CHAP. 188. —-An ACT to amend and re-enact chapter 33, acts of
1889, 1890, entitled an act to amend and re-enact chapter 192, acts
1885, 1886, entitled an act to incorporate the town of Pulaski

ity.

Approved February 12, 1892.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That chapter three hundred and thirty-six of acts of as-
sembly of eighteen hundred and eighty-nine and ninety,
entitled “‘an act to amend and re-enact chapter one hun-
dred and ninety-two of the acts of eighteen hundred and
eighty-five, eighty-six, entitled an act to incorporate the
town of Pulaski City, in the county of Pulaski,” be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

2. That the town of Pulaski, in the county of Pulaski,
as the same heretofore has been, or may hereafter be laid
off in lots, streets, and alleys, shall be made a.town cor-
porate by the name of Pulaski, and by that name shall
have and exercise the powers conferred upon towns by
chapter forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen
hundred and eighty-seven, and all laws now in force or
that hereafter may be enacted for the government of towns
of less than five thousand inhabitants.

3. The boundaries of said town shall be : commencing
at a point on the Norfolk and Western railroad one hun-
dred yards west of the house of Cain Garner; thence north

to the corner of the Thurston land, known as the “ Three
Oaks”; thence a direct line to the Altoona coal and iron
railroad track, at a point about two hundred yards north.
west of John Owen’s house; thence a straight line to the
house of Oscar Slade; thence a straight line to the north.
west corner of the lands of the Midvale land company:
thence around the northern and eastern boundaries of saic
company’s land to the new road leading to Thorn Spring;
thence, passing north of the house of Ira D. Hall, to the
northwest corner of the lands of the Monticello land and
improvement company; thence a straight line to a corne)
of the lands of the Pulaski land and improvement com.
pany and the Jands of the Monticello land and improve.
ment company on the north side of the Pepper’s Ferry
road; thence a straight line to the east end of the junc.
tion of the Cripple Creek railroad with the Norfolk and
Western railroad; thence a straight line toa point on top
of the ridge due north of the house of E. T. Boues; thence
southeast a straight line soas toembrace the house of E. T.
Boues within the corporate limits; a straight line to the
south boundary of the lands of the Pulaski development
company; thence a west course along south boundary of
said lands to where same touches the lands of the Lake
Spring land and improvement company’s lands; thence
around south boundary of same to line of the lands of the
Martin land and improvement company; thence around
the south boundary of the lands of the Martin land and
improvement company to the southwest corner of the same ;
thence due west to a point due south from the point of be-
ginning; thence due north to the place of beginning.

4. All lands contained in this area, and used strictly for
farming purposes, shall not be eligible for taxation under
this corporation law, except for road tax.

5. The officers of the said town shall consist of one
mayor and six other citizens, who shal] compose the coun-
cil of said town; a sergeant, who shall be elected by said
council, and such officers as they (the council) may deem
necessary. The said council shall have power to pass all
by-laws and ordinances for the government of the town
which they may deem necessary : provided that they are not
in conflict with the laws of this state or the United States.
The mayor and four members of the council (or in the
absence of the mayor, five members of the council, one
of whom shall act as chairman,) shall constitute a quo-
rum for the transaction of business. |

6. An election for mayor and councilmen shall be held
on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen hundred and
ninety-two, and every two years thereafter. The officers
so elected, and all officers elected or appointed by the
council, shall begin their term of office on the first day of
July succeeding their election, and shall hold their term
of office for two years, or until their successors are elected
and qualified, except that the council may prescribe the
terms of all officers elected or appointed by it. If any
vacancy occur in the office of mayor or in the council,
the same shall be filled by the council. But the present
incumbent in the office of mayor and the members of the
council shall continue in office and exercise all the
powers conferred by this charter until the first day of July,
eighteen hundred and ninety-two, or until their successors
are duly elected and qualified; no citizen shall be eligible
to be mayor or a member of the council unless he be a
freeholder. |

7. Any person entitled to vote in Pulaski county, and
residing within the corporate limits of the town of Pulaski
six months next preceding any election, shall be entitled
to vote at all elections under this act of incorporation.
The mayor shall cause ten days’ notice to be given of all
elections by posting notices at three or more places in said
corporation. The mayor shall appoint three qualified
voters who shall preside as judges at corporation elections,
and who shall have the right to appoint two clerks of elec-
tion, as well as to decide the right of any individual to vote,
and shall hold said elections between sunrise and sunset
of the day on which said election shall be held.

8. The council of the said town shall have all the gen-
eral powers vested in it by the laws of the state; and it
shall also have power to mark accurately the bounde of
existing streets, and compel the removal of obstructions
therefrom; to close or extend, widen or narrow, open, lay
out and graduate, pave and otherwise improve streets and
public alleys in the town; and for these purposes, upon
first paying a just compensation therefor, it may take such
private property as may be necessary; and no order shall
be made and no injunction shall be awarded by any court
or judge to stay the proceedings of the town in the pros-
ecution of such works unless it be manifest that the in-
terposition of a court is necessary to prevent injury that
cannot be repaired in damages. The method of ascer-
taining what will be a just compensation for private prop-
erty thus taken shall be as follows: After reasonable
notice in writing by the clerk of the council to the owner
of the freehold whose property is proposed to be taken, or
to his tenant or agent, the mayor of the town shall at the
time and place mentioned in said notice, proceed to ap-
point two freeholders of the town as commissioners, one
of whom may be nominated by the owner of the freehold,
or by his tenant or agent, if either be present, whose duty
it shall be to view the property proposed to be taken, and
ascertain what will be a just compensation therefor, and
the damages to the residue of such owner’s property
beyond the peculiar benefits to be derived in respect to
such residue from the work to be done. The said com-
missioners, if they cannot agree, may select a third-free-
holder as commissioner to act with them, and shall, as
soon as possible, report their proceedings to the council.
When such report has been returned, the council may,
by a vote of a majority of its members, either reject or
accept said report. If the report be rejected, the council
may refer the matter to another commission, appointed
in the same way and for the same purpose as the first. If
the report be confirmed, the amount ascertained by it to
be a just compensation for the property, shall be paid to
those entitled thereto before work shall be begun on or
through said property.

9. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created
and declared to be a separate and distinct road district of
Pulaski county, and no road tax shall be levied on any
property within said limits, except by the council of Pu-
laski, which tax shall be expended within the limits of
the corporation, on the streets and roads therein, under
the direction and supervision of said council.

10. The council shall have the power to levy such taxes
as it may deem necessary for the purposes of the corpora-
tion: provided that no tax upon the real and personal
property in said town shall exceed one dollar on the one
hundred dollars assessed value thereof, exclusive of road
tax.

11. The said council shall have power and authority to
provide for the interment of the dead, and to regulate the
same. They may also establish a market and make ordi-
nances for the management thereof. They shall have
power to prevent the obstruction of streets, alleys, side-
walks, gutters, and so forth, by the hitching of horses,
standing of wagons, or in any way whatever, by imposing
a reasonable fine for such offences. They may also pun-
ish by fine, the firing of guna or pistols,the setting fire to
powder and other combustible or explosive material, the
running and fast driving of horses and other animals on
the streets and alleys, and all else detrimental to the
peace and good order of the town. They shall have
power to prescribe rules for the orderly building of houses
and their proper location, such as stables, water-closets,
hog-pens, cattle-sheds, as well as dwellings, stores and
shops. They shall have power to regulate the erection of
chimneys, stoves and stove-pipes, and to abate and re-
move all nuisances at the expense of those who occasion
them. They shall have power to prohibit all animals
from running at large and beyond their owner’s premises,
and to pass all by-laws and ordinances not contrary to the
constitution and laws of the commonwealth and of the
United States, which said council may deem necessary for
the carrying into effect such powers and {privileges as
have .or may hereafter be vested in them. Thay shall
also have power, before the mayor or acting mayor, to reg-
ulate the police, and to enforce all laws, by-laws and or-
dinances of the said town by a penalty not exceeding the
penalties fixed by the commonwealth for like offences;
said penalty or fine to be paid into the corporation fund.
They shall have power to amend or repeal any by-law or
ordinance, or remit any fine or taxes that may to them
seem proper and just. Any ordinance or by-laws may be
enforced by fine or imprisonment, or both, or in lieu of
fine, by labor in chain-gang or otherwise, at the discre-
tion of the mayor.

12. For the violation of any police law other than capi-
tal crimes and penitentiary offences, and for the violation
of any special law relating to said town and not enumer-
ated in this act, the said council shall have power to im-
pose fines and collect the same, not to exceed fines imposed
by state law for like misdemeanors; and may add to said
fines imprisonment or hard labor, not to exceed the pun-
ishment imposed by the laws of the commonwealth for
like offences; and all euch fines shall constitute a part of
the corporation fund.

13. The said council shall have power, whenever they
may deem it expedient, to have the sidewalks, footways
and gutters along any street or alley in said town of such
width as they may prescribe properly paved and otherwise
suitably improved, altered, or repaired, as they may think
fit; one-half of the cost of which shall be paid by the
owners or occupants of the said lands or lots along the
front side of which such footways, sidewalks, and so forth,
may extend, and to levy and collect for that purpose a
special tax on each of such lands or lots proportioned to
the number of feet of the same, which special tax shal]
be collected as taxes on real and personal property are by
this act directed to be collected: provided, that before any
owner or occupant of any land or lot in said town shall
be required to make such payment, upon the terms above
stated, or a tax levied on the same for such purpose, there
shall be on such land or lot a dwelling or business house
not less than will average fifteen feet square. And ‘in all
cases where the lessee or tenant shall pay the expense of
any such pavement or improvement, the amount of said
expense shall be an offset or credit against a like amount
of rent due or that may accrue.

14. All taxes, whether general or special, assessed upon
any property in said town under the provisions of this act
are hereby declared to constitute a lien on such property ;
and if the sergeant or other legally authorized collector
has not been able with due diligence to collect the same
by the first day of December of the year in which the
same were assessed, he shall, at the first meeting of the
council thereafter, make return upon oath of the taxes he
has failed to collect and the property upon which such
uncollected taxes were assessed, and thereupon the council
shall have the same remedy against the property of said
delinquents as this commonwealth has in similar cases.

15. The said council shall have power to provide for the
order and quiet of the Sabbath, to punish drunkenness,
swearing, boisterous and noisy conduct, any interference
with religious worship, and any other offence against
decency and good morals, by proper penalties, and to pro-
hibit the sale of intoxicating drinks within the corporate
limits or one mile thereof: provided, that any fine im-
posed on a minor shall be paid by his parent or guardian.

‘16. All fines, penalties, and amercements, and other
moneys raised and received hy virtue of this act, and not
otherwise directed to be applied, shall be at the disposal
of said council for the benefit of the town.

17. The said council shall have power to fix and regu-
late the compensation and salaries of officers, and the
wages paid for hire of teams, labor, and so forth.

18. The council may, in the name of and for the use of
the town, contract, or cause to be issued, certificates of
debt or bonds: provided no such certificates of debts or
bonds shall be issued except by a two-thirds vote of the
council, endorsed by a majority of the freehold voters
voting on the question; but such loans, certificates, or
bonds shal! not be irredeemable for a period greaier than
thirty-four years: provided, further, that said council shall
not contract said loans or issue such certificates of debt
or bonds for the purpose of subscribing to the stock of
any company incorporated for a work of internal improve-
ments or other purposes without being first authorized so
to do by three-fourths of the freehold voters of the town
on the question: provided, further, that in no case shall
the aggregate debt of the town at any one time exceed
seventeen per centum of the assessed value of the prop-
erty, real and personal, within the town limits: and pro-
vided, further, that the said council shall not endorse the
bonds of any company whatsoever without the same au-
thority. All contracts for the erection of public improve-
ments within the jurisdiction of the town council shall
be let to the lowest responsible bidder, and notice shall be
given at least thirty days before the work is finally let,
by advertisement in a newspaper published in the town or
county, and the party to whom said contract shall be let
shall give such bond as the council may require; but in
no event shall any contract be let to any member of the
town council, nor shall any member have any interest in
such contract.

19. It shall not be lawful to sell, barter, or in any way
dispose of intoxicating liquors of any kind within the
corporate limits of Pulaski, or within one mile thereof;
nor shall it be lawful to solicit orders, or to receive orders,
or to take orders unsolicited for the sale of liquors of any
kind within the corporate limits of Pulaski; nor shall
any person receive money or any other commodity in pay-
ment for any intoxicating liquors within said corporate
limits; nor shall it be lawful for any one to keep liquors
deposited in any place in said corporation for sale, barter,
or exchange, either directly or indirectly. Any violation
of this section shall be deemed a misdemeanor, for which
a fine may be impgsed not exceeding twenty dollars.

_ 20. The council is hereby empowered to establish water-
works within the corporate limits of said town, and to
provide, locate, purchase, and erect and maintain all works
necessary or proper for introducing water into said town
and neighborhood ; to purchase, locate, erect and maintain
buildings, cisterns, reservoirs, pipes, pipe-lines, and con-
duits for the reception, conveyance, and distribution of
water within said corporation and neighborhood, and
acquire, by lease or purchase, all property, real and per-
sonal, necessary for said purposes; and, for value, to fur-
nish water to individuals, firms and companies; to con-
struct, establish, and operate within said town an electric
light plant or other system for lighting the streets and
grounds within said town, and, for value, to furnish lights
to firms, individuals, and companies; to locate, lay-out,
establish, and construct a proper and sufficient system of
drainage for the town within said town; and for the ac-
complishment of all or any of the purposes named in this
section, the council shall have power to execute and issue,
negotiate, and sell the bonds of said town, not to exceed
the limit provided by section one thousand and thirty-
nine of code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-
seven, which bonds shall not run exceeding thirty-four
years from the date of issue, and the said bonds shall bear
interest not exceeding the rate of six per centum per
annum, payable semi-annually. The said bonds, when
issued, shall state for what purpose issued, and shall con-
stitute a lien upon the entire property of the town. But
no such work shall be so undertaken or bonds issued ex-
cept upon the petition of at least a majority of the free-
holder residents within the limits of said town.

21. The said council shall have power to establish or to
assist in the establishment of an educational institution
within the corporate limits of said town, and in order
thereto, the said council shall have power to borrow
money, not exceeding ten thousand dollars, and to exe-
cute and issue bonds of said town for the payment thereof,
either coupon or registered, bearing interest at a rate not
exceeding six per centum per annum, payable semi-annu-
ally, which bonds may be payable on or before the expi-

Google
ration of twenty years from their date; and to provide for
the payment of the interest and principal when due, an
annual tax shall be assessed and levied and a sinking
fund provided: provided, however, that no such bonds
shall be issued for said purposes by said council except
upon the petition of at least three-fourths of the free-
holders of said town. |
22. This act shall be in force from its passage.