Chap. 207.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incor-
porate the town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg, approved
April 1, 1873, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 3, 1886,
as amended and re-enacted by an act approved January 31, 1890.

In effect January 30, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act
entitled’ an act to incorporate the town of Chase City, in the county
of Mecklenburg, approved April first, eighteen hundred and seventy-
three, as amended and re-enacted March third, eighteen hundred and
eighty-six, as amended by an act approved January thirty-first, eighteen
hundred and ninety, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 1. That the town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg, as
the same has been or may be laid off into lots, streets and alleys, shall be,
and the same is hereby, made a town corporate by the name of Chase
City, and by that name shall have and exercise all the powers, rights,
privileges, and immunities, and be subject to all the provisions of chapter
forty-four of the code of Virginia of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
so far as the same relates to towns of less than five thousand inhabitants,
and are not in conflict with the powers herein conferred.

§ 2. The boundaries of said town of Chase City shall be as follows:
The lands extending one-fourth of a mile east, south, and west and
one-half a mile north from the centre of Main street where it is inter-
sected by Second street, in the said town of Chase City, with such addi-
tional land as shall be necessary to make an oblong square.

§ 3. The officers of said town of Chase City shall consist of a mayor
and six councilmen, four of whom shall constitute a quorum to transact
business, who shall hold their office for two years and until their succes-
sors shall be duly elected according to law and have qualified, and all the
corporate powers of said town shall be exercised by said council under
its authority, except when otherwise provided by law.

§ 4. The council shall have the power to pass all ordinances and by-
laws for the government of the town, amend or repeal the same, which
they may deem proper, not in conflict with the constitution and laws of
this state or the United States, and may levy such tax as they may deem
necessary on real and personal property, not to exceed fifty cents on the
hundred dollars and fifty cents capitation tax on all male inhabitants
over twenty-one years of age. :

§ 5. The said council shall have power to assess and tax real or per-
sonal property, including that omitted in state assessment, within the
town, levy taxes, impose license, and collect the same; to elect a treas-
urer, a clerk, a sergeant, an assessor, and any other officers they may
deem necessary for the town, and to regulate their compensation, pre-
scribe their duties, remove them from office, and require bonds with
approved security for the faithful performance of their respective duties.

§ 6. The council may order and require real estate in the town delin-
quent for corporation taxes to be rented or sold by the sergeant at public
auction for the amount of unpaid taxes, with interest thereon at six per
centum and charges, and the surplus shall be paid to the owner, and
they may regulate the terms on which real estate so delinquent may be
renitd, sold, or redeemed.

Sv. W henever anything for which a state license is required is to be
done within the said town the council may require a town license for the
same; also, for any wheel vehicles kept for hire, and may impose a tax
thereon for the use of the town and subject the same to such regulations
as they may deem proper.

$8. The council shall have power to mark accurately the bounds of
existing streets, and alter or change the same, to lay off new streets,
alleys, or sidewalks and keep the same in order, and to make other im-
provements, for which purpose the council of said town shall have the
same powers and privileges for condemning land for streets, allevs, and
sidewalks as the county court for condemning land for roads in the
county; to provide and protect shade trees; to “regulate or prohibit the
running at large of animals in the hmits of the corporation, or forbid
any animals being kept in the town if dangerous to the public health or
safety; to establish a fire de ‘partment with suitable conveniences; to regu-
late and fix fire limits in the said town within which no buildings shall
be erccted without the consent of the council unless the outer walls
thereot be of brick, stone or some other incombustible material; to make
contracts for lights or water supply for the town; to forbid riding or
driving of horses or other animals at an improper or dangerous speed
along the streets; to prevent the engaging in any sports or ‘employment
on the streets or sidewalks dangerous or annoying to the citizens; to
regulate the sale and use of cunpowder, dynamite” or fire explosives in
the town; to restrain and punish vagrants, drunkards, street beggars and
persons coming into the town without any visible means of support: to
impose fines for misdemeanors, carrying concealed weapons, and illicit
sale of ardent spirits or malt liquors, and all fines imposed for these vio-
lations of the law within the corporate limits shall be for the benefit
of the town and be paid into the treasury thereof; to prevent vice and
immorality; to suppress houses for gambling and ill fame; to preserve
peace and good order; to condemn and have removed unsafe buildings;
to require sufficient means of exit from houses used for the assemblage
of the public; to erect such buildings as may be necessary for town pur-
poses; to make regulations in reference to contagious diseases; to abate
and remove nuisances; to provide for order and observance of the Sab-
bath; to punish violations of the ordinances and by-laws of the town with
fine or imprisonment in the lock-up of said town or in the county jail.

$9. For the purpose of carrying into effect the police requlations of

said town the said town shall be allowed the use of the Mecklenburg
county jail for the safe-keeping and confinement of all persons who may
be arrested or sentenced to imprisonment under the by-laws and ordi-
nanees of said town, and the sergeant of the said town or anv special
policeman thereof may convey any person arrested or sentenced to jail,
and the jailor of said county shall receive such person or persons in the
same manner as if such person or persons were committed by a justice
and delivered to said jailor by a constable of the county: provided, that
all prisoners committed to said jail for violations of the ordinances of
said town shall be kept in said jail at the cost and expense of said town.

§ 10. The mayor shall be president of said council, and shall have all
the rights, powers, and privileges such office confers under the general
laws governing towns within this state, and shall be invested with all
the powers of a justice in civil and criminal matters within the limits
of said town and one mile beyond said limits; and all fines or penalties
for violations of the ordinances or by-laws of said town shall be recovered
before or enforced under the judgment of the mayor, and for that pur-
pose he may issue process as a justice and be entitled to the same fees
as a Justice for like service.

§ 11. The mayor shall preside at the meetings of the council, and
when they are equally divided, shall give the deciding vote, and he may
appoint special policemen when in his judgment it is best for the peace
and good government of said town. Any vacancy that may occur in the
office of mayor or councilman shall be filled by the council.

§ 12. The sergeant of said town shall be conservator of the peace and
shall be vested with full powers of a constable within the limits of the
town, and also have power to arrest offenders within one mile of the
town limits for offenses committed within the town or against its by-laws
and ordinances, and shall have all the powers given to special policemen
under section thirty-nine hundred and twenty-seven, code of Virginia,
eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and shall be entitled to same fees
as a constable for like services. ‘The town sergeant or any special police-
man appointed by the mayor is hereby authorized and empowered to
arrest without warrant any person or persons seen by them at the time
of the arrest engaged in making an affray, committing a breach of the
peace, talking or quarrelling in a loud and offensive manner, treating
cruelly an animal, riding or driving at a dangerous speed through the
streets, or doing any other act in violation of an ordinance of this town
that is or tends to a breach of the peace or disturbs the security of the
person or property of the citizens of the town. The sergeant shall collect
the town taxes and license, and shall have like powers to levy and sell
for collection as given county officers for state taxes.

§ 13. Every process for the arrest of a person charged with an offense
committed within the limits of the town against its ordinances or the
laws of Virginia shall be issued by the mayor or the mayor pro tempore
and directed to the sergeant or any special policeman of the town to be
executed, and no such process shall be issued by any other justice or
tried by him, unless such mayor or mayor pro tempore are absent from
the corporation or in their judgment are too unwell or so situated as to
render it improper for either to act.

§ 14. The said town and the property and persons therein residing shall
be exempt and free from the payment of any district or county road tax,
and from working on public roads outside of said town, for which ex-
emption the said town shall keep its own streets in order and provide
for its own poor, and shall not be embraced in any road district in the
said county of Mecklenburg.

§ 15. Any person entitled to vote in the county of Mecklenburg and
who has resided within the said town for three months previous to any
election shall be entitled to vote at all town elections: provided, said per-
sons Offering to vote shall be duly registered in the town as provided by
law.

8 16. _The council of said town shall appoint all judges of town elec-
tions, and a registrar from among the voters of said town at least thirty
days before an election, and they shall take the oath to discharge faith-
fully the duties of their respective ottices before any officer authorized to
administer an oath.

S17. The elections shall be held in accordance with the laws of this
state, and the judges shall count the ballots and certify to the council
within two days after the names of persons for whom votes were cast
with the ballots for mayor and councilmen. ‘The clerk on the order of
the council shall immediately thereafter make out and deliver to the
mayor and each councilman a certificate of his election as it appears
from the returns of the judges and clerks of election. In the event of a
tie in the vote for any ollice the council shall decide.

§ 18. All officers of said town shall take the oath of office prescribed
by law before a notary or some other officer authorized by law to admin-
ister oaths before entering upon the discharge of his duties.

§ 19. Should any of the ollicers elected or appointed refuse or fail
to accept and qualify within thirty days after such election or appoint-
ment, or who were ineligible to the position, then it shall be the duty
of a majority of such town council as may accept and qualify to fill any
vacancy by election. Only voters of the town duly registered shall be
elected to any position. ‘There shall be a lien on all goods and chattels
and real estate for taxes assessed thereon from the beginning of the vear
they were assessed. Any payment of town taxes made by the tenant, un-
less under an express agreement by which the tenant is bound to pay
such taxes, shall be a credit against the person to whom he owed the rent.

§ 20. No bonds shall be issued by the corporation of Chase City unless
the voters of the town at an election to be held under the order and
regulations of the town council after thirty days’ notice shall have author-
ized the same: provided, that at said election three-fifths of the qualified
voters of the town voting upon the question are in favor of issuing
bonds, and that said three-fifths include a majority of the votes cast by
freeholders within the town at such election and a majority of the
registered vote of the town, then the council shall at its next meeting
enter of record an order to carry out the wishes of the voters as expressed
at said election in accordance with section twelve hundred and forty-five,
code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.

§ 21. That any person applying to the county court of Mecklenburg
for license to sell ardent spirits in any way within the corporate limits
of said town of Chase City, or within one mile of the limits thereof,
shall produce before said court a certificate from the council of said
town to the effect that the applicant is a suitable person and that no
good reason is known to said town council why said license should not be
granted, and said court shall not grant any such license until and unless
such certificate be given and produced before said court.

§ 22. That F. B. Roberts, mayor, W. A. Broocks, W. F. Clark, C. B.
Elam, C. Haskins, Junior, Thomas D. Jeffress, and Norman H. Williams,
councilmen at the time of this amendment of this charter, shall continue
in office for the term for which they were elected expires, or until their
successors shall be duly elected according to law and have qualified. All
ordinances now in force shall be valid until amended or repealed by the
council.
§ 23. That the time for holding an election for town officers in accord-
ice with this charter shall be the fourth Thursday in May, nineteen
indred and one, and every two years thereafter; the notice of time and
ace to be published in one of the town newspapers, and if no newspaper
iblished in the town, by printed notices at three or more places within
e town by the clerk of the council.

§ 24. The mayor and councilmen elected at the regular May election
nineteen hundred and one shall enter upon the discharge of their
ities on first of July following, and shall hold office for two years or
itil their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified.

§ 20. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby
pealed.

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