Chap. 143.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Clifton, in Fairfax county.

Approved March 10, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the terri-
tory contained within the limits set forth and described in the second sec-
tion of this act be deemed and taken as the town of Clifton, and the in-
habitants of the town of Clifton for all purposes for which towns are
incorporated in this Commonwealth shall be a body politic in fact and in
name under the denomination of the town of Clifton, and as such shall
have and exercise and enjoy all rights and privileges and powers, and be
subject to all the duties and obligations incumbent upon and pertaining
to said town as a municipal corporation.

2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows—namely : Begin-
ning at sign post corner Chappel and Main streets in said town, measur-
ing four hundred and forty yards in opposite directions parallel with
Main and Chappel streets, forming a square of one-half mile on each
boundary, containing one-fourth square mile of territory.

3. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor and five
councilmen, who shall be residents and voters in said town, to be chosen
every two years by ballot on the second Tuesday in June; first election
to be held in June, nineteen hundred and two. Any person entitled to
vote in the county of Fairfax and residing in the corporate limits of the
town of Clifton three months previous to any election shall be entitled to
vote at all elections under this act of incorporation. There shall be ten
days’ notice of election posted in said town. The mayor shall appoint
three voters who shall act as judges at corporation elections, and who
shall have a right to appoint two clerks of election, and shall hold said
election between the hours of one and five o’clock P. M. In case of
a tie in election, one of the clerks shall, in presence of the judges, decide
by lot. Immediately after the election the judges shall make out and
deliver to the mayor and councilmen certificates of their election. In
case a vacancy shall occur in any municipal office the council shall select
a qualified person to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term. The mayor
and councilmen shall be sworn in accordance with the law of the State
before entering upon their duties. The mayor and three councilmen
shall constitute a quorum to do business. In absence of the mayor one of
the councilmen shall act as mayor pro tempore; any one of the councilmen
shall have power to act as mayor in his absence to try cases, and so forth.

4. The council shall select from their own number a clerk, and from
the qualified voters elect a town sergeant.

5. The council shall direct the assessment of property for the purpose
of levying town tax.

6. The council of said town shall have all the general powers vested
in it by the general laws of the State, and shall also have the power to
mark the bounds of existing strects and to widen or narrow, lay out and
graduate, pave and otherwise improve strects and public highways, and
remove obstruction therefrom.

%. The said council shall have the power to regulate the sanitary con-
dition of said town, and to regulate the building and keeping in a sani-
tary condition all stables, hog pens, privies, and slaughter houses, et
cetera, to abate nuisances at the expense of those who create them. They
shall punish all violations of law by fine or imprisonment, or both, at
the discretion of the mayor, subject to the general laws of the State.

8. The authorities shall have the use of county jail of Fairfax county
until the said town shall have built one of their own for the safe keep-
ing of all persons who shall be sentenced under the ordinance of the town.

9. Whenever judgment shall be rendered against any person for fines
or costs, and there is no visible effects which the sergeant may distrain
and sell therefor, the person so in fault may be compelled to work out
such fines on the public streets or other improvements, and that all fines
for carrying concealed weapons in said town go to the corporation.

10. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created and declared
to be a separate and distinct road district of Fairfax county, and no road
tax shall be levied on any property within said limits, except by the coun-
ceil of Clifton, which tax shall be expended within the limits of said cor-
poration on the streets and roads therein, exclusive of the bridge across
Pope’s Head run, under the direction of the town council; for such ser-
vices the sergeant or road overseer may be paid a compensation that the
council may direct.

11. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said town shall
extend one mile beyond the limits thereof for imposing and collecting a
license tax upon all shows or performances which may take place any-
where within said extended limits.

12. Any person applying to the county court of Fairfax county, or
any other authority, for license to sell wine, ardent spirits, or liquors of
any kind, either as a keeper of an ordinary within the corporate limits of
said town or within one mile thereof, shall produce and present to said
court or other authority a certificate of the council of said town signed
by a majority of the council, to the effect that the applicant is a suitable
person, and that no good reason is known to said council why said license
should not be granted, and the said county court or other authority shall
not grant such license till said certificate is given or produced.

13. The mayor shall be presiding officer, and have power to suspend any
officer for neglect of duty or disorderly conduct.

14. The town sergeant of said town shall have like powers of a con-
stable of said county to pursue and arrest anywhere in said county of
Fairfax. The mayor and councilmen of said town shall have like powers
of a justice of the peace of said county to try cases, et cetera.

15. The council of said town may impose a license tax on all persons
doing business in said town, whether any tax be imposed by the State or
not.

16. The council shall have power to restrain and punish drunkards,
vagrants, and beggars, to prevent vice and immorality, to prevent fast
driving, to preserve public peace and good order.

17. The council shall have power to establish and maintain, at their
discretion, a fire department of the said town.

18. From and after this act goes into effect, and until the councilmen
and mayor to be elected under its provisions shall have been elected and
qualified, A. J. Kidwell, Lewis Quigg, M. M. Payne, C. H. Ford, and
J. B. Cross are hereby appointed councilmen, and R. R. Buckley mayor,
and may qualify before any justice of the peace of Fairfax county, and
therefrom shall constitute the council and mayor of the said town of
Clifton, and may organize and perform the duties of said council and
mayor.

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