An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Volume | 1889/1890 Private Laws |
---|---|
Law Number | 440 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 440.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of
Liberty, to extend its limits, and change the name to Bedford
City.
Approved March 38, 1890.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the name of the town of Liberty, in Bedford county,
be, and the same is hereby, changed to Bedford City, and
that the territory embraced within the following limits—
to wit: Beginning at the spring, on the north side of Otey’s
mountain, known as the cool spring; thence seventy-eight
and one-quarter degrees west, five hundred and thirty-
seven feet to the southwest corner of land of C. D. Wright;
thence north thirty-six and three-quarter degrees, west
eleven hundred and eighty-two feet to the west line of the
road leading to the residence of the late G. A. Wingfield;
thence along the west side‘of said road north thirty and
three-quarter degrees, east four hundred and three and one-
half feet, north sixteen and three-quarter degrees, east
fifty-six feet to the corner of the second street south of
Franklin street, known as Cook street; thence with the
southern line of said street north eighty-three and three-
quarter degrees, west nineteen hundred and seventy-four
feet to the old Dickerson’s mill road; thence with said
road to the town branch, and with said branch to the centre
of track of the Norfolk and Western railroad at a point
over the centre of the culvert; thence north four degrees,
east three thousand and ninety-four feet to the dividing
line of lands of James Nichols and the Liberty improve-
ment company; thence with said line south eighty-three
and three-quarter degrees, east twelve hundred and forty-
four and one-half feet to a corner of said Nichols and of
said improvement company; thence through the lands of
said James Nichols south eighty-four and one-half degrees,
east five hundred and seventy-eight and one-half feet to
a corner of the landsof said Nichols and of lands belong-
ing to the estate of Mrs. M.O. Leftwich, deceased; thence
along the road between lands of said James Nichols and
Mrs. M. O. Leftwich’s estate south eighty-six and three-
quarter degrees east nine hundred and seventy-eighty and
one-quarter feet to the corner of said James Nichols and
Charles Hale; thence along the dividing line between said
James Nichols and Charles Hale south eighty-three de-
grees, east seven hundred and eighteen and one-quarter
feet to the line of the Peaks or Fancy Farm road; thence
a straight line through the lands of the late William
Graves and S. M. Bolling to the northeast corner of Long-
wood park, the same being the corner of lands of Doctor
A. J. Almond; thence with the dividing line between said
Longwood park and Doctor A. J. Almond south thirty-four
and one-half degrees, east fifteen hundred and forty-four
feet to a stone, north sixty-two and one-quarter degrees,
east two hundred and seventy-nine feet to a stone, south
twenty-eight and three-quarter degrees, east five hundred
and eighty-two and one-half feet to a stone corner of Rob-
ert S. Quarles and Joseph Fuqua; thence along the line
between Longwood park and R. S. Quarles to a corner be-
tween said lands near the ice-pond of R. 8. Quarles; thence
a straight line to cattle-guard in the Norfolk and Western
railroad east of the Bedford spoke and iron manufacturing
company; thence south twenty-seven and one-quarter de-
grees, west thirteen hundred and sixty-six feet to the
middle of the Lynchburg and Salem turnpike; thence
south fifty-four and one-half degrees, west twenty-three
hundred and seventy-eight feet to the beginning—be
deemed and taken as the town of “Bedford City,” and
that the inhabitants of Bedford City, for all the purposes
for which towns are incorporated in this commonwealth,
shall continue to be one body politic in fact and in name,
under the style and denomination of Bedford City; in
that name sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, and
as such shall have, exercise, and enjoy all the rights, im-
munities, powers, and privileges, and be subject to all the
duties and obligations now incumbent upon and pertain-
ing to said towns as a municipal corporation.
2. The government of said. town shall be vested in a
mayor, recorder, seven councilmen, and such other officers
as are hereinafter mentioned or may be provided for by the
mayor or council.
8. The election of the officers mentioned in the second
section of this act shall be held on the fourth Thursday in
May, eighteen hundred and ninety, and on the fourth
Thurraday in May in every second year thereafter. Said
election shall be conducted under the supervision of such
commissioners as the mayor and council may appoint for
the purpose. In case of a failure to hold said election on
the day designated, then the same shall be held on such
other day as the mayor and council may designate, of which
they shall give at least ten days’ notice by hand-bills posted
in said town or by publication in a newspaper published
in said town.
4. Within two days after any election has been held
under this act the commissioners, who conducted the
same, shall certify to the clerk of the county court of Bed-
ford county, and to the officers elected, the names of the
persons elected, which certificates shall be entered among
the records of the county and of the corporation.
5. In all elections for officers of the corporation all per.
sons who are by the laws of the state entitled to vote for
members of the general assembly and who shall have
resided in the said town for three months next preceding
the day of election then to be held, shall be entitled tc
vote.
6. The duties of the commissioners of election provided
for in this act, and in the manner of conducting and con-
testing an election under this act, shall so far as the same
is practicable, be the same as prescribed by the general
election laws of the state for the election of the county,
district and corporation officers.
7. The persons to be elected under the provisions of this
act shall be inhabitants of and qualified voters of said
town; and it shall be their duty, on or before the first day
of July next after their election, to take and subscribe the
oaths required by law to be taken by county and district
officers, before a justice of the peace or notary public of
Bedford county, and they shall enter upon the discharge of
their respective offices on the first day of July next after
their election, and hold their offices for the term of two
years and until their successors are elected or appointed
and qualified. The oaths taken and subscribed under this
section shall be filed with the records of said town.
8. When for any cause a vacancy may occur in the office
of mayor, recorder, or councilman the council shall, by a
vote of a majority of such as remain, fill vacancy from
among the citizens of the town eligible to the office under
this act.
9. The failure of any person elected or appointed under
this act to qualify, or to qualify and give bond (where a
bond is required ) within the time prescribed by the seventh
section of this act shall vacate the office to which he shall
have been so elected or appointed; and the failure of any
rson elected by the council under the eighth section, to
ll a vacancy, to qualify within five days after being so
elected, shall vacate said office.
10. The mayor shall take care that the ordinances, reso-
lutions and by-laws of the council are faithfully executed.
He shall be ex-officio a conservator of the peace within
said town, and shall within the same exercise all the pow-
ers and duties vested by law in justicesof the peace in
criminal cases. He shall have power to issue executions
for all fines and costs imposed under authority of this act,
the laws of the state and the ordinances of the town, and
require immediate payment thereof, and in default of such
payment may commit the party so in default to the town
jail, or to the jail of Bedford county, until the fine and
costs be paid; but the term of imprisonment shall in no
case exceed thirty days.
11. The mayor, recorder and any four councilmen, or the
mayor or recorder and any five councilmen, or in the
absence of both the mayor and recorder, any six council-
men shall constitute a quorum todo business. The mayor
shall preside at the meeting of the council. In his absence
the council shall select one of their number to preside,
and the proceedings shall be signed by the person presid-
ing. If at any meeting the recorder be absent, the person
presiding shall appoint one of the members present to
discharge the duties of recorder for the time.
12. The council shall cause to be kept in a journal an
accurate record of all its proceedings which shall be open
to the inspection of all persons entitled to vote for coun-
cilmen. ‘The mayor and recorder shall have votes as mem-
bers of the council, and the person presiding at the time
of any tie vote shall have the casting vote.
13. The recorder shall attend all meeting of the council.
keep a journal of its proceedings, have charge of and
preserve the records of the town, and perform such other
duties as the mayor and council] may prescribe.
14. It shall be the duty of the mayor and council at their
first meeting after their election, or as soon as may be there-
after, to appoint a sergeant, who shall hold his office dur-
ing the term of the council which elected him and until
his successor is duly elected and qualified, and who shal!
within the jurisdiction of the mayor of said town have the
powers and be subject to all laws applicable to con-
stables, and the mayor and council shall require of said
sergeant a bond in such penalty and with such conditions
and securities as they may prescribe, which bond shal] be
entered in the journal of the council and a certified copy
thereof recorded in the bond books of the county court of
Bedford county; and said sergeant shall take and sub-
scribe the oaths required by law of county and district
officers, and execute the bond required by the mayor and
council before entering upon the duties of his office.
15. The mayor and council shall in addition to the pow-
ers now conferred by law or town council generally,
have power to restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants,
and street beggars, to prevent vice and immorality, to sup-
press houses of ill-fame and gambling-houses, to prevent
and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly conduct or exhi-
bitions in said town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty
of such conduct who have not resided therein as much as
one year. Also to prevent, forbid, and punish the selling
or giving of liquors and intoxicating drinks in any place
not duly licensed, and the selling or giving any intoxicat-
ing liquors to any minor without the consent, in writing,
of his or her parent or guardian; and for any violation of
any ardinance under this section may impose fines in
nddition to those prescribed by the laws of the state.
16. To carry into effect these enumerated and all other
legal powers, the said mayor and council shall have power
to make and pass all needful orders, by-laws, and ordi-
nances not contrary to the constitution and laws of this
state; to prescribe reasonable fines (in no case, however,
exceeding for any one offence thirty dollars), and in case
the person or persons fined shall have no visible effects, it
shall be lawful to require such offender to work out such
fines and all jail fees and other cost on the streets or other
public works, under the direction of the sergeant or other
officer of the town. For all the purposes named in this
act, taxation excepted, the council and mayor, or person
acting as mayor, shall have jurisdiction for one mile be-
yond the limits of the town. All fines, penalties, and
imprisonments shall be recovered or enforced under the
judgment of the mayor or the person exercising his func-
tions, and the council may, with the consent of the county
court of Bedford county, have the right to use the jail of
said county.
17. To meet any expenditures that may be lawfully
chargeable to said town for general purposes, and for
schools, the council may, at such times as seem best, levy
a town levy of so much as in its opinion may be neces-
sary upon all taxable persons and property in said town
not exempt from taxation by the laws of this state: pro-
vided, that a capitation tax greater than fifty cents per
head on the male inhabitants of said town over the age
of twenty-one years shall not be levied in one year; and
provided, further, that the tax so levied for genera] pur-
poses on the real and personal property do not exceed
fifty cents, and for schools thirty cents, on every hundred
dollars of the value thereof, for any year; provided, how-
ever, that said council, by a two-thirds’ vote of the entire
council may exempt real and personal property used for
manufacturing or other enterprises from all taxes for
municipal purposes for a period not exceeding ten years,
if they shall deem it expedient to do so in order to en-
courage the establishment of such manufacturing or other
enterprises in said town.
18. The council -may levy a tax on licenses to agents of
insurance companies whose principal office is not located
in said town; to auctioneers; to public theatrical or other
performances or shows; to keepers of billiards or pool
tables, ten-pin alleys, and livery stables; to hawkers and
peddlers; to agents for the sale or renting of real estate;
to commission merchants, and to persons engaging in any
other business for which a license may be required by the
96
laws of the state; and may grant or refuse license to own-
ers or keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks, or other
wheeled carriages kept or employed in the town for hire;
and may require the owners or Leavers of wagons, drays,
carts, hacks, or other wheeled carriages using them in the
town for hire, to take out a license therefor; and may
assess and require taxes to be paid thereon, and subject
the same to such regulations as they may deem proper,
and prescribe their fees and compensations.
19. The sergeant shall have power to collect the town
taxes, fines, and levies, and, one month after the time he
shall have received the book of the assessor of said town,
to distrain and sell thereof in like manner as is now pro-
vided by law for collection of state taxes, and shall have
the same powers as county treasurers to enforce the pay-
ment of such taxes, fines, and levies. And such sergeant
may, at any time, be removed by the council for any de-
fault in duty, or for failure to properly and promptly
account for any money in his hands as the council may
direct.
20. There shall be a lien on real estate for town taxes
and levies assessed thereon from the commencement of
the year for which they are assessed and the council may
order and require real estate in the town, delinquent for
non-payment of taxes thereon, to be sold or rented by the
sergeant, at public auction, for the arrears with interest
thereon, with such percentum as the council may pres-
cribe, for charges, and the surplus shall be paid to the per-
son entitled thereto; and the council may regulate the
terms on which real estate so delinquent may be redeemed.
The sale of real estate sold under this section shall be con-
ducted in the same manner and upon the same notice as
is now provided by law for the sale of real estate delin-
quent for state taxes ; and when there is a failure to re-
deem within the time prescribed by the council, the re-
corder of the said town shall, under the sea] thereof, make
conveyance of the rea] estate so sold in the same manner
as is now provided by law for conveyances by clerks of
courts of lands sold for state taxes. Any lien for town
taxes and levies, and any conveyances under this section,
shall be subject to the lien of the state or county for all
taxes due on the real estate upon which such lien is, or
which may have been so conveyed.
21. The mayor and council, by the name and for the use
of Bedford City, may contract loans, subscribe to the stock
of any company incorporated for internal improvement or
other purpose, and cause to be issued certificates of debt
or bonds of said town: provided, that no such loans shal!
be contracted, subscriptions made or certificates or bonds
issued, until the same shal] have been first authorized bya
majority of the qualified voters voting, and three-fifths of
the freeholders voting, at any election to be held by direc-
tion of the mayor and council for the purpose of ascertain-
ing the sense of the voters of the town concerning such
loan, subscription, and so forth ; and provided, further, that
the debt of said town shal] not exceed the limit prescribed
by the general law on the subject of cities and towns.
22. The mayor and council may, in addition to the levy
on property provided for by the seventeenth section of this
act, make such other levy as may be necessary to pay
interest on and provide a sinking fund for any debt which
may have been heretofore or which may be hereafter con-
tracted by said town.
23. The mayor and council may, whenever they deem it
expedient and proper, mortgage or otherwise encumber the
water-works or other property of saidtown to secure the
payment of any debt which may have been heretofore or
which may be hereafter contracted, and any deeds of trust
or mortgages which may have been heretofore executed are
hereby declared valid.
24. The said town and the taxable persons and property
therein shall be exempt and free from payment of any
toad tax for any year in which it shall appear that said
town shall, at its own expense, keep its streets in order.
25. The council shall not take or use any private prop-
erty for streets or other public purposes without making to
the owner or owners thereof just compensation for the same ;
but in all cases where the property cannot be obtained by
agreement between the council and said owner or owners,
it shall be lawful for the council to apply to and obtain
from the county court of Bedford county, or the circuit
court thereof, authority to condemn the same, which shal]
be applied for and proceeded with according to law.
26. Whenever any new street shal] be laid out and
opened, and old street graded or paved, or a culvert built,
the council shall determine what portion, if any, of the
expense thereof shall be paid out of the town treasury,
and what portion by the owners of real estate benefited
thereby. But when the person so required to pay shall
consider himself aggrieved by such action of the council,
he shall have the right to select one disinterested person
and the council shall select another like person, and they
shall determine what is reasonable and just; and in case
they cannot agree, they shall select a third person, and
the award shall be conclusive and binding upon the par-
ties concerned.
27. In every case where a street in said town has been
or shall be encroached upon by any fence, building, o1
otherwise, the council may require the owner (if known
or if unknown, the occupant of the house encroaching) tc
remove the same, and if such removal] be not made within
the time prescribed by the council, they may impose a fine
of five dollars for each and every day it is allowed to con-
tinue thereafter, and may cause the encroachment to be
removed, and collect from the owner all reasonable charges
therefor, with costs. by the same process as is hereinbe-
fore provided for the collection of taxes. No encroach-
ment upon any street, however long continued, shall con-
stitute any adverse possession to or confer any rights upon
the persons claiming thereunder as against the said town.
28. Whenever any street, alley, or lane in said town
shall have been opened to and used by the public for the
period of five years, the same shall thereby become.a
street, alley, or lane for public purposes, and the council
shal] have the same authority and jurisdiction over and
right and interest therein as they have by law over the
streets, alleys, and lanes laid out by them, and any street
or alley reserved in the division or sub-division into lote
or any portion of the territory within the corporate limits
of said town by a plan or plat of record shall be deemed
and held to be dedicated to public use, unless it appears
hy said record that the street or alley so reserved is de-
signed for private use. But upon a petition of a majority
of the persons interested therein the council shall have
power to open the same for the use of the public.
29. The mayor and council shall by ordinance or reso-
lution provide for any election not hereinbefore provided
for, and appoint the necessary officers to conduct the same.
30. The persons now holding the offices in said town
shall continue to hold same until their term of office sha!)
expire under the former charter and until their successors
shall have duly qualified; and all ordinances and laws in
force immediately before the passage of this charter for
the government of said town, or affecting or relating to
said town, so far as consistent herewith, and all rights,
liabilities, actions, claims, contracts, and prosecutions
arising thereunder shal] remain and continue as if this
act had not been passed.
31. All ordinances now in force in said town not incon-
sistent with this act, the laws of this state and of the
United States, shall be and remain in force until altered,
amended, or repealed by the council.
32. All the rights. privileges, and properties heretofore
acquired and possessed, owned and enjoyed by the town of
Liberty shall hereafter be possessed, owned, and enjoyed
by the town of Bedford City.
33. All acts and parte of acts in conflict with this act
are hereby repealed.
34. This act shall be in force from its passage.