Chap. 766.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 9 and section 11 of an act
of the general assembly, entitled an act to provide a charter for the city of
Winchester, approved April 2, 1874, as amended in the eleventh section
thereof by an act approved February 26, 1896.

Approved March 65, 1900.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
nine and section eleven of an act of the general assembly, entitled an act
to provide a charter for the city of Winchester, approved April second,
eighteen hundred and seventy-four, as amended by an act approved
April thirtieth, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and as further
amended by an act approved March twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred
and eighty-seven, and as further amended by an act approved February
twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, be amended and re-
enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 9. The common council shall elect a president who shall preside at
its meetings. In case of his absence, the council shall elect a president
pro tempore. The council shall have power within said city to lay off,
alter, and improve streets, alleys, squares, and walks; to regulate the
width or size of the same, and to keep them in order or to cause them
to be kept in order; to require the owners or occupants of property abut-
ting thereon to keep sidewalks free of ice, snow, and other obstruction;
to lay off public grounds and to regulate and control the same, and to
provide and take care of public buildings; to require and compel the
abatement of anything which, in the opinion of the majority, shall be
a nuisance at the expense of the person causing the same or of the
owner of the ground whereon the same shall be, and to provide for the
collection of said expense by suit or motion; to prevent and regulate
slaughter-houses, privies, cesspools, or open receptacles for water, or
the exercise of any dangerous, offensive, or unhealthy business or em-
ployment in the city; to prevent stock from running at large in said
city; to provide against fire and contagious diseases; to establish markets
and regulations for the same; to provide for taking care of the poor of
the city; to purchase or to accept gifts of and hold such real estate as
it may deem necessary for the purposes of the city; to levy taxes on all
property, persons, and licenses taxed by the state; to tax dogs and im-
pose a water tax; to provide a revenue for the city and to appropriate
the same; to contract debts in the name of the city of Winchester, and
for the use of said corporation, not to exceed in the aggregate at any
one time (except specially authorized by act of the general assembly)
the sum of fifty thousand dollars; to adopt rules for its own government
and the transaction of business; to establish such offices and appoint
such officers as it may deem necessary; to define the powers and liabilities,
prescribe the duties, and fix the term of service of all its appointees,
except where they are defined, prescribed, or fixed by this act or the
laws of the state; to require and take from them bonds with such sureties
and in such penalties as it may determine for the faithful discharge of
their duties, all such bonds to be made payable to the city of Win-
chester; to remove its appointees; to fill all vacancies in the council:
and generally (and in addition to the special powers in this act granted)
to do all such things as the council may deem proper for the prosperity,
quiet, and good order of the city. The council shall have all such other
powers as are now or may hereafter be conferred on the council of any
city or town having a population of five thousand or over by the con-
stitution and general laws of the state, not in conflict with this act.
For carrying into effect its special and general powers, the council shall
have power to make all such ordinances and by-laws, not inconsistent
with the laws of the state, as it may deem necessary, and to prescribe
fines and other punishment for a violation thereof, not in conflict with
the laws of the state, and to enforce the ordinances of the city. Any
fine or other punishment prescribed for violation of any ordinance of
the city may, upon conviction, be imposed upon warrant issued in the
name of the city of Winchester, by any justice of the peace or the
mayor.

All fines imposed for violation of city ordinances may be recovered
by execution issued by the justice or other officer imposing the fine.
or by some other justice, or the payment of any such fine may be enforced
by imprisonment in jail not exceeding sixty days. When a fine imposed
by a justice or the mavor shall exceed, exclusive of costs, the sum of
twenty dollars, the defendant shall have the right to appeal to the cor-
poration court of Winchester upon giving bond, with good and sufficient
security, payable to the city of Winchester, conditioned to satisfy such
judgment as may be rendered by said court.

§ 11. Whenever any new street shall be opened or Jaid out; any street
or sidewalk graded and paved; any culverts or sewers constructed, or
any other public improvement whatsoever made within the corporate
limits of the city, the common council may determine what portion,
if any, of the expense thereof shall be paid from the treasury of the citv,
and what portion thereof shall be assessed upon the real estate, which
in the opinion of the council shall be benefited therebv; but no such
public improvement shall be made to he defrayed in whole or in part
by a local assessment until first requested by a petition from the owners
of the real estate to be affected thereby, or unless three-fourths of the
council shall concur in voting such improvement to be expedient or in
determining to make said improvement, in which case no petition shall
be necessary. If no petition be filed, the council or a committee thereof
to whom the matter may be referred. shall, before determining that such
improvement shall be made in whole or in part at the expense of the
persons whose lands, in its opinion, will be thereby benefited, have such
person summoned, by at least ten days’ notice, to appear before such
council or committee, to be heard for or against such improvement.
After such hearing, if the council shall determine to have such improve-
ment made, it may order it to be made; and after the work shall be com-
pleted it shall designate some officer who shall, upon such principles as
may be determined by ordinance or resolution of the council apportion
the total cost and expense of said improvement and report the propor-
tionate amount thereof it is proposed to assess against each parcel of land
benefited thereby. The report of such apportionment shall lie in the
office of such officer twenty days, open to inspection by any person
whose property it is proposed to charge with any such assessment. J"if-
teen days’ notice shall be given to each person interested of the exist-
ence of such report in the manner provided by law for the service of
notice, specifying the amount it is intended shall be borne by a local
assessment against the land of such person, and said notice shall cite
such person to appear, at a time and place designated, before a com-
mittee to be appointed for that purpose, which committee shall consist
of not less than three members, and show cause against the proposed
assessment. Such apportionment shall stand as to person not appearing
and objecting thereto, and shall be a lien on the land so charged, enforce-
able as are other city taxes avainst real estate therein. Any person ob-
jecting thereto shall appear in person or by attorney at the time and
place designated in said notice, and shall be heard at that meeting or
at some subsequent one. If the committee shall overrule such objec-
tion, then the party shall have the mght to appeal from the decision of
the committee, within fifteen days from the date of such decision, to the
corporation or hustings court of the city. The clerk of the council,
when an appeal is taken, shall immediately deliver to the clerk of the
said corporation court the original notice with the judgment of the com-
mittee endorsed thereon, and the clerk of said court shall docket the
same. Every such appeal shall be tried by the said court or the judge
thereof in a summary way without pleadings in writing, and without a
jury, in term time or in vacation, upon reasonable notice to the adverse
party. All legal evidence produced by either party shall be heard,
whether the same was produced or not before committee from whose
decision the appeal is taken. The amount so ascertained as proper to
be borne by the appellant shall be a lien on the land of such person, en-
forceable as are other city taxes against real estate therein.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.