CHAP. 5.—An ACT to authorize the mayor and council of the city of Wil-
liamsburg, in the county of James City, State of Virginia, to borrow
money, issue warrants and bonds therefor, for the purpose of erecting
a public schoo] building, building a concrete street from the corporate
limits on York street to the corporate limits on Richmond avenue, and
to complete the water and sewer systems of the said city, and provid-
ing for submission of the issuance of bonds for these purposes to the
qualified voters of the said city. fH B 26]

Approved September 4, 1919.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the mayor and the council of the city of Williamsburg be, and they
are hereby, authorized and empowered to issue and sell upon the
faith, credit and property of said city warrants or coupon bonds,
or both, to an amount not to exceed ninety-five thousand dollars,
or so much thereof as, added to the present indebtedness of the
city, shall not exceed .the constitutional limitation of eighteen
per centum on municipal indebtedness; such warrants or bonds
to be issued and sold in the manner hereinafter provided:

2. Such warrants or bonds shall be sold at not less than par
and bear interest at a rate not exceeding five per centum per an-
num, and shall be payable not less than fifteen nor morethan forty
years after date; but such bonds shall be made payable at the call
of the common council of said city at any time after twenty years
from date; provided such provision be inserted in said bond;
they may be issued at such time and in such series as the com-
mon council may elect. The purchaser or purchasers of said
warrants or bonds under authority of this act shall not be re-
quired to see to the appropriation and expenditure of the pro-
ceeds of the same.

3. The proceeds of the sale of the warrants and bonds
hereby authorized shall be applied by and under the direction
of the common council of the said city for the purpose of erect-
ing a public school] building for the said city, for the building
of a concrete street from the corporate limits on York street
to the corporate limits on Richmond avenue, a distance of ap-
proximately a mile and three-eights, and for the purpose of
extending, improving and completing the water and sewer sys-
tems of the said city, together with the right to acquire by pur-
chase, condemnation or otherwise such real estate and other
property rights as may be necessary to be used in connection
with such sewer and other permanent improvements, whether
the same be within or without the corporate limits of the said
city.

4. Such warrants and bonds shall be of the denomination
of one thousand dollars, each, and in such form as the common
council may determine; they shall be signed by the mayor and
countersigned by the city clerk of said city with the corporate
seal affixed. The common council of said city is hereby author-
ized and directed to annually levy a tax sufficient to pay the in-
terest on said bonds and warrants, and create a sinking fund
sufficient to provide for the redemption and payment at maturity
of all such warrants and bonds as may be issued hereunder.

5. Should the common council so elect, they may issue war-
rants for the whole of the cost of any one or more of the pro-
posed improvements above enumerated, and bonds for the other
or others, or they may issue warrants or bonds for the whole
of the cost of the said improvements, in such sum as may be
necessary not exceeding the total amount hereinbefore provided.

. The money received from the proceeds of said warrants
and bonds shall be paid over to the treasurer of the city of Wil-
liamsburg and county of James City, and shall be disbursed by
him under the direction of the common council. The treasurer
aforesaid, and the surety on his official bond, shall be liable for
the amount so received as though it were a city levy, and the
said treasurer shall receive for his services a commission of
one-half of one per centum on all funds coming into his hands,
derived from the sale of said warrants and bonds. |

7. The council of said city shall have control of the expendi-
ture of the fund derived from the sale of the said warrants and
bonds; provided, however, that no part of the said funds shall
be used for any purpose other than those hereinbefore provided:
provided, further, that this act shall not become effective except
and unless at an election to be held for the purpose, as herein-
after provided, a majority of the persons voting at such election
shall vote in favor of the issuance of the warrants or bonds, or
both, as herein authorized.

8. The common council shall determine by ordinance the
amount necessary for the erection of the public school building,
the building of the concrete street, and the completion of the
water and sewer systems, and separately set forth the amount
needed for each purpose; in said ordinance the council shall
also request the circuit court having jurisdiction in said city
or the judge thereof in vacation, to order an election upon such
proposed warrant and bond issue not to exceed the amount
named in said ordinance. Upon the written petition of the saic
council of the said city, signed by the presiding officer thereof,
and accompanied by a certified copy of said ordinance, pre-
sented to the circuit court having jurisdiction in said city, in
term time, or to the judge thereof in vacation, asking that an
election be held for the purpose of passing upon such proposed
warrant and bond issue, not to exceed the amount named in such
ordinance, the court, or judge thereof in vacation, shall enter an
order directing that such an election be held on a day to be
named in such order, not less than thirty nor more than forty
days from the entering of the same upon which such election
shall be held. A copy of the said order shall be published in
the Virginia Gazette for four successive weeks, and a copy
thereof served upon the chairman of the electoral board of said
city.

°9. Excepting as herein otherwise provided, such election
shall be conducted in the manner provided by section ten hun-
dred and thirty-eight of the Code of Virginia. The election
shall be by secret ballot and there shall be separate ballots for
each class of improvements voted upon and each ballot shall
contain the following: For proposed (warrant or bond) issue
(class or description of improvement to be inserted) and against
proposed (warrant or bond) issue (class or description of im-
provement to be inserted) and the drawing of a line through the
word “for” or “against” or any part thereof shall be sufficient
to indicate the wishes of the person voting. Returns of election
showing the total vote for and against the proposed issuance of
warrants or bonds, as the case may be, for each class of im-
provement voted on shall be certified by the commissioners of
election, or their clerk, to the court, or judge thereof in vaca-
tion; an order shall be entered showing the result of such elec-
tion and a certified copy thereof shall be furnished the presid-
ing officer of the common council of said city; and such order
shall be spread upon and become a part of the minutes of said
council. If a majority of the persons voting at such election
shall be in favor of such proposed bond issue as to any one or
more of the said improvements voted upon the council of said
city, upon receipt of a certified copy of the order to that effect,
shall be duly authorized to issue and sell such warrants or
bonds permitted under this act as shall have been authorized
at such election, and take all necessary steps in connection
therewith as it may deem proper, as herein provided; provided,
however, that the total amount of bonds or warrants to be is-
sued and sold shall not exceed the amount set out in the ordi-
nance requesting such election.

10. If the council shall so select, it may request a separate
election to be held at different time upon each class of improve-
ments that may be determined upon by said council; such elec-
tion or elections, and such steps as may be necessary in con-
nection therewith, to be according to the provisions herein set
out, and any election hereunder to be called not later than one
year from the day of the passage of this act.

11. No corporation tax shall be assessed or collected upon
any of the warrants or bonds authorized by this act.

1 The council shall, as the funds become available, apply
the same to the payment or the purchase and retirement of any
of said warrants and bonds at any time. When the council
desires to redeem any of its outstanding warrants or bonds,
subject to call, issued under authority of this act, it may, through
the president of the council of said city, give notice of its in-
tention so to do to the holder or holders thereof in person or by
publication of a notice to that effect published once a week for
two successive weeks in a newspaper published in said city or
having general circulation therein. It shall be sufficient if the
notice recites the number and principal sum of the warrant or
bond to be retired, and a fixed date and place for its presenta-
tion for retirement, which shall be not less than ten days from
the day of personal service of said notice, or from the comple-
tion of the publication thereof, as the case may_be. If the war-
rant or warrants, bond or bonds, be not presented for ‘etire-
ment on the day fixed for the same by the said notice for their
redemption, interest thereon shall cease to run from and after
the said day.

18. By reason of the fact that the city of Williamsburg will
receive a considerable appropriation from the funds available
under the Smith-Hughes act on condition that it erect a suitable
school building at once, and for the reason that the proposed
concrete street is a link in the Richmond-Old Point highway, it
is hereby declared that an emergency exists and that this act
shall be in force from its passage.