Chap. 111.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 2050 of the Code of Virginia,
relating to the regulation, operation and management of the ferries across the
Elizabeth river and branches thereof. {S B 132]

Approved March 7, 1924.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
twenty hundred and fifty, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and re-
enacted to read as follows:

Section 2050. How regulated and managed.—The said ferries shall
be regulated and managed by the council of the city of Portsmouth and
the board of supervisors of Norfolk county. The said council and
board of supervisors are authorized, after advertising the same for thirty
days previous to the day of lease, to lease out the said ferries or any part
thereof at public auction to the highest bidder for a term of ten years, at
the expiration of which said term they may again lease the same and con-
tinue to lease the same for terms not exceeding ten years each, upon such
terms and conditions as the said council and board of supervisors shall
determine, and may require bond or bonds from the lessee or lessees in
such sum as they may deem best for the faithful performance of the
terms of the lease and with sureties deemed by them sufficient, which
bond or bonds shall be made payable to the city of Portsmouth and
county of Norfolk. Provided, however, that should the council and the
board of supervisors consider that the highest bid was not sufficient, or
unsatisfactory, said council and board of supervisors are given the
specific right to reject any or all bids. Said council and board of super-
visors may lease out the said ferries as a whole, or in such parts as they
may deem best for the interest of said city or county.

The said council and board of supervisors are, however, authorized
and directed, should the two bodies so jointly agree, to operate and
manage said ferries, and the said council and board of supervisors shall
then appoint a superintendent of the ferries, whose salary shall be fixed
and who shall be under the control of the said council and board of
supervisors, and who may be removed by said bodies at their pleasure.
The said superintendent shall make monthly reports of the operation of
the ferries to said council and board of supervisors, and he shall be
bonded in a sum to be fixed by the council and board of supervisors.
The said superintendent shall, under such rules and regulations as the
said council and board of supervisors may prescribe, have entire charge
of the operation and maintenance of said ferries. He shall annually,
before the first day of November of each year, submit to the council and
board of supervisors, a budget covering the operation and maintenance
of the ferries for the following calendar year; provided, however, the
budget for the first year may be for the unexpired portion of the year.
This budget shall give in detail the classification and the number of
employees proposed to be employed for the year, their salaries and
wages, the amounts needed for the various classes and supplies, ma-
terials, maintenance and repairs for new plant. This budget shall be
considered by the council and by the board of supervisors and by them
approved as originally submitted or in modified form, before the first
day of January of the year in which it applies. After said budget has
been approved, the superintendent of the ferries shall have full power to
employ without prior authority such persons as he may deem necessary
for efficient operation of such ferries, if the total of their pay shall be
within the budget requirement, and to discharge any employee of the
ferries for any specific cause or for general inefficiency.

In the event of a dispute between the said council and the board of
supervisors as to any question concerning the regulation, management
or operation of said ferries, said dispute shall be settled by an arbitrator
appointed by the president of the supreme court of appeals of Virginia,
such arbitrator shall not be a resident of the city of Norfolk, Ports-
mouth, South Norfolk or the county of Norfolk, and he shall receive for
his services twenty-five dollars per diem, together with necessary travel-
ing expenses, to be paid out of the receipts of said ferries.

Whether said ferries be operated directly by the city of Portsmouth
and the county of Norfolk or be leased in whole or in part, a sum equal at
least to ten per centum of the net receipts accruing to the city of Ports-
mouth and the county of Norfolk shall be paid annually in monthly in-
stalments, into a fund to be known as the ‘‘depreciation fund,” which
fund shall be used solely for the purchase of new equipment or to replace
permanent structures, in whole or in part, when such replacement be-
eomes necessary.

In issuing bonds to provide for the purchase of new equipment and
for payment of obligations of the ferries now outstanding, but not yet
liquidated, and for the purchase of additional real estate or for rebuild-
ing permanent structures or building additional structures, the city of
Portsmouth and the county of Norfolk are hereby authorized, as the
same shall be deemed to be necessary, to issue only ten year serial bonds
and to the issuance of said bonds for the purpose aforesaid, the said city
of Portsmouth and the county of Norfolk are hereunto duly empowered
and authorized.

The accounts of the ferries if operated directly by the said city and
county shall be audited semi-annually, by a certified public accountant
selected by the said council and board of supervisors.

It shall be competent for either the city of Portsmouth or the county
of Norfolk to become the lessee of the whole property hereunder in the
same manner and to the same extent as any other person or corporation
might become such.