Chap. 134.—An ACT to incorporate and provide a charter for the town of Damas-
cus, Virginia.

Approved March 12, 190%.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the terri-
tory in Washington county contained within the following boundaries—
to-wit: Beginning at a planted stone on the west side of the turnpike, a
corner to U. S. Cornett and James W. Wilson, and running in a north
west course to a point where the Douglas Land Company’s line crosses
Mock’s branch; thence to a point in the middle of the Saltville road,
where the said road crosses the gap north of Damascus; thence with the
line of Damascus Land Company’s land westwardly and continuing the
same course to the north side of the river; thence with the north bank of
said river and down the same to David R. Wilson’s line; thence with his
line crossing the said river with a southerly course to the middle of the
turnpike; thence with the middle of the same to the corner of the West
Damascus Land Company’s land and W. D. Rambo’s land; thence with
the line between the said company and the said Rambo in a southwest
course to a large white oak above Rambo’s spring, a corner to the said
company and the said Rambo; thence with a line to the southwest corner
of W. F. Smith’s lot; thence with a line to a point in the line of the West
Damascus Land Company’ s land on the west bank of Beaver Dam Creek
opposite to and near the corner between the West Damascus Land Com-
pany and the Damascus Land Company (in the middle of said creek) ;
thence up the west bank of said creek and with the meanders of the same
to a point where the Douglas Land Company’s line crosses the said: creek
southwest of the Acme Bark Extract Company’s plant; thence with the
line between the Douglas Land Company’s land and the Damascus Land
Company’s land, running east and northeast to a point opposite a gap in
the mountain east of the said Acme Bark Extract Company’s plant;
thence with a line through the said gap to the beginning—shall constitute
an incorporated community and town by the name of the town of
Damascus.

2. The municipal officers of the town shall be a mayor, recorder (or
clerk of the council), a treasurer, and town sergeant, who shall be ex-
officio commissioner of the revenue, and six councilmen, all of whom
shall be residents and qualified voters of said town, except the town ser-
geant, in the discretion of the council, may not be. The council of the
town shall have power to elect or appoint any other officers they deem
necessary, and to define their powers.

3. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen of the town of Damascus as
herein constituted, and as they shall be elected and qualified as herein-
after provided, shall be a body politic and corporate by the name of the
town of Damascus, and shall have perpetual succession and a common
seal, by the name of the town of Damascus, with all the powers, rights,
and obligations of an incorporated community and town, and as such
may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, contract and be con-
tracted with, purchase and hold real estate, and sell and convey the same
as needful for the public good, and may exercise, retain and enjoy all the
rights, immunities, powers, exemptions, and privileges, and be subject to
all the duties, obligations, and liabilities now vested in, incumbent upon,
or pertaining to said town as an incorporated community under the gen-
eral laws of the State pertaining to towns.

4. The mayor, recorder, and councilmen shall be elected by the quali-
fied voters of said town under the general laws of the State, and until
the first general electon provided by law for incorporated communities
and towns, the following-named officers are hereby appointed officers of
said town, to serve as such officers and until their successors are duly
elected and qualified: Walter H. Fortune shall be mayor, D. C. Thomas
shall be recorder, and R. E. Fortune, George A. Kerr, Charles A. Baker,
Bert Russell, Samuel LL. Mock, and Ed. L. Robinson shall compose the
council of said: town.

All vacancies occurring from any cause in the offices of the mayor,
recorder, and councilmen shall be filled for the unexpired term by the
council.

5. The salaries or compensation of the mayor, sergeant, treasurer, com-
missioner of the revenue, and recorder of the town, as now constituted,
or hereafter elected, if any be allowed by the town council, shall be fixed
by the council, payable at stated periods; and no regulation diminishing
such compensation, after it has been once fixed, shall be made to take
effect until after the expiration of the terms for which the mayor and
sergeant and recorder then in office shall have been elected. The salaries
of the mayor, sergeant, treasurer, commissioner of the revenue, and re-
corder, when fixed, shall so continue until changed by the town council,
and there shall be no other salaried officers.

The mayor shall, by virtue of his office, possess all the power, authority,
and jurisdiction of a justice of the peace of Washington county, Virginia,
be entitled to the like fees of a justice of the peace in civil and criminal
cases.

{t shall be the duty of the mayor to communicate to the council an-
nually, or as often as he shall deem it expedient, or be required so to do
by said council, a general statement of the situation and condition of
the town in relation to its government, finances, and improvements,
with such recommendations as he may deem proper.

In case of the death, absence, or inability of the mayor, the president
of the council (to be elected by the council) shall possess the same
power and discharge the duties of the mayor during such absence or
inability.

‘The mayor, or in his absence or inability, the president of the coun-
cil, shall have power to call a meeting of the council whenever he deems
it necessary, and in case of the absence of both the mayor and recorder,
or their absence, inability, or refusal, the council may be convened by
the order of any four members thereof.

The council shall fix the time for their regular stated meeting, and
no business shall be transacted at a special meeting but that for which
it shall be called.

6. The town council, as herein constituted, or hereafter elected, shall
have, subject to the provisions of this act, the control and management
of the fiscal and municipal affairs of the town, and of property, real and
personal, belonging to said town, and make such ordinances, orders, and
by-laws, relating to the same, as they shall deem proper and necessary ;
they shall likewise have power to make such ordinances, orders, by-laws,
and regulations as they shall deem necessary and: proper to carry out the
powers which are hereby vested in them.

7. To restrain and regulate the speed of bicycles, traction engines,
locomotives, engines, cars, and other vehicles within said town: pro-
vided, that no contract be hereby violated.

8. To direct the location of all buildings for the storing of gun-
powder, fire-crackers, or other fireworks manufactured or prepared
therefrom, kerosene oil, nitro-glycerine, camphene, burning fluid, or
other combustible material; to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the
discharge of firearms, the use of candles, and lights in barns, stables, or
other buildings, and to regulate or restrain the making of bonfires in
streets and yards.

9. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, and _ street-beggars ;
to prevent vice and immorality, obscenity, and profanity; to preserve
peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances, and dis-
orderly assemblages ; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling houses ;
to prevent lewd, indecent, and disorderly conduct or exhibitions in said
town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct.

To prevent, forbid, and punish the selling of liquor and intoxicating
drinks in any place not duly licensed, and the selling and giving any
intoxicating liquor to any child or minor, and the selling or giving of
cigarettes to any minor under sixteen years of age, without the consent
in writing of his or her parent or guardian; to regulate the manner
and prescribe the time of the sale of liquor or intoxicating drinks, by
retail or wholesale by any person duly licensed; and for any violation
of any such ordinance or ordinances there may be imposed such fines
and penaltics as the council may prescribe.

To prevent the coming into town of person or persons having no osten-
sible means of support, and of persons who may be dangerous to the peace
and safety of the town, and compel such persons to leave said town: pro-
vided, that such order to leave be issued within sixty days after their
arrival.

To designate such portions and parts of the town as they may deem
proper within which no buildings of wood shall be erected, to regulate
and control the erection of all buildings, and to provide for the removal
of any such building or addition which shall be erected contrary to such
regulations or prohibitions at the expense of the builder or owner thereof.
If any such building shall have been erected or in progress of erection
appears to be clearly unsafe, the council may cause such building to be
taken down or put in safe condition.

10. In addition to the special powers hereinbefore specifically delegated
to the town council, all general powers, not in conflict with the laws of
this State, or of the United States, necessary for the proper and suffi-
cient, government of said town, and which are by law allowed to munici-
pal corporations, are hereby likewise delegated to and invested in the said
counci] of the town of Damascus.

11. In every case where a street of said town has been, or shall be,
encroached upon by any fence, building, porch, projection, or otherwise,
it shall be the duty of the council to require the owner, if known, or if
unknown, the occupant of the premises encroaching, to remove the same,
and if such removal be not made within the time prescribed by the coun-
cil, they may impose a penalty of not exceeding five dollars for each and
every day it is allowed to continue thereafter, and may cause the en-
croachment to be removed and collect from the owner all reasonable
charges therefor, with costs, by the same process that they are hereinafter
empowered to collect taxes.

12. The town council may take from any officer, elected or appointed
by them, a bond, with sureties to be approved by the council, in such
penalty as they may deem proper, payable to the town by its corporate
name, with conditions for the faithful discharge of the duties of such
officers. All officers elected or appointed by the council may be removed
from office at the pleasure of the council. All bonds of officers elected
by the people, or elected or appointed by the council under this charter,
shall be filed with and kept by the recorder.

13. There shall be elected by the council at its first meeting in the
month of July, nineteen hundred and four, or as soon thereafter as prac-
ticable, one town treasurer, who shall hold his office during the pleasure
of the council.
He shall qualify and give bond before the council, with surety ap-
proved by it in a penalty to be determined by the council. Any vacancy
in this office shall be filled by the council.

The said town treasurer shall collect and receive all money belonging to
the town, and he shall perform such other duties as are prescribed by the
council. He shall keep his office in some convenient place in the town.
He shall keep his books and accounts in such manner as the town council
inay prescribe, and such books and accounts shall always be subject to the
inspection of the mayor, recorder, or any member of the town council, or
any committee or committees of the council. He shall receive for his
services such compensation as the town council may from time to time
allow.

14. No money shall be paid out by the town treasurer except by order
of the council, and upon a warrant of the recorder of the council, coun-
tersigned by the mayor, and said town treasurer shall keep a separate
account of each fund or appropriation and the debts or credits belonging
thereto.

15. The town treasurer shall report to the town council or a committee
thereof, as often as required, a full and detailed account of all receipts
and expenditures during the month, and the state of the treasury. He
shall also keep a register of all warrants, their dates, amount, number,
and the fund from which paid, and the person to whom paid, specifying
also the time of payment; and all such warrants shall be examined at the
time of making such report to the town council by the auditing commit-
tee thereof, who shall examine and compare the same with the books of
the treasurer, and report discrepancies, if any, to the town council.

The town treasurer, or his deputy dulv qualified, shall collect all taxes
and assessments which may be levied by the town council, and for that
purpose he shall be vested with power and be subject to the liabilities and
penalties now prescribed by the law in regard to the county treasurer.

All money received on any special assessment shall be held by the
treasurer as a special fund, to be applic for the purposes for which
the assessment is made, and said money shall be used for no other pur-
poses whatever.

The treasurer shall be required to keep all moneys in his hands be-
longing to the town in such place or places of deposit as the town
council by ordinance may provide or direct.

16. There shall be elected by the council at its first meeting in Sep-
tember, nineteen hundred and four, or as soon thereafter as practicable,
one commissioner of the revenue, yho shall hold his office during the
pleasure of the council. He shall qualify and give bond before the
council, with surety in such amount as the council may determine; said
surety to be approved by the council. Any vacancy in this office shall be
filled by the council.

17. The council shall control and manage the water works of said
town, either by itself or through such committees or agencies as it may
adopt; and the council shall prescribe and regulate the rate of charges
to be paid for the use of water furnished by the town to the citizens
thereof, and to persons outside the corporate limits thereof, who may
wish to purchase water from the town. They may impose fines and
penalties for the injury and abuse of said works, or property connected
therewith, or for waste of said water furnished by the town, and may
enforce and collect said fines and penalties and the charges for water
by distress or otherwise, as the council may determine.

For the execution of their powers and duties, the council of the town
of Damascus shall have the power to raise annually, by taxes and assess-
ments in said town, such sums of money as they shall deem necessary
to defray the expenses of the same, and in such manner as they shall
deem expedient, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of this
State and of the United States: provided, however, that the rate of
taxation shall not exceed one dollar upon the one hundred dollars of
the taxable value of property as hereinafter authorized.

The council may grant licenses to owners or keepers of wagons, drays,
carts, hacks, and other wheel vehicles kept or employed in said town
for hire; and may require the owners or keepers of wagons, drays, carts,
or other vehicles using them in the town to take out a license thereon,
and subject the same to such regulations as they may deem proper, and
may prescribe their fees and compensations.

The council shall annually order a levy upon all male persons within
said town over twenty-one years of age, and on all real estate within
said town not exempt bv law from State taxation, and on all such per-
sonal property and other subjects as may at the time be subject to taxa-
tion by this charter: provided, however, that the tax on persons shall
not exceed one dollar, and the tax levied for general purposes shal] in
no year exceed one dollar on the one hundred dollars’ worth of property,
real and personal, based upon the State assessment, and this maximum
rate of taxation shall not be increased except by amendment: to this
charter. po

The council may organize and maintain a fire department for the
town, and make rules and regulations for the government of the offi-
cers and men of said department, and may make such ordinances as
they may deem proper to extinguish and prevent fires; to prevent prop-
erty from being stolen, and to require citizens to render assistance to
the fire department in case of need.