Chap. 288.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 2, 3 .4. 5, 7. 8. 10, 11, and
12 of an act entitled: An act to incorporate the town of Fairfax, in the county
of Fairfax, approved February 16, 1892, and to add thereto sections 13, 14.
15 and 16.

Approved March 14, 1908.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
two, three, four, five, seven, eight, ten, eleven and twelve, of an act
entitled “an act to incorporate the town of Fairfax, in the county of
Fairfax,” approved on the sixteenth day of February, eighteen hundred
and ninety-two, be amended and re-enacted, and that sections thirteen,
fourteen, fifteen and sixteen, be added thereto, so as to read as follows:

82a. The government of the said town shall be vested in a town
council, which shall be composed of a mayor and six councilmen, each
of whom shall be a qualified voter and a freeholder within the town:
provided, that any qualified voter, whose wife is a freeholder within
the town, shall be eligible to the office of mayor or councilman.
b. The mayor, six councilmen, and the town sergeant, shall be elected
on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and eight, and every
two years thereafter, and shall hold office for two years, the town ser-
geant to be a qualified voter in the town.

ce. The officers aforesaid shall qualify by taking the necessary oaths
of office, on or before the first day of September next succeeding their
election, and shall enter upon the duties of their office on the first
day of September next succeeding their election, and shall continue
in office until their successors have qualified ; but the town sergeant shall,
before entering upon the duties of his office, also execute a bond, in the
penalty of not less than two thousand dollars, with satisfactory and
approved security, in such manner and form as the town council shall
prescribe.

d. The town council or the mayor shall, not less than five days before

any town election, appoint three judges of election, who shall also
act as commissioners of election, and should any judge fail or decline
to.act, the mayor or town council may fill such vacancy either on or
before the day of election.
. e. The registrar (town clerk) shall, before any election in the town,
register all voters who shall have acquired a legal voting residence in
the town, and who shall have previously registered or are entitled to reg-
ister as voters in this State, under the provisions of the present Consti-
tution, and none others.

f. The said registrar shall be governed, as to his qualifications and
powers and in the performance of his duties, by the general laws of
this Commonwealth, so far as the same may be applicable and not
contrary to the provisions of this act.

g. Such list of registered voters shall be placed by the registrar in
the hands of the judges of election, who shall at the time and in the
manner prescribed by law, open a poll at the place designated by the
proper authority; and the manner of receiving the ballots and can-
vassing the vote, shall be in accordance with the provisions of this
act, and such regulations as the town council may from time to time
provide.

h. Any person who intends to be a candidate for any town office, shall
at least ten days before such election, notify the mayor or town clerk,
in writing, attested by two witnesses, of such intention, designating
the office for which he is a candidate. No person, not announcing his
candidacy as above provided, shall have his name printed or typewritten
on the ballots provided for such election.

i. The town council shall provide printed or typewritten ballots
for use in all town elections, and such ballots shall contain the names
of all candidates for office in such town election, who shall have given
the written notice hereinbefore provided for; but any voter may erase
any name or names on the ballot voted by him, and insert another or
others therefor, but no other ballot shall be used in any election, than
such as are provided by the town council.

j. The election shall close at sunset of the day thereof, and the
judges shall count the ballots and make duplicate returns of the result.
One of said returns, with the ballots sealed up, shall be returned to
the mayor or council, and recorded in the record book of said council;
the other shall be returned to the clerk’s office of the circuit court of
Fairfax county. The mayor shall issue to those elected, certificates
of election which shall be countersigned by the town clerk. Tie votes
shall be decided by lot, and contests shall be tried and finally deter-
mined by the mayor, pursuant to such regulations as the town council
may adopt.

k. The town council shall, except as above provided, judge of the elec-
tion, qualification and returns of its members; may fine them for dis-
orderly behavior, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of all mem-
bers elected, and after due notice, expel a member.

1. There shall be an annual meeting of the town council on the first
day of September in each year, unless that day be Sunday, in which
event the annual meeting shal] be held on the second day of September,
at which time the town sergeant shall make his annual settlement with
the council, and at the annual meeting next succeeding a town election,
the new council shall organize and elect by ballot a town clerk, a school
trustee or school trustees, and such other officers as the town council
may deem necessary or proper.

m. There shall be such other regular and special meetings of the
town council, as the by-laws may prescribe, and at all meetings, four
members of the council, of whom the mayor may be one, shall constitute
a quorum for the transaction of all business.

§3. The town council shall elect by ballot a town clerk who shall
hold office during the pleasure of the council, and who shall receive
such compensation as may be allowed by the town council, school trus-
tees, special policemen, when considered expedient, and such other
officers as the town council] may deem necessary or proper.

No member of the town council or other corporation official shall
receive any compensation except as hereinafter or hereinbefore provided
or as provided by the laws of this State, or except for special service,
upon the recorded affirmative vote of at least four members of the town
council and in no case shall the interested official be entitled to a vote
in the matter of such compensation.

84. The council shall have power to define and mark the boundaries
of streets; to lay out new streets, alleys and sidewalks; to provide for
order and quiet and the observance of the Sabbath; to plant and protect
shade trees; to make regulations in respect to public. health; to abate
nuisgnces and, to this end, confer on the mayor and town sergeant all
necessary authority and jurisdiction; to regulate and prohibit the
running at large of animals; to license the ownership of dogs, impose
a license tax on the owners of dogs not exceeding fifty cents on each
dog and to make provisions for the killing of dogs whose owners fail
to procure a license or pay the said taxes; to exercise the power of
road commissioners over the roads and streets within the corporation ;
to assess, levy and collect taxes on all property of every character and
description within the corporation; to grant franchises within the cor-
poration; and to pass all ordinances that may be deemed necessary
or proper to carry into effect the objects of the incorporation and pro-
mote the general welfare of the town and to punish their violation by
fine or imprisonment or both.
§5 The mayor shall preside over the council but shall have no vote
except in case of a tie or to make a tie or where his vote will be decisive
or where the vote is taken by ballot.

He shall have the authority and jurisdiction of, and receive the same
fees as, a justice of the peace; and he shall, for the purpose of condemn-
ing lands for streets and other corporation purposes within the corpo-
ration, have the same jurisdiction now exercised by the circuit court
for condemning lands for public roads, and the council shall make
all needful regulations to carry into effect these provisions. His juris-
diction in criminal matters shall extend one mile beyond the corporation
limits. In the absence of the mayor from the town, he shall, before
leaving, designate some member of the town council to act as mayor
during his absence and he shall, in any case where he may, for any
reason, deem it improper for him to try a case, designate some member
of the town council or some justice of the peace of Providence magis-
terial district to act in his place. He may also associate with him in
the trial of any case, any member or members of the town council but
his opinion shall prevail unless a majority of those sitting in the case
be of a contrary opinion, in which event the opinion of the majority
shall prevail. He shall also have the power to call a special meeting
of the town council at any time and shall have the right to approve
or veto all franchises granted by the town council.

§7. The town sergeant shall be the executive officer of the town council
and shall, besides discharging such other duties as the town council
may assign him, have and exercise the authority of, and receive the
same fees as, a constable unless otherwise ordered, within the corporation.
He shall be the town treasurer and as such shall collect all taxes and fines
and shall disburse the same either upon the warrant of the town council,
signed by the mayor and town clerk, or upon the warrant of the board
of school trustees, signed by the chairman and clerk of said board, and
to this end, shall have the same power, within the corporation, as the
county treasurer. As his compensation for collecting the said revenue,
he shall receive five per centum on the amount of all taxes collected.
For special services, he shall receive such compensation as the town
council may allow him.

88. No district school tax or district road tax or corporation tax
shall be levied upon the property within the corporation except by the
town council which shall annually assess, levy and collect all necessary
taxes for roads and streets, schools and other corporation purposes on
all property within the corporation, which taxes for schools shall not
exceed fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars’ valuation and for roads
and streets and other corporation purposes shall not exceed thirty cents
on the one hundred dollars valuation. . But, upon the petition of two-
thirds of the resident taxpayers within the corporation, the town council
may levy additional taxes for roads and streets or schools or other cor-
poration purposes not to exceed the amount named in the said petition.

The assessment or appraisement for the taxation of real estate shall
be the same as the last county or State assessment or appraisement,
provided that any real estate, not assessed by the county or State, and
all improvements made, adding value to any real estate since the last
county or State assessment or appraisement, shall be assessed, upon
a fair cash valuation, by the assessor, who shall be elected by ballot
by the town council, and he shall make proper deduction for all property
destroyed. In making assessment of personal property, the said assessor
shall follow the last county or State assessment, where that is prac-
ticable, and, in cases where that is impracticable, he is empowered to
administer an oath to any person or persons and thereupon interrogate
them under oath in order to arrive at proper returns as a basis for
assessment. When the assessment of real and personal property within
the corporation are completed, the assessor shall post a notice, in at
least three public places in the town, that the assessment records are
in his office for public inspection and that the town council will, at
a time and place therein specified, examine, revise and correct the same
and that any tax payer, who feels aggrieved, will then be heard, the
session for such purpose to terminate on April fifteenth. Prior to
the first day of May in each year, the assessor or town clerk shall make,
from such revised assessments, tax bills against all persons, firms or
corporations charged therein and shall, not later, than the first day of May,
place them in the hands of the town sergeant for collection. All taxes
shall be due and payable on the first day of May in each year and a pen-
alty of five per centum shall be added to all tax bills not paid on or before
the first day of August.

On or before the annual meeting of the town council which shall be
held on the first or second day of September in each year and, in no
event, later than the second day of September, the town sergeant
shall return a statement of delinquents and shall make his annual
settlement with the town council and he shall also, whenever requested
or required by the town council, make a full report of all receipts and
disbursements, showing the amount of funds in his hands to the credit
of the school fund and likewise to the credit of the road and general
corporation fund. The town council shall make provision and regu-
lations for the sale, on or before the second day of January following the
return of any real estate returned delinquent, and shall have all of the
powers, rights and remedies possessed by the State and county for the
collection of delinquent taxes assessed upon the person or upon real
and personal property.

§10. The corporation shall have the use of the county jail, whose
jailor shall receive and keep all persons duly committed by the proper
officers of the corporation, and he shall be paid for the board of such
prisoners from the State treasury at like rates as other prisoners and
in the same manner. The mayor and town council shall have the use
of the county court house as their town house, for the transaction of offi-
cial business, when the same is not otherwise occupied and used by the
circuit court judge, the board of supervisors or for other county’ pur-
poses, which privilege shall in no manner lessen the authority and con-
trol over the said court house building, as by law established, by the
said circuit court and board of supervisors. The mayor and town
council shall, with the consent of the board of supervisors, have the
use of the old clerk’s office building for the transaction of official
business.

811. In case the voters of Providence magisterial district shall, at
any election, decide to allow license for the sale of ardent spirits. or in-
AVIAN VI Avovempii. UVa

‘oxicating drinks in said district, yet no such license shall be granted
for such sale within the corporate limits of this town, or within one mile
thereof, unless the applicant shall first obtain the written consent of the
town council and present the same to the circuit court.

812. The schools and school property within the corporation shall
xe under the authority and control of a board of three school trustees
who shall, in all cases, be elected by ballot by the town council and
at least two of whom shall, at the time of their election, be members
of the town council. The town council shall, at its annual meeting to be
held on the first day of September, nineteen hundred and eight, eiect
by ballot three school trustees, to serve for one, two, and three years,
respectively ; and annually thereafter it shall elect, in the manner afore-
said, one school trustee for said town or school district for the term of
three years. The town council may, at any time, fill a vacancy in the office
of school trustee.

§13. This act shall not operate to repeal any of the ordinances or
regulations now in force in the corporation at the date of its passage,
except in so far as-they might conflict with this act.

§14. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of
this act are hereby repealed in so far as they refer or relate to this cor-
poration: provided, however, that the present members of the town
council and other officers of the corporation shall continue in office
until the first day of September, nineteen hundred and eight, in ac-
cordance with the provisions of the act hereby amended and the general
laws of the State amendatory thereof, and thereafter until their suc-
cessors are elected and have qualified under the provisions of this act.

§15. The town shall be subject to the general laws of this State in sv
far as the same are applicable thereto and are not contrary to the pro-
visions of this act.

816. This act, being an emergency act, shall be in force from its
passage.