Chap. 511.—An ACT to amend re-enact certain sections of the charter of the
town of Culpeper.

Approved February 27, 1896.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions four, ten, eleven, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-eight, thirty,
thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five, and thirty-six of the charter of
the town of Culpeper be amended and re-enacted so as to read as fol-
lows:

§ 4. The municipal authorities of said town shall consist of a
mayor, recorder, treasurer, and six councilmen, who shall be elected
annually by the quailified voters of said town; and all persons qual-
ified to vote in said elections shall be eligible to any of said offices.
The recorder shall be assessor of said town.

§ 10. The mayor, recorder, treasurer and councilmen shall each,
before entering upon the duties of their offices, and within two weeks
from the day of their election, make oath or affirmation that they
will truly, faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of their
said offices to the best of their abilities so long as they shall continue
therein. The mayor, recorder and treasurer shall take said oath be-
ore a notary public, and the councilmen before the mayor or re-
corder.

§ 11. If any one who shall have been duly elected mayor, recorder,
treasurer, sergeant or councilman shall not be eligible as herein pre-
scribed, or shall refuse or neglect to take the oath or affirmation or
to give the bond required by this act for four weeks from the day of
his election, the council for the time being shall declare his said
office vacant, and shall order a new election for mayor, recorder,
treasurer, sergeant or councilman, as the case may be, of which said
election ten days’ notice shall be given.

§ 25. There shall be a lien on the real estate within said town for
the town taxes assessed thereon, from the commencement of the
year for which they are assessed. When any of said taxes are
returned delinquent a list of the same shall be returned to the clerk
of the county court of Culpeper county and be by him entered in a
book furnished by the said town and kept in his said office, the form
and manner of entering the same to be similar to that provided by law
for the record of delinquent taxes on real estate due the state. In
said book there shall also be columns in which shall! be entered the
names of purchasers, the amount and date of sales of real estate sold
for delinquent taxes as provided in this charter. When the taxes
so returned delinquent are entered in said record as herein provided
the same shall be held to be constructive notice of the lien thereof,
and the said real estate shall be liable thereto as against creditors
and in the hands of purchasers or other persons into whose hands
the said real estate may pass. And the said real estate may be sold for
said taxes as provided in this charter, whether owned by the persons
in whose names it was assessed or not. After said real estate has
been so sold for taxes the same may be redeemed within such time
and by such persons and upon such terms as is provided by law for
the redemption of lands sold for state taxes except that the moneys
paid for such redemption shall be paid to the treasurer of the town
of Culpeper. Upon the redemption of said real estate the treasurer
sha) issue to the persons so redeeming it a certificate to that effect,
which shall be presented to the clerk of the county court, who shall
thereupon mark in the said record the redemption of said real estate,
the name of the party redeeming it, and the date thereof. The clerk
shall receive for his services a fee of ten cents for each lot of land
so entered in said record, a fee-of ten cents for the entry of such
sale of real estate as is provided in this charter, and a fee of twenty-
five cents for each redemption so entered, to be paid by the town of
Culpeper, and which shall be charged against and bea lien upon
said land along with the taxes against the same. At the expiration
of the time within which said real estate may be redeemed, if the
same has not been redeemed as herein provided, the recorder of the
town of Culpeper shall execute to the purchaser thereof a deed con-
veying the same in like manner as is now prescribed by law for the
conveyance of real estate by the clerk of the county court which has
been sold for delinquent taxes due the state, and such deed shal]
convey such title as would be conveyed had the same been sold for
delinquent state taxes.

§ 26. The county court of Culpeper on the application of the coun-
cil may order real estate delinquent for the non-payment of taxes to
be sold by the treasurer at public auction for such taxes at such
time as it shall direct; said sale and the advertisement thereof to
be made in conformity, as near as may be, to the state law with
reference to the sale of delenquent lands. When such sale has been
made the same, with the date thereof, the name of the purchaser,
and the amount for which the said real estate sold shall be entered
by the clerk in the record of delinquent real estate provided for in
section twenty-five.

§ 28. The recorder, treasurer, sergeant, and such special collector
as is provided for in the twenty-fourth section shall, before entering
upon the duties of their offices, execute before the council of said
town bonds with satisfactory security, as follows: The bond of the
recorder shall be in the penalty of five hundred dollars; the bond of
the treasurer, sergeant, and special collector shall each be in a pen-
alty of not less than five thousand dollars; provided that if the ser-
geant is not required to collect the taxes and levies of the said corpo-
ration then the penalty of his bond may, in the discretion of the
council, be less than five thousand dollars, and that the bond of the
special collector may, in the discretion of the council, be fixed at
double the amount of taxes and levies collected by him. The bond
of the recorder shall be conditioned for the faithful performance of
the duties of his office, and the bonds of the treasurer, sergeant, and
special collector shall be conditioned for the faithful performance
of their respective duties as such, and for the proper collection and
accounting for all moneys which shall come into their hands, re-
spectively, or which it shall be their respective duty to collect at
such time as the council may order, and to pay over all moneys
under proper order of the council to those entitled to the same.

§ 30. The duty of the recorder shall be to keep a journal of the
proceedings of the council and have charge of and preserve the
records of the town. In absence from town or sickness of the mayor
or during any vacancy in the office of mayor he shall perform the
duties of the mayor and be invested with all his powers. He
shall be a conservator of the peace within the said town. He shall
receive a compensation for his services not to exceed three
hundred dollars per annum, to be fixed annually for the ensu-
ing year by the council preceding the election of the officers of the
town, which shall not be increased or diminished for the term for
which he shall have been elected. He shall issue warrants upon
the treasurer for all moneys ordered to be paid by the council, which
warrants shall be drawn upon the treasurer payable to the person or
persons entitled to receive the same, and signed by the mayor of the
town and countersigned by the recorder. He shall provide a book
of blank warrants, to each of which shall be attached a stub, upon
which stub shall be entered the number of the warrant taken there-
from, the name of the person to whom payable, the amount and date
thereof, and for what issued, all of which shall correspond with the
warrant so issued. This book, with all others kept by the recorder,
shall be open at any time to the inspection of the council or any
member thereof.

§ 33. All moneys belonging to said town shall be paid over to the
treasurer, and no money shall be paid out except as the same shall
have been appropriated and ordered to be paid by the council: and
the said treasurer shall pay the same only upon warrants drawn
upon him as provided in section thirty of this charter. He shall
keep regular accounts with the town, crediting it by all moneys re-
ceived and charging it with all moneys so disbursed; which books,
as well as all others relating to the business of the town, shall be
open at any time to the inspection of the council or any member
thereof. He shall also keep a book in which shall be registered all
warrants presented, payment of which is refused for want of funds
to meet the same, and the warrants so registered shall be paid in
the order in which they are registered when funds applicable thereto
ehall come into his hands, except that the person to whom any war-
rant is made payable may use the same in the payment of his taxes.
Should the person to whom any warrant is made payable be in-
debted to the town for taxes or otherwise, then the said indebted-
ness shall be deducted therefrom, whether in the hands of the per-
son to whom payable or any other. He shall annually, on the first
day of June, or as soon thereafter as practicable, settle his accounts
with the council or a committee thereof, at which time he shall fur-
nish a statement of all moneys received by him during the preceding
year, and of all disbursements made, together with the warrants
upon which said payments were made; which warrants shall be in-
spected, and if approved, cancelled by said council or committee, as
the case may be. He shall receive a compensation for his services
not to exceed three hundred dollars per annum, to be fixed annually
for the ensuing year by the council preceding the election of the
officers of the town, which shall not be increased or diminished for
the term for which he shall have been elected.

8 34. Ifthe said treasurer shall fail to account for and pay over
all or any moneys that shall come into his hands when thereto re-
quired by the council, it shall be lawful for the council, in the cor-
porate name of the town, by motion before any court of record held
in Culpeper county, to recover from the said treasurer and his sure-
ties or their personal representatives any sums that may be due from
said treasurer to said town on ten’ days’ notice. But this section
shall not be construed to prevent the bringing of any action by the
town which it might have brought had this section not been passed.

§ 35. Before entering upon the duties of their respective offices,
the mayor, sergeant, recorder, treasurer, and councilmen shall make
oath or affirmation that they will truly, faithfully, and impartially
discharge the duties of said offices so long as they remain therein.

8 36. If the sergeant or special collector shall fail to collect, ac-
count for, and pay over all the taxes, fines, and other revenues of the
town in his hands for collection according to the condition of his
bond, it shall be lawful for the council to recover the same by mo-
tion in the corporate name of the town before any court of record in
the said county of Culpeper against the said sergeant or special col-
lector and sureties of either in his said bond,or any or either of
them, his or their executors or administrators, on giving ten days’
notice of the same. But this section shall not be construed to pre-
vent the bringing of any action by the town which it might have
brought had this section not been passed.

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