Chap. 128.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled “an act to incor-
porate the town of Manassas, as approved April 2, 1873; as amended and
re-enacted by an act approved March 18, 1884; as amended and re-enacted
by an act approved February 19, 1894; as amended and re-enacted by an
act approved February 9, 1898, and as amended and re-enacted by an act
approved March 15, 1902.”

Approved March 10, 1906.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an act to
incorporate the town of Manassas, approved April second, eighteen hun-
dred and seventy-three, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved
March eighteen, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, as amended and
re-enacted by an act approved February nineteen, eighteen hundred and
ninety-four, as amended and re-enacted by an act approved February
ninth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, and as amended and re-enacted
yy an act approved March fifteenth, nineteen hundred and two, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§1. The boundaries of said town shall be the same as declared by the
‘ircuit court of Prince William county, by an order made therein on
the sixteenth day of December, nineteen hundred and four.

§2. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor, a council
of nine members, clerk and sergeant. The mayor and council shall be
chosen by the qualified voters residing within the corporate limits of said
town, at an election to be held on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen
hundred and seven, and every second year thereafter; and shall hold
office for the term of two years, and until their successors are elected
and qualified. The said election shall be held by two judges and one
clerk, to be appointed by the electoral board for Prince William county,
who shall be sworn to faithfully discharge their duties, and shall conduct
such election as now provided for by law.

The returns of the election shall be made to the mayor, who shall
issue certificates to those elected, countersigned by the clerk. All con-
tests shall be tried and finally determined by the council.

There shall be a meeting of the council on the first Monday in Sep-
tember succeeding the election, at which meeting the mayor and council
shall qualify by taking the oath prescribed by law, unless said council-
man and mayor shall have qualified prior to such meeting, before any
person authorized to administer oaths under the laws of the State of
Virginia; and the council at the said meeting, or as soon thereafter as
may be expedient, shall appoint a clerk and sergeant, who shall hold
office for the term of two years, beginning with the first day of Septem-
ber, at which such council and mayor shall be elected, and until their
successors are appointed or elected and qualified.

The sergeant shall execute bond before the mayor, with approved
sureties, payable to the said town, and in such penalty as the council
may prescribe, and conditioned for the faithful discharge of his duties.

If any person elected or appointed to any office shall fail to qualify
on or before the day on which he is to enter upon the duties of his office,
or first Monday in September succeeding his election, or shall fail to
execute the bond required of him for ten days thereafter, the said office
shall be declared vacant, and the vacancy shall be filled by the council.

§3. The mayor shall preside over the meetings of the council, voting
only in case of a tie, and shall have the jurisdiction and exercise all the
power in civil and criminal cases of a justice of the peace, in addition to
the powers conferred on him by this act, and he shall receive the like
fees for his services as a justice of the peace. It shall be his duty te
communicate to the council, at the end of each fiscal year, or oftener if
required by the council, a statement of the government of the said towr
and its financial condition, with such recommendations as he may deer
proper. He shall exercise supervision over the conduct of subordinate

i ate
officers, have power to investigate their acts, have access to their official
books and documents, and shall have power to suspend or remove such
officers for misconduct in office or neglect of duty upon giving him five
days’ notice in writing, and shall report his action to the council at the
next meeting; but in no case shall it be final unless sustained by a
majority of the whole council.

§4. In the absence or inability of the mayor, the council shall elect one
of its members at a stated meeting as president pro tempore, who shall
possess the same power and discharge the duties of the mayor and re-
ceive the same fees during such absence or inability.

§5. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the office of mayor, the council
shall fill the vacancy for the unexpired term.

$6. The mayor or any three members of the council may call a special
meeting of the council.

$7. The council shall by ordinance fix the time of its stated meetings.
and no business shall be transacted at a special meeting except that for
which it shall be called. The council shall audit the accounts of the
town, and shall have authority to appoint policemen and adopt rules for
their government, and to appoint such committees as they may deem
proper for the transaction of business; to compel the attendance of
members; to punish them for disorderly conduct, and, by a vote of two-
thirds of the whole council, to expel a member for malfeasance or mis-
feasance in office. A majority of the members shall constitute a quorum,
but no ordinance or resolution shall be passed appropriating money except
by the concurrence of five members on a recorded vote.

‘The council may use the Prince William county jail, and the jailer is
authorized to receive into the said jail all persons committed to his
custody by lawful authority; and the jailer shall receive the same fees
and be paid the same board for such prisoners by the town of Manassas
as are now allowed by law to be paid out of the treasury of the State.

The council shall have control and management of the fiscal and muni-
cipal affairs of the said town and of all property belonging to the town ;
any may make such ordinances and by-laws relating to the same as they
may deem proper; and they shall have power to make such ordinances
and by-laws as they may deem proper and necessary to carry out the
following powers, which are hereby vested in the said council—to-wit:
To erect and keep in order all public buildings necessary for the said
town; to establish water works within or without the limits of the town;
to open and improve streets, avenues or alleys, and have them kept in
good order and properly lighted; to prevent the cumbering of streets,
sidewalks or alleys, lanes or bridges in the said town in any manner
whatever; to regulate and restrain the rate of speed of locomotive en-
gines and cars within the said town: to secure the inhabitants from
contagious, infectious or other dangerous diseases; to establish, erect and
regulate hospitals; to provide for and enforce the removal of patients
to said hospitals; to abate nuisances within the said town at the expense
of the person causing the same, or the owner of the ground whereon the
same shall be; to prevent and regulate slaughter-houses or the exercise
of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business or trade therein. If
any ground in said town shall be subject to be covered with stagnant
water, or if any ground which has been or shall be dug out or dammed
up for ice-ponds, fish-ponds or ponds of any kind whatsoever and the
water therein allowed to become stagnant, or if the owner or occupier
thereof shall permit any offensive or unwholesome substance to accumu-
late and remain thereon, the council may cause such ponds to be filled up
or properly drained and such substance to be covered or removed, and
may collect the expense therefor from the said owner or occupier, by dis-
tress and sale, in the same manner in which taxes are collected: provided,
reasonable notice shall be given to the owner or his agents, and in case
of non-residents, who have no agents, such notice shall be by publication
for two weeks in some newspaper published in the said town: and pro-
vided. further, that in cases when such nuisance is caused by the action
of the town authorities, the town shall pay the expense of abating the
same: to regulate the exhibition of fire-works, the discharge of fire-arms
and explosives, the use of lights in barns, stables and other buildings, and
to restrict the making of bon fires in streets or yards; to prevent hogs,
dogs and other animals from running at large in said town, and subject
the same to such regulations and taxes as they may deem proper; to
prevent the riding or driving of horses or other animals at an improper
specd. throwing stones, hooting, yelling and playing ball in the streets,
or engaging in any employment or sport in the streets, sidewalks or
public alleys, dangerous or annoying to persons, and to punish the abuse
or cruel treatment of horses or other animals in the said town; to restrain
and punish drunkenness, vagrancy and street begging; to prevent vice
and immorality; to preserve the public peace and good order; to prevent
and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assemblages; to suppress
houses of ill-fame, and gambling-houses; to prevent and punish lewd and
indecent conduct or exhibitions in said town, and for anv violation of
any such ordinances may impose fines in addition to those described by
the laws of the State.

$8. Anv member of the council who shall voluntarily absent himself
fram its meetings consecutively for three months, the office shall he
declared vacant, and the vacancy shall be filled by the council.

$9. The police force shall be under the control of the mayor for the
purpose of enforcing peace and good order, and each policeman shall
have the same power as a constable in criminal cases. The pay and
regulations of said police shall be prescribed by the council.

$10. When by the provisions of this act, or the general laws of this
State, the council have authority to pass ordinances on any subject, they
may prescribe any penalty not exceeding one hundred dollars, and mav
imprison offenders in the county jail for a term not exceeding ninety
days, which fines and costa shall be prosecuted in the name of the town
of Manassas, or the offenders may be compelled to work on the streets
rr other public improvements of the town, until the fine and costs shall
be paid.

$11. The council shall not take or use any private property, without
making to the owner thereof just compensation for the same; and when-
ever the council cannot obtain title thereto, the council shall apply to
the circuit court of Prince William county, and condemn the same and
as now provided for by general law. ‘

§12. In every case where a street or alley in said town shall hereafter
be encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise, the council may
require the owner or occupier of the premises to remove the same, and if
such removal is not made within the time prescribed by the council. the
council may cause the encroachment to be removed and collect the ex-
penses thereof, with costs, from the owner, in the same manner as taxes
are collected. No encroachment hereafter made upon any street or alley,
however long continued, shall constitute any adverse possession or confer
any right upon the person claiming hereunder as against the said town.

$13. If any person, having been an officer of said town, shall not,
within ten days after he shall have vacated the office, and upon the re-
quest of the clerk, or within such time thereafter as the council may
allow, deliver over to his successor all property, moneys, books and papers
belonging to the town or appertaining to such office in his possession or
under his control, he shall forfeit to the town a sum not exceeding one
hundred dollars, to be sued for and recovered, with costs; and all books,
records and documents used in and pertaining to such office shall be
deemed the property of the said town.

$14. No license shall be granted to any person, club or corporation to
sell ardent spirits, malt liquors, or any mixture thereof, or any bitters
containing alcohol, either by wholesale, retail, or to be drunk at the
place where sold, within the corporate limits of said town, unless the ap-
plicant shall first produce before the court authorized to grant such
license the written consent of the town council, and recommendation from
the said council that the applicant is a corporation under the laws of
some State of the United States, or that the person is sober, discreet and
of good moral character, and that the place is suitable and convenient,
and such certificate shall further show that the said applicant has paid
into the town treasury a sum of not less than seven hundred dollars, nor
more than the sum of twelve hundred dollars, as shall be prescribed by
the said council; and in no case shall it be lawful for any court to grant
any such license outside of the corporation and within one mile of its
limits, neither shall it be lawful for said court to grant any such license
unless it shall be first satisfied that the sum prescribed by said council
has been paid into the said treasury, which sum shall be not less than
seven hundred dollars nor more than the sum of twelve hundred dollars
for any one year. Any person who shall, without first procuring the
license as aforesaid, sell wine, ardent spirits, malt liquors, or any mixture
thereof, or alcoholic bitters within the corporate limits of said town. or
within one mile of the same, shall be fined twenty dollars for each of-
fense; and if such fine and cost be not paid at once, the offender shall be
forthwith committed to jail until the said fine and cost be paid. The
mayor shall have jurisdiction to try all violations under this section, and
all fines imposed by him shall be for the benefit of said town, and the
mayor shall require any person violating the provisions of this section to
give bond, with good security, in a reasonable-sum, to be of good be-
havior during the twelve months next succeeding; and in default of
~scch bond the mayor shall commit the person to the county jail until he
shall give such bond. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this sec-
sion are hereby repealed in so far as the same relate to the said town of
Manassas, or within one mile of the limits thereof.

$15. The sergeant shall have and exercise the power of a constable, and
shall receive the like fees for his services as a constable, and shall collect
the town taxes, levies and assessments and all fines imposed by the mayor:
and the mayor, sergeant and policeman, in criminal and police matters,
shall have jurisdiction for one mile from the limits of said town. The
rergeant shall keep his books and accounts in such manner as the council
may prescribe, and such books and accounts shall always be subject to the
‘nspection of the mayor, the council, or any committee thereof, or any
‘ax-paver of said town. He shall pay no money except on a warrant
signed by the clerk and countersigned by the mayor, and shall keep a
separate account of such funds and appropriation. THe shall report to
the council at the end of each fiscal year, and oftener if required by said
council, a detailed account of all receipts and expenditures, and publish
the same in any newspaper published in said town, if deemed advisable
hy said council. He shall receive as his compensation for collecting and
disbursing the revenue five per centum on the amount collected, and
such additional compensation as will not exceed five hundred dollars.
The total salary, inclusive of his fees, shall at no time exceed said five
kundred dollars. He shall hold all special assessments as a special fund
to the payment of the indebtedness for which the assessment was made,
and for no other purpose. The said council shall have authority to
create the office of town treasurer, who, when appointed by said council,
shall collect and receive all money due said town, and disburse the same
a8 provided and applicable to the sergeant by the provisions of this sec-
ton. He shall keep his books and accounts in such manner as may be
prescribed by said council. The said treasurer, when appointed as herein
provided, shall be subject to such rules and regulations as may be pre-
scribed by said council. The said treasurer's books shall be subject at
all times to the inspection of the mayor, any member of said council or
committee thereof, or any tax-payer of said town. The said council shalt
have authority to pay said treasurer a salary or commission upon receipts
for such an amount as it shall see fit: provided, however, the said ser-
geant’s and treasurer’s joint salaries shall at no time exceed the sum of
five hundred dollars. The said treasurer, when provided for by said
council, shall have authority to collect all taxes, licenses and moneys due
the said town by the same method as now provided by law and applicable
to county treasurers.

$16. No person shall be allowed to qualify as sergeant until he shall
have satisfactorily settled his accounts for the preceding year, and if
such settlement be not made, the office shall be declared vacant, and the
vacancy shall be filled by the council.

$17. The clerk of the council shall attend the meetings of the council
and keep a record of the proceedings properly indexed, and shall have
the custody of the corporate seal of said town. He shall have the cus-
tedv of all papers and books belonging to the said town. He shall fur-
nish the mayor a copy of every ordinance, resolution or order which he
may require. He shall make out warrants for all claims allowed by the
council. He shall publish such reports and ordinances as the council
are by this act required to publish, and such other reports and ordinances
as the council may direct. He shall make out a list of the tax-payers
and of the real and personal property of said town, based on the assess-
ments made by the commissioner of the revenue of the county of Prince
William, and shall place on the said list any tax-payer and any real and
personal property omitted by the said commissioner of the revenue, with
a fair valuation of the said property, and shall issue tickets for the taxes
imnosed by the council and deliver the same to the sergeant for collection
and take his receipt therefor, and the clerk shall issue a license to every
person engaged in any business for which a license shall be required
within the said town, under such regulations as the council may pre-
scribe, and shall furnish a list of such licenses to the sergeant, and the
clerk shall receive such compensation as the council may allow, not ex-
ceeding seventy-five dollars per annum.

$18. The council may, in the name of and for the use of said town,
contract loans and issue bonds for such improvements as are herein au-
thorized: provided, no such loans shall be contracted except by a two-
thirds vote of the council, and which shall be endorsed by a majority of
the freehold voters voting on the question, and no bond shall be issued for
a greater period than forty years: and provided, further, that in no case
shall the aggregate indebtedness of the town exceed at any time fifteen
per centum of the assessed value of the real and personal property within
the said town. All contracts for the erection of public buildings and
improvements shall be let to the lowest responsible bidder, after adver-
tisement for thirty days in any newspaper published in the said town,
and the party to whom such contract shall be let shall give such bond as
the council may require; but no member of the council or officer of the
town shall have any interest in such contract.

$19. The council may raise taxes annually by assessments on the male
inhabitants of the said town over the age of twenty-one years, and on all
real and personal property in the said town liable to taxation, and on all
subjects taxable by the State such sums of money as shall be necessary
to defray the expenses of the town: provided, that the taxes on real and
personal property shall not exceed one dollar upon one hundred dollars
of the assessed value thereof: and provided, further, that the tax on each
male inhabitant of the said town over twenty-one years shall not exceed
fifty cents: and provided, further, that the said tax-payers shall be ex-
empt from the county road tax and the county capitation tax.

$20. All taxes shall be due and payable on the first day of December:
and a penalty of five per centum shall be added on all taxes that remain
unpaid on the first day of March following, and on the thirtieth of June
following the sergeant shall return a statement of the delinquents and
make his annual settlement with the council.

$21. Any payment of taxes by tenant shall be a credit against his land-
lord.
All goods and chatels wheresoever found may be distrained and sold for
taxes assessed thereon, and no deed of trust or mortgage thereon shall
prevent the same from being distrained and sold for taxes assessed against
the grantor in such deed.

$22. There shall be a lien on real estate for the taxes assessed thereon
from the commencement of the fiscal year for which they were assessed.
The council may require real estate in the town delinquent for the non-
payment of the taxes to be sold for said taxes, with interest at the rate
of six per centum per annum, and such per centum as the council may
prescribe for charges. Such real estate may be sold and may be redeemed
in the manner provided by law.

$23. The council may organize a volunteer fire department for the
town, and make rules and regulations for the government of the same,
and may make such ordinances as they may deem proper to extinguish
and prevent fire, to prevent property from being stolen, and to require
citizens to render assistance to the fire department in case of need.

$24. The council shall by ordinance provide for any elections not
herein provided for, and shall appoint the necessary officers to conduct
the same.

$25. The present officers of the town shall be clothed with all the
powers herein granted, until the clection and qualification of their suc-
cessors in office as herein provided for.

$26. No penalty shall be imposed under any ordinance passed by the
council by virtue of this act, until said ordinance has been published in
some newspaper in said town or by hand-bills posted in public places
within said town. :

$27. Be it further enacted, that all fines heretofore imposed and which
may hereafter be imposed by the mayor, shall be for the benefit of said
town.

$28. There shall be a lien on the real estate in the town of Manassas
for the taxes assessed thereon for the said town from the commencement
of the vear for which they are assessed, not exceeding five vears from the
passage of this act, and when any of the said taxes are returned delin-
quent, a list of the same shall be returned to the clerk of the circuit court
of Prince William county, and be by him entered in a book furnished
by said town and kept in his said office, the form and manner of entering
the same to be similar to that provided by law for the record of delin-
quent taxes on real estate due the State. In said book there shall also
be columns in which shall be entered the names of purchasers, the amount
and date of sales of real estate sold for delinquent taxes as provided
in this charter. When the taxes so returned delinquent are entered in
said record, as herein provided, the same shall be held to be constructive
notice of the lien thereof, and the said real estate shall be liable thereto
as against creditors in the hands of purchasers or other persons into
whose hands the said real estate may pass. And the said real estate may
he sold for said taxes, as provided for in this charter, whether owned by
the persons in whose name it was assessed or not. After said real estate
has been so sold for taxes, the same may be redeemed within such time
and by such persons and upon such terms as is provided by law for the
redemption of lands sold for State taxes, except that the money paid for
such redemption shall be paid into the treasury of the town of Manassas.
Upon the redemption of said real estate the treasurer shall issue to the
persons so redeeming it, a certificate to that effect, which shall be pre-
sented to the clerk of the circuit court, who shall thereupon mark in the
said record the redemption of said real estate, the name of the party re-
deeming it, with the date thereof. The clerk shall receive for his ser-
vices a fee of ten cents for each tract or parcel of land so entered in said
record, a fee of ten cents for the entry of such sale of real estate, as 1s
provided in this charter, and a fee of twenty-five cents for each redemp-
tion so entered, to be paid by the said town of Manassas, and which shall
be charged against and be a lien upon said land along with the taxes
against the same. The purchaser of all such delinquent lands shall take
possession of same directly upon paying into the town treasury the pur-
chase money for same, to have and to hold until it is redeemed, as herein
provided. The said town shall have authority to purchase said real
estate for any delinquent taxes due the same thereon. At the expiration
of the time within which such real estate may be redeemed, if the same
has not been redeemed as herein provided, the mayor of the town of
Manassas shall execute to the purchaser thereof a deed conveying the
same in like manner as is now prescribed by law for the conveyance of
real estate by the clerk of the county court, which has been sold for de-
linquent taxes due the State, and such deed shall convey such title as
would be conveyed had the same been sold for delinquent State taxes.
Any court of record for Prince William county, on application of the
council of the town of Manassas, through the mayor, may order real
estate delinquent for the non-payment of taxes to be sold by the sergeant
or treasurer for the town, at public auction, for such taxes, at such time as
it shall direct, said sale and the advertisement thereof to be made in con-
formity, as near as may be, to the State law with reference to the sale
of delinquent lands. When such sale has been made, the same with the
dlate thereof, the name of the purchaser, and the amount for which said
real estate sold, shall be entered by the circuit clerk in the record of de-
linquent real estate provided for in this section of this act.

$29. The mayor of said town in which any judgment for a fine is ren-
dered, going, in whole or in part, to the said town, may, of his own
motion, or upon the complaint of any citizen thereof, issue a capias pro
fine directed to the sergeant of said town, and upon arrest commit the de-
fendant to jail until the fine and costs are paid, or until the costs are paid
where there is no fine.

$30. As the said town desires to issue bonds for the improvement of
said town and raise revenue therefor from its license tax, an emergency
is hereby declared to exist, and this act shall be in force from its passage.