Chap. 556.—An ACT to amend and re-enact subsections 1015b, 1015g, 1033, 1033b,
1033f, 1042a, and 1048 of section 1, and section 2 of an act approved May 20,
1903, entitled “an act to amend and re-enact chapter 44 of the Code of Vir-
ginia (1887), in relation to cities and towns, and to repeal sections 1039 and
1040 of the Code of Virginia, and section 1043 of the Code of Virginia, as
amended and re-enacted by an act approved March 4, 1896, and as attempted to
be repealed by an act approved March 7, 1900, and to repeal an act approved
March 7, 1900, entitled ‘an act to provide for local assessments in cities and
towns.’ ”

Approved January 2, 1904.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That subsec-
tions ten hundred and fifteen b, ten hundred and fifteen g, ten hundred
and thirty-three, ten hundred and thirty-three b, ten hundred and thirty-
three f, ten hundred and forty-two a, and ten hundred and forty-eight
of section one and section two of an act approved May twentieth. nine-
teen hundred and three, entitled “an act to amend and re-enact chapter
forty-four of the Code of Virginia, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven.
in relation to cities and towns, and to repeal sections ten hundred and
thirty-nine and ten hundred and forty of the Code of Virginia, and sec-
tion ten hundred and forty-three of the Code of Virginia, as amended
and re-enacted by an act approved March fourth, eighteen hundred and
ninety-six, and as attempted to be repealed by an act approved March
seventh, nineteen hundred, and to repeal an act approved March seventh,
nineteen hundred, entitled ‘an act to provide for local assessments in
cities and towns,’ ” be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§ 1015b. Council to reapportion representation among wards; when
obligatory upon council to change boundaries of wards.—The council in
every city shall, in the year nineteen hundred and three, and every tenth
year thereafter, and also whenever the boundaries of the wards of the
city are changed, prescribe by ordinance the number of members of each
branch of the council and reapportion the representation therein among
the wards, but so as to give, as far as practicable, to cach ward of such
city equal representation in the council and in each branch thereof in
proportion to the population of each ward. In determining such popu-
lation, the council shall be governed by the last United States census,
or by an enumeration to be provided for by ordinance of said council or
such other enumeration as may be provided for by law: provided, how-
ever, that whenever, by the last United States census, or other enumera-
tion. made by authority of the council or as may be provided by law, it
shall appear that the population in any ward exceeds that of any other
ward by as much as. three thousand inhabitants, or whenever the cor-
porate limits of the city shall be extended or contracted, or whenever
in the opinion of the council it is necessary, it shall be the duty of the
city council to redistrict the city into wards, or so increase or diminish
the number of wards as that no one ward shall exceed any other ward in
population by more than three thousand inhabitants. For the purpose
of carrying out the provisions of this section, or whenever it shall be con-
sidered to the interest of the city, the council of each city shall have full
power, by ordinance, to authorize an enumeration of the population of
the city, and of the different wards thereof by such number of enumera-
tors, with such compensation, and in such manner, as may be provided
for in such ordinance: provided, that wherever such enumeration is au-
thorized the enumerators provided for in such ordinance shall be named
by the judge of the corporation court of said city, or if there be none,
ly the judge of the circuit court having jurisdiction thereof: provided,
however, that, if, by any change of the boundaries of a ward, or by the
increase or diminution of the number of wards, any officer, who is re-
cuired by law to be a resident of the ward from which he is elected or
appointed, shall become a resident of a different ward, such officer shall,
notwithstanding, serve as such to the end of his term.

§ 1015g. Rules and officers of councils; investigations by councils and
by boards of fire and police commissioners.—The council, or each branch
as the case may be, shall have authority to adopt such rules and to ap-
point such officers and clerks as it may deem proper for the regulation
of its proceedings, and for the convenient transaction of business, to
compel the attendance of absent members, to punish its members for
disorderly behavior, and by a vote of two-thirds of its members, to expel
a member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office. The council, or each
branch, shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and its meetings shall be
epen, except when by a recorded vote of two-thirds of those members
present, the council shall declare that the public welfare requires secrecy.
The council, or either branch of the council, or any of its committees,
when authorized by the said council or branch, the board of police com-
missioners, and the board of fire commissioners. if there be such boards,
may each, in any investigation held by them, respectively, within their
respective powers and dutics, order the attendance of any person as a wit-
ness, and the production by any person of all proper books and papers.
Any person refusing or failing to attend or to testify, or to produce such
hooks and papers, may be summoned by such investigating body before
the police justice, or in case there is no police justice, before the mayor,
or other officer having the powers of a justice of the peace of the city,
and upon failure to give a satisfactory excuse, may be fined by him not
exceeding the sum of one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding
thirty days, such person to have the right of appeal, as in cases of misde-
meanor, to the hustings or corporation court of said city. Such wit-
ness may be sworn by the officer presiding at such investigation, and
shall be liable to prosecution for perjury for any false testimony given
at such investigation.

§ 1033. Mayors of cities; how chosen; their duties; appeals from their
decisions ; how removed for malfeasance, et cetera.—In every city there
shall be elected by the qualified voters thereof a mayor for a term of four
years, who shall be the chief executive officer of such city, and shall take
care that the by-laws and ordinances thereof are fully executed. The
mayor shall see that the dutics of the various city officers, members of
the police and fire departments, whether elected or appointed, in and for
such city, are faithfully performed. He shall have power to investigate
their acts, have access to all books and documents in their offices, and
may examine them and their subordinates on oath. The evidence given
by persons so examined shall not be used against them in any criminal
proceedings. He shall also have power to suspend such officers and the
members of the police and fire departments, and to remove such officers
for misconduct in office or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order of
suspension or removal; but no such removal shall be made without rea-
sonable notice to the officer complained of, and an opportunity afforded
him to be heard in person or by counsel, and to present testimony in his
defense. From such order of suspension or removal, the city officer so
suspended or removed, or the member of the police or fire department so
suspended, unless the charter of the city provides for an appeal to the
board of police commissioners, or to the board of fire commissioners,
shall have an appeal of right to the corporation court; or, if there be no
such court, to the circuit court of such city, in which court the case shall
be heard de novo by the judge thereof, in term time or in vacation, whose
decision shall be final. He shall have all other powers and duties which
may be conferred and imposed upon him by general laws. The corpora-
tion court of a city may remove the mayor of said city from office for
malfeasance, misfeasance, or gross neglect of official duty, and such re
moval shall be deemed a vacation of the office. All proceedings against
a mayor for the purpose of removing him from office shall be by order of
or motion before said court, upon reasonable notice to the party affected
thereby, and with the right to said party of an appeal to the supreme
court of appeals.

In event of the death, resignation, removal of the mayor, or his in-
ability to dischafge his duties from some other cause, his place shall be
filled and his duties shall be discharged by the president of the board of
aldermen or by the president of the council, according as the city council
has or has not two branches, until another mayor is elected and qualified,
or until such inability shall cease.

Within ten days after such death, resignation, or removal of the
mayor, the corporation or hustings court of the city shall order a special
election, which shall be held within thirty days after such order is en-
tered, to fill the unexpired term of such mayor: provided, the unexpired
part of said term remaining after such election is as much as one year.
But nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or repeal the pro-
visions of the charter of any city regulating the filling of any vacancy in
the office of mayor.

§ 1033b. Mayors, councils, and other elective officers of cities; when
elected ; when their terms begin, et cetera——The mayors and councils of
cities shall be elected on the second Tuesday in June, immediately pre-
ceding the expiration of the terms of office of their predecessors, and
their terms of office shall begin on the first day of September succeeding ;
all other city officers elected by the electors of such cities shall be elected
on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and their terms of
office shall begin on the first day of January succeeding, except that the
terms of office of clerks of city courts shall begin coincidently with those
of the judges of their said courts. The terms of members of the city
council now in office shall be continued until September first, nineteen
hundred and four, and all elections to fill such offices thereafter shall be
held in pursuance of section ten hundred and fifteen (a) of this act.

§ 1033f. Regulating the grant of franchise, et cetera, by cities and
towns, and providing for the advertisement thereof and the public recep-
tion of bids therefor, and providing for the enforcement of the obliga-
tions of the grantees, grantors, or owners of franchises, and providing
penalties for the usurpation of or violation of the terms and provisions
of franchises—(1) Before granting any franchise, privilege, lease, or
right of kind to use any public property, or easement of any description,
except in the case of and for a trunk railway, it shall be the duty of the
city or town proposing to make the grant to advertise the ordinance pro-
posing to make the grant, after its term shall have been approved by the
mayor, or the ordinance passed over the mayor’s veto, as in case of other.
ordinances, once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper pub-
lished in said city or town; or, if no newspaper be published: therein,
then in some newspaper having general circulation therein; and: the ordi-
nance may be also advertised as many times in such other newspaper or
newspapers, published in or out of the city or State, as the council or
board of trustees, as the case may be, may select and determine upon.

(2) Such advertisement shall invite bids for the franchise, privilege,
or right proposed to be granted in the ordinance, which bids are to be in
writing and delivered upon a day and hour named in the advertisement
to the presiding officer of the council or board of trustees of the city or
town; or, if there be more than one branch thereof, to the presiding
officer of the most numerous branch of the city council, in open session.
The costs of the advertising herein required shall be paid by the city or
town; which, however, shall be reimbursed by the person or corporation
to whom the grant is finally made. The city or town shall have the right
to reject any and all bids, and shall reserve this right in the advertise
ment hereinbefore required.

(3) The presiding officer aforesaid shall read aloud, or cause to be
read aloud, the bids that have been received*for public information, and
shall then inquire if any further bids are offered. If further bids are
offered they shall be received until no further bid is offered; but if not,
the presiding officer shall declare the bidding closed, and the bids that
have been received shall be communicated in due course to the other

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branch of the city council, if there be another branch. After reference
to committee and such other investigation as the council, or either branch
of the council, sees fit to make, it shall be the duty of the council, if it
sees fit to make the grant, to accept the highest and best bid, and to
enact the ordinance as advertised, without substantial variation, except as
to the insertion of the name of the accepted bidder: provided, that the
council may, by a recorded: vote of a majority of the members elected to
the council, and to cach branch thereof, if it be a council having two
branches, reject a higher and accept a lower bid, and award the said fran-
chise, right, or privilege to the lower bidder, if, in its opinion, some rea-
son affecting the interest of the city or town makes it advisable so to do,
which reason shall be itself expressed in the body of the subsequent ordi-
nance granting the franchise, right, or privilege; but if, after such adver-
tisements, no bid, or no satisfactory bid, shall be made, the council may
advertise for further bids, and in case no bid at all is made, the council
may, if it sees fit so to do, enact an ordinance in the manner required by
law granting such franchises, rights, or privileges to any person or cor-
poration making application therefor: provided, further, however, that
the person or corporation to whom any such franchise, right, or privilege
is awarded, whether by competing bids or otherwise, as hereinbefore pro-
vided, shall first execute a bond, with good and sufficient security, in
favor of the city or town, in such sum as said city or town shall deter-
mine, conditioned: upon the constructing and putting into operation and
maintaining the plant or plants provided for in the franchise, right. or
privilege granted,

(4) The subsequent ordinance actually making the grant, with a de-
tailed list giving names, amounts, and addresses of all bidders, shall be
presented to the mayor for his information and for his approval or dis-
approval, as in the case of all other ordinances.

(5) No amendment or extension of any such franchise, right. or
privilege that now exists, or that may hereafter be authorized, which
extends or enlarges such franchise, right, or privilege, either as to the
time during which it is to last or as to the territory in which it is to be
enjoyed, shall be granted by any city or town until the provisions of this
act shall have been complied with; and no amendment that releases the
grantee, or his assignee, from the performance of any duty required by
the ordinance granting the franchise, or that authorizes an increase in
the charges to be made by such grantee or assignee, for the use by the
public of the benefits of such franchise, shall be granted unless and until
notice of such proposed amendment shall be given to the public by ad-
vertising the proposed amendment for ten days in some newspaper pub-
lished in the city or town; or, if there be no newspaper published
therein, then in some newspaper having circulation therein. The cost of
such advertising shall be paid by the city or town, which shall be reim-
bursed by the person to whom the amendment is granted. No such
amendment shall be adopte? except by ordinance.

(6) The corporation courts of the cities and the circuit courts of the
counties in which the towns may be situated shall have jurisdiction by
mandamus, according to the provisions of section one hundred and fortv-
four of the Code of Virginia, to enforce compliance by said cities or
towns and by all grantees of franchises, whether now in force or granted
under the provisions of this act, with all the terms and contracts and
obligations of either party, as contained in franchises. Services of pro-
cess in such mandamus proceeding may be made upon any agent or em-
ployee of such grantees residing in said city or town, or otherwise, as
provided by law for service of process on a defendant: provided, how-
ever, that such jurisdiction in mandamus shall not preclude any party
from bringing any other suit or action which such party would be en-
titled to bring without the passage of this act, at law or in equity.

(7) Any person or corporation that shall undertake to occupy or use
any of the streets, avenues, parks, bridges, or any other public places or
public property, or any public easement of any description in any city
or town, in a manner not permitted to the general public, without having
first legally obtained the consent thereto of the city council or board of
trustees, as the case may be, or a franchise therefor, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than
five dollars nor more than fifty dollars, each day’s continuance thereof
to be a separate offense, and such occupancy shall be deemed a nuisance,
and the court or justice trying the case shall have power to cause the said
nuisance to be abated, and to commit the offenders and all their agents
and employees engaged in such offenses to jail until such order of the
court shall be obeyed.

§ 1042a. To prohibit the several cities and towns of the Commonwealth
from imposing and collecting any tax, fine, or other penalty upon per-
sons selling farm and domestic products, grown or produced by them,
within the limits of such town or city outside of and not within the regu-
lar market houses and sheds of such towns and cities.—It shall be un-
lawful for any city or town of this State, or for any agent or officer
thereof, to impose upon or collect from any person any tax, fine, or other
penalty for selling farm and domestic products within the limits of any
such town or city and outside of and not within the regular market
houses and sheds of such city or town: provided, such products are grown
or produced by such person.

§ 1048. Effect of chapter on charters of cities and towns.—Nothing
contained in this chapter, in conflict with any provision of the charter of
any city or town, shall be construed to repeal such provision, except sec-
tions ten hundred and thirteen a, ten hundred and fifteen b, ten hun-
dred and fifteen c, ten hundred and fifteen d, ten hundred and fifteen e,
ten hundred and fifteen f, ten hundred and fifteen g, ten hundred and
fifteen h, ten hundred and twenty-eight a, ten hundred and thirty-two a,
ten hundred and thirty-three, ten hundred and thirty-three b, ten hun-
dred and thirty-three c, ten hundred and thirty-three d, ten hundred and
thirty-three e, ten hundred and thirty-three f, ten hundred and_thirty-
three g, ten hundred and thirty-three h, and ten hundred and forty a,
which shall be construed to repeal any provision of the charter of any
city or town in conflict with the provisions of said sections, or any of
them, anything in the said charter to the contrary notwithstanding,

§ 2. Sections ten hundred and thirty-nine and ten hundred and forty
of the Code of Virginia, and section ten hundred and forty-three of the
Code of Virginia, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved March
fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, and as attempted to be repealed
by an act approved March seventh, nineteen hundred, and an act ap-
proved March seventh, nineteen hundred, entitled: “an act to provide for
local assessments in cities and towns,” are hereby repealed: provided,
that whenever proceedings to make local assessments for public improve-
ments were commenced prior to the twentieth day of May, nineteen hun-
dred and three, they shall be completed and made effective in accordance
with the provisions of subsection ten hundred and forty-one a, of section
one of the act in relation to citics and towns, approved May twentieth,
nineteen hundred and three.
2. This act shall be in force from its passage.