An Act to amend and reenact § 46.1-299, as amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to devices signalling intention to turn or stop and rules therefor.
Volume 1968 Law 99
Law Body
Chap. 208.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act of the general assembly
of Virginia approved March 3, 1900, and in force from its passage, entitled
an act to provide a new charter for the city of Charlottesville, and to repeal
all acts inconsistent therewith; and also to amend and re-enact an act en-
titled an act to provide a new charter for the city of Charlottesville, ap-
proved March 14, 1908. [H B 159]
Approved March 16, 1920.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That an
act of the general assembly of Virginia, in force March third, nine-
teen hundred, entitled an act to provide a new charter for the city
of Charlottesville, and to repeal all acts inconsistent therewith; and
also an act entitled an act to provide a new charter for the city of
Charlottesville, approved March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and
eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
2. That so much of the land as lies and is contained within the
following boundaries, beginning at a point at the intersection of the
northerly line of the right-of-way of the Southern railway company
and the western line of Jefferson Park avenue, or Fry Springs road,
thence along the northern line of said Southern railway’s right-of-way
line north seventy-one degrees twelve minutes east one thousand four
hundred and fifty-four feet to a stake, thence north seventy-one
degrees forty-nine minutes east one thousand nine hundred and eighty-
seven feet to a stake (leaving out the right-of-way of the Southern
railway, this being the modification hereinbefore mentioned), thence
crossing the right-of-way of said Southern railway south one degree
thirty-nine minutes east three hundred and thirty-six feet, (this change
in distance being necessitated by the modification hereinbefore referred
to) to a cast iron monument in the south side of Grove street in Fife-
ville (this being an old city monument), thence south forty-three de-
grees ten minutes east one hundred eighty-one and nine-tenths feet
to a concrete monument in L. H. Bingler’s back-yard, thence south
twenty-nine degrees thirty minutes east, three thousand eight hun-
dred and ninety-three and one-tenth feet to a stake near rock out-
crop at the south end of Ridge street one hundred and thirty feet east
of the line of said Ridge street, thence south seventy-five degrees fifty-
one minutes east, three thousand three hundred twenty-seven and two-
tenths feet to a pipe in the alley south of Belmont park, sixty-three
feet west of Rialto street line; thence north sixty-six degrees fifty-
nine minutes east, three thousand one hundred twenty-six and nine-
tenths feet to a stake in the property of J. P. Burke near the northwest
corner of said property east of Monticello road; thence north sixty-
three degrees forty minutes east, one thousand three hundred twenty-
four and two-tenths feet to a stake in the north edge of embankment
of Chesapeake and Ohio railway, sixty-six and five-tenths feet west
of Chesapeake and Ohio railway division sign; thence north thirty
degrees twenty-two minutes east, three thousand seven hundred and
thirty-eight feet to an iron pipe in the south side of Free Bridge road;
thence north twelve degrees forty minutes east, three thousand six
hundred twenty-three and seven-tenths feet to an iron pipe in the north
end of Locust Grove avenue at John A. Smith’s gate; thence south
eighty-three degrees ten minutes west, three thousand one hundred
and forty-four feet to.a stake in west side of Rio road; thence north
forty-seven degrees twenty-six minutes west, six hundred and fifty-
eight feet to a stake near gate-post in E. Bradbury’s yard; thence
north forty-six degrees eighteen minutes west, eight hundred and four-
teen feet to a stake in the east fence of private road of M. Mason
about two hundred feet north of Rugby avenue; thence north fifty-
three degrees twenty-five minutes west, one thousand one hundred
thirty-eight and seven-tenths feet to a stake on north side of new
Southern railway cut about two hundred feet from Rugby avenue;
thence paralleling said Rugby avenue two hundred feet therefrom
north seventy-eight degrees eleven minutes west, four thousand four
hundred thirty-one and three-tenths feet to a stake two hundred feet
west of Old Barracks road in the Rosser property; thence south ten
degrees forty minutes west, parallelling Rugby road and two hundred
feet therefrom, one thousand one hundred nine and two-tenths feet to
a stake opposite gate posts of entrance to Rosser property; thence
north seventy-two degrees forty-nine minutes west, one thousand one
hundred ninety-six and three-tenths feet. to a stake in fence between
Dabney and Moore properties; thence south fifty-six degrees fifty-five
minutes west, two thousand five hundred ninety-three and seven-tenths
feet to a stake near the westport of Massey’s gate on north side of
Ivy road; thence south twelve degrees fifty-three minutes west, three
thousand five hundred and thirty-nine feet to a stake in the north side
of the Lynchburg road, the following courses, forty-three degrees
forty-three minutes west, cne hundred and ninety-seven and six-tenths
feet to a stake; south fifty-two degrees fifty-five minutes west, five
hundred eighty-eight and four-tenths feet to stake; south fifty-four
degrees thirty-seven minutes west, three hundred and twenty-five feet
to stake; south forty-eight degrees fifty minutes west, one hundred
feet to stake; south fifty-five degrees forty-three minutes, eighty-five
feet to stake; south sixty-one degrees thirty-five minutes west, one
hundred and eighty feet to stake; south seventy-three degrees fifty-five
minutes west, one hundred and fifty-five feet to stake; south eighty-
seven degrees sixteen minutes west, one hundred feet to stake; north
eighty-two degrees twenty-one minutes west, one hundred and forty-
three feet to stake; north seventy-two degrees sixteen minutes west,
one hundred and sixty-eight feet to stake; south eighty-two degrees
eighteen minutes west, one hundred and sixty-nine feet to stake; thence
south twenty-two degrees fifty-five minutes east, crossing Lynchburg
road one hundred and sixty-five feet to a stake in the west line of
Maury avenue; thence along said Maury avenue the following courses,
south eleven degrees fifty-three minutes east, sixty feet to a stake;
south no degrees thirty-eight minutes west, two hundred and eighty
feet to stake; south forty-three degrees thirty-three minutes east, four
hundred two and one-tenth feet to a stake; south sixteen degrees forty-
one minute east, two hundred seventy and three-tenths feet to stake;
south no degrees eight minutes east, three hundred thirteen and three-
tenths feet to the place of beginning, shall be, and is, hereby made
the city of Charlottesville; and the inhabitants of the city of Charlottes-
ville for all purposes for which towns and cities are incorporated in
this Commonwealth, shall continue to be one body, politic in fact and
in name, under the style and denomination of the city of Charlottes-
ville, and as such shall have all the rights, immunities, powers, and
privileges, and be subject to all the duties and obligations now incum-
bent and pertaining to said city as a municipal corporation; and by
that name may sue and be sued, and be subject to all the provisions
of the Code of Virginia, except so far as may be herein otherwise
provided. ;
Sec. 3. The said city shall be divided into wards as now con-
stituted, but the number of wards may be hereafter increased or
diminished and the boundaries thereof changed by the city councils
as authorized by law.
Sec. 4. The municipal authorities of the said city shall consist of
a mayor, four aldermen, and eight common councilmen unless and
until this form be changed in a manner prescribed by law, a clerk of
the corporation court, a Commonwealth’s attorney, a treasurer, a ser-
geant, a commissioner of the revenue, a police justice, a justice of the
peace, a constable, who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the
city of Charlottesville at elections held at the intervals and on the
days prescribed for such elections by the laws of the State. All per-
sons who are qualified voters of the city of Charlottesville shall be
eligible to any of the said offices. The terms of office of all of said
officers shall begin and continue for such length of time as is pre-
scribed by the general law; provided, that any one of: said officers
shall be eligible to one or more offices to be filled by the council—
that is to say, that any officer elected by the people may hold the
office to which he was elected as well as one or more offices to which
he may be elected or appointed by the council.
Sec. 5. The aldermen and common council, sitting as separate
bodies, except when called in joint session, shall constitute and be
known as the councils of said city, and all the corporate powers of
said city shall be exercised by said councils, or under their authority,
except when otherwise provided. ,
Sec. 6. There may be elected by the councils, in joint session, a
city manager and such officers and clerks as said councils may deem
proper and necessary, and any one or more of said offices may be held
and exercised by the same person. The officers herein mentioned shall
be elected or appointed by the council on the first day of September,
nineteen hundred and twenty, or as soon thereafter as practicable,
and biennially thereafter, except when elected to fill a vacancy (which
may be done by the councils), in which case the election shall be for
the unexpired term. But no office or offices not specifically provided
for in this charter shall be created except by a vote of two-thirds
of all the members elected to the councils in joint meeting assembled.
It may be competent for the councils, in order to secure the ser-
vices of a suitable person, to elect non-residents, but each officer shall
reside in the city during his tenure of office. |
_ Sec.7. The mayor, aldermen, councilmen, and other officers elected
by the people shall each, before entering upon the duties of their
offices, take the oaths prescribed for all other officers by the laws of
Virginia, and qualify before the corporation court of said city, or the
judge thereof in vacation, and in the cases of the mayor, aldermen
and councilmen a certificate of such oaths having been taken, shall be
filed by them, respectively, with the clerks of the common council
and the board of aldermen, who shall enter the same upon the journals
thereof; but if any or either of said officers shall fail to qualify, as
aforesaid, for ten days after the commencement of the term for which
he, or they, were elected, or shall neglect for a like space of time to
give such bond as may be required of him, his office or their offices
shall be deemed vacant. —
. Sec. 8. Whenever, from any cause, a vacancy shall occur in the
office of mayor, it shall be filled by the councils and a vacancy in the
office of aldermen, councilmen, president or vice-president of the coun-
cil, the same shall be filled by the body involved at its next regular
meeting from its own body or from the qualified electors of said city,
and the officer thus elected shall hold his office for the term for which
his predecessor was elected, unless sooner vacated by death, resigna-
tion, removal, or from other causes ; provided, that in case of an alder-
man or councilman, he shall be taken from the ward in which he is a
voter. An entry of said election shall be made in the record book. If
the mayor of said city shall remove from the city limits, or an alder-
man or councilman shall remove from the ward which he represents,
such removal shall operate to vacate his office.
Sec. 9. At its first meeting in September, nineteen hundred and
twenty, and binennially thereafter, the board of aldermen and the
common council, each for itself, shall elect one of its members to
act as president, who shall preside at its meetings and continue in
office two years. Or if a vacancy occur in the office before the end
of his term, such vacancy shall be filled as provided in section eight.
At the same time the board of aldermen and the common council
shall, each for itself, elect one of its members to be a vice-president,
who shall preside at such meetings in the absence of the president,
and who, when the president shall be absent or unable to perform the
duties of his office, by reason of sickness or other cause, shall perform
any and all duties required of, or entrusted to, the president, and when,
for any cause, both the president and the vice-president shall be absent
from any meeting, a president pro tempore shall be elected who shall
preside. The president, or the vice-president, when authorized, as
above stated, to act, shall have power at any time to call a meeting;
and in case of absence, sickness, disability or refusal to act of both the
president and the vice-president, the body may be convened by the
order in writing of any two members addressed to its clerk.
Sec. 10. Three aldermen shall constitute a quorum for the trans-
action of business at any meeting of that body, and five councilmen
shall constitute a quorum of the common council.
Sec. 11. The president, vice-president, or president pro tempore,
as the case may be of either body, shall be entitled to a vote on all
questions as any other member, but in no case shall he be entitled to a
second vote on any question, though it be necessary to break a tie—
that is to say, his office shall not entitle him to a vote.
Sec. 12. The board of aldermen and the common council, each
for itself, shall have authority to adopt such rules and to appoint
such officers and clerks as it may deem proper for the regulation of
its proceedings, and for the convenient transaction of business, to
compel the attendance of absent members, to punish its members for
disorderly behavior, and by vote of two-thirds of all the members
elected to it, expel a member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.
Each body shail keep a journal of its proceedings, and its meetings
shall be open, except when, by a recorded vote of two-thirds of those
members present, it shall declare that the public welfare requires
secrecy. Each body shall also require to be kept by its clerk a sepa-
rate book, termed “the general ordinance book,” in which shall be
recorded all ordinances and resolutions of a general and permanent
character, properly indexed and opened to the public inspection. Other
documents or papers in the possession of the clerk of the council or
the clerk of the board of aldermen which may affect the interest of
the city shall not, without special order of the body, its president
or vice-president, be exhibited, nor copies thereof furnished to other
persons than the committees or city officials entitled thereto.
Sec. 13. At each regular meeting of the board of aldermen and
the common council the proceedings of the last regular meeting and
all intervening called meetings, shall be read, and thereupon be cor-
rected, if erroneous, and signed by the person presiding for the time
ng.
Upon the call of any member the ayes and noes shall be recorded
in the journal. |
Sec. 14. The councils of the city shall have power within said
city to control and manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of the city
and all property, real and personal, belonging to said city; they shall
have power to provide a revenue for the city, and approximate the
same to its expenses, also to provide the annual assessments of taxable
persons and property in the city, and it may make such ordinances,
orders, and by-laws relating to the foregoing powers of this section as
it shall deem proper and necessary. They shall likewise have power
to make such ordinances, by-laws, orders and regulations as it may
deem desirable to carry out the following powers which are hereby
vested in them:
First. To close, extend, widen, narrow, lay out, grade, improve
and otherwise alter streets and public alleys in the said city, and have
them properly lighted and kept in good order, and it may make or con-
struct sewers or ducts through the streets or public grounds of the
city, and through any place, or places whatsoever, when it may be
deemed expedient by the said councils. The land included in any
Street that is closed shall revert to the abutting owners on either side
of the same, each receiving one-half thereof. That is, the new line
of each abutter shall be the middle of the former street. The said
councils may have over any street or alley in the street, which has
been, or may be ceded to the city, like authority as over other streets
or alleys, and may prevent or remove any structure, obstruction or
encroachment over, or under, or in a street or alley, or any sidewalk
ereof.
Second. To prevent the cumbering of the streets, avenues, walks,
public squares, lanes, alleys, or bridges in any manner whatsoever;
to compel the occupant or owner of buildings or grounds to remove
snow, dirt or rubbish from the sidewalks in front thereof.
Third. To extinguish and prevent fires, prevent property from
being stolen, and to compel citizens to render assistance to the fire
department in case of need, and to establish, regulate and control a
fire department for said city ; to regulate the size of materials, and con-
struction of buildings hereafter erected, in such manner as the public
safety and convenience may require; to remove, or require to be re-
moved, any building, structure, or addition thereto which, by reason
of delapidation, defect of structure, or other causes, may have, or
shall become, dangerous to life or property, or which may be erected
contrary to law; to establish and designate from time to time fire
limits, within which limits wooden buildings shall not be constructed,
removed, added to or enlarged, and to direct that all future buildings
within such limits shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial,
concrete, brick or iron. .
Fourth. To regulate and prescribe the breadth of tires upon the
wheels of wagons, carts, and vehicles of every kind and description
used upon the streets of said city.
Fifth. To provide for the preservation of the general health of
the inhabitants of said city, make regulations to secure the same, pre-
vent the introduction or spreading of contagious or infectious diseases,
and prevent and suppress diseases generally; to provide and regulate
hospitals within or without the city limits, and to enforce the removal
of persons afflicted with contagious or infectious diseases to hospitals
provided for them; to provide for the appointment and organization of
a board of health or other board to have the powers of a board of
health for said city, with the authority necessary for the prompt and
efficient performance of its duties, with power to invest any or all
the officials or employees of such department of health with such
powers as the police officers of the city have; to regulate the burial,
cremation, or disposition of the dead; to compel the return of births
and deaths to be made to its health department, and the return of all
burial permits to such department.
Sixth. To acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, either
within or without the city, lands to be appropriated, improved and kept
in order as places for the interment of the dead, and may charge for
the use of the grounds in said places of interment, and may regulate
the same; to prevent the burial of the dead in the city, except in public
burying grounds; to regulate burials in said grounds; to require the
keeping and return of bills of mortality by the keepers (or owners) of
all cemeteries, and shall have power to acquire by purchase, condem-
nation, or otherwise, according to law, such lands, and in such quantity
as it may deem proper or necessary for the purpose of burying the
dead.
Seventh. To establish a quarantine ground within or without the
city limits, and such quarantine regulations against infectious and con-
tagious diseases as the said councils may see fit, subject to the laws
of the State, and of the United States.
Eighth. To require and compel the abatement and removal of all
nuisances within the said city, or upon any property owned by said
city, without its limits, at the expense of the person or persons caus-
ing the same, or the occupant or owner of the ground whereon the
same may be; to prevent and regulate slaughter houses, and soap
and candle factories within said city, or the exercise of any dangerous,
offensive or unhealthy business, trade or employment therein; to regu-
late the transportation of all articles through the streets of ‘the city ;
to compel the abatement of smoke and dust; to regulate the location
of stables, and the manner in which they shall be constructed and kept.
Ninth. If any ground in the said city shall be subject to be
covered by stagnant water, or if the owner or occupant thereof shall
permit any offensive or unwholesome substance to remain or accumu-
late thereon, the said councils may cause such ground to be filled up,
raised, or drained, or may cause such substance to be covered or re-
moved therefrom, and may collect the expense of so doing from the
said owner or occupant by distress or sale, in the same manner in
which taxes levied upon real estate for the benefit of said city are
authorized to be collected; provided, that reasonable notice shall be
first given to the said owner or occupant or his agent. In case of
non-resident owners, who have no agent in said city, such notice may
be given by publication for not less than ten days, in any newspaper
published in said city, such publication to be at the expense of said
owner, and cost thereof to be collected as a part of the expense herein-
before provided for.
Tenth. To direct the location of all buildings for storing gun-
powder or other explosive or combustible substance; to regulate or
prohibit the sale and use of dynamite, gun-powder, fire-crackers, kero-
sene oil, gasoline, nitro-glycerine, comphene, burning fluid, and all
explosive or combustible materials, the exhibition of fireworks, the
discharge of firearms, the use of candles and lights in barns, stables
and other buildings, the making of bonfires and the carrying of con-
cealed weapons.
Eleventh. To prevent the running at large in said city of all ani-
mals and fowls, and to regulate and prohibit the keeping or raising
of the same within said city, and to subject the same to such confisca-
tion, levies, regulations and taxes as it may deem proper.
Twelfth. To prevent the riding or driving of animals at improper
speed, to regulate the speed and manner of use upon the streets of said
city of all animals or vehicles; to prevent the flying of kites, throwing
of stones, or the engaging in any employment or sport in the streets
or public alleys, dangerous or annoying to the public, and to prohibit
and punish the abuse of animals.
Thirteenth. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, medi-
cants and street beggars.
Fourteenth. To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve public
peace and good order, to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and dis-
orderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame, and gaming
houses, to prevent lewd, indecent or disorderly conduct or exhibitions
in the city, and to expel from said city persons guilty of such conduct.
Fifteenth. To prevent, prohibit or regulate the coming into the
city from points either within, or beyond the limits of the State, of
paupers or persons having no ostensible means of support, or persons
who may be dangerous to the peace or safety of the city; and for this
purpose may require any railroad company, or the owners of any con-
veyances bringing any such person to, or leaving him in said city, to
enter into bond with satisfactory security, that such person shall not
become chargeable to the city within one year from the date of his
arrival, or may compel such company, or owner, to take any such person
back to the city whence he was brought, and may compel any such
person to leave the city, if he has not been in the city more than ninety
days before the order is given.
Sixteenth. And the said councils shall also have power to make
such other and additional ordinances as they may deem necessary for
the general welfare of said city; and nothing herein contained shall be
construed to deprive said city of any of the powers conferred upon it,
either by general or special laws of the State of Virginia, except in
so far as the same may be inconsistent with the provisions of this
charter.
Seventeenth. Said councils shall have power to require and take
from the city’s chief of police, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of the
revenue, and all other bonded officers, bonds with security and in such
penalty as they may see fit, which said bonds shall be made payable to
the city by its corporate name, and conditioned for the faithful dis-
charge of their duties; said bonds shall be entered on the record of
the councils and shall be filed with the clerk of the corporation
court of the city.
Eighteenth. Said councils shall have power to erect, or authorize
or prohibit the erection of gas works, water works, or electric light
works in or near the city, and to regulate the same.
Nineteenth. To prohibit the pollution of water which may be pro-
vided for the use of the city.
Twentieth. To pass all by-laws, rules and ordinances, not repug-
nant to the Constitution and laws of the State, which they may deem
necessary for the good order and government of the city, the man-
agement of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace, comfort,
convenience, order, morals, health, and protection of its citizens oT
their property, including authority to keep a city police force; and to
do such other things, and pass such other laws as may be necessary
or proper to carry into full effect any power, authority, capacity, or
jurisdiction, which is, or shall be granted to, or vested in said city,
or in the councils’ court or officers thereof, or which may be neces-
sarily incident to a municipal corporation ; and to enable the author-
ities of said city more effectually to enforce the provisions of this
section, and any other powers conferred upon them by this charter,
their jurisdiction, civil and criminal, is hereby declared to extend one
mile beyond the corporate limits of said city.
Twenty-first. To create a floating debt not exceeding one hundred
thousand dollars when, by a vote of three-fourths of the total mem-
bership of the board of aldermen and three-fourths of the total mem-
bership of the common council, the councils have passed a resolution
declaring it expedient to do so, and when the creating of the floating
debt thereby provided for is for the purpose of installing, or extend-
ing, one or more public utilities, which shall constitute an asset, or
assets, at least equal in value to the amount expended thereon, which
utility, or utilities, shall materially add to the service rendered by the
city to its taxpayers and other citizens; and it shall be the duty of the
councils to provide in the next bond issue for the bonding of the float-
ing debt thus created, and failure to do this shall suspend this clause.
Sec. 15. Local assessments upon abutting land owners for making
and improving the sidewalks upon the streets and improving and pav-
ing the alleys, and for either the construction or for the use of sewers,
may be imposed not in excess of the peculiar benefits resulting there-
from to such abutting land owners. And the same shall be regulated
as prescribed by the general law. |
Sec. 16.. To carry into effect the powers herein enumerated, and
all other powers conferred upon said city and its councils by the laws
of Virginia, said councils shall have power to make and pass all proper
and needful orders, by-laws, and ordinances not contrary to the Con-
stitution and laws of said State, and to prescribe reasonable fines and
penalties, including imprisonment in the city jail for a period not ex-
ceeding six months, and for the enforcement of the collection of fines,
to impose imprisonment for a period not exceeding ninety days, which
fines, penalties or imprisonment shall be imposed, recovered and en-
forced by and under the police justice, or any alderman or councilman
of said city. The city may maintain a suit to restrain, by injunction,
the violation of any ordinance, notwithstanding such ordinance may
provide punishment for its violation. And the authorities of said
city may, in accordance with the contract between the councils of
said city and the county of Albemarle, continue to use the jail of said
county for any purpose for which the use of a jail may be needed by
them, under the acts of the councils or of the State of Virginia; pro-
vided, however, that in all cases where a fine or imprisonment is im-
posed by the police justice, any alderman or councilman, or by the
councils, the party or parties so fined or imprisoned shall have the
right of appeal to the corporation court of said city. All fines im-
posed for the violation of the city charter, by-laws, or ordinances, shall
be paid into the city treasury.
Sec. 17. Each alderman and councilman, and the police justice of
said city, for the time being, are declared to be, and are hereby, con-
stituted conservators of the peace within said city, and within one
mile from the corporate limits thereof, and shall have all the powers
and authority, in civil, as well as in criminal cases, as justices of
the peace. And the chief of police and the policemen of the city
shall also be conservators of the peace within the limits aforesaid, and
all proper arrests may be made and warrants of arrest executed by
such chief of police and policemen.
Sec. 18. The councils shall cause to be made up annually, and en-
tered upon its journal an accurate estimate of all sums of money which
are or may become lawfully chargeable on said city, and which ought
to be paid in one year; the said council shall order a city levy of so
much money as in its discretion shall be sufficient to meet all just
demands against the corporation.
Sec. 19. The levy so made shall be laid on all male persons who
are residents of said city over twenty-one years of age, upon dogs,
and upon all personal and real estate within said city, except such
persons, personal and real estate as are exempt from taxation under
the laws of this State, and also upon all other such subjects within
said city as may at the time be assessed with State taxes; provided,
however, that the tax on real estate and personal property, including
choses in action, shall not exceed in any one year one dollar and twenty-
five cents on every hundred dollars value thereof; and provided, also,
that lands while used for agricultural or grazing purposes included in
this charter, at the time they are taxed, may be assessed for incorpo-
ration purposes at a lower rate.
But nothing contained in this section, as hereby amended, shall
limit or restrict the power of the city councils to levy such additional
taxation as they may deem necessary for the use and benefit of the
city; provided, such additional taxation shall be authorized and sanc-
tioned by a vote of the qualified voters of said city, in the mode and
manner prescribed in section twenty-four of this charter, or be au-
thorized by the councils by a vote equal to at least two-thirds of the
total membership of each body. Provided, that nothing in this section
shall be construed to repeal or amend any general law of the State
now in effect.
Sec. 20. “License taxes may be imposed by ordinance on busi-
nesses, trades, professions and callings and upon the persons, firms,
associations and corporations, engaged therein and the agent thereof,
except in cases where taxation by the localities shall be prohibited by
the general law of the State, and nothing herein shall be construed to
repeal, or amend any general law with respect to taxation.”
And this right to require a license and impose a tax thereon shall
apply to all persons who use the streets of the city for delivery wagons;
provided, that the license tax paid by any merchant to the city of
Charlottesville shall, if the councils consent, be in lieu of any tax on
a delivery wagon used by him in said city.
And said council may also grant or refuse license to owners of
keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks, and other wheeled vehicles kept
or employed in said town for hire or as carriers for the public, may
prescribe a schedule of charges for their services, and may require
the owners of such wagons, drays, carts, and so forth, using them
in the city, to take out a license therefor, and require taxes to be paid
thereon and subject same to such other regulations as they may deem
proper.
Sec. 21. The -revenue from these and other sources shall be col-
lected, paid over, and accounted for at such times and to such persons
as the councils shall order, and pursuant to such ordinance as now
1920.] . ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 295
5 @ x” ie .
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exists or may hereafter be passed by the councils. The city treasurer
shall be the custodian of all the funds of the city.
Sec. 22. The councils shall require the treasurer of the said cor-
poration to make out a quarterly report of the receipts and expendi-
tures, together with a balance sheet of said city for the preceding
quarter, which report shall state on what account the expenditures
were made, and from what source or sources the receipts were derived,
which report when approved by the councils, or in such manner as
the councils may direct, shall be published in one or more newspapers
of the city on or before the twentieth day of December, March, June
and September of each year.
Sec. 23. The councils of said city of Charlottesville are hereby
authorized to make and issue the registered or coupon bonds of said
corporation, payable not exceeding forty years after their date, bear-
ing interest at not more than five per centum per annum, payable
semi-annually ; said bonds to be used exclusively in paying off and dis-
charging the principal and interest of the present bonded debt of the
corporation of Charlottesville. The said councils shall not be au-
thorized to dispose of such bonds at less than par value, except by a
recorded affirmative vote of three-fourths of all the members elected
to the councils. Said registered and coupons bonds shall be regularly
numbered, signed by the mayor, clerk and treasurer of the city, and
recorded in a book kept for that purpose.
Sec. 24. To provide for the payment of the bonded debt of the
city there shall be set apart annually by the councils from the revenues
of the city such sum as will be sufficient to meet each issue of bonds,
either heretofore or hereafter issued, as the same shall become due,
except that for any issue of bonds a definite amount of which is pay-
able annually and known as serial bonds no sum shall be so provided;
but for such serial bonds the councils shall make in their annual budget
definite provision for their payment. The fund thus set apart shall be
paid in two equal installments on the first day of January and the
first day of July of each year, to the sinking fund commissioners here-
after designated, and shall, together with the accretions thereto aris-
ing from interest on investments, et cetera, be known as the sinking
fund, and be held sacred for the payment of the debt of the city as it
shall become due; and if no part of said debt be due or payable, said
fund shall be invested in the bonds or certificates of debt of said city,
or of this State, or the United States, or of some State of this Unton,
or any other bonds the sinking fund commissioners may deem a safe
investment; said fund shall, in the hands of the treasurer, as to all
questions of investments, purchase or sale within the limitations of
this section, be subject to the orders and management of the mayor,
presidents of the board of aldermen and the common council, chair-
man of the finance committee of the councils, auditor, and treasurer,
who together shall compose the sinking fund commission.
Sec. 25. The councils of said city may negotiate any loan or loans
for the purpose of improving the streets, lighting the same, buying
necessary real estate, erecting public buildings, supplying the city with
water, sewerage, and for other purposes; and shall have authority to
issue registered and coupon bonds for the said loan or loans, payable
not more than forty years after the date of said bonds, and said bonds
shall bear interest at a rate not greater than five per centum, payable
semi-annually ; provided, that the councils shall not negotiate such loan
or loans, and issue bonds therefor, for sums which when added to
the debt of the city then existing shall cause the total indebtedness
of the city to be greater than eighteen per centum of the assessed
valuation of the real estate of the city subject to taxation, as shown
by the last preceding assessment for taxes; provided, however, that
in determining the limitation of the power of the city to incur in-
debtedness, there shall not be included the classes of indebtedness
mentioned in sub-section a and b of section one hundred and twenty-
seven of the Constitution of the State; and provided, further, that
such bonds are authorized by an ordinance enacted in accordance with
section one hundred and twenty-three of the Constitution of Virginia,
and approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified
voters of the city who vote upon the question of their issuance
(affirmative vote shall include a majority of the votes cast by tax-
payers at such election), to be ascertained at a general election or at
a special election held for that purpose; said special election, if one be
held, to be ordered by the council, and to be conducted in accordance
with the law of the State of Virginia regarding election by the people.
But no election touching the question shall be held until notice thereof
has been given by publication for four successive weeks in one or
more newspapers published in said city, and recorded in a book to be
kept for that purpose.
Sec. 26. The rights of the city in its gas, water and electric works
and sewer plant, now owned, or hereafter acquired, shall not be sold
even after such action of the councils as is prescribed by section ten
hundred and: thirty-three-e of the Code of Virginia of nineteen hun-
dred and four, until and except such sale shall have been approved
by a majority of the qualified voters of the city, voting on the question
at a special election ordered by the councils and subject in other re-
spects to the provisions of section twenty-five of this charter applicable
to a special election.
Sec. 27. The city sergeant shall attend the terms of the corpora-
tion court of said city and shall act as the officer thereof; the said
sergeant may, with the approval of the said court, appoint one or more
deputies, who may be removed from office by the sergeant or the said
court, and may discharge any of the duties of the office of sergeant,
but the sergeant and his sureties shall be liable therefor.
Sec. 28. The officers of said city elected or appointed by the
councils shall, during the time they are in office, have all the power
and authority of like officers in the State under its general laws, unless
the same be abridged or restricted by the councils.
Sec. 29. The mayor or the councils may prohibit any theatrical or
other performance, show or exhibition within said city or a mile of its
corporate limits, which may be deemed injurious to morals or good
order.
Sec. 30. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the city.
and shall take care that the by-laws and ordinances thereof are fully
executed. He shall see that the duties of the various city officers,
members of the police and fire departments, whether elected or ap-
pointed, in and for the city, are faithfully performed. He shall have
power to investigate their acts, have access to all books and documents
in their offices, and may examine them and their subordinates on oath.
The evidence given by persons so examined shall not be used against
them in any. criminal proceedings. He shall also have power to sus-
pend such officers and the members of the police and fire departments,
and to remove such officers for misconduct 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 notice to the officer com-
plained of and an opportunity afforded him to be heard in person or
by counsel, and to present testimony in his defense. From such order
of suspension or removal the city officer so suspended or removed,
or the member of the police and fire departments so suspended, shall
have an appeal of right to the corporation court.
Said mayor shall have all other powers and duties which may be
conferred upon him by general laws. The corporation court of said
city may remove the mayor of said city from office for malfeasance,
misfeasance, or gross neglect of official duty, and such removal shall
be deerned a vacation of the office. All proceedings against the mayor
for the purpose of removing him from office shall be by order of or
motion before said court, upon reasonable notice to the party affected
thereby, and with the right to said party of an appeal to the supreme
court of appeals.. In the event of the death, resignation or removal
of the mayor, or his inability to discharge his duty from some other
cause, his place shall be filled and his duties shall be discharged by
the president of the board of aldermen, and, in the event of his in-
ability, then the president of the common council until another mayor
is elected and qualified, or until such inability shall cease. A vacancy
in the office of mayor shall be filled as provided for in section eight
of this charter.
Sec. 31. The police justice shall have and possess all the jurisdic-
tion and exercise all the powers and authority in all criminal cases
of a justice of the peace for said city, and his jurisdiction shall extend
to within one mile of the corporate limits of the city; but he shall re-
ceive no fees for services as such police justice, but all such fees shall
be covered into the city treasury. He shall also have jurisdiction of
and try violations of the city ordinances, and inflict such punishment
as may be prescribed for a violation of the same. He shall have au-
thority to issue his warrant for the arrest of any person or persons
violating any of the ordinances, acts or resolutions of said city; it
shall be his duty especially to see that peace and good order are pre-
served, and persons and property are protected in the city; he shall
have power to issue executions for all fines and costs imposed by him,
or he may require the immediate payment thereof, and in default of
such payment he may commit the party in default to the city jail
until the fine and costs be paid, for a period, however, not exceeding
ninety days. He shall hold his. court daily, except Sundays, at the
place prescribed by the councils, and if from any cause he shall be
unable to act, he shall appoint any other justice of the peace, or any
alderman or councilman of said city, to discharge the duties of the
police justice prescribed herein during such inability, and who shal
be paid for such services by the police justice at the same rate per dierr
as such police justice receives. The police justice shall keep a regula:
account of all fines, forfeitures, fees and costs imposed, arising or
collected in the administration of his office, which he shall report
monthly to the city treasurer, except that all fines collected for offenses
committed against the State shall go to the literary fund, as provided
by law. The police justice of said city shall be removed, as hereinbe-
fore provided, by the mayor upon proof of malfeasance or misfeasance
in office. The police justice shall receive a compensation for his ser-
vices, to be fixed by the councils, which shall not be increased or de-
creased during the term for which he is elected, but said compensa-
tion shall not be more than twelve hundred dollars per annum.
Sec. 32. The salaries of all officers who receive stated compen-
sation for their services from the city shall be fixed by the councils.
Sec. 33. The councils shall fix by ordinance the time for holding
their stated meetings and no business shall be transacted at a special
meeting, unless by unanimous consent, except that for which it shall
have been called, and every call for a special meeting shall specify the
object thereof. -
Sec. 34. The regulations and restrictions for granting any fran-
chise in the city shall be such as are provided by the general law as
found in sections ten hundred and thirty-three-e of the Code of Vir-
ginia of nineteen hundred and four.
Sec. 35. All moneys belonging to said city shall be paid over to
the treasurer, and no money shall be by him paid out except as the
same shall have been appropriated and ordered to be paid by the
councils, and the said treasurer shall also pay the same upon warrant
approved in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance of the
councils.
Sec. 36. If the said treasurer shall fail to account for and pay
over all of any moneys that shall come into his hands when thereto
required by the councils, it shall be lawful for the councils, in the
corporate name of the city, by motion before any court of record hav-
ing jurisdiction in the citv of Charlottesville, to recover from the treas-
urer and his sureties, or their personal representatives, any sum that
may be due from said treasurer to said city on ten days’ notice.
Sec. 37. All fines imposed for any violation of any city ordinance
or State law shall be collected by the chief of police; and if said chief
of police shall fail to collect, account for, and pay over all the fines
in his hands for collection, it shall be lawful for the councils to re-
cover the same, so far as the same are accruing to the city, by motion,
in the corporate name of the city, before the corporation court of said
city, against the said chief of police, his sureties on his said bond, or
any or either of them, his or their executors or administrators, on
giving ten days’ notice of the same.
Sec. 38. The councils shall have power to make such ordinances,
1920. } ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 299
by-laws, orders and regulations as they may deem necessary to prevent
dogs, hogs and other animals from running at large in the limits of
the city, and may subject the owners thereof to such fines, regula-
tions and taxes as the councils may deem proper, and may sell said
animals at public auction to enforce the payment of said fines and
taxes; and may order such dogs, as to which taxes are in default,
to be killed by a policeman or constable.
Sec. 39. The city shall not take or damage any private property
for streets, or other public purposes, without making to the owner,
or owners, thereof just compensation for the same. But in all cases
where the city councils cannot by agreement obtain title to the ground
necessary for such purposes, it shall be lawful for it to apply to the
circuit court of the county in which the land shall be situated, or to
the proper court of the city having jurisdiction of such matters, if the
subject lie within the city, to condemn the same.
Sec. 40. In every case where a street in said city has been or’ shall
be encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise, the city coun-
cils may require the owner or owners, if known, and if-unknown the
occupant or occupants of the premises so encroaching, to remove the
same. If such removal shall not be made within the time ordered by
the city councils, it may impose a penalty of five dollars for each
and every day that it 1s allowed to continue thereafter, and may cause
the encroachment to be removed, and collect from the owner all reas-
onable charges therefor, with costs, for which there shall be lien on
the premises so encroaching, which lien may be enforced in a court
of equity having jurisdiction of the subject. No encroachment upon
any street, however long continued, shall constitute an adverse pos-
session thereto, or confer any right upon the person claiming there-
under as against said city.
Sec. 41. All rights, privileges and properties of the city of
Charlottesville heretofore acquired and possessed, owned and enjoyed
by an act now in force, not in conflict with this act, shall continue un-
diminished and remain vested in said city under this act; and all laws,
ordinances and resolutions of the corporation of Charlottesville now
in force, and not inconsistent with this act, shall be and continue in
full force and effect in the city of Charlottesville, until regularly re-
pealed.
Sec. 42. The corporation court of the city of Charlottesville shall
remain as it now exists and be held by the city judge at such times as
are, or may be, designated by law, and the jurisdiction of said court
shall be such as is now prescribed ; provided, of course, that the power
to abolish said court in accordance with the Constitution of the State
is inno way hereby affected. And the city of Charlottesville shall re-
main a part and parcel of the same legislative and senatorial districts
to which it now belongs.
Sec. 43. That the corporate authorities of said city be, and they
are hereby, authorized and empowered to erect suitable dams and reser-
voirs, and to lay suitable pipes to supply said city with an adequate
supply of water, and to establish and construct a sewerage system for
said city; and for such purpose to acquire, either by purchase or by
condemnation, according to the provisions of the general law for the
condemnation of lands by incorporated cities, such lands and so much
thereof as may be necessary for the aforesaid purposes.
Sec. 44. All elections under this charter shall conform to the
general law of the State in regard to elections by the people.
Sec. 45. The property now belonging to the county of Albemarle
within the limits of the city of Charlottesville shall be within and sub-
ject to the jomt jurisdiction of the county and city authorities and
officers, and shall not be subject to taxaton by the authorities of either
county or city; and if the county and city aforesaid cannot agree upon
the term of joint occupancy and use of such property in regard to
which settlements may not have already been effected, the right of said
city to such joint occupancy and use being hereby recognized, then
the board of arbitration herein provided for shall determine the terms
of such joint occupancy and use, and said board of arbitration shall
determine what rights, if any, the city aforesaid has in all other county
property ; but this is subject to the recognition of the right of the city,
as well as the county (through the district school board or otherwise)
in the school property in Charlottesville school district; and nothing
herein contained shall. affect the. rights of the inhabitants of said
city to participate in the benefits of the Miller manual labor school
in the Samuel Miller district in said county.
Sec. 46. A board of arbitrators composed of three members, one
to be selected by the board of supervisors of Albemarle county, one
by the councils of Charlottesville, and they to choose a third, is hereby
established, whose duty it shall be to adjust and decide the matters
hereinbefore submitted to them, and all such other questions as may
arise between said city and county, growing out of the extension of
the corporation limits, and the establisment of a city government. The
awards of said arbitrators shall be entered upon as the judgments of
the city court or the county circuit court, as the arbitrators may desig-
nate.
Sec. 47. And it is further provided that the same person shall be
eligible to and, if elected, may hold a county office and a city office,
if the said offices be of the same nature, at the same time; provided,
such officer lives within the city limits; and any person otherwise
qualified, who is a resident of the city of Charlottesville, shall be
eligible to election or appointment to any county office of Albemarle
county.
Sec 48. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are
hereby repealed.
Sec. 49. Owing to the fact that license taxes have to be adjusted
in the city of Charlottesville on the first day of May, nineteen hundred
and twenty, this act is hereby declared to be an emergency act within
the provisions of section fifty-three of the Constiution and shall be in
force from its passage.