Chap. 410.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Pocahontas.

Approved February 24, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the ter-
ritory contained in the following limits, namely: Beginning at a
stake on the south side of the ridge north of Laurel creek, the north-
east corner of the part of the town of Pocahontas known as the
Browning addition; said stake is situated south twenty-eight de-
grees twenty minutes, east seventy-five feet, from a white oak, gum
and maple, a corner of the lands belonging to Mistress J. S. Browning ;
thence with the lines of the said Browning addition south sixty-two
degrees thirty minutes, west one hundred and sixty-seven and five-
tenths feet, to a white oak and gum stump; south thirty-one degrees,
west two thousand six hundred and ninety-two feet, to a small chest-
nut and laure] near the top of a spur west of Reed’s branch, in aline
of Mistress J. S. Browning’s land; south fifty-eight degrees, east one
thousand three hundred and thirty-seven feet, to a red oak and hick-
ory on the east side of a spur of Laurel ridge; north thirty-three
degrees fifteen minutes, east two thousand and seventy feet, toa stake
between two spruce pine stumps on a northeast hillside; thence,
leaving said Browning addition, south twenty-eight degrees twenty
Minutes, east two thousand one hundred and two and five-tenths
feet, to a stake on east end of a spur north of the Abb’s valley
road: north sixty-one degrees, east six thousand one hundred and
seventy-eight feet, to a stake on the state line south of and near Rose-
ville; thence with state line north forty degrees thirty-four minutes,
west seven thousand one hundred and sixty feet, to a stake in a flat
in an old field south of and near the D. K. Perdue house; thence
south sixty-three degrees, west four thousand nine hundred and fifty
feet, to a stake in the field on a south hillside above the spring;
thence south thirty-two degrees fifty-five minutes, east three thou-
sand five hundred and thirty-nine and three-tenths feet, to the be-
ginning, shall be deemed and taken as the town of Pocahontas, and
the inhabitants of the town of Pocahontas, for all purposes for which
towns and cities are incorporated in this commonwealth, shall con-
tinue to be one body politic, in fact and in name, under the style
and denomination of the town of Pocahontas.

2. The administration and government of said town shall be vested
in one principal officer styled mayor, one body to be called the coun-
cil of Pocahontas, and any such other bodies and officers as are here-
inafter mentioned and provided for, or which may be provided for
by the said council.

3. The municipal officers of the said town shall consist of a mayor,
eight councilmen, a police justice, a recorder, a treasurer, a commis-
sioner of the revenue, an assessor, a sergeant, and three policemen.

4, The mayor and council above provided for shall be elected by
the legally qualified voters of the said town on the fourth Thursday
in May, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and every two years there-
after. The present mayor and councilmen of the town of Pocahon-
tas shall continue in office and exercise the powers vested in them
by Jaw until the aforesaid mayor and councilmen shall, after elec-
tion on the day and date above mentioned, have entered upon the
discharge of their duties on the day prescribed by this act.

5. The election for all the last mentioned officers shall be held
under and pursuant to the general laws of the state governing the
election of city and state officers, the place of such election to be
fixed by the council of said town. The term of office of said officers
shall begin on the first day of July next succeeding their election.

6. The council of said town shall, at its first regular meeting after
election, elect a sergeant, recorder, commissioner of the revenue, asses-
sor, treasurer and police justice; all of said officers to hold office for
two years from the date of their election or during good behavior.

7. The council shall annually elect one of its members president
pro tempore, to preside at its meetings in the absence of the mayor
or in case of his inability or refusal to act.

8. The mayor shall have the power to call a meeting of the coun-
cil whenever he deems it necessary or when he shall be requested to
do so by two members of the council in writing; and in case of his
absence, inability, or refusal, so to do, the council may be convened
by order of the recorder upon the request of any three members in
writing, but no special meeting shal] be convened until notice of the
same in writing has been served on each member of the council in
person, or by leaving a copy of such notice at his usual place of
abode, at least twenty-four hours prior to such meeting.

9. The council shaJl by ordinance fix the time for holding their
stated meetings, and no business shall be transacted at a special
meeting except that for which it shall have been called, and the no-
tice to be served on each member as hereinbefore provided for shall
plainly state the time, place, and object of such special meeting.

10. The council of said town shall have authority to adopt such
rules and to appoint such officers and committees as it may deem
proper for the regulation of its proceedings and for the convenient
transaction of business, to compel the attendance of absent mem-
bers, punish members for disorderly conduct, and by a vote of three-
fourths of the entire council may expel a member for malfeasance
or misfeasance in office.

11. The council shall keep a minute book, in which the recorder
shall note the proceeding of each meeting, and he shall record the
proceedings at large in the record book, and keep the same properly
indexed ; the majority of the council shall constitute a quorum for
the transaction of routine business, but no ordinance shall be passed
or resolution adopted, having for its object the appropriation of
money, except by a concurrence of a majority of the entire council,
exclusive of the mayor, and no question decided at a regular meet-
ing shall] be reconsidered at a special meeting except by the consent
of two-thirds of the entire council.

12. The council shall have, subject to the provisions of this act,
control of the fiscal and municipal affairs of said town and all pro-
perty, real and personal, belonging to said town, and they are hereby
vested with power to make such ordinances and by-laws relative to
the same as they may deem proper; and they shall likewise have
power to make such by-laws, ordinances, orders and regulations as
they may deem necessary to carry out the foregoing and following
powers which are hereby given and vested in said council:

13. To erect and keep in proper condition all public buildings
necessary and proper for the use of said town; to erect and main-
tain in said town a prison, said prison to contain such apartments
as shall be necessary for the safe-keeping of all persons confined
therein, and to establish a chain-gang, and require offenders unde:
sentence for violation of the laws and ordinances of said town tc
work therein on the public streets, roads or buildings of said town

14. To determine and designate the route and grade of any rail.
road to be laid out in said town, and to restrain and regulate the
rate of speed of locomotive engines and cars upon the railroad:
within said town.

15. To direct the location of houses or buildings to be used fo:
the sale or storage of gunpowder, dynamite or any combustibles, anc
to regulate the sale and use of all such substances in said town; t<
regulate the exhibition of fire-works, the discharge of fire-arms, anc
to restrict the making of bonfires, either on public street or private
property in said town; to fix and prescribe a fire limit as follows
The fire limit shall extend two hundred feet from either side o:
Centre street on Railroad avenue, and two hundred feet on eithe:
side of Centre street on Water street, and two hundred feet on either
side of Centre street on Rolfe street. This ordinance shall not con-
flict with the general fire limit ordinance. The fire limit in said
town shall be as follows: From the Norfolk and Western freight
depot up Centre street to Rolfe street, on Saint Clair street; from
west end of same to Moore street; on Church street from west end
of same to Moore street; both sidesof the streets within the bounds
mentioned are included in the fire limit for a distance of two hun-
dred feet.

16. To prevent hogs, dogs and other animals from running at
large in said town, and to subject the same to such regulations, con-
fiscations and taxes as they may deem proper, and to prevent the
riding or driving of horses or other animals at an improper speed,
throwing stones, snow-balls, or other sports or employments on the
streets or alleys of said town, which may be deemed dangerous or
annoying to citizens or passengers of said streets and alleys, as well
as to punish the abuse and cruel treatment of horses or other ani-
mals in said town.

17. To arrest and punish drunkards, beggars and vagrants; 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 and punish lewd and indecent conduct and exhibitions in
said town; and for any violation of such ordinances may impose
fines in addition to those prescribed by the laws of the state.

18. The council of said town shall have such rights of eminent
domain for the purpose of opening streets and alleys as is given to
public corporations by the laws of the state of Virginia, and the
council shall bave the same authority and jurisdiction over the same
as it has over those ceded by deed or otherwise; and in every case
where a street in said town shall be encroached upon by a fence,
building or otherwise, the council may require the owner or occupant
to remove the same within such time as the council may prescribe,
and may impose a penalty for each and every day the same may be
allowed to remain, or may, after reasonable notice, remove the same
at the expense of the owner and collect the expense thereby incurred
in the same manner provided for the collection of taxes.

19. The said council shall have power to lay and levy a tax not
exceeding fifty cents on the one hundred dollars value of all pro-
perty, real and personal, of the said town for the general purposes
of said town, and in addition thereto a tax not exceeding twenty
cents on the one hundred dollars of property, real and personal, in
said town for the benefit of the public schools of the said town, and
a poll tax of fifty cents on each male citizen thereof over twenty-one
years of age, and the said town shall have like powers of distress,
levy and sale for the collection of such taxes as are now given to
state officers for the collection of state taxes. The council shall
have like powers to levy and collect a special license tax on all mer-
cantile business, professions, shows, operas, dances, peddlers, and
business of like nature as are now imposed by the laws of the state
of Virginia for state purposes; provided that in any case where there
is no tax imposed by the laws of said state the said council shall
have power to levy such tax as it may deem just.

20. No license shall be granted to any person, club, or curporation
to sell wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, or any mixture thereof,
alcoholic bitters, bitters containing alcohol, or fruits preserved in
ardent spirits, either by wholesale or retail, or to be drank at the
place where sold, or in any other way within the corporate limits of
said town or within one mile thereof, without, unless and until the
applicant shall produce to the court or other officer authorized to
grant such license the written consent of the council or the town of
Pocahontas, and upon the production of the record of said council
to the said court as aforesaid, showing’ such consent of said council
and specifying the place where to be sold and in what manner, that
the applicant is a corporation chartered under the laws of the state of
Virginia, or if the applicant is not such a corporation that the person
so applying is sober, discreet, and of good moral character, that the
place is a suitable and convenient one, that said applicant has paid
into the treasury of the town of Pocahontas in lawful money of the
United States the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars, and to the
treasurer of Tazewell county the amount of tax required by existing
laws to be paid to the state for the exercise of said privilege, then
said court shall grant such applicant a license to sell any or all of
the things mentioned in this section by wholesale, retail, or to be
drank at the place where sold; provided that if such applicant
desire to sell at wholesale, he or it shall pay into the treasury of the
said town the sum of five hundred dollars, unless he or it desire
to sell malt liquors only by wholesale, in which case he or it shall
pay the sum of three hundred dollars, but license shall not be
granted to any corporation or person to sell in more than two of the
modes herein designated, nor shall any such license be granted until
the applicant shall execute bond in the county court of Tazewell
county, with good security, in a penalty of five thousand dollars, con-
ditioned according to law. Any person or corporation who shall
without first securing a license as required by the foregoing section
sell wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, or any mixture thereof, alco-
holic bitters, or fruits preserved in ardent spirits, either by whole-
sale, retail, or to be drank at the place where sold, or any other way,
within the corporate limits of said town or within one mile thereof,
shall be punished with a fine of fifty dollars for each offence, and if
the fines and costs of such prosecution be not at once paid the
offender shall be forthwith committed to jail of said town until said
fine and costs be paid or he be discharged by due process of law;
and any person found guilty of the offence may be required by the
officer who shall try said case to give bond in a reasonable sum to be
of good behavior for twelve months, and in default of said bond the
accused shall be committed to jail until he does give it or be dis-
charged by due process of law.

21. The mayor.—The mayor shall preside at all meetings of the
council, and shall sign all ordinances enacted by the said council
and all warrants drawn upon the treasurer of said town by the said
council; he shall have access to all books and accounts of each of
the officers thereof and authority to examine same; he shall have
power to suspend or remove any officer of the said town for mal-
feasance or misfeasance in office, and shall report the same, with his
reasons for so doing, to the council at its next regular meeting,
where the officer so removed shall have the right to appear and
make defence to such charges as may be preferred against him, and
no officer removed by the mayor shall be re-instated, except by a
three-fourths vote of the council; he shall at least twice a year, and
may do so as often as he deems necessary or be requested to do so
by the council, communicate to the council in writing the general
condition of the affairs of the town, with such recommendations as
he may deem necessary; he shall have power to fill any vacancy
that may occur in any office by death, sickness, or any other disa-
bility temporarily or until the first regular meeting of the council ;
he-shall receive for his services a salary of sixty dollars per annum,
payable monthly out of the treasury of the said town, and he shall
receive no other compensation.

22. Police justice.—The police justice shall be, and is hereby,
invested with jurisdiction and authority to try and determine all
cases arising by reason of violation of any of the laws and ordinances
of said town, and impose such fines and penalties for violation of
the same as he shall deem just where the amount of the penalty or
fine for such violation of such laws and ordinances is not fixed by
the same, and he shall have the same jurisdiction to try and deter-
mine civil causes as the justices of the peace of the state of Virginia
now have, and shall receive like fees therefor. He shall also have
the same jurisdiction as the justices of the peace in all offences
against the laws of the commonwealth of Virginia, but he shall
receive no fees for such services, and fees arising through his office,
except in civil causes, shall be collected by the sergeant and paid
into the town treasury. He shall make a report of the affairs of his
office to the council of said town at its first regular meeting in each
month, or oftener if the council shal] request same. He shall receive
as compensation for his services, six hundred dollars per annum,
payable monthly by the said town, and he shall receive no other
compensation from the said town.

23. Recorder.—The council, at its first regular meeting in July,
shall elect some person, not a member of the body, recorder and
commissioner of the revenue, who shall correctly note the proceed-
ings of each meeting in a minute book, and he shal! afterward record
and properly index said proceedings in a book to be known as the
record book; he shall also see that the license laws of the town are
faithfully performed, and shall receive as compensation for his ser-
vices the fees now allowed by law to the commissioner of the reve-
nue, to be paid by the person applying for such license, and he shall
receive no other compensation.

24. Assessor.—The council shall annually elect an assessor, who
shall assess the value of all real and personal property in said town
according to the laws of the state of Virginia; he shall also make
out all tax tickets and deliver the same to the treasurer of the town;
he shall receive as compensation for his services the sum of one hun-
dred dollars, to be paid when the council is satisfied with the duties
performed by him.

25. Sergeant.—The sergeant of the town of Pocahontas shall be
elected by the town council of Pocahontas at its first regular meet-
ing in July, or as soon after as may be practical. He shall have
power, and it shall be his duty, to collect all fines and penalties
which may be imposed by the police justice and arising from the
police department, and he shall pay over the same to the treasurer of
the town every week. He shall be ex-officio chief of police, and shall
have and exercise all the powers of a police officer of towns and
cities under the laws of the state of Virginia, but he shall have no
power to execute any civil process. He shall attend all meetings of
the council and shall make a report to that body at its first regular
meeting in each month of the condition of his office, and may be re-
quired to do so at any time by the council. He shall execute bond
in the penalty of five thousand dollars, with at least three sureties,
to be approved by the council, conditioned according to law, for the
faithful performance of his duty. He shall receive for his services
a salary of seven hundred and twenty dollars per annum, payable
proportionately at the end of each month, and he shall receive no
other compensation.

26. Treasurer.—The council shall, at its first regular meeting in
July, or as soon thereafter as may be practical, elect a treasurer,
who shall serve for two years, or until his successor shall be elected.
It shall be the duty of the treasurer to receive all moneys belonging
to the town, to collect all taxes, assessments and licenses, and to
pay out and disburse the same only on the written order of the
council, signed by the mayor and attested by its recorder. He shall
have power to appoint a deputy to assist him in the discharge of
his duties. He shall make a report of the condition of -his office at
least once a month, and may be required to do so at the pleasure of
the council. He shall, before entering upon the duties of his office,
execute a bond in the penalty of five thousand dollars or more, in
the discretion of the said council, conditioned according to law for
the faithful performance of his duties, said bond to be signed by at
least three sureties to be approved by the council. He shall receive
as compensation for his services a salary of two hundred dollars per
annum and five per centum on the collection of delinquent taxes.

27. Police.—The council shall, at its first regular meeting in July
of each year, elect three citizens of the town of Pocahontas, who
shall, with the sergeant, constitute the police force of the said town,
and shall exercise all the duties and powers given to police officers
under the laws of the stateof Virginia; the said council may estab-
lish such rules and regulations for the government of said force as
it may deem necessary; they shall receive a salary of six hundred
dollars per annum each for their services, payable in equal instal-
ments monthly, and they shall receive no other compensation.

28. The said council of said town is hereby empowered to borrow
an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars, and toissue the bonds
of the said town therefor, to bear interest at a rate not greater than
six per centum per annum.
29. That the money so borrowed by the said council shall be used
and applied to the funding and liquidation of the indebtedness of
the said town now outstanding. The said bonds shall be issued in
the denominotion of five hundred dollars each, and bearing interest,
payable annually, at a rate not greater than six per centum per
annum, the entire principal and interest thereof to be paid within
five years, the said council to reserve the right and privilege of pay-
ing the whole or any part of said bonds at any time, and to be in
form following:

Know all men by these presents, that the town of Pocahontas,
Tazewell county, Virginia, is justly indebted to , or
order, in the sum of five hundred dollars, redeemable at the pleasure
of the council of the said town within five years from the date
hereof, and payable on the day of , nineteen hundred
and , to bear interest at the rate of six per centum per annum
from date, payable annually on the day of , eighteen
hundred and , at the office of the treasurer of the town of
Pocahontas. In witness whereof the town council of Pocahontas has
caused the corporate seal of said town to be affixed hereto and these
presents to be signed by its mayor and attested by its recorder this
the day of , eighteen hundred and , and shall
be signed by the mayor and the recorder, and have the corporate seal
of the town of Pocahontas affixed thereto.

When the said bonds shall be issued in accordance with this pro-
vision of this act the property of the said town shall be pledged for
payment and interest thereof according to their tenor, and the said
council shall provide for the payment of accruing interest and at
least one-fifth of the principal of the said bonds annually on or
before the fifth day of May, and shall pay the interest accrued on
all of said bonds, and redeem and cance! at least four of said bonds
annually, and for the purpose of paying said interest and the
redemption of said bonds the first money received from any source
during the fiscal year of the tenure of said bonds shall be pledged.
The said bonds may be issued and sold by the said council for the
purpose of raising said sum of money, providing they shall not be
sold for less than their par value.

30. The council may annually levy a tax for roads, streets, side-
walks, and all other purposes, by two-thirds vote, to be approved by
the mayor, which on no property shall exceed fifty cents on the one
hundred dollars valuation, except that on a petition of freeholders
representing two-thirds of the valuation within the corporation the
council may levy a corporation tax not to exceed the amount named
in the petition. The poll-tax shall not exceed fifty cents on each
male person in any one year. The persons and property within the
corporate limits of said town shall be exempt from the payment of
county levies for road purposes, maintaining the poor, and supporting
the free schools so long as the said town shall keep up its own streets,
maintain its own poor, and levy a special tax for the support of the
free schools.

31. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this section of this
act are hereby repealed.

32. This act shall bein force from its passage.