Chap. 60.—An ACT prescribing the manner in which cities in this Common-
wealth having a population in excess of 75,000 inhabitants and less than
100,000 inhabitants may request the general assembly to grant a special
form of government for any such city under section 117 of the Consti-
tution, providing for the holding of special elections in relation thereto,
and to repeal, so far as it may be in conflict therewith, section 14 of an
act of the general assembly approved March 138, 1914, and entitled an
act to provide for a change in the form of government of cities having
a population of less than 100,000 and of towns, and to provide in what
manner such cities and towns may adopt such form of government.

. (S. B. 77)

Approved February 15, 1915.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
council of any city in this Commonwealth having a population in excess
of seventy-five thousand and less than one hundred thousand inhahitants
when requested by petition, or petitions in duplicate, filed in the office of
the mayor, signed by qualified voters of said city equal in number to fif.
teen per centum of the votes cast at the last preceding election, shal!
provide by ordinance for the holding of an election to take place not less
than thirty days, nor more than fifty days thereafter, to determine the
question, “Shall this city take necessary steps to frame and request that it
be granted a special form of charter?” At the same election there shall
be elected a charter commission of nine citizens, who shall be qualified
electors of said city, and they shall be elected at large. Nominations for
the commission shall be in the manner provided for by ordinance of the
city council of said city. In the event a majority of the qualified voters,
voting at said election, vote in favor of the proposition to adopt a special
form of charter or a new form of government for said city, then the
election of the charter commission shall be valid; provided, however, a
majority of the qualified voters of said city vote in said election, otherwise
the election of said charter commission shall be invalid. The said com-
mission so elected shall proceed in that case, in open session, to prepare
and propose, within one hundred and twenty days from their election, a
special charter and form of government for such city, which shall be
signed in duplicate by the members of said commission, or a majority of
them, and the said charter commission shall forthwith, within one hun-
dred and twenty days from the election of the said commission, forward
one copy thereof to the corporation court of said city and a copy thereof
to the city clerk; and upon receipt of said copy by the said corporation
court it shall be the duty of said court, or the judge thereof in vacation,
to order a special election for submitting said special charter, or form of
government, to the qualified voters of said city on some day to be deter-
mined by the said court or judge, said election to be held, conducted, and
the result canvassed, ascertained and returned in the mode prescribed by
law for the holding of regular elections, and by the regular election offi-
cials of the said city; and when ascertained, the result thereof shall be by
the commissioners of election reported to the said court or to the judge
thereof in vacation. Thereupon, provided a majority of the qualified
voters of said city vote in the said election, and further provided that
a majority of the qualified voters voting at said election approve and vote
in favor of said special charter or form of government so submitted, the
said court, or judge thereof in vacation shall transmit the special charter
or form of government so adopted to the keeper of the rolls of the general
assembly, whose duty it shall be, at the then or the next regular session
of the general assembly, to communicate the same to the presiding officer
of the house of delegates and to the senate of Virginia, whose duty it
shall be, respectively, upon the receipt of the same, to lay the said special
charter or form of government before the hody over which he presides,
and said special charter or form of government so communicated shall
constitute a request to the general assembly to grant the said special
charter or form of government provided for therein, as provided by sec-
tion one hundred and seventeen of the Constitution of Virginia, as
amended.

2. Accompanying the petition filed in the office of the mayor signed
by the qualified voters of such city equal in number to fifteen per centum
of the votes cast at the last preceding election, there shall be a certificate
from the clerk in whose office there is now required to be filed a list of
qualified voters, which certificates shall show and state the number of
persons on the said petition or duplicate petitions qualified to vote at
the last preceding election.

3. The said charter commission, immediately upon its valid election,
shall meet and organize by the election of a chairman and a secretary,
who shall be members of the said charter commission. It shall have the
power to accept the resignation of any of its members; all vacancies,
caused by death, resignation or otherwise, on the said commission shall be
filled by the commission. The councils of said cities may, by ordinance,
provide for compensation for the members of the said charter commission
and for such other expenses in connection with the preparation of the
proposed special charter or form of government as it may deem expedient.

4. The petitions or duplicate petitions provided for in this act shall
be signed by none but qualified voters of the city in which said special
charter or form of government is proposed, but no petition shall be in-
valid by reason of illegal or unqualified voters, provided it contains the
required percentage of qualified voters. The names of the petitioners
need not all be on one petition, but they may be upon duplicate petitions,
provided the several petitions are copies of each other; in addition to the
names of the petitioners, the street and house number, if any, in which
the petitioners reside shall be given.

5. Any said city may apply, under the provisions of this act, for a
special charter or form of government, whether or no it has operated for
less than four years under the provisions of an act of the general assembly
approved March thirteenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, and entitled
an act to provide for a change in the form of government of cities having
a population of less than one hundred thousand, and of towns, and to
provide in what manner such cities and towns may adopt such form of
government, and so far as section fourteen of said last mentioned act is
inconsistent with the provisions of this act, the same is hereby repealed.

6. All acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.