Chap. 309.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of an act
approved November 24, 1884, entitled an act to incorporate the town of
Boykins, in the county of Southampton, and amended and re-enacted by
an act approved February 6, 1896, and amended by an act approved
February 14, 1901, and amended by an act approved December 19, 1901.

Approved March 16, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
three, four, five and six of an act approved November twenty-fourth,
eighteen hundred and eighty-four, entitled an act to incorporate the town
of Boykins, in the county of Southampton, as amended by an act ap-
proved February the sixth, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, as amended
by an act approved February the fourteenth, nineteen hundred and one,
as amended by an act approved December the nineteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and one, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

§3. The government of the town shall be vested in a mayor and five
councilmen, to be elected every two years on the second Tuesday in June
from the qualified electors of the said town. Any person entitled to vote
in the county of Southampton, and who has been a resident of the town
for a period of one year, and whose name is properly registered in the
town registration books, shall be entitled to vote at any and all elections.

All officers of the said town shall take the oath of office before the
town clerk, or some other officer authorized to administer oaths.

Should any officer fail to qualify within thirty days from the begin-
ning of his term of office his office may be declared vacant by the council,
and they shall proceed to fill it. The council can, by a two-thirds’ vote,
remove the mayor, or either one of its members, for willful neglect of duty
or immoral conduct.

§4. The mayor and council shall constitute the council of said town,
a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum to do business, and all of
the corporate powers of the said town shall be exercised by the said
council, or under its authority, except when otherwise provided by law.
The mayor shall preside over the proceedings of the council when present,
and in his absence the president of the council shall perside, and if both be
absent, some member of the council shall be designated to preside pro
tempore. The mayor shall have all the rights and privileges and powers
such office confers under the general laws governing towns within this
State, and shall be invested with all the powers of a justice of the peace
within the limits of said town and within one mile beyond said limits,
in both civil and criminal cases, and all fines, penalties, or imprison-
ments for the violations of the by-laws or ordinances of said town shall
be recovered by or enforced under the judgment of the mayor, and he
shall be entitled to the same fees as a justice of the peace for like ser-
vices; but the mayor shall have no vote in the council, except in cases of a
tie. Any vacancy which may occur in the office of mayor or councilman
shall be filled by the council. The mayor and councilmen shall hold their
respective offices for a period of two years succeeding their election and
qualification and until their successors are elected and qualified.

85. The said council shall elect one of its members president, who
shal] be empowered to discharge the duties of mayor of the said town in
the absence of the mavor or his inability to act. The said council shall
also have the power to elect a clerk, a treasurer, a sergeant, and such
other officers as they may deem necessary for the said town, to regulate
their compensation, prescribe their duties, remove them from office, and
require bond, with approved security, for the faithful performance of
their respective duties. The clerk and treasurer may be elected from the
council or from the electors of the said town. The clerk shall annually,
before the first day of May of each year, go to each taxpayer and take
the list of all personal property that is subject to taxation for town pur-
poses. ‘‘he council shall also have power to pass all by-laws and ordi-
nances for the government of the said town which they may deem proper,
not in conflict with the Constitution of this State or of the United
States; to mark accurately the bounds of existing streets and alter or
change the same, and to lay off new streets, allevs or sidewalks, and keep
them in order, and to make other improvements, for which purposes the
council of the said town shall have the same powers and jurisdiction for
condemning lands for streets, alleys and sidewalks as the supervisors have
for condemning lands for roads in the country; to cause to be made a
plat and survey of the said town, showing distinctly its boundaries, its
public streets, alleys and sidewalks, and their width, with such remarks
and explanations as they may deem proper; to regulate or prohibit the
running at large of animals and fowls; to provide and protect shade
trees; to establish a fire department, with suitable and necessary con-
veniences; to acquire land for and maintain a cemetery, and make such
rules and ‘reulations for the government of the same as they nav deem
necessary : to make remulations in reference to contagious diseases; to
abate nuisances; to provide for order and quiet and ‘the observance of
the Sabbath within said town and one mile beyond its limits; to punish
vielations of the by-laws and ordinances of the said council with fines
and imprisonment, or either; to appoint, every two years, one clector of
said town to assess the value of all real estate within the limits of the
said town for the purpose of taxation, who shall certify his assessment
to the council by the first of May, and, in addition to the powers con-
ferred by this act, shall have the same powers and authority as the coun-
ceils of towns of less than five thousand inhabitants under the general laws
of the State; and for the purposes of this incorporation the said council
may levy such taxes as they deem proper on all property, real and per-
sonal, within the said town, not to exceed fifty cents on the one hundred
dollars’ assessed value, a capitation tax not to exceed fifty cents per year,
‘and a license tax on every vocation, profession or business for which a
State license is required, and a tax on dogs not to exceed one dollar for
each dog per year. In case of failure to pay the tax on any dog, the
same shall be killed by the town sergeant under regulations to be pre-
scribed by the council.

&6, The sergeant of said town shall be a conservator of the peace and
be invested with the full powers of a constable within the limits of the
said town and one mile beyond said limits, and shall be entitled to the
same fees as a constable for like service, and for the purpose of carrying
into effect this corporation, the said town shall be allowed the use of the
jail of Southampton county for the confinement and safe keeping
of all persons arrested or sentenced to imprisonment under the by-laws
and ordinances of the cuncil of the said town; and the sergeant of the
said town may convey any person so arrested or sentenced to said jail, and
the jailer shall receive such person in the same manner as if such person

were committed by a justice of the peace and delivered to the said jailer
by a constable.

2. All other acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

3. Whereas an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from its
passage.