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 | 1897/1898 |
---|---|
Law Number | 509 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 509.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 16 and 17, subdivision 15 of
section 19, sections 20, 68, 84, subdivisions 1 and 4 of section 93 and sections {4
and 100 of the charter of the city of Richmond as embodied in the acts ap-
proved May 24, 1870, March 10, 1884, May 18, 1887, and February 23, 1888.
Approved February 25, 1898.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
sixteen and seventeen, subdivision fifteen of section nineteen, sections
twenty, sixty-eight, eighty-four, subdivisions one and four of section
ninety-three, and sections ninety-four and one hundred of the charter of
the city of Richmond, as embodied in the acts approved May twentv-
fourth, eighteen hundred and seventy, March tenth, eighteen hundred
and eighty-four, May eighteenth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
and February twenty-third, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
§ 16. Each branch of the council shall elect one of its members to
act as president, who shall preside at its meetings and continue in
office two years, unless it be to fill a vacancy, when he shall be elected!
for the unexpired term. [ach branch of the council shall also elect one
of its members to be a vice-president, who shall preside at such meet-
ings in the absence of the president, and who, when the president shall
be absent from the city or shall be unable to perform the duties of his
office by reason of sickness or other cause, shall perform any and all
duties required of or entrusted to such president under any provision of
this charter. When for any cause both the president and the vice-presi-
dent shall be absent from any meeting a president pro tempore shall be
elected by the respective branch, who shall preside during the absence of
the president and the vice-president. The president, vice-president. or
president pro tempore, who shall preside when the proceedings of a
previous meeting are read, shall sign the same. The president of each
branch or the vice-president, when authorized as above stated to act for
the president, shall have power at any time to call a meeting of his
branch of the council, and in case of the absence, sickness, disability or
refusal to act of both the president and vice-president of a branch of the
council that branch may be convened by the order in writing of anv
three members of said branch.
§17. Each branch shall have authority to adopt such rules and to
appoint such officers and clerks as it may deem proper for the regula-
tions of its proceedings, and for the convenient transaction of business
to compel the attendance of absent members, to punish its members
for disorderly behavior, and by a vote of two-thirds of its members to
expel a member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office. Each branch
shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and its mectings shall be open,
except when the public welfare shall require secrecy. The city council
or any of its committees, when authorized by said council, the board of
police commissioners and the board of fire commissioners may each, in
any investigation held by them, respectively, within their respective
powers and duties, order the attendance of any person as a witness and
the production by any person of all proper bovks and papers. Any
person refusing or failing to attend may be summoned before the police
justice of the city, and upon failing to give a satisfactory excuse to said
police justice may be fined not exceeding the sum of one hundred dol-
lars or imprisoned not exceeding thirty days; such person to have the
right of appeal as in cases of misdemeanor to the hustings court of
Richmond. Such witness may be sworn by the officer presiding at such
investigation, and shall be liable to prosecution for perjury for any false
testimony given at such investigation.
XV. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious or other
dangerous diseases; to establish, erect and regulate hospitals; to provide
for and force the removal of patients to said hospitals; for the appoint-
ment and organization of board of health for said city, with the author-
ity necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties; to
authorize the supervision by a city official of the construction and main-
tenance of all water and sewerage pipes, traps and other fixtures, and
to require the use of such pipes, traps and other fixtures as the city
council or its duly authorized official or committee may deem proper as
sanitary measures; for the prescribing of the duties of the coroner of
the city of Richmond, who shall be appointed, as provided under the
general statutes of the state, by the judge of the hustings court, but
who shall receive, instead of fees, a salary to be determined by the city
council and to be paid by the city: provided, the salary of the said coro-
ner shall not be less than two thousand dollars. He shall be a physi-
cian of not less than five years’ standing, and shall also be a chemist.
He shall hold all inquests and make all post mortem examinations
without the assistance of any medical experts, for whose assistance the
city may be liable, without the consent of the mayor.
§ 20. Where, by the provisions of this act, the city council has au-
thority to pass ordinances on any subject, they may prescribe any fine
or penalty, not exceeding five hundred dollars (except where a fine or
penalty is herein otherwise provided for), for a violation thereof, and
may provide that the offender, on failing to pay the fine or penalty 1m-
posed, shall be imprisoned in the jail of said city for any term not ex-
ceeding three calendar months. Such imprisonment may be ordered to
be with or without labor; when ordered to be with labor the council
may by ordinance declare what kind of labor shall be done for the city
by such offenders either at said jail or elsewhere in said city. And
the city council may subject the parent or guardian of any minor,
or the master or mistress of any apprentice, to any such fine for any
such offence committed by such minor or apprentice. From any fine or
imprisonment imposed an appeal lies to the hustings court of the city
as in cases of misdemeanor. Whenever any fine or penalty shall be
imposed but not paid, the police justice, if he shall not order the party
to be imprisoned in the city jail, may, unless an appeal be taken forth-
with, issue a writ of fieri facias for said fine, directed to the sergeant of
the city. Such writ must be made returnable to the said police justice
within sixty days from its issuance.
§ 68. There shall be set apart annually, from the accruing revenues of
the city, asum not less than one per centum of the city debt existing at
the commencement of this act. The fund thus set apart shall be called
asxinking fund, and shall be applied to the payment or purchase of the
principal of the city debt. If no part be redeemable, then the residue
of the sinking fund shall be invested in the bonds or certificates of debt
of the city, and applied to the payment of the city debt as it shall be-
come redeemable. Whenever hereafter there shall be contracted bv
the city any debt not payable within the next twelve months, there shall
be set apart annually for thirty-four years, or until the debt is paid, a
sum exceeding by one per centum the aggregate amount of the an-
nual interest agreed to be paid thereon at the time of its contraction,
which sum shall be applied and invested towards the payment of such
debt in the same manner as hereinbefore provided for the present exist-
ing debt of the city. The committee, board, or city officials, having
charge of the sinking fund under the authority of the city council, may
invest the funds of the sinking fund not only in bonds of the city but
also in those issued by the state of Virginia or by the United States.
Such committee, board or city officials shall make to the city council
quarterly detailed statements of all of the transactions of the board set-
ting forth the amount and character of their assets, investinents, trans-
fers, issues, exchanges, or other business of whatever character, including
a statement of what, if any, be due by the city. The purchases made
of city bonds may be made directly from the city.
§ 84. The police department of the city of Richmond shall be under
the general control and management of police commissioners thereof,
who shall consist of the mayor and six citizens, of whom one shall reside
in each ward ; any four of whom shall constitute a quorum. The mayor
shall be ex-officio president of the board, and shall preside at its meet-
ings, and shall have a vote in case of atie. In his absence the other
members may select a president pro tempore. As the terms of the com-
missioners shall expire the vacancies in the board thus created shall be
filled by election in the month of July of each year bv the two branches
of the city council in joint session for a term of six years. Butno person
shall he elected who does not receive a majority in each branch of the
council of all the members elected to such branch. The said board shall
adopt rules and regulations for the government thereof ; it may establish,
promulgate, and enforce proper rules, regulations, and orders for the
«ood government of the police force ; and in any investigation pertaininz
to their duties, shall have power to send for persons and papers, and by
their president to administer an oath; provided that said rules and
regulations shall not in any way conflict with an ordinance of the city
council. The members of said board may be removed at any time by a
vote of two-thirds of the city council elected, for good cause, upon proper
charges and specifications made and proved. If any member shall
resign, cease to be a voter, or be a candidate for any office, federal, state,
or municipal, there shall be at once a vacancy in said board which shall
be filled as aforesaid ; and when any member of the police commis-
sioners is named as an applicant or candidate, or as proper to he
supported as a candidate for any office, or a proper person to receive such
office, the president shall, or any member of said board may, notify him
that his name is mentioned in connection with such office; and if said
member does not, within ten days after the receipt of such notice file
with the president of the board his statement in writing that he is neither
a candidate nor applicant for such office, and that he will not serve, nor
accept it if elected or appointed, the said board shall declare his place
vacant, which shall be filled in the manner hereinbefore prescribed.
When vacancies are filled for any cause other than expiration of term
they shall be filled only by the council for the unexpired term.
§ 93. Subdivision I.—The fire and fire-alarm departments of the city
of Richmond shall be under the direction and control of a board com-
posed of six citizens, voters in said city, of whom one shall reside in
each ward; such board to be called the board of fire commissioners of
the city of Richmond. As the terms of the commissioners shall expire
the vacancies in the board thus created shall be filled by election in the
month of July of each year by the two branches of the city council in
joint session for the term of six years. But no person shall be elected
who does not receive a majority in each branch of the council of all the
members elected to such branch. All vacancies except those occurring
from expiration of term shall be filled by the council for the unexpired
term.
Subdivision IV.—The force of the fire department of the city of Rich-
mond shall be appointed by the said board of fire commissioners as
herein provided. The said force shall consist of a chief engineer, one
or more assistant engineers, and a secretary, and as many foremen,
station-men, hose-men and ladder-men as from time to time may be
required, in the opinion of said board, except that the total number of
the force shall not be increased, without the consent of the city council,
above its present number. The chief engineer, assistant engineers,
secretary, and others members of the departments shall be appointed
for a period of three years. The said oflicers and members of the fire
department may be removed by said board for cause at any time, or
such fines or suspensions may be imposed for cause, as the board may
deem proper, as hereinafter provided. In any investigation pertaining
to their duties the board shall have power to send for persons and
papers, and by their presiding officer administer an oath. The board
of fire commissioners are hereby empowered to prescribe the duties of
the chief engineer, assistant engineers, and secretary, as well as of other
members or employees of the fire department, assigning to them such
duties in the department as the board shall deem proper.
§ 94. For the purpose of guarding against the calamities of fire, the
city council may, from time to time, designate such portions and parts
of the said city as it shall think proper within which no buildings of
wood shall be erected. They may prohibit the erection of wooden
buildings in any portion of the city without permission obtained from
them. They may authorize the board of fire commissioners, and the
chief of the fire department to permit the erection of wooden buildings
in any portion of the city, except such as the council may have desig-
nated as portions within which no building of wood shall be erected:
provided, however, that no building of wood or addition to such a
building shall be erected in any square of the city, when and after the
owner or owners of at least one-fourth of the ground included therein
shall have petitioned the council by a petition filed with the city clerk
to prohibit the erection in said square of buildings of wood unless the
outer walls of the building to be erected shall be made of brick and
mortar, or stone and mortar or some other fire-proof material, and may
provide for the removal of any such building or addition which shall
be erected contrary to such prohibition, at the expense of the builder or
owner thereof, and if any building shall have been commenced before
said petition can be acted on by the council, or if a building in progress
appears clearly to be unsafe, the council may have such building taken
down. For the purpose of guarding against fire and of insuring the
erection of safe buildings, the council may pass any reasonable
regulation as to the manner and materials of construction of all
buildings.
§ 100. There shall be elected at the first charter election, and every
two years thereafter by the qualificd voters of said city, one city ser-
geant, who shall serve for two years and until his successor be elected
and qualify, unless sooner removed. He shall keep his office in such
place as the city council may provide and appoint, and shall receive
such compensation for his services as the city council shall determine.
He shall, as city jailer, pay the salaries of all deputies or guards needed
and appointed for the safe-keeping of the prisoners in the city Jail, and
the city shall in nowise be responsible therefor, except guards appointed
by the court when the same are necessary on account of the insecurity
of jail. Before entering upon the duties of his office the said city ser-
geant shall give bond and security in such amount as the said city coun-
cil shall determine, which bond shall be approved by the said city
council, entered on their records and filed in the office of the city
clerk.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.