribed by law. No order
shall be made and no injunction shall be granted by any
judge or court of this commonwealth to stay the proceed-
ings of the city in the exercise of any power herein granted
it over its streets and highways, unless it be manifest that
it is exceeding its powers, and that the interposition of the
court 1s necessary to prevent injury which cannot be ade-
quately compensated in damages. Whenever any new
street shall be laid out, a street graded or paved, a sewer
erculvert built, or any other public improvements what-
-soever made, the said council may determine what portion,
if any, of the expenses thereof ought to be paid from the city
‘treasury, and what portion by the owners of the real estate
‘benefited: provided, that not more than one-half of the
costs of any such improvement shall be assessed upon the
owners of real estate benefited thereby. Butnosuch public
improvement shall be made to be defrayed in part by local
assessment or special assessment or tax until first requested
by @ petition signed by at least a majority of the owners
-of the property to ,be assessed or taxed for such improve-
ment, or unless at least three-fourths of the council shal!
concur in voting any such improvement to be expedient,
or in determining to make the same after the allegations
have been heard for and against, in which case no petition
or request shall be necessary. The assessments made
against the owners of said real estate for such improve-
ment shal] be a lien on said property, and may be collected
by the same officer and in the same manner as city taxes
and levies. The council shall have the power in the man-
ner prescribed by Jaw to open and establish new streets
and public ways or alleys in said city whenever it shall
think that the public convenience requires it.

Control of streets, cc.

15. The council shall not only have control over the
public streets and ways of said city, but it may permit
street railways to be built, telegraph and telephone poles
to be erected, gas and steam pipes to be laid in the streets
or public ways, determine and designate the route and grade
of any street or other railroad in the city running upon
or crossing the streets thereof, regulate the speed of en-
gines and cars within the city limits, and wholly exclude
the same when the welfare of the city demands it. It
may also prevent the riding or driving of horses or other
animals at improper speed, regulate the speed or rate at
which omnibuses, wagons, carriages, drays, or other vehi-
cles may be driven or propelled along the streets and public
ways; prevent the flying of kites, throwing or shooting
stones or gravels, or engaging in any sport or employment
in said streets or public ways which may be dangerous or
annoying to citizens and passengers, and prohibit and pun-
ish the torture and abuse of animals in the streets or near
thereto; to prevent hogs, dogs, and other animals from
being kept in or from running at large in the city, and to
subject the same to such taxes, regulations, and confisca-
tions as it shall deem just.

Dedication of streets, ce.

16. When the owner of any property in the city divides
the same into lots, reserving streets therein for the use of
the public, and places a plat thereof on record clearly show-
ing his intention in regard thereto, it shall be held a dedica-
tion thereof to the public use, and the fee in the same shall
thereby vest in the city, and no agreement between or re-
lease of interest by persons owning the land contiguous
to such streets where the same have ever been opened to
public use shall have the effect of closing such streets or
to divest the interest of the public therein or authority of
the city thereover.

_17. In every case where there has been or shall be en-
croachments upon a street by a fence, building, or other-
wise, the mayor may require the owner to remove the same.
If such removal shall not be made within the time ordered,
the mayor may impose a penalty, to be fixed by the coun-
cil, for each day which it is allowed to continue thereafter,
and may cause the encroachment to be removed at*the
risk and cost of the owner.

Names of streets, &c.

18. The council may give names to or alter the names
of streets.

Wards.

19. The council shal] have power to alter or exchange
the boundaries of the several wards of the city and may
increase the number thereof, whenever deemed expedient
or proper.

Public schools, &c.

20. The council shall have power, and the authority is
hereby given, to build school-houses and to provide and
aid in the support or maintenance of public free schools,
to appoint the trustees or school board, designate the age
of pupils to be admitted to the public schools, and the
grade of such schools.

Aid to military, fire companies, &e.

‘21. The council may grant aid from the public funds
to military and fire companies, to benevolent or char-
itable institutions and associations, and toa public library :
provided, that all such companies, associations or institu-
tions shall be located in the city of Danville, and provided
that no appropriation for any of the purposes mentioned
shall be made unless two-thirds of all the members elected
to the council shall vote therefor. :

To prevent diseases, establish hospitals, cemeteries, &c.

22. The council may take all necessary steps and make
all necessary regulations to secure the inhabitants from
contagious, infectious, and dangerous diseases, establish
a quarantine ground, provide and maintain hospitals, com-
pel the removal of patients to the same, appoint a city
physician, and, in its discretion, organize a board of health
and define its duties, and grant it the necessary authority
to effectually discharge them. It may also provide in or
near the city lands for the burial places of the dead, may
regulate and charge for the use of the ground therein, keep
said grounds in order, and require the return of bills of
mortality by the keepers of all such grounds or cemeteries
in or near the city.
Buildings for gunpowder, &c.

23. The council shall also have power to direct the loca-
tion of all buildings for storing gunpowder or other com-
bustible substances; to regulate the sale and use of gun-
powder, fire-crackers, fire-works, kerosene oil, nitro-glyce-
rine, camphene, burning fluid, dynamite, or other com-
bustible materials; to regulate the exhibition of fire-
works, the discharge of fire-arms, the use of lamps and
lights in barns, stables, and other buildings, and the
making of hon-fires in streets and yards and public parks
and squares.

: Nussances, Cc.

24. The council shall have authority to compel the
abatement and removal of all nuisances within the city
at the expense of the person or persons causing the same,
or the owner or owners of the ground whereon the same
shall be; to prevent or regulate distilleries, slaughter-
houses, tan-yards, guano-houses, soap and candle factories
within said city or within one mile thereof, or the exercise
of any dangerous, offensive, or unhealthy business or
employment therein, and to regulate the transportation of
garbage, offal, coal, dirt, and other articles through the
streets of the city.

Other powers.

25. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, men-
dicants, and street beggars.

°6. To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve the
public peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots,
disturbances, and disorderly assemblages; to suppress
houses of ill-fame and gaming-houses; to prevent lewd,
indecent, and disorderly conduct or exhibitions in the
city, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such con-
duct who have resided therein less than one year.

27. To prevent the selling or other disposition of liquors
and intoxicating drinks to be drunk in any boat, booth,
store, or other place not duly licensed; to forbid the'sell-
ing or giving to be drunk any intoxicating liquors to any
child or minor without the consent of his parent or guar-
dian, and to impose fines for the violation of such ordi-
nances a8 may be made in relation thereto additional to
those prescribed by the state laws.

28. To require spirituous liquors, wines, oils, molasses,
‘vinegar, and spirits of turpentine (in casks) to be gauged
and inspected; to provide for the weighing of hay, fodder,
oats, shucks, or other long forage; and to provide for the
measuring of corn, wheat, oats, or other grain, coal, stone,
wood, lumber, potatoes, and other articles of sale or bar-
ter. To require every merchant or trader in property of
any description which is sold by measure or weight to
have his weights and measures sealed by the city sealer.

29. To make such regulations and orders as will protect
ite citizens against danger from unsafe buildings or walls,
and to that end shall have power to cause to be condemned
and taken down any such building, structure, or wall, but
no such condemnation shall be made, or such building or
wall taken down, until the owner thereof—or in case of
an infant or insane person, his guardian or committee—
be duly summoned before the officer or board of officers
of the city charged by the ordinances with such duty, and
allowed reasonable opportunity to show cause against such
action.

Appointment of city officers.

30. The council shall have ‘power to appoint a city engi-
neer and a city surveyor, and prescribe their respective
powers and duties, term of office and compensation; but
at the discretion of the council the offices of engineer and
surveyor may be consolidated. The engineer may have
such assistants and clerks as the council may approve. It
may also appoint a city constable, a collector of city taxes,
a city attorney, clerk of the market, inspector of buildings,
and such other officers as it may deem necessary and proper
and may define their term of office, powers, duties and
compensation. Any office which the council has the power
to create it may at any time for good cause abolish, whether
the term of office of the incumbent has expired or not.
From any officer appointed by the council as hereinbefore
provided, it may take bond, with good security, in such
penalty and with such conditions as to it may seem proper.

Compensation to officials.

31. The couneil may grant compensation not only to the
officers appointed by their own body, but also to the com-
missioner of the revenue and treasurer. It shall also
make provision for the payment of such salary to the
attorney for the commonwealth, and such compensation
for ex-officio services to the clerk of the corporation court
and the sergeant of the corporation as the said corporation
court shall deem reasonable, the same having been certi-
fied to it by the direction of the said court.

Fines, penalties, &e.

32. The council shall have power to make such by-laws,
rules, and regulations for the government of said city as
shall not be contrary to the laws of the United States or of
this state, and to enforce all such by-laws, rules and regu-
Iations by reasonable fines and penalties, not exceeding
for any one office the sum of fifty dollars, to be recovered
before the mayor or any alderman of the said city (such
fines to be paid into the treasury of the said city), and by
imprisonment in the corporation jail for a period not ex-
ceeding six months; and in case the person or persons 80
fined shall have no visible effects, it shall be lawful to
require such offenders to work out such fines on the pub-
lic streets or on other public works, under the direction of
the mayor; and the council is hereby empowered to estab-
lish a chain-gang as a punishment for the incorrigibly
vicious, which shall make a part of the police regulations
and be controlled by the chief of police, under the direc-
tion of the mayor in pursuance of the ordinances of the
city. And for the temporary confinement of persons
charged with offenses against the ordinances of the city,
and until a proper building is erected for such purpose,
the council may select and adopt one of the rooms or
apartments of the city jail to be designated and used as a
station-house or room, in charge of the chief of police,
under the direction of the mayor: provided, that in cases
where fines have been imposed, for the non-payment of
which the mayor is authorized to inflict imprisonment,
the mayor may, in his discretion, take bond with good
security, from the offender, payable to the commonwealth
or to the city, as the case may be, ina penalty at least
double the amount of the fine imposed, with conditions to
pay said fine and costs at any named time within three
months from the date of said bond, and upon the execu-
tion of such bond, as aforesaid, the offender may be dis-
charged from custody. And should default be made in
payment of any bond in this section provided for, the
amount therein specified, together with the interest and
costs, may be recovered to the use of the state or the city
of Danville, as shall be proper, by action or motion, after
five days’ notice, before the mayor, any alderman of the
city, or in proper cases, before the corporation court of
Danville. :

Powers over franchises, &c.

33. All the estates, rights, titles, and privileges, and all
the funds, revenues, and claims of the city, shall be under
the care, management, control, and disposition of the
council and all the corporate capacities, franchises, and
iunmunities of the city shall be exercised by the same or
under its authority, unless where itis otherwise expressly
provided ; and the said council is authorized to do such
other things and pass such other laws as may be neces-
sary or proper to carry into full effect any power, author-
ity, capacity, or jurisdiction which is or shall be granted
to or vested in said city, or in the council, court, or officers
thereof, or which may be necessary incident to a munici-
pal corporation. :
34. The council is hereby invested with authority to pro-
vide for the due publication in the newspapers or other-
wise of ifs resolutions and ordinances; and the printed
copies of the ordinances of said city, printed under the
authority of the said council, and transcripts from such
ordinances, or from the journal or ordinance book of the
council, certified by the clerk thereof, shall be received as
evidence by the courts or other tribunals, departments,
or authorities of this state for any purpose for which the
original ordinances or journal could be received, and with
as great effect.

CuHaprer VII.

Tazes, taxation, &c.

1. For the proper execution of its powers and duties,
and to meet the wants and purposes of the city, the council
is hereby invested with power and authority annually to
lay and collect taxes on the real and personal property in
said city according to its value, and on incomes, not to ex-
ceed one and‘ one-half per centum on each hundred dollars’
value thereof for all the purposes of said city, including
therein the tax for public free school purposes: provided,
that the value of the real estate in said city shall be ascer-
tained in such way as the council may prescribe, and the
taxes levied and collected for the uses and purposes of the
city, or under the authority thereof, shall be equal and
uniform upon all property, both real and personal; and
provided, further, that the capital invested in all business
operations carried on within the city shall bé assessed and
taxed as other property, and assessment upon all stocks
shall be according to the market value thereof.

2. The council may impose a tax of fifty cents per annum
upon each male resident of the city above the age of twenty-
one years, and in order the better to ascertain and deter-
mine what persons are liable for taxation it is hereby
declared that all tithable persons resident in the city on
the first day of February shall be subject to taxation the
then current year.

3. The council may grant or refuse licenses, and may
regulate the taxes to be paid on such licenses, to insurance
companies, including agents of insurance companies
whose principal office is not located in said city; to auc-
tioneers, to public theatrical or other performances or
shows, exhibiting within said city or the limits of the
corporation court’s jurisdiction without the corporate
limits of North Danville; to keepers of billiard, baga-
telle, or like tables, ten-pin alleys, and pistol galleries;
to hawkers and peddlers in the city, or persons to sell
goods by sample therein; to agents for the sale or renting
of real estate, and all other business which cannot be
reached by the ad valorem system under any of the pre-
ceding sections. The council may also grant or refuse
such license to all sellers of wine or spirituous or fer-
mented liquors, venders of quack medicine or soaps, and
require taxes to be paid on all such licenses in addition
to other taxes imposed. It may also grant or refuse
licenses to owners of or keepers of wagons, drays, carts,
hacks, and other wheeled vehicles or carriages kept or
employed in the city for hire, and may require the owners
of wagons, drays, and carts using them in the city in
proper cases to take out a license therefor, and may re-
quire taxes to be paid thereon, and subject the same to
such regulations as they may deem proper, and prescribe
their fees and compensation.

4. The council may impose a tax upon all corporations
located in the city, or having their principal office therein,
and not exempted by law from taxation. It may impose
a tax on merchants, commission merchants, traders, law-
yers, physicians, dentists, bankers, brokers, manutac-
turers, keepers of ordinaries, hotel keepers, boarding-house
keepers, keepers of drinking or eating houses, keepers of
livery or sales stables, daguerrean or photographic artists
of all kinds, and agents for the transaction of any tax-
able business; and the council may impose a tax upon
any other business, trade, persons, or employment, whether
such business, trade, person, or employment be herein
specially enumerated or not, and whether any tax be im-
posed thereon by the state or not. As to all such busi-
ness, trade, persons, or employment the council may. lay
a direct tax, Or may require a license therefor, as may be
most expedient and proper, under such regutations as it
may prescribe, and levy a tax thereon.

5. The council may subject any person who, without
having obtained a license therefor, shall do any act or
follow any employment or business in the city for which
a license may be required by ordinance to such fine or
penalty as it is authorized to impose for any violation of
its laws.

6. The council may pass all by-laws, rules, and ordi-
nances not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the
state which it may deem necessary to enable it to carry
into effect the powers and authority hereinbefore granted,
and which it may deem necessary for the good order and
government of the city, the management of its property,
the conduct of ita affairs, the peace, comfort, order, health,
and protection of its citizens and their property.
CuHaprer VIII.

Power to subscribe to stock of incorporated companies, and
limit of outstanding debts, dc.

1. The council may, in the name and for the use and
benefit of said city, subscribe to the stock of any company
incorporated for the purpose of conducting any improved
or artificial road to the said city, and other incorporated
companies: provided, the question of subscription shall
have been first submitted to the qualified voters of said
eity and three-fourths of the legal voters of the city, and
a majority of the registered freeholders thereof voting
shall have approved the same. It may also contract loans
and issue bonds and certificates of debt, and provide and
maintain a sinking fund for the same; and for this sink-
ing fund there shall be set apart from the resources
of the city a sum equal to one per centum per annum on
the aggregate debt not payable within one year, whether
coutracted hereafter or heretofore, and the same shall be
applied to the debt of the city as it shall become due, and
if no part be due and payable, it shall be invested in the
bonds or certificates of debt of the city or of this state,
or of the United States, or of some state of this union,
but no loan contracted shall be irredeemable for a longer
period than thirty-four years, nor shall the outstanding
debt of said city at any time exceed the sum of twelve
hundred and ten thousand dollars, which sum shall include
the debt of the town of Danville named in the amendment to
the charter of said town by act of March first, eighteen hun-
dred and eighty-four, that named in the act approved April
sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, permitting said
tewn to subscribe five hundred thousand dollars for rail-
road purposes, and the acts since passed amendatory
thereof, and the additional sum of fifty thousand dollars
to be used for the ereetion of a market-house and other
eity buildings included in or connected therewith.

Temporary, debts, loans, &c.

2. No debt shall be_ created by the council for a longer
period than four months, unless the ordinance creating
the same has been introduced at some meeting of the
council at least thirty days before the same is passed, but
an amendment to such ordinance need not lie over for an
additional thirty days.

CHAPTER IX.
Inens for taxes, duties of collector, &c.

1. There shall be a lien on real estate for the city taxes
assessed thereon from the commencement of the year for
which they are assessed. The collector of taxes of said
city may distrain and sell therefor in like manner as a
sergeant or other collector may distrain and sell for state
taxes, and shall have in other respects like power to
enforce the collection of all taxes and assessments prop-
erly placed in his hands for collection. The council may
require the real estate in said city delinquent for the
non-payment of takes to be sold for the same, with inter-
est thereon and such per centum as it may prescribe for
charges and expenses of sale and collection, and may reg-
ulate the terms on which real estate may be sold or
redeemed : provided, that such sales shall be made after
the manner prescribed by law, and subject to the prior
lien of the commonwealth for taxes. And should the
person or collector appointed by the council, or the col-
lector of the city taxes, in case said duties shall be
devolved on him, fail to collect and pay over the said taxes
at the time prescribed by the council, he and his securi-
ties in the bond which he shall have given for that pur-
pose, or the city collector, when he discharges said duties,
and the sureties on his official bond, their executors, admin-
istrators, and so forth, shall be subject to such proceedings
by motion or otherwise, before the corporation court of said
city as are prescribed by the code of Virginia against ser-
geants, sheriffs, or other collecting officers discharging du-
ties similar to those prescribed for the collector aforesaid.

Powers to be vested in collector of city taxes, &c.

2. The council may vest in the collector of city taxes
and assessments the collector of water rates, rents, or as-
sessments, and any other collector of sums due the city,
which it may appoint, any or all of the powers which are
now or may be hereafter vested in any collector of state
taxes, and may prescribe the mode of his proceeding, and
the mode of procoeding against him for failure to perform
his duties. No deed of trust or mortgage upon goods or
chattels shall prevent the same from being distrained and
sold for taxes assessed against the grantor in such deed
while such goods and chattels remain in the possession of
the grantor, nor shall any such deed prevent the goods and
chattels conveyed from being distrained and sold for taxes
assessed thereon, no matter in whose possession they may
be found. And in the event it is evident that the party
or persons owing said taxes, or the person in possession of
the goods and chattels upon which said taxes have been
assessed, is about to abscond, remove said goods and chat-
tels, beyond the jurisdiction of the corporation court of
said city, or make way with, or dispose of said goods and
chattels, with the design of avoiding the payment of said
taxes, then said collector may levy upon or distrain and
sell said goods and chattels for the payment of said taxes
then due in the same way and with the same effect as he
would be authorized to do, on or after the first day of De-
cember of the year in which said taxes accrued.

Rights of tenant paying landlord’s taxes.

3. A tenant from whom payment of taxes on his land-
lord’s property shall be obtained by distress or otherwise
shall have credit for the same against such person on
account of his rent, unless by contract the tenant is to
pay such taxes.

Moneys collected for the city.

4. All moneys received or collected for the use of the
city shall be paid over, held, and disbursed as the council
may order or prescribe.

Duty of corporation court clerk.

5. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the corporation
court of the city, in each year between the first and fif-
teenth days of January, to furnish to the commissioner
of the revenue of the city a certified list of all transfers
of real estate which have been made in his office during
the preceding year.

CHAPTER X.

Police force, aldermen, &e.

1. The council shall have power and authority to or-
ganize a police force for the city, to be composed of a
chief, other needed officers, and such number of men as
said council may think are needed for the guardianship
and protection of said city. The officers and members of
said force shall be elected or appointed for such time or
term as to the council may seem fit, and the pay, uniform,
and regulations for the government of said police force
shall be prescribed by the council. The police force, when
duly constituted, shall be under the control of the mayor,
for the purpose of enforcing peace and good order and
executing the laws of the state and the ordinances of the
city. It shall also perform such other duties as the coun-
cil shall prescribe. For the purpose of enabling it to per-
form its duties and powers, each member thereof is hereby
made a conservator of the peace during his term of office or
service, and endowed with the powers of a constable in
criminal cases and all other powers which, under the law
of the state, may be necessary to enable him properly to
discharge the duties of his office.

Aldermen.

2. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of the
city of Danville one alderman for each ward of the city,
who shall be residents of their respective wards, and hold
office for the term of two years, and until their successors
be elected and qualified unless sooner removed from office.
Said aldermen shall be conservators of the peace within
the dity and for the space of one mile without and around
the same, except that they shall not be authorized to ex-
ercise their functions within the limits of North Danviile.
They shall have the same powers and duties within the
jurisdictional limits assigned to them in criminal cases as
are now or may be hereafter allowed by law to justices of
the peace in the several counties of the state, and receive
the same compensation. In civil cases their jurisdiction
shall be confined to the corporate limits of said city, and
within said limits shall be equal and co-extensive with
that of the mayor of said city, and they shall have the
same powers of the mayor to enforce the ordinances of the
city, except that they shall not have the power to remit
fines theretofore imposed by themselves or the mayor: pro-
vided, that said aldermen shall make report of their official
action to the council once in every month, especially the
number and the character of the judgments rendered, and
the amount of fines and costs imposed and collected by
them, and the disposition thereof.

CHAPTER XI.
(reneral provisions.

1. The city of Danville and its inhabitants shall be ex-
empt from all assessments for levies in the way of taxes
imposed by the authorities of Pittsylvania county for any
purpose whatever, except upon property owned in the said
county by the inhabitants of said city, nor shall said
inhabitants be liable to serve upon juries in said county,
except in such cases as are provided for by the laws of the
state.

2. Unless otherwise specially provided the persons hold-
ing any of the offices provided for in this charter which
have heretofore existed under the charter of the town of
Danville in force immediately before its adoption, shall
continue to hold the same until the term of such office as
herein provided for shall expire, dating the commence-
ment of such term from the time fixed in said former char-
ter of the town of Danville; and all ordinances and laws
in force immediately before the passage of this charter,
so far as consistent herewith, and all habilities, rights,
actions, claims, contracts and prosecutions arising there-
under, shall remain and continue as if this act had not
been passed.

3. The corporation of the city of Danville shall have
and succeed to all the estates, rights, titles and privileges,
all the funds, revenues, and claims, and all the powers,
capacities, and immunities which were vested in or con-
ferred upon, or belonged or appertained to the corporation
of the town of Danville, to the mayor and commonalty of
the town of Danville, or by or under any of the acts of
the general assembly heretofore passed and not in conflict
with this act. And said city shall be subject to all the
duties and obligations which appertained to and were in-
cumbent upon the town of Danville as a municipal corpor-
ation up to the passage of this act in so far as said duties
and obligations are not inconsistent with and in conflict
with this act. .

4. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act
are hereby repealed, and all acts in any way concerning
said corporation of Danville, and the rights of the people
thereof, or any of them, not inconsistent with this act,
shal] be in as full force to all intents and/ purposes as if
this act had never been passed. |

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