Chap. 415.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 6, 9, 19 and 21 of an act
entitled an act to amend and re-enact the charter of the town of Cul-
peper, approved January 11, 1898, as heretofore amended, and to repeal
sections 7 and 8 of said charter. * [HB 512]

Approved March 24, 1922.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tions six, nine, nineteen and twenty-one of an act entitled an act to
amend and re-enact the charter of the town of Culpeper, approved
January eleventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, as heretofore
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 6. On or before the first day of June, nineteen hundred
and six, the council of the said town shall elect a town sergeant, who
shall hold office during the pleasure of the council. The town sergeant
can at any time be removed from office by a majority vote of the
council. Upon the death, removal or resignation of the town ser-
geant, the council shall elect a successor who shall likewise hold office
during the pleasure of the council.
The town sergeant shall be the chief police officer of the said
town, and shall perform such other duties as the council may direct.
He shall have power to exercise within the corporate limits of said
town and in the county of Culpeper within one mile of the corporate
limits of the said town, all the duties that constables can legally
exercise in regard to the collection of claims, executing and levying
process, and he shall be entitled to the same compensation therefor,
and he or his sureties shall be liable to all fines, penalties and for-
feitures that a constable is legally liable to for any failure or dere-
liction in his said office, to be recovered in the same manner and
before the same courts that said fines, penalties and forfeitures are
now recoverable against a constable.

He shall for his services receive such compensation as the council
may fix.

Section 9. Whenever a vacancy shall occur from any cause in the
office of mayor, treasurer, or recorder, the council for the time being
shall at once fill the vacancy for the unexpired term.

Section 19. To carry into effect these enumerated powers, and
all other powers conferred upon the said town, or its council, ex-
pressly or by implication, in this or any other acts of the general
assembly of Virginia, the council shall have power to make and pass
all needful orders, by-laws and ordinances not contrary to the Con-
stitution and laws of Virginia, and to prescribe, impose and enact
reasonable fines not exceeding five hundred dollars, and penalties,
or imprisonments in the county jail for not exceeding six months,
or both such fine and imprisonment (except that in cases of contempt
the imprisonment in jail shall not be for more than thirty days), or
to enforce the collection of a fine, which fines, penalties and improve-
ment shall be recovered under the judgment of the mayor of said
town or by the person lawfully exercising his functions. And the au-
thorities of said town may, with the consent of the county court of
said county, entered ofirecord, have the right to use the jail of said
county of Culpeper for any purposes for which the use of a jail may
be needed by them, under the acts of council or of the State.

Section 21. The levy so ordered may be upon all male persons
within said town over twenty-one years of age, not exempt from a
State poll tax, and on all the real estate within the said town which
is not exempt from State taxation, and on all such other subjects
as may at the time be assessable with State taxes, not in conflict
with general law; provided, that the tax do not exceed one dollar
on every one hundred dollars of the value assessed on real and per-
sonal property, including that levied to meet the interest on the funded
debt of said town, and to provide for the final payment of the principal
thereof; and provided, further, that before any debt shall be created
by the said council for money borrowed, the council, if it shall deem it
to be to the interest of the corporation to create such debt, evidenced
by a recorded vote of a majority of its members, or if fifty of the
qualified voters of the town shall present to the council a petition
requesting the same, shall submit to a vote of the qualified voters
»f the said town the question as to whether said sum of money shall be
sorrowed. Said election shall be held in the manner provided for
such elections by the general laws of the Commonwealth, and if a
majority of the qualified voters voting at such election shall be in
favor of borrowing such money, the said council shall issue for sale
the bonds of the said corporation, which bonds shall in all cases be
registered, and shall be issued in such denominations and bear such
interest not exceeding six per centum per annum, as may be deter-
mined by the said council; said interest to be payable quarterly, semi-
annually or anually, as the council may prescribe. The said council
may select a depository for the money arising from the sale or
negotiations of the said bonds, provided they shall require such
security therefor as may be approved by the recorded vote of at
least two-thirds of all of the members of the council.

2. Sections seven and eight of the said charter are hereby
repealed.

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