CHAP. 171.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to in-
corporate the town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg, ap-
proved April 1, 1878, as amended an re-enacted by an act entitled an
act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorporate the
town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg, Virginia, approved
March 3, 1886, as amended by an act entitled an act to amend and re-
enact section 5 of the aforesaid act approved January 31, 1890, as
further amended by an act entitled an act to amend an act entitled an
act to incorporate the town of Chase City, in Mecklenburg county, ap-
proved February 19, 1894, as amended and re-enacted by an act en-
titled an act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorpo-
rate the town of Chase City in the county of Mecklenburg, approved
January 30, 1900. (H. B. 287.)

Approved March 16, 1916.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
an act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act to incorpo-
rate the town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg,
approved April first, eighteen hundred and seventy-three, as
amended and re-enacted by an act entitled an act to amend and
re-enact an act entitled an act to incorporate the town of Chase
City, in the county of Mecklenburg, Virginia, approved March
third, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, as amended by an act
entitled an act to amend and re-enact section five of the afore-
said act approved January thirty-first, eighteen hundred and
ninety, as further amended by an act entitled an act to amend
an act entitled an act to incorporate the town of Chase City, in
Mecklenburg county approved February nineteenth, eighteen
hundred and ninety-four, as amended and re-enacted by an act
entitled an act to amend and re-enact an act entitled an act
to incorporate the town of Chase City, in the county of Meck-
Jenburg, approved January thirtieth, nineteen hundred, be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
1916.] ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 331

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
That the town of Chase City, in the county of Mecklenburg, as
the same has heretofore been, or hereafter may be, laid off into
lots, streets and alleys, shall be, and hereby is, made a town cor-
porate, by the name of the town of Chase City, and as such shall
have and exercise the powers conferred upon towns by the Code
of Virginia, edition of eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and
acts of the assembly subsequent thereto, and subject to all pro-
visions of said Code and subsequent acts and to those to be here-
after enacted in reference to the government of towns, so far
as the same are not inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

Sec. 2. The corporate limits of the town of Chase City shall
be the same as are set forth in the act of assembly approved
January thirtieth, nineteen hundred, entitled an act to amend
and re-enact an act to incorporate the town of Chase City as the
same have been extended by an order of the circuit court of
Mecklenburg county, Virginia, entered on December twenty-
first, nineteen hundred and ten, and recorded in the clerk’s of-
fice of said county in common law order book number eleven,
pages forty-six and forty-seven, and as the same was contracted
by further order of the circuit court of Mecklenburg county,
Virginia, entered on December twenty-first nineteen hundred
and ten, and recorded in the clerk’s office of said county in com-
mon law order book, number eleven, at page one hundred and
fifty-nine.

Sec. 3. On the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred
and seventeen, and every two years thereafter, there shall be
elected by the qualified voters of the town one elector of the
town who shall be denominated the mayor, and six other elec-
tors who shall be denominated the councilmen of the town, and
said mayor and councilmen shall constitute the town council.
They shall enter upon the duties of their offices on the first day
of September next succeeding their election and shall continue
in office until their successors are duly qualified. Every person
elected a councilman shall take an oath faithfully to execute the
duties of his office to the best of his judgment. The person
elected as mayor shall take the oath prescribed by law for State
officers. The mayor and councilmen may take the oath of office
before any person qualified to administer an oath, and the per-
son before whom such oath is taken shall deliver to the person
taking the same certificates in duplicate of the fact that such
oath has been taken, one to be returned to and filed by the
clerk of Mecklenburg county, the other to be filed with and re-
corded by the clerk of the council. The failure of any person
elected or appointed under the provisions of this act to qualify
or to take the oath required within the time prescribed for en-
tering upon the duties of the office to which he is elected or ap-
pointed. shall vacate the said office, and the council shall pro-
ceed to fill such vacancy in the manner prescribed in this act.

Sec. 4. There shall be appointed for the town a registrar
and officers of election in the manner prescribed for by the gen-
eral law of Virginia, and all elections held in said town shall
be governed in accordance with said general law; the electorate
shall be that prescribed by the general law.

Sec. 5. The judges of election shall make duplicate returns
of the result, and one of said returns with the ballots sealed up,
shall be returned to the clerk’s office of the circuit court of
Mecklenburg county; the other shall be returned to the council
and recorded in the record book of the said council. The council
of the town shall judge of the election, qualification and return
of its members; may fine them for disorderly behavior, and,
with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member. If any
person returned be adjudged disqualified, or be expelled, a new
election to fill the vacancy shall be ordered by the council and
held on such day as it may designate by ordinance. Any vacancy
otherwise occurring during the term of any such person shall
be filled by the council by the appointment of any one eligible to
such office. A vacancy in the office of mayor shall be filled by
the council from the electors of the town.

Sec. 6. The council shall have power to remove or suspend
all other town officers, whether elected or appointed, for mis-
conduct in office or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order
of suspension or removal; but no such removal shall be made
without reasonable written notice to the officer complained of
and opportunity given him to be heard in his defense. But the
person suspended or removed, if elected by the people, shall have
the right of appeal to the circuit court of the county.

Sec. 7. For the transaction of business by the council four
members, not counting the mayor as one, shall constitute a
quorum.

Sec. 8. The mayor of the town and the councilmen thereof
shall each be clothed with all the powers and authority of a jus-
tice of the peace in criminal matters within the limits of said
town and one mile beyond the same; shall have power to issue
process, hear and determine all prosecutions, cases and contro-
versies which may arise under the resolution and ordinances of
the town; may impose fines and inflict punishment when and
wherever they are authorized by such resolution and ordinances,
and may issue executions for the collection of fines imposed;
may commit offenders to jail or to work upon the public works
of the town, or the public roads of the county until the fine and
cost, or the cost if there be no fine are paid. Appeals shall lie
from the decision of the mayor or councilmen to the circuit
court of Mecklenburg county in the manner provided by the

ral law.
Ben See. 9. Every process for the arrest of a person charged
with an offense committed within the limits of the town against
its ordinances or the laws of Virginia, shall be issued by the
mayor or mayor pro tempore and directed to the sergeant or any
police officer of the town to be executed, and no such process
shall be issued by any other justice or tried by him, unless such
mayor, or mayor pro tempore, are absent from the corporation
or in their judgment are too unwell or so situated as to render
it improper for either to act.

Sec. 10. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of
the town in criminal matters and for imposing and collecting
license taxes on shows, performances and exhibitions shall ex-
tend one mile beyond the corporate limits of the town of Chase

ity.

Sec. 11. All fines imposed for offenses committed within
the limits of said town and one mile beyond the same shall be
collected by the police officer making the arrest and turned into
the treasury of the town.

Sec. 12. The council may require the mayor to communi-
cate to it annually as soon as may be practicable after the close
of the fiscal year, or oftener if necessary, a general statement of
the condition of the town in relation to its government, finances
and improvements, with such recommendations as he may deem
proper. He shall exercise a constant supervision over the con-
duct of all subordinate officers, have power and authority to
investigate their acts, have access to all books and documents in
their offices, and may examine such officers on oath. He shall
have power to suspend all officers appointed by the council until
the next regular meeting of the council, but such suspension shall
in all cases be for misconduct in office or neglect of duty, to be
specified in the order of suspension. In case of the suspension
of any such officer the mayor shall appoint some other person
in his place to hold such office and perform the duties thereof
until the next regular meeting of the council. At such regular
meeting the mayor shall report such suspension together with
his reason therefor. , |

Sec. 18. The mayor may appoint special policemen when in
his judgment it is best for the peace and good government of
said town.

Sec. 14. The council shall, by ordinance or resolution, fix
the time of its regular meetings; but a meeting may be called
and convened by the mayor in writing, or by any three members
of the council in writing, at any time; but at such call meeting
no business shall be transacted except such as may be plainly
stated in such call, and after notice to each member of the council
and to the mayor, unless absent from town.

Sec. 15. The council may adopt rules for the regulation of
its proceedings, but no tax shall be levied or corporate debt con-
tracted, except by a vote of two-thirds of the council, four votes
being counted as two-thirds, the mayor having no vote except
in case of a tie, which vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and
recorded on the journal. It may appoint such committees as
may be deemed proper for the transaction of business and may
compel the attendance of absent members. The mayor shall
preside over the council but shall not be entitled to vote on any
question except in case of a tie and when he is absent the council
may appoint a president pro tempore. A journal shall be kept
of its proceedings and at the request of any member the yeas
and nays shall be recorded on any question. At the next regu-
lar meeting the proceedings of the previous meeting shall be
read and signed by the person presiding at the previous meeting,
or if he be not present when the same are read, then by the
person presiding when the same are read.

Sec. 16. Every ordinance passed by the council for the
violation of which any penalty is imposed shall be published in
such way as the council may order, so as to give general pub-
licity thereto, and no such ordinance shall become effective until
the same shall have been published either by hand bills, or in
some paper published in the town, as the council may deem
proper. If the publication be by hand bills a certificate of the
posting of them shall be given by the sergeant to the clerk of
the council; provided, however, that after the expiration of six
months from the date of the passage of any such ordinance its
publication shall not be questioned, or its validity affected by
any failure to publish the same.

Sec. 17. In addition to the powers conferred by other gen-
eral statutes the council of the town shall have the power to lay
off streets, walks or alleys; alter, improve and light the same,
and have them kept in good order; to lay off public grounds
and provide all buildings necessary for the town; to provide a
prison house and work house and employ managers, physicians,
nurses and servants for the same, prescribe regulations for their
government and discipline and for the persons therein; to abate
and remove nuisances; to make regulations in reference to con-
tagious diseases; to regulate the keeping of gun powder or other
combustibles, and provide magazines for the same; to regulate
the keeping of gasoline and all other combustibles in the town,
and may prohibit the keeping of more than one thousand gal-
lons of gasoline or other combustible or explosive products at
any one place in the town; to provide, permit or prohibit the
establishment of places for interment of the dead in or near
the town and regulate the same and also those heretofore estab-
lished; to acquire or otherwise obtain control of or establish,
maintain, operate, extend and enlarge water works, ice plants,
gas works, electric light and power plants and other public utili-
ties within or without the limits of the town for the purpose of
supplying the inhabitants of the town with water, gas, light,
power, et cetera, and for public use and such other purposes as
are permitted by the laws of the State; to acquire within or
without the limits of the town by purchase, condemnation or
otherwise whatever land may be necessary for acquiring, locat-
ing, establishing, maintaining, operating, extending, or enlarg-
ing said water works, ice plants, gas works, electric plants and
other public utilities, and the rights of ways, rails, pipes, poles,
conduits, or wires connected therewith, or any of the fixtures or
appurtenances thereof; to keep on hand, sell and supply to cus-
tomers of its electric plant and water works, without profit to
the town, motors, lamps, electric fixtures, meters, heating de-
vices, and other material and supplies used by customers of
electric power or water; to lease, own, operate or maintain rock
quarries and land within or without the town for the purpose
of obtaining material for use upon the public places or works
of the town; to prevent the pollution of water and injuries to
water works and electric light plants, for which purposes the
council shall have jurisdiction for five miles beyond the limits
of the town in like manner as it has within the town; and to
protect from injury, by ordinance with adequate penalties and
by prosecution in State courts, the pipes, poles, wires, fixtures,
land and other things used in connection with the water works,
gas works, electric plant or other public utilities; to make, erect
and construct, within or without said town, drain septic tanks,
sewers, and public ducts, and to acquire within or without said
town, by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, so much land
as may be necessary to make, erect, construct, operate and main-
tain the same; to make regulations concerning the building of
houses in said town, and to establish and maintain parks, play
grounds and boulevards, and cause the same to be laid out,
equipped or beautified, and in particular districts, or along par-
ticular streets, to prescribe and establish building lines, and to
regulate the height of buildings; to make regulations for the
purpose of guarding against danger from accidents by fire and
to regulate and prohibit the sale of fireworks within the said
town and one mile beyond the limits of same, and may by vote
of two-thirds of the council prohibit the erection in any par-
ticular locality in the town of any building or any addition to
any building more than ten feet high, unless the outer walls
thereof be made of brick and mortar, concrete, stone and mortar,
and provide for the removal of any building or addition erected
contrary to such prohibition; to regulate the means of exit from
houses used for the assemblage of the public; to prevent injury
or annoyance to the public or to individuals from anything dan-
gerous, offensive or unwholesome; to protect places of divine
worship, and to prevent disturbances of public worship in and
about the premises where held; to provide for order and observ-
ance of the Sabbath day; to prevent vice and immorality; to
suppress houses for gambling and of ill fame; to appoint and
publish the places for holding town elections and the time of
holding special elections and polls; to provide a revenue for the
town and to appropriate the same for its expense; to protect
the property of the town and its inhabitants and preserve peace
and good order therein; and to promote the general welfare of
its inhabitants. For carrying into effect these and its other
powers, it may make ordinances, by-laws, and resolutions, and
prescribe fines and other punishments for violation thereof;
keep a town guard, maintain a chain gang, appoint a collector
of its taxes and levies, and such other officers as it may deem
proper, define their powers, prescribe their duties and compen-
sation, and take from any of them a bond, with sureties, in such
penalties as the council may deem fit, payable to the town by its
corporate name, and with condition for the faithful discharge
of the said duties. All fees, penalties and imprisonments shall
be recovered or enforced under the judgment of the mayor, or
the person exercising his functions, for the benefit of the town,
and in the case of a failure to pay any fine or any cost imposed
by such judgment the offender may in the discretion of the
trial officer be imprisoned, required to work the same out on the
public works of the town or upon the public roads of the county.
The town shall have the use of the county jail in Mecklenburg
county for confining its prisoners.

Sec. 18. The council shall not take or use any private prop-
erty for streets or other public purposes without making to the
owner thereof just compensation for the same, but in case
where the council shall fail to obtain by agreement title to any
ground, or easement therein for such purpose, the council may
apply to and obtain from the circuit court of Mecklenburg
county authority to condemn the same, which shall be applied
for and proceeded with according to law.

Sec. 19. In any case where a street of the town or other
public place has been or may be encroached upon by any fence,
building or otherwise, the council may require the person re-
sponsible for such encroachment to remove the same; and if
such removal be not made within the time fixed by the council
the mayor may impose a penalty of not exceeding five dollars
for each day it is allowed to continue thereafter and may cause
the encroachment to be removed and collect from the person
responsible therefor the cost of removing the same in the man-
ner provided for the collection of taxes and levies. No en-
croachment on any street, sidewalk or public place, however
long continued, shall constitute an adverse possession or confer
any right upon the person claiming thereunder or against the
town. |

Sec. 20. Any street or alley reserved in the division or
subdivision into lots of any portion of the territory within the
corporate limits of said town by plat or plan of record shall be
deemed and held to be a dedication to the public use, unless it
appears by the record that the street or alley so reserved is
designed for private use only. Whenever any street or alley in
the town shall have been opened to and used by the public for
a period of five years, the same shall thereby become a public
street or alley, and the council shall have the same authority
and jurisdiction over and right and interest therein as it has
by law over the streets and alleys laid out by the council or
otherwise opened or dedicated.
Sec. 21. The council, in the name and for the use of the
town, may contract loans, incur debts and cause certificates
of debt or bonds to be issued, whenever two-thirds of its mem-
bers by a recorded vote decide that it is to the interest of the
town to do so, but such council may only borrow money to the
extent prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Virginia.
But said council shall issue no bonds or certificates of debt
until it shall have first submitted to the qualified voters of said
town the question of whether or not such bonds shall be issued
and a majority of the qualified voters voting at any election
held for such purpose shall have voted for such issue. Such
election shall be held under the provision of the general laws
of the State of Virginia, except the council shall have the power
to call such election and fix the date thereof by ordinance, copies
of which shall be published in some newspaper published in
said town or the nearest paper published thereto and posted
at least twenty days before such election in at least five public
places in the town by the sergeant thereof. The judges con-
ducting any such election shall certify the returns to the clerk
of the circuit court of Mecklenburg and to the said council, not
to the judge of the circuit court of said county.

Sec. 22. Any bonds which may be issued under this act
may be either registered or coupon bonds; they shall be issued
in such denomination and bear such rate of interest not ex-
ceeding six per centum, as may be determined by the council;
they shall be made payable at such time as the council may pre-
scribe, not exceeding thirty years from their date, and may, at
the option of the council, be made redeemable after such time
as the council may prescribe; the interest thereon may be made
payable at such place as the council may designate either an-
nually or semi-annually. All bonds issued under this act shall
be signed by the mayor and countersigned by the clerk of the
council, with the seal of the town attached; they shall be sold
in such manner as the council may prescribe and the proceeds
from such sale used and expended under the orders of the
council.

Sec. 23. In addition to the levy on property provided for
in this act, the council may make such other levy as may be
necessary to pay the interest and provide a sinking fund for
any bonds heretofore or hereafter to be issued.

Sec. 24. There shall be elected by the council at its first
meeting in September after its election, or as soon as practi-
cable thereafter, a treasurer, who shall hold his office for such
time as the council has, or may hereafter provide by ordinance.
He shall give such bond, with surety, and in such penalty as the
council may prescribe. Any vacancy in this office shall be filled
by the council.

Sec, 25. The treasurer shall receive all money belonging
to the town. He shall keep his books and acounts in such man-
ner as the council may direct, and such books shall always be
subject to the inspection of the mayor, and any member of the
council, or any committee thereof or any taxpayer of the town.
The treasurer may receive such compensation as the council
may from time to time allow subject to general law.

sec. 26. The treasurer shall make such reports and at such
time as the council may prescribe, showing a full and detailed
account of all receipts and expenditures made by him covering
any given period. He shall keep a proper record of all receipts
and disbursements in such manner and form as the council
may, from time to time direct; the books, accounts and papers
of the treasurer shall be examined at least once a year by some
person or committee to be appointed by the council, the findings
of such examinations to be reported to the council.

Sec. 27. No money shall be paid out by the treasurer, ex-
cept in the manner prescribed by the council, as it may by
ordinance direct.

Sec. 28. The council may, in its discretion, designate the
place of deposit of town funds. All funds in the treasurer’s
hands shall be kept separate from his own funds and he is
hereby prohibited from using, directly or indirectly, any town
fund or warrants for his own benefit or the benefit of any
other person or persons.

Sec. 29. There may be elected by the council at its first
meeting in September, after its election, a clerk of the council,
who shall hold office during tbe pleasure of the council. He
shall attend the meetings of the council and keep a record of
its proceedings. He shall keep all papers required to be kept
by the council, shall publish such reports and ordinances as the
council is required by this act to publish and such other reports
and ordinances as the council may direct and he shall do and
perform such other duties as the council may from time to time
require. His compensation shall be fixed by the council. Any
vacancy in this office shall be filled by the council.

Sec. 30. There shall be elected by the council at its first
regular meeting in September or as soon as practicable there-
after, a sergeant who shall be chief of police also, and who s.ail
hold office for such time as the council has, or hereafter may
prescribe by ordinance. His duties shall be such as the council
may prescribe and his compensation shall be fixed by the coun-
cil. Any vacancy in this office may be filled by the mayor until
the council convenes, but for the unexpired term such vacancy
shall be filled by the council at the first meeting after any such
vacancy may occur.

Sec. 31. The council may appoint or elect a collector of
the town taxes, levies, licenses, dues, assessments, and water
and light charges and fix his compensation and define his duties
and shall have the power to require and take from such col-
lector a bond with satisfactory security in such penalty as it
may deem sufficient, conditioned for the faithful and impartial
performance of his duties. The same person may be appointed
or elected to and hold at the same time the offices of collector
of taxes and town sergeant.

Sec. 32. For the purpose of collecting the town taxes,
levies, licenses and dues, assessments, and water -and light
charges, the collector thereof shall be vested with all the power
with which the county treasurers are vested in the collection of
State and county taxes and levies.

Sec. 33. The council may appoint or elect such other offi-
cers as may be necessary, including a business manager for
the town, and fix their salaries and define their duties.

Sec. sd-a. All councilmen and other municipal officers shall
hold their respective offices for the term for which they are
elected or appointed and until their successors shall have quali-
fied. The mayor may receive a salary to be fixed by the council
not to exceed three hundred dollars per annum, but such sal-
ary shall not be increased or diminished during his term of
office. The councilmen shall each receive a compensation of two
dollars for every meeting of the council they attend, but the
compensation for attending meetings shall not exceed thirty
dollars per annum each. The council may provide for additional
compensation to such of their committees performing special
work so they may deem reasonable.

Sec. 34. The assessment of the real and personal property
in the town for the purpose of municipal taxation, shall be
the same as the assessment of such property for the purpose of
State taxation, where there is a State assessment of such prop-
erty. |

Sec. 35. In addition to the State tax on any license, the
council may, when anything for which a license is so required
is to be done within the said town, impose a tax for the privilege
of doing the same and require a license to be obtained therefor,
when not in conflict with the State law; and in addition thereto
may levy a tax on insurance agents, fertilizer agents and other
persons, firms or corporations whose principal office is not lo-
cated in said town, if such person, firm or corporation do, or
offer to do, business in said town; on public theatricals or other
performances of a public nature, on shows, on hawkers, ped-
dlers, and labor agents, and on any business of any person, firm
or corporation, doing business in said town, whether a license
tax on such business be imposed by the State or not within the
limits of the Constitution; provided, farmers may sell the pro-
ducts from their farms in said town without a license. The
jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said town for im-
posing and collecting a license tax on shows, performances and
exhibitions shall extend one mile beyond the corporate limits
of said town; it being the purpose of this section to give the
council of said town the power to tax all subjects within its ju-
risdiction not withheld from taxation by the laws of this State,
whether the State taxes them or not, and whether herein speci-
fically enumerated or not. And the council may make the license
tax more or less than the license tax of the State on the same
subject.

Sec. 36. The council shall have the power to impose taxes
and assessments upon abutting landowners for making and im-
proving the walkways upon then existing streets, and improving
and paving then existing alleys, and for either the construction,
or for the use of sewers, in accordance with the provisions of
the State Constitution and general laws of the State enacted in
regard thereto.

Sec. 37. The town council shall annually cause to be made
up and entered on its journal an account of all sums lawfully
chargeable on the town which ought to be paid within one
year, and shall order a town levy of so much as in its opinion,
is necessary to be raised in that way for the several funds of
the town, in addition to what may be received for licenses and
other purposes, but such levy shall not exceed the sum of one
dollar and fifty cents on the one hundred dollars assessed value
of the property taxed. The levy so ordered may be upon the
male persons in the town above the age of twenty-one years,
upon the property therein and on such other subjects as may at
the time be assessed with State taxes, and upon dogs. The
council may add penalties for failure of any persons to pay
taxes at the time provided for by ordinance of the council and
there shall be a lien for all taxes assessed which may be enforced
as provided for by the general laws of the State.

Sec. 38. The council may prohibit the sale of cider or any
other beverage containing more than one-half of one per centum
of alcohol within tne said town and within one mile of the cor-
porate limits thereof and punish by fine or imprisonment, or
both, for the violation of any ordinance of the town prohibiting
the same.

Sec. 39. The persons now holding office in said town shall
continue to hold the same until their terms expire by operation
of law under the ordinances of the town or the general law or
until removed as herein provided, or until their successors shall
have duly qualified, and all ordinances and laws in force at the
time of the passage of this act or affecting or relating to the
town, so far as is consistent therewith, and all rights, liabilities,
actions, claims, contracts, and prosecutions arising thereunder
shall remain and continue as if this act had not been passed.

Sec. 40. All ordinances now in force in the town not incon-
sistent with this act, the laws of this State and of the United
States, shall be and remain in force until altered, amended or
repealed by the council of said town.

Sec. 41. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the pro-
visions of this act are hereby repealed.