Chap. 147.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 17 and 18 of an act entitled
an act to provide a new charter for the town of Pocahontas, in the county of
Tazewell, and to repeal all other acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith,
approved March 13, 1918, and to add to the said charter as a part thereof a
section to be known as section 39-a on the subject of a town attorney. [H B 206]

Approved March 14, 1924.

1. Beit enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
seventeen and eighteen of an act entitled an act to provide a new charter
for the town of Pocahontas, in the county of Tazewell, and to repeal all
other acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith, approved March thir-
teenth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:

Section 17. The principal officers of said town shall consist, in
addition to the mayor and councilmen, of a treasurer, sergeant, police
justice, recorder, a commissioner of the revenue, an assessor, and a town
attorney, to be appointed as hereinafter provided, and the council may
appoint such committees of the council and create such boards and
departments of town government and administration, with such powers
and duties, and subject to such regulations as to it may seem fit, con-
sistent with the provisions of this act and the general laws of this State.
The council, however, may abrogate any of the officers mentioned in
this section, to be filled by appointment, or dispense with the service of
any appointive officer mentioned therein, whenever, in its opinion, the
interest and necessities of the town do not require such office or officer.
Any such office may also be consolidated and any one or more of said
officers, that are not incompatible, may be filled and held by the same
person.

Section 18. Subject to the provisions of the preceding section, a
treasurer, a sergeant, a police justice, a recorder, a commissioner of the
revenue, an assessor and a town attorney shall be appointed by the coun-
cil at its first regular meeting in September, succeeding it: election, or
as soon thereafter as may be, and said officers shall qualify and assume
the duties of their office immediately thereafter. Their term of office
shall be as hereinafter provided, and they shall serve until their suc-
cessors shall have qualified, unless said office be abrogated and dis-
pensed with as herein provided.

2. Be it further enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the following section, designated as thirty-nine-a,.be, and it is hereby,
added to the charter of the said town of Pocahontas in Tazewell county,
Virginia.

Section 39-a. As herein provided the council shall, at its first
regular meeting in September, after its election, or as soon thereafter as
may be, appoint a town attorney, who shall be a regularly licensed and
practicing attorney at law, who shall hold his office for the same term
as the council which appointed him, unless sooner removed, and who
shall be the attorney and counsel for the town. He shall have control
of all of the law business in which the town might be engaged; and shall
draw all leases, deeds and legal papers for the same, and be the legal
adviser of the mayor, town council or any committee thereof. He shall
appear as counsel for the town in any and all cases in which the town
shall be a party and shall prosecute all: violations of town ordinances,
and, with the approval of the council, shall institute and prosecute all
legal proceedings deemed necessary or proper to protect the interest of
the town. He shall have such other powers and perform such other
duties as are or may be required of him for the town by any ordinance
or resolution of the town council. He shall receive such compensation
as the council may determine, to be paid by the town, but not to exceed
three hundred dollars ($300.00) per year; he shall receive in addition to
said allowance from the town the same fees as attorneys for the Com-
monwealth receive in all criminal ‘cases, these fees to be charged up as
costs against the defendant and in case of conviction to be paid by the
defendant, but he shall receive no such fees in criminal cases where
there is no conviction.

3. By virtue of the fact that the town of Pocahontas is now con-
templating certain court actions in which the services of an attorney
are required, an emergency is declared to exist and this act shall be in
force from its passage.