Chap. 486.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the town of Waverly, and
to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith, and to declare all
contracts and obligations heretofore or hereafter made by the council and
government of the town of Waverly and all powers heretofore or hereafter
exercised by them, while in office to be legal and valid. {S B 313]

Approved March 25, 1926.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That all
contracts and obligations of the town of Waverly, Sussex county,
heretofore and hereafter made by the present council and government
by them while in office, and former councils in the corporate name of
the council of the town of Waverly not inconsistent with this charter
and the general laws and Constitution of the State shall be, and are
hereby declared to be, valid and legal.

Section 1. That the inhabitants of the territory in the county of
Sussex contained within the boundaries prescribed and defined in the
section immediately following, be, and they are hereby declared to be,
a body, politic and corporate, in fact and in name, under the name and
style of the town of Waverly; and as such shall have and exercise all
of the powers conferred by and be subject to all the laws of the State
of Virginia now in force or that may be hereafter enacted for the gov-
ernment of towns, so far as the same are not inconsistent with the
provisions of this act.

CHAPTER 1—CORPORATE BOUNDARIES

Section 2. The territory contained within the limit of the said
town shall be as follows, to-wit:

Beginning at Lobb’s shop crossing, running thence by airline to
Burt’s crossing on the Norfolk and Western Railroad; thence along
the county road leading to Blackwater to a point intersected by the
county road leading to Waverly; thence by airline to culvert on Nor-
folk and Western Railroad where said road crosses the spring branch;
thence by airline back to Lobb’s shop crossing before mentioned, shall
continue to constitute the town of Waverly, in the county of Sussex
and may sue and be sued by and in that name; and the inhabitants
thereof shall have and exercise the powers and privileges herein con-
tained and such others as may be given them under the general law
of the State of Virginia.

Section 3. The said town shall be comprised of one ward which
shall include all of the area within the corporate limits hereinabove
specified, or may hereafter be enlarged, diminished or altered.

Section 4. All persons residing within the boundaries hereinbefore
specified as the town of Waverly shall be residents of the said town of
Waverly; and all persons twenty-one years of age or more who have
been continuously residing in the said town of Waverly for thirty days
or more shall be qualified to register and vote in the said town of
Waverly, provided however, that such person is otherwise qualified
to vote under the laws of the State of Virginia and county of Sussex.

CHAPTER 2—GOVERNMENT

Section 5. The government of the town of Waverly shall be
vested in a mayor and council.

Section 6. The municipal officers of the said town shall consist
of a mayor, five councilmen, a treasurer, and a sergeant.

Section 7. The mayor and councilmen shall be elected by the
qualified voters of the town of Waverly, on the second Tuesday in
June, nineteen hundred and twenty-six, for a term of two years and
every two years thereafter, and their term of office shall begin on the
first day of September next ensuing, and they shall hold office until
their successors shall have qualified.

Section 8. No persons shall be eligible to hold an elective office
unless he or she is a duly qualified voter of the said town.

Section 9. The elective offices of the said town shall be filled by
the qualified voters voting thereof at large.

Section 10. The qualified voters shall register in the said town
with the town recorder, who for all such purposes shall be the town
registrar, before whom all persons not now qualified to vote in the
said town must first register and whose duties as such registrar shall
be the same as the duties and powers of the several registrars of the
county of Sussex.

Section 11. The said registrar shall also cause to be posted in
three or more public places in the said town of Waverly notices, at
least ten days before any election, stating the date and place the polls
will be open for the said election.

Section 12. The council may also appoint such other officers,
agents, and employees as may be necessary to conduct the business
of the town, fix their compensation and prescribe their duties, and
may appoint such committees of the council, and create such boards
and departments of town government and administration with such
duties and powers and subject to such regulations as it may see fit,
consistent with the provisions of this act. The terms of all officers,
agents, and employees appointed or employed by the council, unless
sooner removed from office as provided for herein, shall expire with
the council.

Section 13. The council may also appoint a sergeant whose duties
shall be as hereinafter prescribed, and may also appoint a town
attorney, whose term of office shall be for two years, or at the pleasure
of the said council, and may also appoint a town recorder whose duties
shall be as hereinafter prescribed, and shall also appoint a treasurer
whose duties shall be as hereinafter prescribed, who shall serve at the
pleasure of the council.

Section 14. All officers, agents, attorneys, sergeants’ and em-
ployees appointed by the council of the town may be removed at its
pleasure, and the duties and compensation of such officers, agents,
attorneys, sergeants and employees shall be fixed by the council and
the said council may require of any of them so appointed bonds with
sureties in proper penalty, payable to the town in its corporate name,
with provisions for the faithful performance of said duties, and the
town in its name and for its benefit shall have the same remedies in
the event of default on any bond so given as the State has in like cases.

CHAPTER 3—OATH OF MAYOR, COUNCILMEN, ETC.

Section 15. The mayor, and the town sergeant shall take the oath
prescribed by law for all State officers, and the councilmen and all
other officers shall take an oath faithfully to execute the duties of their
respective offices to the best of their judgment.

Section 16.@ The court or person administering the oaths required
by the preceding section shall make duplicate certificates of the oaths
taken by the mayor, and town sergeant and the person taking the
same shall deliver the certificates to the clerk of the council who shall
file all of the certificates among the records of the said town, and shall
deliver the copy of the oath of the mayor and town sergeant to the
clerk of the circuit court of Sussex county, to be by him filed and
preserved.

Section 17. If any person elected or appointed to any office in the
said town shall neglect to take such oath on or before thirty days
prior to the date on which he is to enter upon the discharge of the
duties of his office, and fail to file such bond with surety as may be
required of him by the council of the said town on or before entering
upon the discharge of his duties, he shall be considered as having
declined said office, and the same shall be deemed vacant, and such
vacancy shall be filled as prescribed in this charter or by the general
laws of this State.

CHAPTER 4—RECORDS, BOOKS, ETCETERA

Section 18. If any person having been an officer, agent, or em-
ployee of the said town shall not within ten days after he shall have
vacated, or been removed from office, and upon notification or request
of the clerk of the council, or within such time thereafter as the council
may allow, deliver over to his successor in office, or the clerk of the
council, all property, books and papers belonging to the town, or
appertaining to such office in his possession or under his control, he
shall forfeit and pay to the town the sum not exceeding five hundred
dollars, to be sued for and recovered by the said town, with costs; and
all books, records and documents used in any office by virtue of any
provision of this act, or any ordinance or order of the town council,
or any superior officer of said town, shall be deemed the property of
said town, appertaining to said office, and the chief officer thereof
shall be held responsible therefor. And all records of the said town
shall be kept in the town safe, or such other place as the town council
may by its order direct.

CHAPTER 5—MAYOR

Section 19. The mayor shall be elected by the qualified voters
of the town for a term of two years.

Section 20. His salary shall be fixed by the town council and shall
not diminish during his term of office.

Section 21. The mayor shall by virtue of his office possess all
the power, authority and jurisdiction of a justice of the peace in civil
and criminal matters within the said town. All fees allowed the
mayor under the general laws of this State for the issuance of warrants,
trial of cases, etcetera, shall be collected as other costs are collected
and turned into the treasury of the town. ,

Section 22. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the
town. He shall have power to try all prosecutions, cases and contro-
versies which arise under the by-laws and ordinances of the town, and
inflict such punishment and grant such judgments as are provided by
law, provisions of this charter or by-laws and ordinances of the town.

Section 23. He may impose fines and inflict punishment when and
wherever they are authorized by ordinance, or general law; issue exe-
cutions for the collection of fines, and may upon failure of the offender
to pay the fine or penalty recovered with cost, order the offender to be
confined in the jail of Sussex county or the prison of the said town.
To compel persons sentenced to confinement in jail for petty larceny,
or other misdemeanor, or other violations of town ordinances, to work
on the public streets, alleys, public works, or other public property of
the said town.

Section 24. Appeals may be taken to the circuit court of Sussex
county from the decision of the mayor, in both civil and criminal
matters, in the same manner and upon the same terms and be tried
in the same way as appeals from the decision of a justice are taken,
and in like cases, except that no appeal shall be granted from a de-
cision imposing a fine for violation of any of the ordinances of the said
town, for offences not made criminal by the common law of the
statutes of Virginia, until and after bond be given by the person so
fined with security approved conditioned to pay all fines, costs and
damages that may be awarded by the said court on appeal, the penalty
of said bond to be double the sum sufficient to pay all such fines, costs
and damages. Should the decision be affirmed in whole or in part,
the said court shall enter judgment against the said principal and
surety for the amount so affirmed with costs, and the costs of the
appeal, and execution shall issue thereon in the name of the town
against both principal and surety.

Section 25. The mayor shall see that the by-laws and ordinances
of the town are fully executed and enforced, and shall preside over the
meetings of the town council, voting only in case of a tie.

Section 26. Every ordinance or resolution having the effect of an
ordinance shall before it becomes operative be presented to the mayor.
If he approves he shall sign it, if not, he may return it to the clerk of
the council with his objection, or objections, and the council shall
enter the same at length on its journal and proceed to re-consider it.
If after such re-consideration, four-fifths of all the members elected
to the council shall agree to pass the ordinance or resolution it shall
become operative, notwithstanding the objection of the mayor. If
any ordinance or resolution shall not be returned within five days
(Sunday excepted), after it shall have been presented to him, it shall
become operative in like manner as if he had signed it, unless his term
of office, or that of the council, shall expire within said five days, and
in that event, the day on which such term of office expires. The
mayor shall have the power to veto any particular item or items of any
appropriation ordinance or resolution, in like manner, but such veto
shall not affect any item or items to which he does not object. The
item or items objected to shall not take effect except in the manner
provided in this section as to ordinance or resolutions not approved
by the mayor.

Section 27. The mayor shall see that the duties of the various
town officers, agents, employees, members of the police force, and fire
department, whether elected, or appointed, are faithfully performed.
He shall have power to investigate their accounts, have access to all
their books and documents in their office, and may examine them or
their subordinates on oath, but the evidence given by persons so
examined shall not be used against them in any criminal proceeding.

Section 28. The mayor shall have power to suspend any municipal
officer, agent or employee, other than the councilmen and treasurer,
whether elected by the people or appointed by the council, or any
appointing power designated by the council, for misconduct in office,
inefficiency or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order of suspension.

Section 29. On any suspension of any officer in the preceding
section, the mayor shall report the same to the town council at their
next stated meeting for their consideration, but in no case shall any
such suspension be binding until ratified by the council by a four-
fifths vote of all the members elected thereto, after reasonable notice
to the person complained of, and an opportunity be afforded him to be
heard in his defense.

Section 30. The mayor shall communicate to the town council
annually at the beginning of each fiscal year, or oftener if he be re-
quired by the council, a general statement of the condition of the
town in relation to its government, finances and improvement, with
such recommendation as he may deem proper, and may from time tc
time communicate with the council such suggestion and recommenda-
tion as he shall deem proper.

Section 31. In case of the absence, illness, or inability of the
mayor, the president pro tempore, who shall be chosen by the majority
of the council at its first meeting in September for a term of two years,
or in his absence or inability, some other member of the council
chosen by the majority of the council present at a regular meeting,
shall possess the same power and discharge the municipal duties of the
mayor during such absence, illness or inability; and when so dis-
charging the municipal duties of the mayor during his absence, illness
or inability, the said president pro tempore, or in the case of his in-
ability, the other member of the council so chosen for the purpose,
shall receive a reasonable compensation to be fixed and allowed by the
town council.

Section 32. In case a vacancy shall occur in the office of mayor,
the vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the town council of anv
one eligible to such office.

Section 33. The mayor shall have power to call a meeting of the
council whenever he deems it necessary, and in case of the absence,
inability, or refusal of the mayor, the council may be convened by the
order of any two members thereof.

Section 34. The mayor, or other person acting in the capacity of
mayor under the provisions of this charter, shall not be required to
issue warrants for the arrest of persons charged with a violation of
any town ordinance. He may admit anyone charged with a violation
of any ordinance to bail before trial.

CHAPTER 6—COUNCIL

Section 35. The town council, in addition to the mayor, shall be
composed of five members, and they shall be elected by popular vote
of the qualified electors of the town.

Section 36. The town council shall by ordinance fix the time of
their stated meetings, and they shall meet at least once a month, and
no business shall be transacted at a special meeting thereof, except
that for which it shall be called, unless all members of the council be
present.

Section 37. Three members of the council, shall constitute a
quorum for the transaction of business. No votes shall be reconsidered
or rescinded at a special meeting unless at such meeting there be as
many members of the council present as were present when such vote
was taken.

Section 38. The meetings of the council shall be presided over by
the mayor, or in his absence or inability to act, the president pro
tempore, or in his absence, or inability, some other member of the
council chosen by a majority of that body.

Section 39. The meetings of the town council shall be open to the
public except when a recorded vote of four-fifths of these members
present shall declare that the public welfare requires secrecy.

Section 40. The town council shall have authority to adopt rules
for the regulation of their proceedings, and appointments of such
officers, agents, committees, and employees as they may deem proper;
to compel the attendance of absent members; to punish its members
for disorderly behavior.

Section 41. A journal or minute book shall be kept of the pro-
ceedings of the town council, and, at the request of any member
present, the yeas and nays shall be recorded on any question. At the
next meeting the proceedings shall be read and signed by the person
who was presiding when the previous meeting adjourned; or if he be
not then present, by the person presiding when they were read.

Section 42. The clerk of the council shall keep the said journal
and shall record the proceedings of the council at large thereon, and
keep the same properly indexed; and the clerk of the council shall be
known as the town recorder.

Section 43. The town council shall determine judge of election,
qualification and returns of its members.

Section 44. The regular attendance of all members elected to the
council is desirable, and in the event a member so elected to the said
council is absent, without good cause, from any regular or stated
meetings, five times in succession, his seat shall automatically become
vacant, and shall be filled as hereinafter provided.

Section 45. All vacancies occurring from any cause whatsoever
in the office of mayor, councilman, or any other office, whether filled
by appointments or by election, shall be filled for the unexpired term
by the council.

Section 46. The council shall have power to suspend and remove
all officers and employees, appointed, for misfeasance, malfeasance,
inefficiency, or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order of suspen-
sion of removal, but no such removal shall be made without reasonable
notice given to the person so suspended, or removed, and an oppor-
tunity afforded for a defense thereto; and no removal of any town
officer, agent or employee shall be final until the same shall be ratified
by a four- fifths vote of the town council; and the town council may in
like manner act upon and remove any officer, agent or employee who
has been suspended by the mayor.

Section 47. The town council shall have all powers arid authority
that is now or may hereafter be granted to councils of towns by the
general laws of this State and by this act; and the recital of special
powers and authorities herein shall not be ‘taken to exclude the exer-
cise of any power and authority granted by the general laws of this
State to town councils, but not herein specified.

Section 48. And the said council shall have power to enact ordi-
nances providing for the exercise within its jurisdiction of all police
powers which the State itself may exercise under the circumstances,
except such as may be specifically denied towns by the acts of the
general assembly.

Section 49. And it shall have the further power to control and
manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of the town and all property,
real and personal, belonging to the said town, and may make such
ordinances, orders and resolutions relating to the same as it may deem
proper and necessary. And it shall have the further power:

1. To purchase, hold, sell and convey all real and personal prop-
erty within or without the corporate limits necessary for its uses and
purposes.

2. To acquire by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, or to con-
struct or lease and operate its own plant, factory and equipment for
supplying its inhabitants, streets, grounds and buildings with water,
light, power, fuel, and sewerage, and to that end it may acquire by
purchase or lease any plant existing in or near the town and may ac-
quire lands and franchise outside of the limits of the said town, and
may by purchase, condemnation or otherwise, acquire easements and
rights of way.

3. To purchase, condemn, or otherwise acquire one or more loca-
tions for a site for fire engine houses, stables, town building, parks,
playgrounds, cemeteries, and for all municipal uses and purposes,
within or without the town.

4. To close, extend, widen, or narrow, straighten, lay-out, grad-
uate, curb and pave, and otherwise improve the streets, sidewalks,
roads and public alleys in the town, and to have them kept in good
order and properly lighted, and require the payment, by the property
owner, benefited by such work or improvements of such property, of
the costs as shall not exceed five per centum of the assessed value of
said property, or fifty per centum of the costs of such improvement,
and to make such item a lien upon their real estate, and collectible in
the same manner as is herein provided, and also as provided by the
general law for the State for the collection of taxes generally, and over
any street or alley in the town which has been or may be ceded to the
said town or conveyed to the town by proper deed, they shall have like
power and authority as over other streets and alleys. They may build
bridges over and culverts under the streets or alleys, and may prevent
and remove any structure, obstruction or encroachment over or under
or in any street, sidewalk or alley in the said town, and may permit
shade trees to be planted along said streets, also cut down and remove
or may require to be taken down and removed any shade trees upon
any of the streets and alleys of the said town; but‘no company, firm,
corporation or individual shall occupy with its or his works or appur-
tenances thereof the streets, sidewalks and alleys of the town, without
the consent of the council duly entered of record, and whenever in the
construction of any sewer, conduit or public improvements, it is nec-
essary that the same shall run through or under private property, the
council shall have authority to contract and agree with the owners
thereof for the use and purchase of the right-of-way or other easement,
in, through, or under the same, or have the same condemned according
to law.

5. To require the owners of real estate abutting upon paved or
yranolithic sidewalks to remove the snow therefrom, to prevent skating
or riding of bicycles thereon, and of all other improper uses thereof,
and to punish such violation by fine.

6. To prevent the cumbering of streets, sidewalks, alleys, roads,
anes, avenues, or bridges in the town in any manner whatsoever, and
to have full and complete control thereof.

7. To determine, restrain and regulate the use and speed of bi-
cycles, motorcycles, traction engines, locomotives, engines, cars, auto-
mobiles, and all other vehicles upon the said streets, roads and alleys
of the said town; or regulate the speed of locomotives or trains, and
require flagmen at dangerous railroad crossings within the town.

8. To secure the inhabitants of the said town from contagious,
infectious, or other dangerous diseases; to establish, erect and regulate
hospitals within or without the said town, and to prescribe all proper
quarantine regulation; to provide for and enforce the removal of
patients to the said hospital; to appoint and regulate a board of health
for said town, prescribe its duties and invest said board with police
authority and with full power for the prompt and efficient performance
of its duties.

9. To require and compel the abatement of all nuisances and the
removal thereof within the town at the expense of the person or per-
sons causing the same, or the owner or owners of the ground where-
upon the same may be.

10. To require and compel the owners of the houses in the town,
or if the owners be unknown or absent, the occupants of such houses,
to connect their water closets and water drains with the sewers of the
town, or otherwise comply with such regulations as to sewers and
nuisances as the council may prescribe, and upon failure so to do the
same may be done by the town, by entering upon the premises, if
necessary, and the cost attending same shall be collected from the
owner and occupant of such houses, as taxes are herein in this charter
allowed to be collected by the town.

11. To direct the location of all buildings for storing gunpowder,
fire crackers, or other works manufactured or prepared therefrom,
kerosene oil, nitrogylcerine, camphene, burning fluid, or other com-
bustible material; to regulate and restrain the exhibition and use of
fire works, fire crackers, the discharge of fire arms, the use of candles
or lights in barns, stables, and other buildings; and to regulate and
restrain the making of bonfires in the streets, alleys, roads and prem.
ises of the said town.

12. To prevent horses, cattle, hogs, dogs, cats, chickens and al
other poultry and animals from running at large in the said town, anc
may subject the same to confiscation, regulation and taxes as may be
deemed proper, and the town council may prohibit the raising anc
keeping the hogs in the town or in any part thereof, or if permitted
may regulate the same.

13. To prevent the riding and driving of horses or animals at a1
improper speed, throwing stones or missiles or engaging in any em
ployment or sports on the streets, sidewalks, roads or public alley
dangerous to or annoying to pedestrians, and to prohibit and punis!
cruel treatment of horses and other animals in the said town.

14. To protect the person and property of the inhabitants of th
town and others within the town, to restrain and punish drunkards
vagrants, idlers, and street beggars, to prevent vice and immorality
obscenity, profanity, abusive language, and gambling, to preserve
peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and
disorderly assemblage; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling
houses; to prevent lewd, indecent and disorderly conduct, or exhibits
in the said town, and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such conduct;
to prevent the coming into the town of persons having no ostensible
means of support and persons who may be dangerous to the peace and
safety of the town and compel such person to leave the town.

15. To make and enforce ordinances to secure the safe and ex-
peditious use of streets, roads, and alleys of the said town; to regulate
all manner of traffic thereon, and parking thereon, and for the pre-
tection of persons and property thereon or near thereto.

16. To establish and maintain parks, playgrounds, and boule-
vards, and cause the same to be laid out, equipped and beautified; to
give names to or alter the names of streets and numbers for the build-
ings thereon, and fix building lines.

17. To lay off public grounds and provide, acquire, erect, and
keep in order all buildings and other property, proper for the town.

18. To prohibit and punish for mischievous, wanton or malicious
damage to school and public property, as well as private property.

19. To prohibit and punish minors from frequenting, playing in
or loitering in any public pool room, billiard parlor or ten pin alley
and to punish any proprietor or agent thereof for permitting same.

20. To prohibit and punish the dumping of refuse, wastes, garb-
age, and dead animals and fowls within the town, and to restrict the
dumping of garbage to such places as the council may designate and
to punish all who fail to comply with such rules and regulations as to
garbage disposal.

21. To provide a prison house and work house and employ man-
agers, physicians, nurses and servants for the same, and prescribe
regulations for the government and discipline of persons therein.

22. To authorize and regulate the erection of party walls and
fences and prescribe how the cost thereof shall be borne by cotermin-
ous owners; and to prohibit and punish trespassing upon private
property within the town.

23. To regulate and control auction sales, livery stables, garages,
barber shops, slaughter houses, soap factories, theatrical perform-
ances or other public shows or exhibitions; the hiring or use for pav of
carriages, carts, wagons and drays, and the business of hawkers,
peddlers, persons selling goods by sample, persons keeping billiard
tables, ten pin alleys and pistol galleries for profit and all other similar
businesses; occupations and employment, and as to such trades,
occupations and employments and of any other of like nature, or not,
may grant or refuse license as it may deem proper; and to regulate
and control the keeping open of automobile garages, service stations
and drug stores, on the Sabbath.

24. To compel persons sentenced to confinement in jail for petty
larceny. or other misdemeanor, or other violation of town ordinances
to work on the public streets, allevs, public work or property of the
said town.
25. To provide for the regular and safe construction of houses
in the town for the future, to require the standard of all dwelling
houses be maintained in residential section in keeping with the
majority of residences therein; and to require the standard of all
business houses be maintained in business sections in keeping with the
majority of the business houses therein.

26. To designate and prescribe from time to time, the part of the
town within which no buildings of wood shall be erected, and to regu-
late the construction of buildings in the town, so as to protect it
against danger of fire; to remove or require to be removed any build-
ing, structure or addition thereto, which by reason of dilapidation,
defect of structure, fire or other cause is or may become dangerous to
life or property, and also refuse a permit to repair any such building
or structure.

27. To prevent or prohibit injury or annoyance, of anything
dangerous, offensive or unhealthy.

28. To provide by regular ordinances what are nuisances; to
cause the abatement of any nuisance so declared to be by the general
laws of this State, or the regular ordinance of the town.

29. To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity or article
of consumption for use within the town, and to establish, regulate,
license, and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

30. To provide in or near the town lands to be used as_ burial
places for the dead; to improve and care for the same and the ap-
proaches thereto, and to charge for and regulate the use of ground
therein; and to provide for the perpetual upkeep and care of any plot
or burial lot therein, the town is authorized to take and receive sums
of money by gift, bequest, or otherwise, to be kept invested, and the
income thereof used in and about the perpetual upkeep and care of
the said lot or plot, for which the said donation, gift, or bequest shall
have been made.

31. To offer and pay rewards for the apprehension of criminals.

32. To control, regulate, limit, and restrict the operation of
motor vehicles, private or carrying passengers for hire, upon the
streets and alleys of the town, to require a bond with satisfactory
surety thereon of the owner of every motor vehicle so used, condi-
tioned to satisfy all damages caused to any person, or property, in the
negligent operation of such motor vehicle, or adequate insurance, to
require the annual registration of each and every motor vehicle so
used and a license tax to be paid thereon, to require all drivers of such
motor vehicles, whether owners or not, to obtain permits from the
mayor and council before operating any such motor vehicle carrying
passengers for hire upon the said streets and alleys, to refuse permits
tO sO Operate any motor vehicle to any person who is not of good
character, reputation, physically fit, capable, competent, of sufficient
age and discretion, or who is addicted to the use of intoxicating
liquors or narcotics, to revoke any permit issued to any person for
good cause and after a hearing thereon; or, a franchise may be granted
for the transportation of passengers by motor vehicles for hire upon
the said streets and alleys, to be advertised and sold as provided for by
the Constitution and the laws of this State, subject nevertheless to
such rules, regulations, restrictions, and limitations and upon such
conditions, not in conflict with the Constitution, as the council may
determine. But nothing in this section shall be construed to be in
conflict with the general State law on motor vehicle carriers.

33. To pass all resolutions and ordinances not repugnant to the
Constitution and the laws of the State, or in conflict with this act,
which it may deem necessary for the good order and government of
the said town, the management of its property, the conduct of its
affairs, the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health and
protection of its citizens or of their property, and do such other things
and pass such other laws as may be necessary or proper to carry into
full effect any power, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction, which is or
shall be granted to or vested in the said town or in the council, or the
officers thereof, or which may be necessarily incident to a municipal!
corporation.

CHAPTER 7—USE OF STREETS, ETCETERA.

Section 50. No street, gas. railway, water, steam, or electric
heating, electric light, or power company, compressed air, viaduct,
conduit, telegraph, telephone, or bridge company, firm, or corporation,
association, persons or partnership, engaged in these or like enter-
prises shall be permitted to use the streets, roads, alleys or public
grounds of the town without the previous consent of the corporate
authority of the town.

Section 51. No person or corporation shall occupy or use any of
the streets, avenues, parks, bridges, boulevards, alleys or any other
public place or public property of the town, or any public easement
of the town of any description in a manner not permitted to the
general public, without having first obtained the consent thereto of
the town council, or a franchise therefor, and any person upon con-
viction of so doing before the mayor shall be fined not less than five
dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, each day’s continuance thereof to
be a separate offense, such fine to be recovered in the name of the town
and for its use, and such occupancy shall be deemed a nuisance, and
the mayor shall have power to cause the said nuisance to be abated,
and to commit the offenders and all their agents and employees en-
gaged in such offense to the town prison until such order shall he
obeyed.

Section 52. In every case when a street of said town has been,
or shall be encroached upon by any fence, building, porch, projections
or otherwise, the town council may require the owner if known, or if
unknown, the occupant, to remove the same, and if such removal be
not made within the time prescribed by the council they may impose
a penalty of not exceeding twenty-five dollars for each and every day
it is allowed to continue thereafter, and may cause the encroachment
to be removed and collect from the owner, or if the owner be unknown,
from the occupant of the premises, a reasonable charge therefor, with
costs, by the same procedure as they are hereinafter empowered to
collect taxes. No encroachment upon any street of the said town,
however long, the same shall have been or may be continued, shall
constitute an adverse possession to, or confer any rights upon the
person claiming thereunder, as against the town.

Section 52%. The town council may pass such ordinances as it
deems proper for the segregation of races and as.well business, manu-
facturing and residential districts.

CHAPTER 8—POLICE

Section 53. The town council shall have the power and authority
to appoint a sergeant, and watchman, and such additional police
officers as it may deem necessary or proper.

Section 54. The town council shall prescribe rules and regulations
for the government of the police department, prescribe uniforms and
badges of the officers therefor, and fix their rate of pay, and in addition
thereto, the mayor, or in his absence, the president pro tempore of the
council or in the absence of both, any councilman shall have the power
and authority whenever the regular police force of the town is, in the
judgment of such person deemed inadequate to meet the needs of the
occasion, to appoint and swear in such additional or special policemen
as he may deem requisite for a term of service not to exceed ten days,
and at such compensation as the council may fix for special policemen,
or, if no compensation be fixed by the council, then at the same com-
pensation per day paid regular police officers of the regular police
force. The duties and powers of such special policemen shall be the
same as that of a private on the regular police force.

Section 55. The police force shall be under the control of the
mayor for the purpose of enforcing peace and order and executing the
laws of the State and ordinance of the town. They shall also perform
such other duties as the council may prescribe. For the purpose of
enabling them to execute their duties and powers, any policeman is
hereby made a conservator of the peace, and endowed with all the
powers of the constable in criminal cases, and all other powers which
under the laws of the State may be necessary to enable him to dis-
charge the duties of his office.

Section 56. The officers and privates of the police force of the
town shall be vested with all the powers and authority which belongs
to the office of a constable at common law in taking cognizance of and
enforcing the criminal laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and
the ordinances and regulations of the town respectively; and it shall
be the duty of each and every one of such policemen to use his best
endeavor to prevent the committment within the said town of offenses
against the laws of the Commonwealth, and against the ordinances
and regulations of the town, to observe and enforce all such laws,
ordinances, and regulations, to detect and arrest offenders against the
same, to preserve the good order of the town and secure the inhabi-
tants thereof from violence, and the property therein from injury.

Section 57. The policemen of the towel, other than the sergeant,
shall have no power or authority in civil matters, but they shall in all
other cases execute such warrants or summons as may be placed in
their hands by the mayor of the said town, or properly constituted
authority, and shall make due return thereof.

CHAPTER 9—FIRE DEPARTMENT

Section 58. The town council shall have the power and authority
to establish and maintain a fire department for the town, and all
powers necessary for the government, management, maintenance,
equipment, and direction of such fire department, and the premises,
property and equipment thereof. The council may make ordinances
as it may deem proper for the prevention of fires, the construction of
flues, chimneys, and stove pipes, and the extinguishment of fires; for
the regulation of the conduct of persons in attendance at fires in rela-
tion to the powers and duties of the officers and men of the fire depart-
ment; to require citizens to render assistance to the fire department in
case of need, and in relation to the acquisition, use, maintenance, and
preservation of real estate, personal property, fire apparatus and
equipment necessary or proper for the use of the fire department.

Section 59. The town council may in their discretion authorize
or require the fire department to render aid in case of fire occurring
beyond the limits of the town, and may prescribe the conditions under
which aid may be rendered.

CHAPTER 10—DEDICATION OF STREETS, ETCETERA

Section 60. All streets, cross-streets, roadways, alleys, avenues,
and walkways which have already been laid off and opened according
to plats of the several subdivisions of the town as now constituted,
which have been or may hereafter be accepted by the town council,
not heretofore changed, closed, or altered by the municipal authorities,
and all streets, cross-streets, avenues and alleys, lanes and walkways
which have heretofore been opened and used as such, or which may
at any time be located, surveyed and opened in the said town, or any
extension of the same within the corporate limits of the town, shall be
and they are hereby established as public streets, avenues, lanes and
walkways of the town.

Section 61. Any street; alley, avenue or walkway heretofore or
hereafter reserved or laid out in the division or subdivision into lots
of any portion of the territory within the corporate limits of the town
as now constituted by a plan or plat of record, not altered, closed, or
vacated by the municipal authorities, or otherwise as provided by law,
shall be deemed and held to be dedicated to public use as and for a
public street, avenue, alley or walkway, as the case may be, of the
town, unless it appears by the said record that the street, avenue,
alley or walkway so reserved is designated for private use, and when-
ever any street, alley, avenue, walkway or lane in the town shall have
been opened and used as such by the public for a period of five years,
the same shall thereby become a street, alley, avenue, walkway, or
lane for public use, unless notice of the contrary intention on the part
of the land owner be given in writing to the mayor of the town, who
shall report the receipt of such notice to the council that it may be
spread on the journal; and the council shall have the same authority
and jurisdiction over, and right and interest therein, as they have by
law over the streets, avenues, walkways and lanes laid out by them;
and all streets, avenues, alleys and walkways hereafter laid out in the
division or subdivision into lots of any portion of the territory within
the corporate limits of the town shall be made to conform to existing
streets, avenues, alleys and walkways, both in width and their courses
and direction.

Section 62. The town shall repair, maintain, and keep in good
order the public streets and roads within the corporate limits of the
town, and if the said town so keeps in order, repairs and maintains the
public roads and streets, within said corporate limits, no road tax shall
be levied therein by the county of Sussex, or any subdivision thereof;
and the inhabitants of the town and all taxable property, personal and
real, within the corporate limits of the town shall be exempt from all
assessment and levies imposed by the authorities of the county of
Sussex or other subdivision thereof, for construction, repair, or main-
tenance of roads lying outside of the corporate limit of the said town.

CHAPTER 11—TREASURER

Section 63. The treasurer of the said town shall be appointed by
the council for a term of two years, who shall serve at the pleasure of
the council, and shall collect and receive all,money belonging to the
town, and shall perform such other duties as are prescribed by the
council. He shall keep his office at some convenient place in the
town, provided by the town council. He shall keep his books and
accounts in such manner as the town council may prescribe, and such
books and accounts shall always be subject to the inspection of the
mayor and council, or any committee or committees of the council.
He shall receive for his services such compensation, either in fees or
salaries, as the town council may from time to time allow, and when
such compensation has been fixed by the council, the same shall not
be diminished during the term of his office.

Section 64. No money shall be paid out by the town treasurer
except by order of the council and upon a warrant of the clerk of the
council, countersigned by the president of the council, except as here-
inafter provided.

Section 65. The town treasurer or his deputy duly appointed by
the council and qualified, or by order of the council of the said town,
the town sergeant, or any other person appointed by the town council
shall collect all the taxes, revenues and assessments, which may be
levied by the said town council, and for this purpose the said treasurer
or other person appointed by the town council as aforesaid, shall be
vested with power and be subject to liabilities and penalties now pre-
scribed by law in regard to the county treasurers of the State of Vir-
ginia in the levying and collection of taxes, and said officers or persons
appointed as aforesaid to collect said taxes, revenues, and assessments,
shall have full power to levy on property and sell the same for the
payment of such tax, as the said county treasurers of the State of Vir-
ginia are now empowered by law to do, and such sales shall be made
upon the notice and in such manner as now prescribed by law in sales
of personal property for State taxes; and any person so appointed shall
give bond and receive such compensation as said council shall direct.

Section 66. The treasurer shall be required to keep all money in
his hands belonging to the town in such place or places of deposit as
the town council by ordinance may provide or direct.

Section 67. The treasurer shall report to each stated meeting
of the council the amount of cash then on deposit to the order of the
town, and in what depositories deposited, furnishing an itemized state-
ment of receipts and disbursements for the previous month, and shall
annually at the end of each fiscal year publish, either in the newspaper
or by posting in three or more public places in said town, a statement
showing all the receipts and incomes of the said town and from what
sources, and all disbursements made and for what purpose, a copy of
which said statement shall be filed in the records of the said town.

Section 68. .The treasurer shall execute bond with satisfactory
surety payable to the town for the faithful performance of all duties of
his office, and to account for all money coming into his hands.

CHAPTER 12—RECORDER

Section 69. The town recorder shall also be the clerk of the coun-
cil and shall be elected by the council. He shall hold office during the
term of the council or at its pleasure. He shall attend the meetings
of the council and keep a record of its proceedings; he shall have the
custody of the corporate seal; he shall keep all the papers that, by the
provisions of this act, or the direction of the council, are required to
be filed with or kept by him; he shall give notice to all parties present-
ing communication or petitions to the town council of the final action
of the council on such communication or petition; he shall publish
such reports and ordinances as the council is required to publish, and
such other reports and ordinances as it may direct, and shall, in gen-
eral, perform such other acts and duties as the council may from time
to time prescribe and require of him. Within the town limits he shall
assess the lands and take the list of personal property for taxation,
and do all other acts and things in connection therewith the same as,
and have the same authority, as the commissioner of the revenue in
Sussex county.

Section 6914. The town recorder shall have the power and auth-
ority to propound interrogatory to any person subject to taxation,
and may use such other evidence as he may be in position to procure,
in making his assessment or taking lists; such interrogatory shall be
answered under oath and any applicant refusing to answer such in-
terrogatory under oath shall be fined not less than five dollars, nor
more than one hundred dollars, for each offense. It shall be the duty
of the recorder to assess for taxation all persons and property subject
to town taxation, whether the same shal] have been omitted from the
assessment of the commissioner of revenue for Sussex county or not.
All books, schedules and records, and papers pertaining to the office
of assessor shall be open to and subject to the inspection of the mayor,
the members of the town council, or any committee thereof, and of the
collector of town taxes. He may use as the basis of his assessment,
the assessment made by the commissioner of revenue in Waverly
magisterial district, Sussex county. He shall receive for his services
such compensation as the town council may from time to time direct.

CHAPTER 13—SERGEANT

Section 70. The town council shall have the power and authority
to prescribe for the town sergeant such general and other duties as it
may see fit, and shall fix his compensation, and in all civil and criminal
cases arising under the State laws, the sergeant shall receive the same
fees as are provided by law for constables, and in all cases arising
under the town ordinances where not otherwise provided, he shall re-
ceive the same fees as constables receive in similar cases arising under
the State laws.

Section 71. The town sergeant shall perform the duties, receive
the compensation and be subject to the liabilities prescribed by this
act, the ordinances, by-laws and regulations of the town council, and
by the laws of this State, and also shall have the powers and discharge
the same duties as constables within the corporate limits of the town,
and be subject to the same liability touching all process lawfully di-
rected to him, as constables are subject to under the laws of this State.

Section 72. The sergeant and the police officers of the town shall
have power to arrest without warrants and carry before the mayor or
other proper authority, to be dealt with according to law, any and all
persons who shall violate any ordinance of the town or law of the State
in their presence, and it shall be their duty to swear out warrants of
arrest for any person or persons where they have reason to believe any
offense has been committed.

Section 73. The sergeant shall be collector of all fines and penal-
ties imposed for the violation of town ordinances, by-laws, rules and
regulations, and of delinquent town levies, and of all tax tickets de-
clared delinquent by the town council, and allowed the treasurer in
his settlement with the town council, shall be turned over to the ser-
geant to collect, and for that purpose he shall have all the power and
authority and be subject to the same liabilities and penalties as are
prescribed for county treasurers in the collection of State taxes and
county levies, and may be proceeded against in the same manner, so
far as applicable.

Section 74. The town sergeant shall pay over to the council of
the town at each monthly meeting all money which comes into his
hands for taxes, or levies, or fines and costs, or any part or parts of
any fines or costs collected by him, together with a written report
showing each and every item and the amount so collected, and as well
any other items or articles of property coming into his hands belonging
to the town through or by confiscation or otherwise.
Section 75. He shall be required to give bond with satisfactory
surety, payable to the said town for the faithful performance aad dis-
charge of all of his duties as sergeant, and to faithfully account for
all money coming into his hands by virtue of his office.

CHAPTER 14—TAXATION

Section 76. For the execution of its powers and duties the council
may tax all real and personal property in the town not exempt by law
from taxation; not to exceed one dollar and fifty cents per hundred
dollars assessed value; all corporations located in the town or having
their principal office therein and not exempt by law from taxation; all
credits due to any person living in the town; all capital of persons
having a place of business in the town and doing business therein and
employed in the said business, though the said business may extend
beyond the town, provided that so much of said capital as is invested
in real estate or employed in the manufacture of articles outside the
town limits shall not be taxed as capital; and all stocks in incorporated
joint stock companies, doing business in the town and by whomsoever
owned and not exempt by law from taxation. Assessment upon
stock and bonds shall be according to the market value thereof.
Nothing in this act shall be construed as conflicting with the general
laws of the State providing for the segregation or partial segregation
of the subjects of taxation.

Section 77. The council may impose a tax not exceeding one
dollar and fifty cents per annum upon each resident of the town who
has attained the age of twenty-one years, for street purposes.

Section 78. The council may impose a license tax on merchants,
commission merchants, auctioneers, manufacturers, traders, lawyers,
physicians, dentists, brokers, keepers of ordinary, hotel keepers,
boarding house keepers, keepers of drinking or eating houses, keepers
of livery stables, garages, filling stations, distributors of oils, gasoline
and grease, photographic artists of all kinds, agents of all kinds, ven-
dors of quack medicine, public theatrical or other performances or
shows, soda fountains and distributors of soft drinks, keepers of
billiard tables, ten pin alleys, pistol galleries, hawkers, peddlers, sample
merchants, railroad companies, telegraph companies, telephone com-
panies, gas companies, electric companies, street railway companies,
express companies, contractors, barber shops, and any other person,
lirm, corporation, employment, or trade, whether of like kind with
any of the foregoing or not, which it may deem proper, whether such
person, firm, corporation, business, employment, or trade be herein
specifically enumerated or not, and whether any tax be imposed there-
on by the State or not. As to all such persons, firms, corporations.
employments, or trades, the council may lay a direct tax or may re-
quire a license tax therefor under such regulations as it may prescribe
and levy a tax thereon; and where it is not prohibited by the laws of
this State or of the United States may levy both a direct tax and a
license tax, but the taxes herein authorized shall be subject to the
provisions and conditions set forth in this act. but this section shall
not render it legal to conduct within the town any business, calling, or
vocation which but for this section would be illegal.

Section 79. The council may subject any person who, without
having obtained a license therefor, shall do any act or follow any em-
ployment or business in the town for which a license may be required
by ordinance, such fine or penalty as it is authorized to impose for any
violation of its laws.

Section 80. The town council may exempt from all municipal
taxation bonds and other obligations of indebtedness issued by the
town.

Section 81. The council shall have power to fix and collect water
rents, and make proper charges for light and power furnished and
provided by the municipal power plants.

Section 82. The council shall not appropriate any part of any
sinking fund of its accrued interest thereon for any other objects or
purposes than that for which the said sinking fund is collected.

CHAPTER 15—TAX LIENS, ETCETERA

Section 83. There shall be a lien on real estate for the town taxes
as assessed thereon from the commencement of the year for which
they were assessed. And the town council shall by ordinance require
said taxes to be paid. in one installment at such time, and with a
penalty not in excess of ten per centum, as the said council may
designate. The council may require real estate in the town delin-
quent for the non-payment of taxes or assessments, to be sold for said
taxes and assessments, with interest thereon from the time the same
is delinquent, at the rate of six per centum per annum, and ten per
centum of the amount of the tax to cover costs and charges, exclusive
of costs attending the redemption thereof, as hereinafter provided,
and may cause a good and sufficient deed to be made to the purchaser.

Section 84. It shall be the duty of the treasurer of the town to
make out and deliver to the council at their regular meeting in July
in each year following the passage of this act, a list of all real estate
whereupon delinquent taxes or assessments are due and unpaid for
the previous year, and thereupon the treasurer of the town, under the
direction of the town council, and when so ordered by it, shall sell said
real estate and shall cause a notice of the time and place of such sale to
be published in a newspaper published in the said town, for at least once
a week for four consecutive issues of the said paper or papers, previous
to the day of the sale, and he shall cause to be published, at the same
time and for the same length of time, a list of the several parcels of
real estate delinquent for the nonpayment of assessments due and the
amount of tax or assessments due on each parcel.

Section 84144. The town council may by order direct the sale of
any property confiscated or otherwise coming into the possession of
the said town; the said sale to be held according to the terms of the
order directing the same; and the proceeds therefrom shall be paid
into the treasury of the said town. |

Section 85. If such tax or assessment and the six per centum
interest and ten per centum costs and charges aforesaid be not paid
previous to the day for which said sale is advertised, or on some day
immediately thereafter to which said sale may be adjourned, the
treasurer shall proceed to make sale accordingly of said parcel of real
estate, or so much thereof as shall be necessary to satisfy the taxes,
interest and charges aforesaid, and the sale may be adjourned from
day to day until it shall be completed. On such sale the treasurer
shall execute to the purchaser a certificate of sale, in which the prop-
erty purchased shall be described and the aggregate amount of tax or
assessments with interest and costs specified; but the treasurer shall
not for himself, whether directly or indirectly, purchase any real
estate so sold; and such purchaser shall have the same rights and
remedies as purchasers at delinquent tax sales in Sussex county, and
under the State law. |

Section 86. If at any sale no bids shall be made by any person
for any such parcel of land, or such bid shall not be equal to the tax or
assessment with interest and costs thereon, the same may be bid in
and purchased by the treasurer for the said town. On such sale the
treasurer shall execute to the town a certificate of sale in which the
property purchased shall be described and the aggregate amount of
taxes and assessments with interest and costs specified, and shall de-
posit such certificates with the clerk of the council of the town.

Section 87. The treasurer shall, within thirty days after the sales
are completed, make a report of said sales, showing parcels of land sold,
the date of sale, the name of the purchaser, and the amount of pur-
chase money for each lot; this report shall, within the time aforesaid,
be filed with the clerk of the council and by him recorded in the book
kept for the purpose.

Section 88. The owner of any real estate so sold, his heirs or
assigns, or any person having the right to charge such real estate for a
debt or otherwise interested therein may redeem the same by paying
the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, within two years from the sale
thereof, the whole amount paid by said purchaser, and such additional
tax thereto as may have been paid by the purchaser, his heirs and
assigns, with interest thereon, at the rate of six per centum per annum
and reasonable costs; or, if purchased by the town with such additional
sum as will have accrued for taxes thereon, if the same had not been
purchased by the town, with interest on the said purchase money and
taxes, at the rate of six per centum per annum from the time that the
same may have been so paid, or the same may be paid within the said
two years to the said town sergeant in any case in which the purchaser,
his heirs or assigns, may refuse to receive the same or may not reside
or cannot be found in the town.

Section 89. Any infant, insane person or persons in prison whose
real estate may have been so sold, or his heirs may redeem the same
by paying to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, within two years from
the removal of their disability, the amount for which the same was
sold, with the interest and the costs aforesaid, and such additional
taxes on the real estate as may have been paid by the purchaser, his
heirs or assigns, or the appraised value of anv improvements that may
have been made thereon, with interest on the said item at the rate of
six per centum per annum, from the time they may have been made.
Upon such payment and the payment of such additional sums as may
have been incurred by the purchaser in obtaining a deed within two
years after the removal of such disability the purchaser, his heirs or
assigns, shall, at the costs of the original owner, his heirs or assigns,
convey to him or to them by deed with special warranty the real
estate so sold.

Section 90. If any real estate so sold be not redeemed within the
time allowed for redemption the purchaser of such real estate or his
assigns, may thereupon petition the mayor and council that the prop-
erty shall be conveyed to him, and thereupon after due notice to the
party or parties, for whose delinquent taxes said real estate was sold,
and similar notice to the owner as shown by the records of the clerk’s
office of the circuit court of Sussex county either by personal service
or in the event personal service cannot be had by reason of non-resi-
dence or disability of any kind, by publication for four consecutive
weeks in some newspaper published in the town, at the expense of the
applicant, the said council shall determine whether all the require-
ments as to the assessment, the sale, the purchase, and the period of
redemption shall have been complied with; and if upon such inquiry
it be ascertained that the same has been regularly complied with, and
that the purchaser or his assigns is entitled to a conveyance of the said
real estate, the council shall direct the same to be conveyed by the
clerk of the council of the town. Where the purchaser has assigned
the benefit of his purchase, the deed may be with his consent evidence
by his joining therein or by writing annexed thereto be executed to
his assignee. And if the purchaser shall have died, his heirs or assigns
may move the council to order the clerk of the council of the town to
execute a deed conveying the property such heirs or assigns; such in-
quiry shall be deemed conclusive as to the regularity of all proceedings
connected therewith, but nothing contained in this section shall apply
to the real estate purchased by the town at delinquent tax sales.

Section 91. Any real estate purchased by the town at delinquent
tax sales provided for in this charter, if not redeemed in accordance
with the provisions of this charter shall be disposed of by the town in
such mode as the council may prescribe.

Section 92. When the purchaser of any real estate sold for taxes,
his heirs or assigns, shall have obtained a deed therefor, and within
sixty days from the date of such deed shall have caused same to be
recorded, such estate shall stand vested in the grantee in such deed,
and his title shall not be subject to defeat, except by showing that the
real estate was not subject to the taxes for which it was sold, or that
the taxes for the year for which it had been sold, had been paid.

CHAPTER 16—LOANS, BONDS, ETCETERA

Section 93. The town council shall have the power and authority,
without reference thereof to a vote of the people to issue certificates of
indebtedness, bonds, or other obligations issued in anticipation of the
collection of the revenue of the town for the then current year; pro-
vided that such certificates, bonds, or other obligations mature within
one year from the date of their issuance, and be not past due and do
not exceed the revenue for such year.

Section 94. The town council shall have the power and authority,
without reference to the vote of the people, to provide by ordinances
for the issuance of new bonds, for the redemption and liquidation of
any lawfully issued bonds, when they fall due, become subject to call,
or can for any reason be refunded or redeemed. Said new bonds shall
not exceed in amount, the original bonds to be redeemed, liquidated,
or refunded, may be registered, serial, or coupon, and shall be sold,
at not less than five per centum below par, to the highest bidder for
cash, provided no such new bonds shall bear a higher rate of interest
than six per centum per annum, and provided, further, that the pro-
ceeds of the sale of new bonds so issued shall be used only in the pay-
ment of the old bonds, which are subject to call, redemption or can
otherwise be refunded or redeemed. Such bonds shall be payable in
lawful money of the United States and a sinking fund shall be created
and maintained sufficient to redeem such bonds at maturity, and shall
be applied to such redemption and to no other purpose; provided,
further, such short term notes or obligations of the said town out-
standing at the time this act goes into effect, may likewise be refunded
into long term bonds under this section.

Section 95. And the council shall have the further power and
authority to borrow money in the name of the town and for its uses
and purposes whenever in the opinion of a majority of its members,
ascertained by a recorded affirmative vote of all members elected to
the council, it is to the best interests of the municipality to do so, such
borrowed money to be evidenced by the bonds, notes, or certificates
of indebtedness of the said town duly executed by the mayor thereof
and attested by the clerk of the council, but the amount of the indebt-
edness shall not exceed eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation
of the real estate therein, subject to taxation as shown by. the last pre-
ceding assessment. The classes of debts mentioned under section
one hundred and twenty-seven of the Constitution in paragraphs
‘“‘a"’ and “b”’ thereof shall not be included in determining the indebt-
edness of the town. None of the obligations issued under this pro-
vision shall be sold at less than five per centum below par, nor bear
interest at a rate exceeding six per centum per annum, and shall be-
come due and payable not exceeding thirty-four years from the date
of their issuances; provided, however, no bonds, notes, or certificates
of indebtedness shall be issued under this provision unless and until
the question shall have first been submitted to the qualified voters of
the town whether or not such bonds, notes, or certificates of indebt-
edness shall be issued, and the majority of the qualified voters par-
ticipating in any election held for such purpose shall have voted for
such issuance. The council shall call such election and fix the date
thereof by ordinance, copies of which shall be published in the local
newspaper at least once a week for three consecutive weeks before
the date of such election, and the regular election officials of the town
shall conduct the election provided for hereunder. The council shall
make provisions for the payment of interest on the bonds, notes, or
certificates of indebtedness so issued and shall provide a sinking fund
for the retirement thereof at or before maturity. The coupons shall
be received for town taxes.

CHAPTER 17—GENERAL PROVISIONS

Section 96. All criminal and civil writs and process issued by the
mayor under the general laws of the State of Virginia shall run in the
name of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and all criminal and civil
writs or process issued by the mayor for the violation of or under ordi-
nances of said town shall run in the name of ‘“‘the town of Waverly,”
and writs and process issued in the name of the town shall conform
as near as may be to the form for similar writs and processes issued
under the general State laws.

Section 97. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of the
town in criminal matters except as otherwise provided by laws, and
for imposing and collecting a license tax on all shows, performances
and exhibitions, shall extend one mile beyond the corporate limits of
the town.

Section 98. Appeals and decisions rendered by the mayor shall
like to the circuit court of Sussex county when permitted or allowed
and upon similar and subject to like conditions as is provided by law
in such cases, unless otherwise provided for herein.

Section 99. If any section or provision of this act or any part of
any section shall be declared unconstitutional, the part so declared
unconstitutional shall cease to be operative, but the remainder of this
act and every section or part thereof not so declared unconstitutional
shall continue to be the law governing this town.

Section 100. In case of default on the part of any bonded munici-
pal officer, the town shall have the same remedies against him and his
sureties as are provided for the State in enforcing the penalty of any
official bond given to it.

Section 101. The same person shall be eligible to, and if elected,
or appointed, may hold a county office and a town office if the said
offices be of the same nature, at the same time; provided, such officer
lives within the town limits; and a person otherwise qualified who is a
resident of the said town shall be eligible to election or appointment
of any county office of Sussex county.

Section 102. Where by the provisions of this act or the general
laws of this State, the council has the authority to pass an ordinance,
resolution, or regulation on any subject, it may prescribe a penalty not
exceeding five hundred dollars or confinement in jail not exceeding
twelve months, or both, for the violation thereof and any other form
of punishment provided for by the laws of this State for the punish-
ment of misdemeanors.

Section 103. All ordinances now in force as the ordinances of the
town of Waverly in the town of Waverly not inconsistent with this
ict shall be and remain in force until altered, amended, or repealed by
the town council.

Section 104. The present officers of the town shall be and remain
in office until the expiration of their several terms.

Section 105. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with this act are
hereby repealed, but only insofar as they affect the provisions of this
act.

Section 106. An emergency is hereby declared to exist and this
act shall be in effect from and after the date of its passage.