Chap. 289.—An ACT to provide for the consolidation or annexation of cities.

H B 437]
Approved March 20, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That when-
ever two cities cotermincus or adjacent to each other, desire to be
consolidated with each other, or whenever one of such cities desires
to annex or to be annexed to the other, for the purpose in either case
of forming one municipal government, with a common name to be
governed under and controlled by either the general laws of the
Commonwealth, enacted for the government of cities or by the pro-
visions of the charter of either of the two cities, it shall be lawful
for the councils of the two cities, or of the one city, as the case may
be, to so declare by an ordinance which shall be adopted by a recorded
affirmative vote of a majority of all the members elected to the
council and to each branch thereof where the council 1s composed
of more than one branch.

2. Said ordinance shall be approved by the mayor of such city
or may be passed notwithstanding his objections in the manner pre-
scribed for passing ordinances over the veto of the mayor. It shall
contain declaratory provisions on the following subjects, to-wit:

First. The named suggested for the proposed municipal gov-
ernment. )

Second. Whether it is desired that the proposed municipality
shall be governed by the general laws governing cities or by the
charter of one of the cities interested in the proposed consolidation
or annexation, naming the city, if any, whose charter and name it is
proposed to adopt. ,

Third. Setting forth the particular inducements to annexation or
consolidation, if any such there be, over and above the incidental
and ordinary benefits of citizenship in the proposed municipality—
such as the erection of school houses or other public buildings or the
devotion of a named sum to street, sewer, or other public improve-
ments for a stated period, or to be expended within a stated time; and

Fourth. Appointing a committe of not more than five, whose duty
it shall be to present a certified copy of the ordinance to the council
of the city with which consolidation or annexation is proposed, and
to confer with a similar committee therefrom, if such committee be
appointed, and in conjunction with such committee to adjust and
settle the terms and conditions of annexation or consolidation, and
to prepare and perfect an ordinance designed to effect the desired
annexation or consolidation.

3. If the council of the city with which consolidation or annexa-
tion is proposed agrees thereto, it shall pass an ordinance, in the
manner hereinbefore prescribed, which shall recite the fact of the
passage of such an ordinance by the council of the city taking the
initiative, the reception of a certified copy, and the terms and pro-
visions thereof, and which shall appoint a committee of the same
number as the committee appointed by the council of the other city,
which shall be charged with similar duties. ~
4, The two committees thus appointed shall meet in joint session
as soon as may be, and a majority of each committee being present
and acting as separate units, shall proceed, with such adjournments
from time to time as may be desirable, to prepare and perfect an
ordinance designed to be adopted by the councils of the cities con-
cerned, and to provide therein for the consolidation or annexation
proposed, upon such terms and conditions as said committees may
agree upon. Such terms and conditions shall be set forth in said
ordinance, which shall be reported by each committee to the council
by which it was appointed, and which shall hereafter be designated
as the consolidation or annexation ordinance. If the committee of
the city first proposing such consolidation shall, by resolution, deter-
mine that it is impossible to agree upon an ordinance of consolidation
with the committee of the council receiving the overtures, or if the
council of the city with which consolidation or annexation is pro-
posed does not, within thirty days from the receipt of the certified
copy of the ordinance proposing consolidation, appoint a committee
as herein provided, the city making the overtures of consolidation
may pass an ordinance as provided herein, providing for the con-
solidation of the said cities, and petitioning the corporation or hust-
ings court, or the judge thereof in vacation, of the city receiving
the overtures, if said city be a city of the first class, and if not, then
the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, of the county
wherein the city receiving said overtures lies, to call a special elec-
tion, and thereupon the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation,
shall pass an order directing the proper election officers of the said
municipality to take such steps and prepare such means as may be
necessary to submit to the qualified electors of the said city the ques-
tion whether the said proposed ordinance of consolidation shall be
effective or not. In case such ordinance is ratified by the qualified
voters of such city at such election after having been adopted by
the council of the other city, the proposed consolidation and annexa-
tion shall be effective as if the council of the two cities had them-
selves agreed upon its terms as provided in this act; provided, that
should the committees from both cities agree on ‘a consolidation
ordinance then the said ordinance shall be submitted to the quali-
fied voters of the city receiving said overtures, and should a majority
of the voters voting thereon, vote for the ordinance, then the same
shall be as effective, otherwise of no effect. Provided, further, that
should the committees from the two cities fail to agree on a con-
solidation ordinance within sixty days after an ordinance to con-
solidate the two cities’ has been presented to the council, or other
governing body of the other of the two cities, then the said ordinance
shall be presented to the corporation or hustings court, or the judge
thereof in vacation, if said city be a city of the first class, and if not,
then the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, of the county
wherein the city receiving said overtures lies, who shall within ten
days thereafter enter an order directing the proper election officials
of the said municipality to take such steps and prepare such means
as may be necessary to submit to the qualified electors of the said
city the question whether such proposed ordinance of annexation or
consolidation shall be effective or not; and should a majority of the
voters, voting thereon, in said city, vote for the ordinance then the
same shall be effective, otherwise of no effect. Said election shall
be held in the manner provided for in chapter thirteen of the Code
of nineteen hundred and nineteen, so far as the same may be ap-
plicable.

5. The consolidation or annexation ordinance to be effective, where
such consolidation or annexation ordinance has been agreed to by
the committee from the councils of both cities, must be passed by
the council of each city participating in the consolidation or annexa-
tion, by a recorded affirmative vote of a majority of the members
elected to said council and to each branch thereof, where there are
two; and must provide that an election shall be held in the smaller
city, or in any city in which one-fourth of the qualified voters peti-
tion the council, asking that an election shall be held, to determine
whether such consolidation or annexation shall take effect. It shall
be approved by the mayor of each city or passed over the mayor’s
veto as in case of other ordinances, and shall not be voted upon by
both branches of the council of any city on the same day.

6. The consolidation or annexation ordinance shall not be voted
on by the council of either of the cities interested in the proposed
consolidation or annexation (unless by its terms the proposed con-
solidation or annexation is made dependent upon an election) until
notice thereof shall have been given by publication of such ordinance
once a week for four successive weeks in at least one daily newspaper
published in each of said cities, or if there be no such newspaper
published in said cities or in one of them, then in some daily news-
paper which has a substantial circulation in the city or cities in which
no such newspaper is published. A printed copy of said consolidation
or annexation ordinance shall be posted conspicuously in each voting
precinct of said cities, at least thirty days before the council is called
upon to vote thereon. The posted notice herein required shall be
signed by the clerk of the council, and shall designate the day upon
which the council will proceed to consider said ordinance.

7. In case the consolidation or annexation ordinance provides
that an election shall be held in either or both of said cities before
consolidation or annexation shall be effective, the notice and publi-
cation hereinbefore required shall not be necessary before the council
of either city votes upon said ordinance, but shall be required before
the election is held, and to such notice and publication there shall
be attached a notice under the hand of the clerk of the council, stat-
ing that a special election will be held in said city or cities on a
day specified in the notice to determine whether the consolidation
or annexation of the cities named shall take place upon the terms
and conditions agreed upon by their respective councils and set forth
in the ordinance adopted by said council.

8. In either case the publication herein required when completed
shall, when an election is prescribed as a means of determining such
-onsolidation or annexation, be certified by the editor or business
manager of such newspaper or newspapers to the clerk of the corpo-
ration court of the city or cities in which the election is to be held,
pr to the circuit court of the county in which such city lies, if such
city be of the second class, or to the clerk of the council of each city
when no such election 1s prescribed. The clerk of the council shall
in like manner certify that printed copies of the annexation or con-
solidation ordinance have been posted in the manner required by law.

9. The consolidation or annexation ordinance prepared and perfect-
ed by the committees of the councils of the said cities may be adopt-
ed, amended, recommitted to the same or to another committee for
further conference and report, or rejected by the council of either city,
or of both, as if it were an ordinance proposed solely by a committee
of its own body. The council of each city shall forthwith notify
the council of the other of the disposition it has made of said ordi-
nance by a certified extract of its proceeding with relation thereto
under the hand of its clerk.

10. If the consolidation or annexation ordinance shall be passed
without amendment by the council of either city a certified copy of
the ordinance as passed shall likewise be transmitted to the council
of the other city as soon as practicable after the ordinance shall have.
been signed by the mayor of such city or passed over his veto. If,
however, thes council of either city shall amend or recommit said
ordinance, the council of the other city upon receiving notice thereof
may either adopt, amend, or reject said ordinance and amendment or
recommit to the same or to another committee for a further confer-
ence and report.

11. In case the ordinance prepared by the committees of the
councils of said cities shall be passed by the council of one of said
cities and be rejected or so amended by the council of the other city
as to be unacceptable to the council of the first city, or in case it
shall be vetoed by the mayor of one city and be adopted by the
council of the other, a special election may be called in the city
whose council so amends or rejects said ordinance or by whose mayor
it is so vetoed, in the manner provided in section four of this act,
upon the petition of the city whose council shall have adopted said
ordinance to the court having jurisdiction, as provided in section
four of this act, to determine whether the ordinance reported by said
committee shall or shall not be effective. In case such ordinance is
ratified by the qualified voters of said city at such election, after
having been adopted by the council of the other city, the proposed
consolidation or annexation shall be as effective as if the councils
of the two cities had themselves agreed upon its terms. But no elec-
tion under this section shall be held within seven months from the
time the same is ordered.

12. Whenever the councils of the two cities shall have passed a
consolidation or annexation ordinance or the same shall have become
effective in the manner prescribed by law, identical in terms, words,
and figures, except so far as variations may be necessary to expres
the independent action of either city and the terms upon which con
solidation or annexation has been concurred in, the consolidation o
annexation therein provided for shall thereupon be and become a!
accomplished fact according to the terms and provisions of said ordi
nance ; provided, however, that all the requirements of law have bee:
complied with in said ordinance, and provided, that.all preliminar:
acts and conditions precedent, prescribed in said ordinance, shall hav
been done and complied with in the manner therein provided, and a.
prescribed by law; and provided, that such consolidation or annexa
tion shall not be declared effective until the fact of such compliance
with the requirements of the law and with the preliminary acts anc
conditions precedent shall have been ascertained and declared in the
manner herein provided.

13. A certified copy of said ordinance under the hand of the clerk
of each council, and sealed with the seal of each city, together with
a certified copy of the ordinance received by each council from the
council of the other city shall be at once transmitted to the clerk
of the corporation or hustings court of each of said cities named in
said ordinance; provided that, if either of said cities shall be a city
of the second class, then such certified copies shall be transmitted
to the clerk of the circuit court of the county wherein such city of
the second class lies; and the clerk of the corporation or hustings
court of the city named in said ordinance which has the smaller popu-
lation by the last United States census, or the clerk of the circuit
court of the county, if such city be a city of the second class, shall
thereupon docket the same, and the evidence shall be heard by the
judge without a jury, as in common law cases.

14. Notice may be served by either city upon the mayor, presi-
dent of the city council, or of its more numerous branch, where there
are two, and upon the city attorney, if any, of the other city named
in the ordinance and by publication at least five times in some news-
paper published in or having substantial circulation in the city hav-
ing the smaller population as aforesaid, that within ten days, and on
a day named, it will move the said corporation or circuit court, or
judge thereof in vacation, to hear the case and to ascertain and de-
clare by order of court that all preliminary acts and conditions prece-
dent have been complied with, and that consolidation or annexation
has been effected by the said cities according to law, or in the event
that the consolidation or annexation ordinance requires an election
to be held in either of said cities, or in both of them, that the corpo-
ration court of such city in which an election is required, or the
circuit court of the county in which such city, 1f a city of the second
class lies, will be asked to order the same to be held on a named day
not less than sixty days after the entry of the order, and that the
corporation court of the city having the smaller population, or the
circuit court of the county in which such city, if a city of the second
class, lies, as aforesaid, will be asked at the same time to ascertain
and declare by order of court that all other preliminary acts and
conditions precedent in said ordinance have been complied with, and
that consolidation or annexation has been effected by the said cities
according to law, subject to ratification or rejection by the qualified
voters at the elections prescribed in said ordinance.

15. The said proceedings shall be placed on the privileged docket
of the said court, or may be heard in vacation by the judge desig-
nated to hear the case, and any qualified voter of either city, or any
party affected, may become a party thereto. All proceedings shall be
had in the corporation court of the city having the smaller popula-
tion, unless such city be a city of the second class, in which event
all such proceedings shall be had in the circuit court of the county in
which such city of the second class lies, except that in case an elec-
tion is to be held in the other city, said election shall be ordered by
the judge thereof, and the result, when ascertained, shall be certi-
hed by the clerk of that court to the clerk of the corporation court
of the city having the smaller population, or to the clerk of the cir-
cuit court of the county in which such city lies, if such city be a city
of the second class, to be by him filed with the papers in the con-
solidation or annexation proceedings.

16. The election prescribed for either or both of said cities shall
be ordered for each city by the judge of the corporation court thereof,
or by the judge of the circuit court of the county in which such
city lies, if such city be a city of the second class, and shall be held
and its returns made to and be canvassed and certified by the same
ofhcials and in the same manner as is provided by general law for
special elections ; provided, however, that the ballots to be used shall
be prepared, printed, stamped, and distributed as in other special elec-
tions, which ballots shall be marked as follows: ‘For consolidation
or annexation,” and “Against consolidation or annexation,” and the
voter shall indicate his opinion by so marking the ballot as to indi-
cate whether his ballot is to be counted “for” or “against” the propo-
sition submitted to the voters; and provided further, that the certifi-
cate of the judges of election shall be in the usual form, except that
it shall certify that _.-.._.-______ votes were cast for consolidation
or annexation, and that _---.______-_- votes were cast against con-
solidation or annexation. ,

17. The corporation court of the city having the smaller popu-
lation, or the circuit court of the county in which such city lies, if
such city be a city of the second class, which shall be presided over
by a non-resident circuit judge, who shall be designated by the gov-
ernor, or said judge in vacation, shall hear the cause as hereinbefore
provided, and when it shall appear that the said cities have each
passed a consolidation or annexation ordinance, or that said ordi-
nance has been passed by the council of one city and ratified by the
voters of the other, in the manner prescribed by law; that the terms
of such ordinances are identical except for the necessary: variations
hereinbefore referred to; that all preliminary acts or conditions prece-
dent have been complied with; that the provisions of said ordinance
comply with the requirements hereinafter set forth, and, in case con-
solidation or annexation was conditioned upon ratification by the
qualified voters of either city, or both, that such election or elections
have been held and such consolidation or annexation ratified, then
the said court, or the judge thereof in vacation, shall enter an order
embodying the consolidation or annexation ordinance and declaring
that the cities named have effected the consolidation or annexation
provided for by said ordinance and thereupon and thereafter the said
cities shall be and continue as one municipality, under the terms and
according to the provisions of the said consolidation or annexation
ordinance. A copy of this order of the court shall be certified to
the secretary of the Commonwealth, by whom it shall be certified
to all departments of the State government. But if a majority of
the votes cast at said election, in either city, or in the city in which
an election is held, shall be against consolidation or annexation, the
said court or judge shall dismiss the proceedings, the cost of which
shall be equally apportioned between the said cities and certified to
their respective councils for payment.

18. The consolidation or annexation ordinance may contain the
following provisions, to-wit:

First. It may provide that consolidation or annexation shall take
effect only upon condition that the ordinance providing therefor is
ratified by the duly registered and qualified voters at an election to
be held for that purpose in either or both of the cities concerned ;
provided, however, that such election shall be held in the city having
the smaller population.

Second. It may provide for the erection of public buildings, or
other works of improvement, which shall be specified in either of
said cities, or, where the two cities are separated by water, for the
construction of bridges between them. It may also provide for the
setting apart of the taxes or revenues of either city, either in whole
or in part, or of a stated sum in lie thereof, for a fixed period, not,
however, exceeding five years, for the improvement of streets, or
the providing of light, water, or other public works or improvements,
as may be agreed upon by the two cities, or, in the absence of such
agreement, as the council of the consolidated municipality shall
determine.

Third. Said ordinance may provide for the abolition of the cor-
poration or other courts of the city whose charter is surrendered
upon securing the payment of the salaries of the judge thereof, and
any other court official whose salary cannot be or is not designed
to be cut off, during the term of office for which he was elected or
appointed, or said ordinance may provide that the corporation or
other courts of the city whose charter 1s surrendered shall be con-
tinued and shall continue to exercise the same jurisdiction belonging
to it or them under the statutes previous to annexation or consoli-
dation, except that when the two cities so consolidated are separated
by a river that is either navigable or more than three hundred yards
wide, the clerk of the court so retained shall certify each day to the
clerk of the court of record on the other side of the river a full and
correct index of all matters admitted to record in such courts, and
required by law to be recorded, by whom the same shall be entered in
appropriate books properly marked and designated as records of
part two of the court of record of such consolidated city. The clerk
and sergeant of such court shall be continued in office for and during
the term for which they shall have been elected, and thereafter unt!
the election and qualification of their successors, and they shall be
entitled to the same compensation and fees as if annexation or con-
solidation had not taken place; provided, however, that the courts
thus retained shall be designated by the title of the corresponding
courts of the united or consolidated municipality, with the added
designation, part two; and the judges thereof, who shall serve to
the end of the terms for which they were severally elected or ap-
pointed, and whose successors shall then be elected, appointed, and
commissioned in the manner prescribed by law, and for the same
term, as in the case of other judges of cities of the first class, shall
receive the same compensation, which shall be paid in the same man-
ner as in the case of other city judges. The amount of said com-
pensation for each judge so retained is hereby fixed at a sum equal
to the salary fixed by law for the judge of the court of which said
retained judge’s court becomes a division; and provided that the
courts of said municipality, so far as they have concurrent jurisdic-
tion, shall.apportion and divide between them all cases coming up
for trial. The said ordinance may likewise provide for a police justice
to hold court within the former territory of either of the said cities
in which there was no police justice at the time of annexation or
consolidation, notwithstanding the adopted charter may provide for
only one such justice in the former territory of the city whose charter
is adopted. Such justice and his successors shall be appointed or
elected in the manner and shall exercise the powers, duties and juris-
diction prescribed by the charter of the united or consolidated muni-
cipality. But if such charter makes no provision therefor, such jus-
tice and his successors shall be appointed in the manner and for the
term, and shall be clothed with the power, duties and jurisdiction
prescribed by the acts of the general assembly of Virginia; provided,
that such justice may be elected or appointed as soon as said annexa-
tion or consolidation has been declared effective, and his term of
office shall begin as soon as he has qualified; and provided, that the
salary of such justice, which shall be paid by said city, shall be fixed
by its council according to the population contained in the former
territory of the city in which he is to hold court, as provided in said
acts of assembly. If at the time of annexation or consolidation there
is a police justice in either or both of said cities, such justice or jus-
tices shall continue to exercise the duties of their offices and shall
be clothed with the powers, duties, and jurisdiction of police justices
of the united oreconsolidated city as if originally elected or appointed
therein. Their courts shall be designated as “the police court” or
“the police court, part two,” of said municipality, according to the
relative population contained within the territory of the former city
in which they hold court, respectively, and their successors shall be
elected or appointed as if said justices had always been police jus-
tices of the united or consolidated municipality. All cases, civil and
criminal, which arise within the former territory of either of said
cities shall, upon motion of the accused or of the defendant, be cert1-
fied for trial to the police justice whose court is held in the territory
within which such case arose. If, however, at the time of annexation
or consolidation the mayor of either city shall be clothed with the
jurisdiction and powers of a police justice, said ordinance may pro-
vide that such mayor shall be and become the police justice desig-
nated for the trial of cases, civil and criminal, arising within the ter-
ritory of his former city, and he shall thereupon be vested with all
the powers, duties, and jurisdiction conferred by law or by the adopted
charter upon a police justice to the same extent as if he had been
selected or appointed in and for the united or consolidated munici-
pality. His term of office shall begin on the day when annexation or
consolidation is declared effective, and end -with the term for which
he was elected mayor. His salary shall be determined and his suc-
cessors shall be elected or appointed in the manner and for the term
hereinbefore prescribed. The court of any police justice appointed
or elected in the manner herein provided shall be designated as “part
two” of the police court of the united or consolidated municipality,
if either of said cities had a police justice at the time of annexation
or consolidation. , _

Fourth. Said ordinance may provide for an assistant to the attor-
ney for the Commonwealth and to the city attorney of the united
or consolidated municipality, and may continue in office as such
assistant or assistants for the terms for which they were respectively
elected or appointed the Commonwealth’s attorney and city attorney
of the city whose charter is surrendered.

Fifth. It may contain any other special provisions agreed upon
by the said cities which are not inconsistent with the Constitution
and laws of the Commonwealth, or which are permitted by the charter
of either city.

Sixth. Said ordinance may transfer members of the police or
fire department or of any other department of the city government
whose charter is surrendered to the corresponding department of the
government of the united or consolidated municipality, and the sev-
eral boards, commissioners, and officials, respectively, and they shall
especially have the power to fix and assign the rank, title, duties,
and powers of such transferred members, except that the place of
service of transferred members of the police and fire departments
shall remain in the territory of the city whose charter is surrendered
as long as they remain members of said departments, unless in an
emergency they are ordered to other territory; provided, however,
that the rank, title, duties, and powers of the transféftred members of
the police and fire departments shall remain the same until the gov-
erning authorities of such departments provide otherwise.
19. But said consolidation or annexation ordinance shall contain
provisions ordaining:

First. The name adopted for the united or consolidated munici-
pality constituted by the consolidated or annexation ordinance, by
which name it is hereby enacted by the general assembly of Virginia,
that the said municipality shall be a body, politic and corporate in
fact and in law, with all the rights, powers, privileges, duties, prop-
erties, interests, claims, demands, and jurisdiction held by each of
the cities or under the general laws of the Commonwealth; and said
ordinance shall also name the cities intended to be consolidated or
annexed and define the metes and bounds of the united municipality,
which may be so designated as to annex or consolidate all or a part
of the city to be annexed or consolidated to another city leaving
a part of such in the county in which the territory is situated.

Second. Said ordinance shall ordain the consolidation or annexa-
tion desired, and contain an explicit surrender and annulment of the
charter of the city or cities whose charter or charters are proposed
to be surrendered, together with an explicit adoption of the charter
of the city whose charter is adopted, if such there be, and of its seal.

Third. It shall contain a clear transfer of all the charter rights,
privileges, duties, powers, obligations, properties, interests, and juris-
diction of the city or cities whose charter is surrendered to the city
whose name and charter are adopted, if such there be, or to the con-
solidated municipality and a clear acceptance by such city or by the
consolidated municipality and assumption of the said rights, duties,
powers, obligations, interests, properties, claims, demands, privilegés,
and jurisdiction thus transferred, and of all valid debts and liabili-
ties of said first mentioned city. |

Fourth. Unless wards and ward lines shall have been abolished
in the city whose charter is adopted, said ordinance shall provide
for the organization of the smaller city thus annexed or consolidated
into a new ward or wards, according to its population and according
to the requirements of law. It shall also provide for the proper
legal representation of such ward or wards in the council of the
united or consolidated municipality.

Fifth. It shall provide for the election of such members of the
council and of each branch thereof as may be legally apportioned
to said new ward or wards, if any, in the council of said municipality,
by the council of said consolidated municipality at its first session
after consolidation, to serve until the next regular election for mem-
bers of the council and until their successors are elected and qualified.

Sixth. It shall ordain the abolition of such city officers and the
termination of the salaries thereof as may be agreed upon by said
cities, and shall designate the time at which such abolition shall
take effect.

Seventh. It shall forbid the further creation of debt by the city
whose charter is surrendered and the further levying of taxes, assess-
ments, or licenses upon persons or property within the united or con-
solidated municipality.
Eighth. It shall ordain the transfer of all former funds and the
payment of all outstanding dues, revenues, debts, and obligations to
and by the united or consolidated municipality.

Ninth. Said ordinance shall provide for the expenses of any city
which may be absorbed by such consolidation or annexation and for
the maintenance of its public schools until such time as new funds
shall be received by the united or consolidated municipality, but no
such provision shall interfere with the appropriation of any specific
fund or sum for public works or improvements that may be agreed
upon between the two cities under subdivision second of section
eighteen of this act.

Tenth. It shall make provision for the maintenance of a depart-
ment of education in said municipality, and for the support and man-
agement of a system of public free schools, if the adopted charter
does not contain adequate provisions, and shall provide for the con-
tinuance in office and of the official duties of such superintendent of
schools and school trustees as may be in office when consolidation
or annexation is effected during the term for which they were elected
or appointed, and for the salaries and compensation allowed them
by law.

Eleventh. It shall provide for the maintenance of a police force
and of a fire department, a board of health, with such city physicians,
pharmacies, and hospitals as are agreed upon; for the care of public
grounds and buildings; of streets and sewers, and for the mainte-
nance of a department of water and of light, and for the care of the
poor. In all of these particulars, however, said ordinance may adopt
the provisions of the charter so to be adopted ; provided, such charter
is adopted.

Twelfth. Said ordinance shall prescribe the jail or station-house
in which offenders are to be confined who are arrested for offenses
committed within the former territory of the city whose charter is
surrendered, and shall provide for its proper care and maintenance.

Thirteenth. It shall provide for the transfer of such records,
papers, and deeds of the city whose charter is surrendered as may
be necessary to the proper officer or officers of said municipality.

Fourteenth. It shall make provision for the maintenance and
pay of all necessary magistrates, constables, and subordinate officials,
and such justices of the peace and constables as are in office when
consolidation or annexation is effected shall continue in office until
the expiration of the term for which they were elected or appointed,
and shall be vested with the same rights, powers, and duties as
if they had been elected or appointed in and for the united or con-
solidated municipality.

Fifteenth. It shall provide for the continuance in office for the
term for which they were appointed, and for the compensation of
all registrars, judges, and clerks of election, subject to control and
removal by proper authority. Said officers shall hold, conduct, and
certify all elections during their continuance in office as if no con-
solidation or annexation had taken place, except so far as a change
in the name of the city or of the corporation court of the city, for
which they were originally appointed, or of their respective wards
or precincts require a change in their official titles, acts, or certificates.

Sixteenth. Said ordinance shall ascertain the salary of average
annual compensation of any officer of the city whose charter is sur-
rendered who is retained in office, or whose salary or other com-
pensation is not by the ordinance of consolidation cut off or discon-
tinued, and who receives as salary, or whose compensation is deter-
mined in whole or in part by fees allowed by law, and shall provide
for the payment of such salaries to such officers at stated periods or
for the payment of an amount which shall be at least equal to their
average annual compensation as so ascertained, during the term of
office for which they were severally elected or appointed.

20. Whenever two cities shall have effected consolidation or an-
nexation in the manner herein prescribed it is hereby enacted by the
general assembly of Virginia that the municipal or public corpora-
tions named in the ordinance of consolidation or annexation with
the metes and bounds therein specified, are annexed, united and con-
solidated into one municipal corporation upon the terms set forth
in said ordinance, and are to be known and thenceforth called by
the name designated in said ordinance; that the boundaries, juris-
dictions, and powers of said municipal corporation are for all pue-
poses of local administration and government declared to be co-exten-
sive with the territory therein described; that the said municipal
corporation is the successor corporation in law and in fact of the
cities so annexed and consolidated as aforesaid, with all their lawful
rights and powers and subject to all their lawful duties and obliga-
tions without dimunition or enlargement, except as otherwise spe-
cially provided in said ordinance; that all funds and moneys which
at the time of annexation or consolidation shall be held by or pay-
able to the receiver of taxes or the treasurer, or any department of
the cities so annexed or consolidated shall be deemed to be held by
and payable to the said municipal corporation, solely as the funds
and moneys of said municipal corporation, and upon the ascertain-
ment by order of court that such consolidation or annexation has
been effected shall be delivered on the day named for the consolidation
or annexation to be effective, to the office of said municipal corpo-
ration entitled by law or by the adopted charter to hold and control
the same; provided, however, that all taxes, licenses, and levies or
assessments for the year in which annexation or consolidation is
effected shall be collectible and payable according to the provisions
of existing laws.

21. The charter of arty city which is surrendered by.said ordi-
nance shall be, and is hereby revoked and annulled, and the general
laws governing cities and the charter of the city which is adopted,
together with the jurisdiction of its officers, State and municipal, shall
immediately extend to and over the territory of the city whose char-
ter is surrendered. The terms and conditions of consolidation or
annexation, as provided in said ordinance, shall be deemed and held
to be a binding and irrevocable contract in favor of the public, com-
pliance with which in all its parts may be enforced, and violation
of which may be prevented, by mandamus or injunction from the
supreme court of appeals, or from any circuit or corporation court
at the suit or relation of any citizen or taxpayer. All notaries public
who have been commissioned as notaries for the city whose charter
is surrendered shall exercise the same authority and do the same acts
as provided by law for the consolidated city until the expiration of
the terms of their respective commissions.

22. No new registration shall be necessary in case of such an-
nexation or consolidation, but all electors shall be entitled to trans-
fers to the proper registration books of the united or consolidated
city, and it shall be the duty of the corporation court of said city
to direct the making of such transfers as may be necessary by rea-
son of the rearrangement of the wards and election precincts. Any
person residing in the cities annexed or consolidated by said ordi-
nance who shall not have registered shall be entitled to register at
such time as he would have been entitled to do so if no annexation
or consolidation had taken place.

23. All valid and lawful charges and liabilities now existing against
either city so annexed or consolidated, or which may hereafter arise or
atcrue against such cities, which, but for such annexation or consolida-
tion would be valid and lawful charges or liabilities against them, or
either of them, shall be deemed and taken to be like charges against
or liabilities of the united or consolidated municipality, and shall
accordingly be defrayed and answered unto by it to the same extent,
and no further, than the said several cities would have been bound
if no annexation or consolidation had taken place. As a portion of
such liabilities shall be reckoned and included the salaries or other
compensation of all officers, whose incumbents are not removable at
the pleasure of the council or appointing power, or who are not, in
fact, removed by said ordinance. All stocks, bonds, contracts, and
obligations of said cities which now exist as legal obligations shall
be deemed like obligations of the united or consolidated municipality,
and all such obligations as are authorized or required to be hereafter
issued or entered into shall be issued or entered into by and in the
name of said municipality.

24. All laws or parts of laws heretofore passed creating any debt
or debts of the cities so united or consolidated, or for the payment
of such debts, or respecting the same, shall remain in full force and
effect, except that the same shall be carried out by the united or con-
solidated municipality and under its name and in such form and
manner as may be suitable to its administration, and all the pledges,
taxes, assessments, sinking funds, and other revenues and securities
provided by law for the payment of the debts of said cities, shall be
in good faith and enforced, maintained, and carried out by said
municipality.

25. The ordinances in force in said cities at the time of annexa-
tion or consolidation, so far as the same are not inconsistent with
the fact and ordinance of annexation or consolidation, or with this
act, are hereby continued in full force and effect within the former
limits of said cities, respectively, subject to modification, amendment
or repeal by the council of the united or consolidated municipality.

26. From and after the date when annexation or consolidation
shall become effective, all indictments and prosecutions for crimes
committed or ordinances violated, and all suits or causes of action
arising within the territory of the united or consolidated municipality
may be instituted in said city with the same force and effect as if
annexation or consolidation had always been effective. But in case
the corporation or other courts of any city whose charter is surren-
dered are retained as courts of concurrent jurisdiction with any of
the courts of the united or consolidated city, prosecutions for crimes
committed or ordinances violated and suits or causes of action aris-
ing within the territory of the city whose charter is surrendered
shall be apportioned, as far as possible, to said corporation or other
courts so retained, for trial, and all cases arising therein which are
properly triable by a magistrate’s court shall be tried before some
justice of the peace resident in said territory, unless otherwise pro-
vided by the consolidation or annexation ordinance.

27. When, however, the consolidation or annexation ordinance
provides for the abolition of the corporation or other courts of the
city whose charter is surrendered on the day when such consolida-
tion or annexation is to take effect, all criminal prosecutions then
pending therein, whether by indictment, warrant, or other complaint,
and all suits, actions, motions, warrants, and other proceedings of
a civil nature, at law or in chancery, with all the records of the courts
of such city shall stand ipso facto removed to the court or courts of
concurrent or like jurisdiction of the other city. And it shall be
the duty of the corporation and other courts having courthouses and
records in and jurisdiction over the city absorbed or merged, at some
convenient time, as closely preceding the period of removal as prac-
ticable, by formal orders entered of record, to direct the removal of
all such causes and proceedings, civil and criminal, at law and in
chancery, to the court or courts of concurrent or like jurisdiction of
the other city, and, where there are two or more such courts, to ap-
portion such matters fairly and equally between them; and it shall
thereupon be the duty of the clerk of the court or courts to which
the same have been removed, as in other cases of removal or changes
or venue, where they shall be docketed and proceeded in with the
same force and effect as they might have been in the court or courts
from which removed. At the same time it shall be the duty of such
clerk or clerks also to deliver to the proper clerk or clerks of the
other city wherein the like records are required by law to be kept,
all the deed books, order or minute books, execution dockets, judg-
ment dockets, and other records of his office, of whatever kind or
nature; and the clerk or clerks of the court or courts to which the
same are removed shall forthwith take charge of and preserve the
same for reference and use in the same manner and with the same
effect as though they were original records of his office. In cas
there shall be two or more courts of like jurisdiction, to either o
which such records or portions of them may be properly removed
either of said courts may designate and prescribe the particular cour:
to which such records or portions of them shall be removed.

28. If any right, title, interest, claim, or case arise out of suck
consolidation or annexation for which this act or the Constitutior
and laws of this State do not make adequate provisions, the council
of the united or consolidated municipal corporation may by ordinance
make provision for its equitable determination, so far as concerns
the said corporation. The provisions of this act, however, shall not
apply to cities of more than forty thousand and less than seventy-five
thousand inhabitants.

29. An emergency existing this act shall be in force from its
passage.