Chap. 200.—An ACT’to amend and re-enact sections 27, 34, 36, 41, 45, 46, and
47 of an act of the general assembly of Virginia, approved March 14, 1906,
entitled: An act to amend and re-enact an act of the general assembly of
Virginia, in force January 21, 1884, entitled: An act providing a charter for
the city of Norfolk, and repealing the existing charter, approved April
21, 1882, as amended by the several acts of the general assembly of Virginia,
approved, respectively, April 6, 1887; April 28, 1887; May 14, 1887;
February 14, 1900; February 21, 1900; February 26, 1900; February
2, 1901; February 15, 1901, and March 15, 1902; and to define the
boundaries of the said city of Norfolk as extended by the several acts of
the general assembly and approved April 6, 1887; February 22, 1890,
and March 14, 1902, and by an order of the circuit court of Norfolk county
which was entered on the 9th day of January, 1906, and add an independent
section thereto to be known as section 33-a.

Approved March 12, -1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty-seven, thirty-four, thirty-six, forty-one, forty-five, forty-six and
forty-seven of an act of the general assembly of Virginia, in force
March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six, entitled “an act to amend
and re-enact an act of the general assembly of Virginia, in force January
twenty-first, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled ‘an act pro-
viding a charter for the city of Norfolk, and repealing the existing
charter, approved April twenty-first, eighteen hundred and_ eighty-
two,’ as amended by the several acts of the general assembly of Virginia,
approved, respectively, April sixth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven,
April twenty-eighth, eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, May four-
teenth, eighteen hundred’ and eighty-seven, February fourteenth,
nineteen hundred, February twenty-first, nineteen hundred; February
twenty-six, nineteen hundred; February second, nineteen hundred and
one; February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and one, and March fifteenth,
nineteen hundred and two, approved March fourteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and six,” be amended and re-enacted, and an independent section,
to be known as section thirty-three-a, be added thereto, such sections, as
amended, and such independent section to read as follows:

§27. There shall be elected by the qualified voters of the city of Nor-
folk on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nineteen hun-
dred and nine, and quadrennially thereafter, the following officers:
One collector of city taxes and levies, one attorney for the Common-.
wealth, one commissioner of the revenue, one city treasurer, and one
city sergeant, who shall hold their offices for the term of four years
from the first day of January ensuing their election, and until their
successors are duly elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from
office: provided, however, that in case the mode of choosing or select-
ing the commissioner of the revenue should be changed by the general
assembly, that officer shall be chosen or selected in the mode so pre-
scribed.

And there shall be elected by the qualified voters of the said city
of Norfolk on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, nine-
teen hundred and thirteen, and every eight years thereafter, one clerk
of the corporation court of the city of Norfolk, and one clerk of the
circuit court of the said city of Norfolk, whose terms shall begin and
end as is now or may be prescribed by the general assembly of this
State: provided, however, that such additional clerks of courts for the
city of Norfolk as the general assembly may hereafter prescribe shall
be elected by the qualified voters of the said city at such time and for
such terms as may be prescribed by the said general assembly.

All other officers, whether required by law or ordinance, not required
to be elected by the qualified voters of the said city, and all clerks and
assistants, authorized by this act to be elected by the city council, shall
be elected by the said council in joint session; and the election or ap-
pointment of all officers, superintendents, chiefs, assistants, heads of
departments, or other employees, whose election or appointment must
be confirmed by the city council, shall in like manner be acted on by
the said council in joint session. Such joint session of the city council
shall be held on the first day of September after each election of mem-
hers of the said council, unless that day shall fall on Sunday, in which
case it shall be held on the following Monday, or as soon thereafter as
may be practicable, for the election or confirmation of such officers,
superintendents, chiefs, assistants, heads of departments, or other em-
ployees, as should then be elected, or whose election or appointment
should then be acted on, and shall adjourn from day to day, Sundays
excepted, until such election or action on elections or appointments
shall have been completed, and a joint session of the said council may be
called at any time by the president of the board of aldermen, or in case
of his refusal to call a joint session or inability from any cause to do
so, then under such rules as may be prescribed by the said city council
in joint session, for the purpose of electing any officer or other person
required to be elected by the city council, or action upon any nomi-
nation, whose election or appointment must be confirmed by the said
council, or for any other purpose for which a joint session of the said
council is required.

All joint sessions of the city council shall consist of a quorum of
each branch of the said council, for the election or action upon the
election or confirmation of any such officers, superintendents, chiefs,
assistants, heads of departments, or other employees and the voting
in every such case shall be viva voce, and any election or confirmation
shall require a majority of all the members present in joint session.

The said city council shall have power to create such offices and
provide for such clerks and assistants as it may deem necessary not
inconsistent with this act, or the Constitution and laws of this State or
of the United States. :

§33a. There shall be elected, as hereinbefore provided, one collector
of city taxes and levies, who shall hold his office for the term of four
years and until his successor shall be elected and qualified, unless sooner
removed from office. He shall give bond with surety in a sum not less
than fifty thousand dollars.

The said collector shall collect all city taxes, levies, rents and as-
sessments, and for that purpose he shall be vested with any and all
powers which are now, or may hereafter be vested in the city treasurer
as collector of State taxes. He shall perform such other duties, have
such powers, and be liable to such penalties as may be prescribed by
existing laws or ordinances, or as may be prescribed by laws or ordi-
nances hereafter enacted or ordained.

It shall be the duty of said collector to conduct all the proceedings,
and render all services necessary to perfect the sale and transfer of
real estate in said city where the same shall be sold or advertised for
sale for the non-payment of any taxes or assessments imposed by the
city council as hereinafter provided.

The city council may in the name of the city, proceed against him
for any failure to perform his duties.

§34. There shall be elected, as hereinbefore provided, one city treas-
urer, who shall hold his office for the term of four years and until his
successor shall be elected and qualified, unless sooner removed from office,
but he shall not be eligible for more than two successive terms nor act
as deputy for his immediate successor. He shall give bond with surety
in a sum not less than fifty thousand dollars.

The said treasurer, on and after the first day of September, nineteen
hundred and six, shall collect all water rents, assessments, and revenues
of the city for the use of water, the same as now collected by the reg-
istrar of the water department, and shall also be considered and act
as the treasurer of the board of control, acting in its capacity as a water
board, or board of water commissioners.

The said city treasurer shall also perform such other duties, have
such powers, and be liable to such penalties as are now prescribed or
which may hereafter be prescribed by law or ordinance.

§36. In case of a vacancy in the office of city collector, city treasurer,
or commissioner of the revenue the city council shall elect a qualified
person to fill the office in which the vacancy occurs for the unexpired
term.

§41. The city council is authorized and empowered to appoint for
the city of Norfolk, from time to time, a collector of delinquent taxes,
whether head tax or on personal or real estate, who shall have all the
powers for collecting the same which are now or may be hereafter vested
in the treasurer of the city of Norfolk, for the collection of said taxes.
The said council may fix his duties, powers, compensation and term of
office, a single term, however, not to exceed two years, and may deter-
mine by ordinance what delinquent taxes shall be collected by the col-
lector of city taxes and levies and what shall be collected by the collector
of delinquent taxes, and it may prescribe the mode of proceeding of the
collector of delinquent taxes and the mode of proceeding against him
for failure to perform his duties, and require of him such bond as it
may deem proper. *

§45. The city collector shall at the May session of the city council
cach year, or if no session of the said council be held in the month of
May, then at the next session of the council thereafter, make a report
to the said council of all the real estate in the city delinquent for city
taxes assessed thereon for two years from the date when said taxes be-
come a lien on said real estate, and the said council shall approve, or
amend and approve, the said list and give the city collector due credit
for the amount of delinquent taxes on the list as approved; and there-
upon the said city collector shall, under the direction of the city council,
make sale to the highest bidder of the said several parcels of real estate
so returned and approved delinquent, or so much thereof as may be
necessary for the taxes assessed thereon, with the interest thereon and
such percentage as it may prescribe for charges, unless the same shall
have been previously paid, at the front door of the courthouse of said
city, on the first Tuesday in September, unless otherwise specially
directed by the council, after having published a notice of the time and
place of such sale in one or more of the daily newspapers published in
the said city for at least ten days previous to such sale, and also in one
or more of said daily newspapers, on some day not more than twenty
days previous to such sale, a list of the several parcels of real estate to
be sold, describing therein each parcel of said real estate as it is de-
scribed on the assessment rolls of the year for which it is delinquent,
together with the name of the person to whom each parcel is assessed,
and the amount of the tax or assessment thereon, interest and charges:
provided, however, that such real estate as may already have been sold
at any delinquent tax sale under this charter and shall have been pur-
chased at such sale by the city, and shall not have been redeemed, shall
not be sold at such sale. Such sale may be adjourned from day to day
until completed.

§46. On such sale the city collector shall execute to the purchaser a
certificate of sale, in which the property purchased shall be described
and the aggregate amount of tax or assessment with charges and ex-
penses specified; but the city collector shall not for himself, either di-
rectly or indirectly, purchase any real estate so sold.

§47. If at any such sale no bid shall be made for any parcel of land
offered for sale equal to the tax or assessment, with the interest and
charges thereon, then the same shall be struck off to the city and the
city collector shall execute to the city a certificate of sale, as hereinbefore
provided in the case of any other purchaser, and shall deposit such
certificate with the city clerk.