Chap. 244.—An ACT to ngcrpOrars. the town of Tappahannock, county of
ssex.

Approved February 12, 1894.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
act entitled “‘an act incorporating the town of Tappahannock, in
Essex county, and appointing trustees for the same, and for other
purposes,” passed March sixteenth, eighteen hundred and forty-one,
and an act entitled “an act to authorize election of officers in the
town of Tappahannock,” approved March fourteenth, eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-two, and an act entitled “an act to amend and re-
enact section four of an act entitled an act incorporating the town
of Tappahannock, in Essex county, and appointing trustees for the
same, and for other purposes, passed March sixteenth, eighteen hun-
dred and forty-one,” approved March fifth, eighteen hundred and
seventy-seven, be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

2. Be it further enacted, That the town of Tappahannock, in the
county of Essex, as the same has been heretofore laid off into lots,
streets and alleys, or as the same may be hereafter laid off and ex-
tended into lots, streets and alleys, shall be, and the same is hereby,
made a town corporate by the name of the town of Tappahannock,
and by that name shall have and exercise the powers conferred upon
towns of less than five thousand population.

3. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows: To commence
at the mouth of the creek which lies between the said town and the
dwelling-house or farm called Greenfield, on the Rappahannock
river, the property of the Brockenbroughs, following the meander-
ings of the said creek to the first slash, which is on the road leading
from Tappahannock to Lloyd’s, in the said county; thence along the
said road until it reaches the dividing line or fence between the
tan-yard farm and what was formerly the land of James Roy Micou,
now J. W. Faulkner’s; thence due south until it reaches a point in
the field of said Faulkner’s in a line with what was formerly Doctor
Thomas C. Gordon’s granary, now Judge T. R. B. Wright’s, near the
said river; thence from said point to the river; thence along the
river shore to the beginning.

4. The officers of said town shall consist of five trustees, who
shall compose the council. three of whom shall constitute a quorum
for the transaction of business.

The said council shall have power to make such by-laws and ordi-
nances for establishing a police, ‘and regulating the same; for pre-
serving and improving and taking care of all public and private
property in said town; for removing or abating nuisances therein;
for properly draining the town and repairing and keeping in order the
streets; and they may pass such ordinances and by-laws as they may
deem necessary and proper for the interest and general good, safety
and convenience of the said town and the inhabitants thereof, not
inconsistent with the general laws governing towns of less than five
thousand inhabitants; and the better to enforce the same they may
impose reasonable fines and penaltieson such pergons as shall offend
against the by-laws and ordinances made as aforesaid: provided that
no fines for the violation of any by-law or ordinance, at any time,
ghall be assessed and collected for more than five dollars; but the
said trustees may from time to time,and as often as any person shal]
violate any by-law or ordinance, fine him or her for the same. And
to enable the said trustees to carry into effect the said powers, they
are hereby authorized annually, at such time as they may choose, to
levy a tax on all real and personal property within the limits of said
town: provided that the tax on real and personal property within the
town shall not exceed thirty cents on the one hundred dollars’ value
thereof; on exhibitions or shows, now or hereafter taxed by the
lawsof the state, a sum not exceeding the taxes levied by the state;
and on lawyers, physicians and dentists practicing their profes-
sion in said town, a tax not exceeding one dollar annually. In
estimating the value of the property, real and personal, of the town,
and in levying thereon the trustees shall be governed by the land
and property books of the county. In case of vacancy in the board
of trustees the remaining trustees shall have power to fill the vacancy.

5. The council shall elect from theirown number a president, who
shall preside at all meetings of the council, and when they are
equally divided, shall, in addition to his individual vote, give the
casting vote; and he shall be invested with all the powers of a jus-
tice of the peace within the limits of said town, and he shall have
authority to try all violators of the ordinances of the town, subject
to an appeal to the county court.

6. The council shall have power to appoint annually a sergeant
for said town, who, before entering upon the duties of bis office, shall
take the oaths now required by law to be taken by sergeants, and
enter into bond, with one or more sufficient securities, in a penalty
not less than one thousand nor more than five thousand dollars,
before the county court of Essex; which bond shall, in addition to
the conditions annexed to a sergeant’s bond, contain an additional
condition that the said sergeant shall collect and account for all
taxes, levies, and fines imposed or levied by the trustees of the town
of Tappahannock, at such times and in such manner as they may
direct. Aud upon failure or neglect of said sergeant to perform any
of the duties required of him by any law of the state, or any- by-law
or ordinance passed by the said trustees, he shall be liable to all the
fines and penalties now imposed by law upon sergeants for failing
to perform their duty, and he and his securities may be proceeded
against, in the same manner and in any of the modes now or which
may hereafter be by any law of the state prescribed in relation to
sergeants, by any person who may feel himself or herself aggrieved
by the conduct of said sergeant; and the said trustees shall have
full power and authority at any time they may choose to displace
said sergeant and appoint another.

The trustees may, from time to time, as may seem to them proper,
allow and pay to said sergeant a reasonable compensation for his
services.

The sergeant of the town of Tappahannock shall have full power
and authority to serve and execute all processes, civil or criminal,
not only in said town, but also anywhere in the county of Essex,
which sergeants may, by law, execute or serve, and shall, moreover,
collect all taxes, levies and fines imposed by the said trustees for
the observance or carrying into effect of their by-laws and ordi-
nances, and he shall be entitled to the same fees and commissicns
for his services that sergeants are now entitled to by law. All pro-
cesses, warrants and attachments executed by the sergeant of the
town of Tappahannock shall be returned and tried in the same
manner and to the same tribunal as if the same had been executed
or served by any other sergeant of Essex county. And the sergeant
of the town of Tappahannock shall be constituted a conservator of
the peace, with all the authority and functions appertaining thereto.

7. The trustees shall keep a book of record, in which the pro-
ceedings of their meetings shall be correctly and faithfully recorded,
and this book shall be open to the inspection of the public at any
time.

8. W. E. Dillard, Alexander Fleet, W. E. Wright, Hansford Bay-
ton and J. W. Faulkner are hereby appointed trustees of said town,
and shall have and exercise all the powers herein granted to said
oicers, and shall remain in office until their successors shall be
elected.

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