Chap. 477.—An ACT to incorporate the town of Mineral, in the county of Louisa.

Approved April 2, 1902.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the town of
Mineral, in the county of Louisa, 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 Mineral, and by that name shall have and
exercise all the powers, rights, privileges, and immunities, and be sub-
ject 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 Mineral shall be as follows: The
plot of said town as of record in the clerk’s office of Louisa county in
deed-book eleven, page six hundred and four, with the eastern boundary
extended to the “old Tollereville” road; thence along the south side of
said road until crossing a point and making a corner with the western
boundary of the Mineral City tract, extended.

3. The officers of said town of Mineral shall consist of a mayor and
six councilmen, four of whom shall constitute a quorum to transact busi-
ness, who shall hold their office for two years, and until their successors
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 neces-
sary on real and personal property, not to exceed fifty cents on the hun-
dred dollars and fifty cents capitation tax on all male inhabitants over
twenty-one years of age: provided, however, that the total tax rate to be
paid by the land owners within the corporate limits for all purposes shall
not exceed the tax rate paid by land owners in Louisa county, Virginia.

5. The said council shall have power to assess and tax real or personal
property, including that omitted in State assessment within the town;
levy taxes, impose license, and collect the same; to elect a treasurer, a
clerk, a sergeant, an assessor, and any other officers they may deem neces-
sary for the town, and to regulate their compensation, prescribe their
duties, remove them from office, and require bonds, with approved se-
curity, 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
rented, sold, or redeemed.

?. Whenever 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 ex-
isting 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 improve
ments, for which purpose the council of said town shall have the same
powers and privileges for condemning land for streets, alleys, and side-
walks 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 limits of the corporation, or forbid any animals
being kept in the town if dangerous to the public health or safety; to
establish a fire department, with suitable conveniences; to regulate and
fix fire limits in the said town within which no buildings shall be erected
without the consent of the council unless the outer walls thereof 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 side-
walks dangerous or annoying to the citizens; to regulate the sale and use
of gunpowder, dynamite, or fire explosives in the town; to restrict and
punish vagrants, drunkards, street-beggars, and persons coming into the
town without any visible means of support; to impose fines for misde-
meanors, carrying concealed weapons, and illicit sale of ardent spirits or
malt liquors, and all fines imposed for these violations 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
of gambling and ill-fame; to preserve peace and good order; to condemn
and have removed unsafe buildings; to require sufficient means of exit
for houses used for the assemblage of the public; to erect such buildings
as may be necessary for town purposes; to make regulations in reference
to contagious diseases; to abate and remove nuisances; to provide for
order and observance of the Sabbath; to punish violations of the ordi-
nances and by-laws of the town with fine or imprisonment in the lock-
up of said town or in the county jail. The said corporation, by this char-
ter, shall not be deemed, nor shall it be entitled to any ownership or con-
trol in any manner of the mineral under the streets and avenues thereof,
nor shall the said corporation in any way interfere with said mineral.

9. For the purpose of carrying into effect the police regulations of said
town, the said town shall be allowed the use of the Louisa county jail for
the safe-keeping and confinement of all persons who may be arrested or
sentenced to imprisonment under the by-laws and ordinances of said
town, and the sergeant of said town, or any special policeman thereof,
may convey any person arrested or sentenced to jail, and the jailer of
said county shall receive such persons in the same manner as if such per-
son or persons were committed by a justice and delivered to said jailer
by a constable of the county: provided, that all persons 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 be-
fore or enforced under the judgment of the mayor, and for that purpose
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 mectings 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
gqod 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 power 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 power given to special policemen under
section thirty-nine hundred and twenty-seven, Code of Virginia, eigh-
teen hundred and eighty-seven, and shall be entitled to same fees as con-
stable for like services. The town sergeant or any special policeman ap-
pointed by the mayor is hereby authorized and empowered to arrest with-
out 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
in a loud and offensive manner, treating cruelly an animal, riding or
driving at a dangerous speed through the streets, or doing any act in
violation of an ordinance of this town that is or tends to a breach of the
peace or disturb the security of the person or property of the citizens of
the town. The sergeant shall collect the town taxes and licenses, and
shall have like powers to levy and sell for collection as given county ofb-
cers 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, too unwell or so situated as to ren-
der 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 for working on public roads outside of said town, shall keep its
own streets in order and provide for its own poor, and shall not be em-
braced in any road district in the said county of Louisa.

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

16. The council of said town shall appoint all judges of town elections,
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 faithfully
the duties of their respective offices before any officer authorized to ad-
minister an oath.

17. 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 shall, on the order
of the council, immediately thereafter make out and deliver to the mayor
and each councilman a certificate of his election as it appears from the
return of the judges and clerks of election. In the event of a tie in the
vote of any office, 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 administer
oaths before entering upon the discharge of his duties.

19. Should any of the officers elected or appointed refuse or fail to ac-
cept and qualify within thirty days after such election or appointment,
or who were ineligible to the position, then it shall be the duty of a ma-
jority 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 year
they were assessed. Any payment of town taxes madc by the tenant, un-
der 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 Mineral unless the
voters of the town, at an election to be held under the order and regula-
tions of the town council after thirty days’ notice, shall have authorized
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
said three-fifths include a majority of the votes cast by the freeholders
within the town at such election and a majority of the registered vote of
the town, when 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 of Code of Vir-
ginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.

21. That any person applying to the county court of Louisa for license
to sell ardent spirits, malt liquors, wine, or cider in any way within the
corporate limits of the town of Mineral, or within three miles of the
limits thereof, shall produce before said court a certificate, signed by all
the members of the council at a regular meeting, setting forth the facts
that notices of the purpose of the council to allow the sale of whiskey,
wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, cider, or any mixture thereof, within
the limits of said town have been published for thirty days immediately
preceding the said meeting at which said certificate was signed at six or
more public places in said town, or for four weeks consecutively in the
county newspaper, a copy of which notice shall be filed with said certifi-
cate, and that after due publication of said notice a majority of the qual-
ified voters within the corporate limits of said town have petitioned the
said council to permit the sale of whiskey, wine, ardent spirits, malt
liquors, and cider within the limits thereof, a copy of said petition shall
be filed with said certificate; that they believe the applicant to be a fit
and suitable person to engage in the sale of whiskey, and that he will
keep an orderly house, and that the place is suitable, convenient, and ap-
propriate; both person and place to be named in said certificate: pro-
vided, however, that nothing in said certificate shall be construed into an
abridgement or revoking in any way the rights of the citizens or the
county now given by the general laws governing the granting of licenses
for the sale of wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, cider, or any mixture
562 ACTS OF ASSEMBLY.

thereof; and said court shall not grant any such license until and unless
such certificate be given and produced before said court, nor shall any
person within said town or within said limit, without a license, be al-
lowed to buy ardent spirits in quantities for others and distribute the
same. For the violation of this provision the party shall be subject to
such fine as the council shall fix.

22. Thomas Ennis, H. W. Quarles, L. A. Keller, Curtis Hart, E. W.
Milhado, Boyd M. Fruit, and W. J. Coleman shall be council of said
town, one of whom by said body shall be elected mayor, and shall continue
in office until their successors shall be duly elected according to law and
have qualified.

23. That the time for holding an election for town officers in ac-
cordance with this charter shall be the fourth Thursday in May, nine-
teen hundred and two, and every two years thereafter, the notice of time
and place to be published in one of the town newspapers, and if no news-
paper is published in the town, by printed notices at three or more places
within the town by the clerk of the council.

24. The mayor and councilmen elected at the regular election in nine-
teen hundred and two, in May, shall enter upon the discharge of their
duties on the first of July following, and shall hold office for two years,
or until their successors shall have been duly elected and qualified.

25. All acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby re-
pealed.

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