Chap. 747.—An ACT to authorize the enlargement of corporate limits of the
city of Staunton, when approved by vote of the people affected, and pro-
viding for taking such vote.

Approved March 6, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
corporate limits of the city of Staunton may be enlarged and extended
as hereinafter prescribed: provided only, that they shall not be extended
at any point between the Valley turnpike and Mount Solon road less
than one-quarter nor more than one-half mile from the present cor-
porate limits nor at any point between the Mount Solon road and the
Parkersburg road, less than to a straight line between a point one-quarter
of a mile from the present corporate limits on the Mount Solon road,
to a point not less than three-fourths of a mile from the present corpo-
rate limits on the Parkersburg road, nor more than one-fourth of a mile
beyond said straight line, nor at any point between the Parkersburg road
and the Middlebrook road, a less distance than to a straight line between
a point three-fourths of a mile from the present corporate limits on the
Parkersburg road, to a point one-half mile from the present corporate
limits on the Middlebrook road, nor more than one-fourth mile beyond
said straight line. Nor between the Middlebrook road and the Greenville
road a less distance than one-quarter of a mile, nor more than one-half
mile from said corporate limits, nor between the Greenville road and
the Waynesboro road, a less distance than one-quarter of a mile, nor
more than one-half mile from the present corporate limits, nor on the
Waynesboro road, a less distance than to the old New Hope road at the
national cemetery; and between the Waynesboro road and the present
New Hope road, the corporate limits shall not be extended at any point
a less distance than to a straight line running from a point in the center
of the old New Hope road at its intersection with the turnpike at the
national cemetery, to a point on the north side of said old New Hope
road at the first bend in said road north of, and beyond the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad, and to a straight line running from said point on the
north side of said road to a point in the present New Hope road, not
less than one-fourth of a mile from the present corporate limits, nor
more than one-fourth of a mile beyond said lines, nor between the present
New Hope road and the Valley turnpike, a less distance than
one-fourth, nor more than one-half mile from the present cor-
porate limits: and provided further, that any extension shall be en-
tirely around the present corporate limits of said city within the bound-
ary hereinbefore fixed, save and except as hereinafter provided: and pro-
vided further, that no single tract of land containing five acres or more
shall be included within the lines of any annexed district, without the
consent in writing of the owner thereof.

2. The council of the said city shall cause a plat and survey of the
district to be annexed to be made; and shall specify by resolution (adopted
in the manner which may be prescribed for the adoption of ordinances),
the terms and conditions upon which it is proposed to annex the said
district; and shall cause a copy of such plat and survey, and of such reso-
lution, to be filed in the clerk’s office of Augusta county court, and of
Staunton hustings court, respectively; the same, when so filed, shall
remain open to the inspection of all citizens for at least thirty days
next preceding the election hereinafter provided for; and the said council
shall also cause the said resolution, and the courses and distances of said
survey to be published in one of the Staunton newspapers once a week
for at least four consecutive weeks next preceding such election. After
causing such plat and survey to be made, and after adopting the resolu-
tion specifying the terms and conditions upon which it is proposed to
annex the district surveyed, as above provided, the said council may,
by further resolution (adopted by a majority vote, as any ordinary reso-
lution may be), request the hustings court of the city of Staunton, or
the judge thereof in vacation, and the county court of Augusta county,
or the judge thereof in vacation, to order the special election to be held
in the said city, and in the district proposed to be annexed, respectively,
at which said special election the question of annexing such district to the
said city shall be submitted to the qualified voters of such city and to the
qualified voters (as hereinafter prescribed) of the district proposed to
be annexed, respectively. The ballots to be cast at such election may
be furnished by the voter, and need not be officially marked or stamped,
but shall have written or printed thereon both the words “ for annexa-
tion ” and the words “ against annexation,” and the voter desiring to vote
“for annexation ” shall mark out (with pen and ink or lead pencil) the
words “ against annexation,” and vice versa.

3. It shall be the duty of the county court of Augusta county, or the
judge thereof in vacation, within ten days next after receiving such
request from the said city council, to enter an order in the common law
order book of said court ordering an election to be held in the district
proposed to be annexed, as requested by said council; in such order
the court, or judge in vacation, shall designate three persons to act as
judges and two persons to act as clerks of such election; each person
designated (whether as judge or as clerk of such election) shall be, at
the time of such designation, a resident and qualified voter of the district
proposed to be annexed, and also the owner of an estate, in fee simple
or for life, in land situated in such district. It shall be the duty of the
persons so appointed as judges or clerks of such special election to attend
at the time and place hereinafter fixed for holding such election, and to
act as such judges and clerks respectively, in accordance with their said
appointment, and for the failure of any one or more of them so to do,
the said county court may proceed against and punish the one or ones
so failing as for a contempt of said court. If any one or more of the
judges so appointed do attend at the time and place so fixed for holding
such election, the one or ones so attending may, after waiting not less
than one hour nor more than two hours from the time at which the polls
ought to be opened, appoint any person qualified as hereinbefore pre-
scribed for judges of such election to fill the place or places of such
judge or judges, clerk or clerks as may fail to attend and such appointees
shall thereupon be vested with all the powers and functions of those
whose places they are so appointed to fill, and the election shall be held
and proceeded with accordingly. Each person acting as judge or clerk
of election under this act in the district proposed to be annexed shall,
before entering upon the performance of his duties as such, take and
subscribe an oath in the manner and form provided by section one hun-
dred and eighteen of the code of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven; and
each of said judges and clerks shall receive the sum of two dollars in
full compensation for his services as such, which fees shall be taxed
by the clerk of the said county court along with the other costs of hold-
ing such election. The order for a special election entered under the
provisions of this section by the court, or judge, as the case may be, shall

e entered at least thirty days before the fifth day of June, nineteen
hundred, and shall fix and designate the said fifth day of June, nineteen
hundred, as the day for holding such election, and the place (to be some
convenient place in the district proposed to be annexed) for holding
such election. Immediately after entering the order aforesaid for the
special election under this act, the said county court, or judge thereof
in vacation, shall issue a writ of election directed to sheriff of said
county, in which writ shall be set forth the day and voting place at
which such election shall be held, and also the names of the judges and
clerks of election appointed by the court, and the clerk of said court
shall at once make out and deliver to said sheriff an original and five
copies of such writ. It shall thereupon be the duty of said sheriff to
at once serve a copy of such writ upon each of the persons so named
therein as judge or clerk of election, and he shall also post a notice of
the time and place of holding such election at the front door of the
county court-house, and at not less than three conspicuous public places
in the district proposed to be annexed; who shall also attend in person or
by deputy at the time and place fixed for the election and during the
whole time of holding such election, and shall preserve order thereat and
act as the ministerial officer to the judges of such election in all matters
connected therewith; and he shall make return to the clerk’s office of
the said county court by endorsement on said writ of election, as to how
he shall have executed the same; and said writ and return shall be filed
and kept by the clerk of said court in his said office along with the other
papers pertaining to such election. No person shall be authorized or
permitted to vote in such election in any district proposed to be annexed,
except those possessing the qualifications hereinbefore prescribed for
Judges of such elections.

4. It shall be the duty of the hustings court of the city of Staunton,
or the judge thereof in vacation, within ten days next after receiving the
said request for a special election from the city council, as hereinbefore
provided, to enter an order in the common law order book of said hus-
tings court, ordering a special election to be held in said city on the
question of the proposed annexation of territory to the said city; in such
order (which shall be entered at least thirty days before the fifth day
of June, nineteen hundred) the said hustings court, or judge thereof in
vacation, shall fix and designate the said fifth day of June, nineteen
hundred, for holding such special election in said city; and thereupon
the said hustings court, or judge thereof in vacation, shall issue a writ
of election directed to the sergeant of said city, in which writ shall be
set forth the day fixed for holding such special election in said city, and
said sergeant shall, upon receipt of such writ, execute the same by notify-
ing in writing all the regular election officers of said city, and by posting
notice of such special election as prescribed by section one hundred and
fifteen of the code of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven. Such special
election in said city shall be held on the day fixed, as hereinbefore pro-
vided, in the said order of the hustings court, or judge thereof in
vacation, directing such election, and at the regular polling places of
said city, and by the regular election officers of said city. ‘The special
election held under this act (whether the same be held in the said city
or in scme district proposed to be annexed thereto) shall, as respects
the manner of voting, of receiving, registering, and counting the votes
and making return thereof, be governed by the laws in force in reference
to regular general elections, except so far as the same may be neces-
sarily inconsistent with any of the provisions of this act.

5. For the election actually held under the provisions of this act in
any district proposed to be annexed to said city, the sheriff of said county
shall receive the sum of five dollars, and the clerk of the said county
court shall receive the sum of ten dollars; and for such election held
under the provisions of this act in said city, the sergeant of said city
shall receive the sum of three dollars, and the clerk of the hustings court
of said city shall receive the sum of ten dollars, which said sum shall be
in lieu of all fees and charges for any acts and services done or performed,
under the provisions of this act, in connection with said election or the
certifying of the result of the same by said sheriff, sergeant or clerks,
respectively. All fees of election officers, together with the said com-
pensation of the clerk of said county court and of said sheriff, in con-
nection with the special election held in a district proposed to be an-
nexed, shall be certified by the said county court to the hustings court
of the said city, at the same time at which it certifies the result of said
election as herein provided.

6. The result of the special election held in the said city under the
provisions of this act shall be certified by the judges of such election
to the hustings court of the said city, at the first session thereof held
after such election, and the same shall be, by the said hustings court,
at once entered upon its records, and in like manner the result of the spe-
cial election held in any district proposed to be annexed, as provided for
in this act, shall be certified by the judges of such election to the county
court of Augusta county at the first session thereof held after such elec-
tion, and the said county court shall thereupon forthwith enter the same
upon its records, and also certify at once to said hustings court the
result of such election, together with the costs thereof as hereinbefore
provided, which said certificate the hustings court shall, in like manner,
at once, upon the receipt thereof, enter upon its records.

7. If it appear to the said hustings court that a majority of the votes
cast in said city, as well as a majority of the votes cast in the district
proposed to be annexed, at the special election held pursuant to this
act, are “for annexation,” the said last named court shall forthwith
enter an order declaring such result, and that such district shall there-
after be annexed to and from the date of such last named order,
form a part of the said city, and the last named order shall set
forth the new city limits, embracing such annexed district, together
with the terms of such annexation as prescribed by the resolution of the
city council first above provided for as the basis of such annexation;
and thereupon such district shall become and remain a part of the said
city on the terms and conditions set forth in the said order of court.
But should it appear to the said hustings court that a majority of the
votes cast at such special election in said city or a majority of the votes
cast at such special election in the district proposed to be annexed, are
“against annexation,” then and in that event, the said hustings court
shall forthwith enter an order declaring such result, and that the eorpo-
rate limits of the said city shall remain as they were prior to such elec-
tion; and thereupon such district proposed to be annexed shall not be
annexed to the said city. In either case (whether the said election shall
result in annexation of the new district or not) the said hustings court,
upon the entering of its said order declaring the result of the said elec-
tions, shall certify a copy of the same to the said county court, which
said last named court shall thereupon cause the same to be entered upon
its records.

8. The costs of the election held under this act (as well as that hel
within the district proposed to be annexed, as that held within the said
city), shall be borne exclusively by the city.

9. Should the district, annexed under the provisions of this act, con-
tain any public property belonging to the county of Augusta, or magis-
terial district whereof such annexed district was, at the date of its
annexation, a part, the said city shall pay for the same such price as the
council of the said city and the board of supervisors of said county
may agree upon, or (in the event of their failure to agree), as may be
fixed by a board of arbitration, to be composed of three persons, one of
whom shall be selected by the said city council, and one by the said
board of supervisors, and the third to be selected by the first two so
appointed by the said city council and board of supervisors, .respectively.
In no event shall the sum that the city may be required to pay for such
property exceed the original cost thereof. When the city shall have paid
to the treasurer of the said county the amount fixed or agreed upon for
said public property, as hercinbefore provided, the said property shall
thereupon become the property of the said city.

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