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
Volume | 1920 |
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Law Number | 473 |
Subjects |
Law Body
Chap. 473.—An ACT to amend and re-enact an act approved December 14, 1895,
providing for the incorporation of the town of Mount Crawford, in the
county of Rockingham, Virginia. [S B 315]
Approved March 24, 1920.
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
territory contained within the limits set forth and described in section
second of this act be deemed and taken as the town of Mount Craw-
ford, and the inhabitants of the town of Mount Crawford, for all
purposes for which towns are incorporated in this Commonwealth,
shall be a body politic in fact and in name, under the denomination of
the town of Mount Crawford, and as such shall have and exercise and
enjoy all the rights, immunities, powers, and privileges, and be subject
to all the duties and obligations incumbent upon and pertaining to
said town as a municipal corporation.
2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows, namely: Be-
ginning at the ford crossing North river below Plecker’s bridge; fol-
lowing north side of road to Valley turnpike, crossing turnpike to line
between J. W. Sherman and Mrs. S. Craun’s property ; thence on this
line to Cook’s creek, following up the channel of said creek to culvert
at corner of Benjamin Switzer’s barn-yard; thence following J. A.
Switzer’s line to a corner between J. A. Switzer and William Branson ;
thence crossing road, following line between J. B. Roller and Baptist
church to a point in Peter Roller’s property on a line with Bridgewater
road; from this point to intersection of Bridgewater road and Valley
turnpike ; from this point a direct line to a point dividing the lands of
Samuel Whitmer and Daniel Landes; following this line to river,
then down channel of river to the ford at the beginning.
3. The government of said town shall be vested in a mayor and
six councilmen, who shall be residents of and voters in said town,
to be chosen annually by ballot on the second Thursday of June of
each year, their term of office to begin on the first day of July follow-
ing. Any person entitled to vote in the county of Rockingham, and
residing in the corporate limits of the town of Mount Crawford three
months previous to any election shall be entitled to vote at all elections
under this act of incorporation. There shall be ten days’ notice of
all elections by posting notice at three or more public places in said
corporation. The mayor shall appoint three qualified voters who shal}
preside as judges at corporation elections, and who shall have the right
to appotnt two clerks of election, and shall hold said elections between
the hours of one and five o'clock past meridian. In case where it
cannot be decided who has the largest number of votes by reason of a
tie, one of the said clerks shall decide by lot, in the presence of three
judges aforesaid. Immediately after each election the recorder shall
make out and deliver to the mayor and council certificates of their
election. In case a vacancy shall occur in any municipal office, the
council shall elect a qualified person to fill the office for the unexpired
term. The mayor and councilmen of said town, before entering upon
the duties of their offices, shall be sworn in accordance with the laws
of the State. The mayor and three of the councilmen shall constitute
a quorum to do business. They shall appoint their time of meeting,
which shall be once at least in every month, and when necessary the
mayor or any three councilmen may call a meeting. In the absence of
the mayor, one of the councilmen shall preside as mayor pro tempore.
The mayor and council shall have and exercise all the rights and
powers conferred upon said officers by this act until their successors
in office are duly elected and qualified under the provisions of this
act.
4. The said council shall select from their own number a treasurer
and recorder and from the qualified voters elect a town sergeant and
a commissioner of revenue. The treasurer shall execute his bond
before he enters upon the duties of his office in a penalty double the
amount of the revenue of the said town the preceding year for the
faithful discharge of his duties. The sergeant, elected as aforesaid,
before he enters upon the duties of his office, shall execute his bond,
with security to be approved by the council, in a sum double the amount
of the revenue of the said town the preceding year, and conditioned
for the faithful discharge of the duties of his office. The commis-
sioner of the revenue shall perform all the duties in relation to the
assessment of the property for the purpose of levying the town taxes
that may be ordered by the council.
The council of the said town shall have all of the general
powers vested in it by the laws of the State, and it shall also have
the power to mark accurately the bounds of existing streets, and to
compel the removal of obstructions therefrom, to close or extend.
widen or narrow, lay out and graduate, pave and otherwise improve
streets and public alleys in the town; and for these purposes, upon first
paying a just compensation therefor, it may take private property
as may be necessary; and no order shall be made, and no injunction
shall be awarded by any court or judge to stay the proceedings of the
town in the prosecution of such works, unless it be manifest that the
interposition of a court is necessary to prevent injury that cannot be
repaired in damages. The method of ascertaining what will be a just
compensation for private property thus taken shall be as follows:
After reasonable notice in writing by the recorder of the council to
the owner of the freehold whose property is proposed to be taken, or
to his tenant or agent, the mayor of the town shall, at the time and
place mentioned in said notice, proceed to appoint two freeholders
of the town as commissioners, one of whom may be nominated by the
owner of the freehold, or by his tenant or agent, if either be present,
whose duty it shall be to view the property proposed to be taken,
and ascertain what will be a just compensation therefor, and to the
damage to the residue of such owner’s property, beyond the peculiar
benefits to be derived in respect to such residue from the work to be
done. said commissioners, if they cannot agree, may select a third
freeholder as commissioner to act with them, and shall, as soon as
possible, report their proceedings to the council. When such a report
has been returned the council may, by a majority of its members,
either reject or accept said report. If the report be rejected the coun-
cil may refer the matter to another commission, appointed in the same
way and for the same purpose as the first. If the report be confirmed,
the amount ascertained by it to be a just compensation for the property
shall be paid to those entitled thereto before work shall be begun on
or through said property. ,
6. The said council shall have the power to provide against and
prevent accidents by fire, to regulate and establish markets, to prevent
the running at large of hogs, dogs, horses, cows, or other animals; to
prevent the cumbering of streets, sidewalks, and alleys in any manner
whatever; to make sanitary regulations in reference to contagious or
other diseases ; to regulate the building of houses, stables, privies, hog-
pens and slaughter-houses ; to abate nuisances at the expense of those
who cause them; to appoint police and prescribe their duties and com-
pensation; and to make, pass and ordain such laws as they may deem
necessary and proper for the internal and general good, safety, health
and convenience of the said town and inhabitants thereof; and for en-
forcing the provisions of this charter. They shall punish all violations
of law by fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the mayor,
subject to the general laws of this State. The authorities of said town
shall have the use of county jail of Rockingham county for the safe-
keeping and confinement of all persons who shall be sentenced to im-
prisonment under the ordinances of said town. Whenever judgment
shall be rendered against any person for fines, and there are no visible
effects which the sergeant may distrain and sell therefor, the person
so in default may be compelled to work out such fines on the public
streets or other improvements, and to suffer in addition such terms of
imprisonment as may be prescribed by the ordinances of said town.
7. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created and de-
clared to be a separate and distinct road district of Rockingham
county, and no road tax shall be levied on any property within said
limits, except by the council of Mount Crawford, which tax shall be
expended within the limits of the corporation on the streets and roads
therein, exclusive of the bridges across North river and Cook’s creek,
under the supervision and direction of the town council. For his
services, any overseer of roads and streets, appointed by the council
of the town, shall be entitled to such compensation as the council may
agree to pay. The council shall have control of all streets and roads.
within the corporate limits of said town, subject, however to the
charter rights of the Valley turnpike company.
8. The council shall have power to levy such taxes as it may deem
necessary for the purposes of the corporation; provided that no tax
upon the real and tangible personal property in said town shall exceed
one hundred cents on the one hundred dollars assessed value thereof.
9. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said town shall
extend one mile beyond the limits thereof for imposing and collecting
a license tax upon all shows, performances, and exhibitions which
may take place anywhere within said extended boundaries; and thev
shall also have the power of imposing a license tax upon bowling,
billiard, and bagatelle saloons, or on any similar game or play recog-
nized or taxed by the laws of the State, anywhere within the said
extended boundaries. _
10. Any person applying to the county court of Rockingham
county, or any other authority, for license to sell wine, ardent spirits.
or liquors of any kind, either as a keeper of an ordinary eating-house.
or a merchant, within the corporate limits of said town, or within one
mile thereof, shall produce and present to said court a certificate of
the council of said town, signed by a majority of the council, to the
effect that the applicant is a suitable person, and that no good reason
is known to said council why said license should not be granted: ana
the court of said county, or other authority, shall not grant any license
to sell liquors, wines, or ardent spirits within the lhmits above pre-
scribed, until and unless such certificate is given.
11. The mayor shall be the presiding officer of the council, and
he shall have power to suspend any officer of said corporation for neg-
lect of duty or disorderly conduct. The council shall have power to
remove all officers, and may fine members of their own body for
disorderly behavior, and with the concurrence of two-thirds expel a
member. The mayor shall have no vote except in the case of a tie.
The mayor shall have the authority and be vested with all the powers
of a justice of the peace within the precincts of said town and for one
mile around the corporate limits thereof, and shall have like powers
with a justice of the peace to commit any person charged with an
offense before him to the county jail, or let to bail on recognizance to
appear before the county court.
12. The sergeant of said corporation shall have the like powers
of a constable of satd county to pursue’and arrest anywhere in said
county of Rockingham all offenders for offenses committed within the
fast aforementioned corporate limits, and to convey any one so ordered
to be committed to the county jail, there to be dealt with as if com-
mitted by a warrant of a justice of the peace.
13. Any member of the council being voluntarily absent from
three consecutive meetings, his seat shall be deemed vacant and the
unexpired term filled according to law.
14. The town council shall grant and pay to all officers elected or
appointed in pursuance of this act such salaries or compensations as
the said council may from time to time deem just and proper, or shall
be fixed by this act.
15. The following named persons are hereby appointed as mayor
and councilmen of said town: H.,M. Rogers is appointed mayor; MN.
Lindon, W. E. Shinnick, D. M. Shipplett, G. W. Showalter, J. C.
Wise, and J. A. Helms are appointed councilmen; and the said mayor
and councilmen shall have and exercise all the powers granted to said
officers by the provisions of this act, and shall continue in office until
1920. | ACTS OF ASSEMBLY. 779
the first day of July, eighteen hundred and ninety-six, or until their
successors are duly elected and qualify according to law.
16. Be it further enacted, that all acts and parts of acts concern-
ing the town of Mount Crawford, in the county of Rockingham, which
are in conflict or contrary to the provisions of this act shall be, and
the same are hereby repealed.
17. This act shall be in force from its passage.