Chap. 354.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 4 of chapter 412 of the acts
of the general assembly of 1922, entitled an act to provide a new charter for
the town of Woodstock and to repeal all acts or parts of acts in conflict
therewith, and to declare all contracts and obligations heretofore or hereafter
made by the present council and government of the town of Woodstock and
all power heretofore or hereafter exercised by them, while in office, to be
legal and valid, approved March 24, 1922, relating to the public schools of
said town, as amended. [S B 385]

Approved March 21, 1928

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That section
four, of chapter four hundred and twelve, of the acts of the general
assembly of nineteen hundred and twenty-two, entitled an act to pro-
vide a new charter for the town of Woodstock and to repeal all acts
or parts of acts in conflict therewith, and to declare all contracts and
obligations heretofore or hereafter made by the present council and
government of the town of Woodstock, and all power heretofore or
hereafter exercised by them, while in office, to .be legal and valid,
approved March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, as
amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 4. Powers of the town of Woodstock, Virginia.—In addi-
tion to the powers mentioned in section two hereof, the said town of
Woodstock shall have the following powers:

First. To raise annually by taxes and assessments in said town
sums of money as the council thereof shall deem necessary for the pur-
poses of said town, and in such manner as said council shall deem ex-
pedient, in accordance with the Constitution of this State and of the
United States; provided, however, that it shall impose no tax on the
bonds of said town.

Second. To impose special and local assessments for local improve-
ments and enforce payment thereof, subject, however, to such limita-
tions prohibited by the Constitution of Virginia, as may be in force
at the time of the imposition of such special and local assessments.
Third. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia
and of this charter, to contract debts, borrow money and make and
issue evidences of indebtedness.

Fourth. To expend the money of the town for all lawful purposes.

Fifth. To acquire by purchase, gifts, devise, condemnation or
otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein,
within or without the town or State, and for any of the purposes of
the town; and to hold, impose, sell, lease, mortgage, pledge or other-
wise dispose of the same or any part thereof, including any property
now owned by the town.

Sixth. To acquire in any lawful manner for the purpose of encour-
aging commerce, manufacture, education, lands within and without the
town, not exceeding at one time one thousand acres in the aggregate,
and from time to time, sell, dispose of, lease or donate the same or
any part thereof for commercial, industrial, educational uses and pur-
poses, including land now owned by the town, and including the power
to donate any land now or hereafter owned by the town for hospital
purposes.

Seventh. To make and adopt a comprehensive plan for the town
and to that end all plats and replats subdividing any land within the
town into streets, alleys, roads and lots or tracts, shall be submitted to
and be approved by the council before the same are filed or recorded
in the clerk’s office of the county.

Eighth. Construct, maintain, regulate and operate public improve-
ments of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings, markets
and other buildings for the use and operation of the various depart-
ments of the town, and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise all
lands, riparian and other rights and easements necessary for such im-
provements, or any of them.

Ninth. To acquire in any lawful manner in any county of the
State, such water, lands, property rights and riparian rights as the
council of said town may deem necessary for the purpose of providing
an adequate water supply for said town and of piping or conducting
it; to lay all necessary mains and tunnels, to erect and maintain all
necessary dams, pumping stations and other works in connection
therewith; to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting the
purity of its water supply and for protecting the same from pollution,
and for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sanitary patrol
over all lands comprised within the limits of the watershed tributary
to any such water supply where such lands may be located in this
State; to impose and enforce adequate penalties for the violation of
any such rules and regulations ; and to prevent by injunction any pollu-
tion or threatened pollution of such water supply, and any and all acts
likely to impair the purity thereof; and for the purpose of acquiring
lands, interest in lands, property rights and riparian rights or materials
for any such use, to exercise within the State all powers of eminent
domain provided by the laws of this State; provided that the lands
which may be held for such purpose shall not exceed in the aggre-
gate one thousand acres at one time.

For any of the purposes aforesaid, the said town may, if the coun-
cil shall so determine, acquire by condemnation, purchase or otherwise,
any interest or interests in such lands or any of them in fee, reserving
to the owner or owners thereof such property rights or easements
therein, as may be prescribed in the ordinances providing such con-
demnation or otherwise.

Tenth. To acquire by purchase or exchange, or by the exercise of
the power of eminent domain, any spring, springs, water supplies,
pipe lines, reservoirs, land, property, easements, interests, contract rights,
property rights, riparian rights, or any interest or interests therein in
the State of Virginia, which is now, or may be at any time used for
supplying the inhabitants of the said town with water.

Eleventh. To establish, impose and enforce water rates and rates
and charges for public utilities, or other service, products or conveni-
ences, operated, rendered or furnished by the town; and to assess
or cause to be assessed water rents directly against the owner or
owners of the buildings or against the proper tenant or tenants, and
may by ordinance provide that when charges are made against tenants,
the owner or owners shall be directly liable in case such tenant or
tenants fail to pay when the rents or charges are assessed.

Twelfth. To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, con-
struct, maintain, light and sprinkle and clean, public highways, streets,
alleys, and to alter or close the same; to establish and maintain public
play grounds or other public grounds; to construct, maintain and oper-
ate bridges, tunnels, sewers and drains, and to regulate the use of all
such highways, streets, parks, public grounds or works, to prevent the
obstruction of such streets and highways, abolish and prevent. grade
crossings over the same by railroads in the manner provided by gen-
eral law for the elimination of grade crossings; to require any railroad
company operating a railroad at the place where any highway or street
is crossed within the town limits, to erect and maintain at such cross-
ing any style of gate, deemed proper and keep a man in charge thereof
or keep a flagman at such crossing during such hours as the council
may require in accordance with the laws, or make any other ordinance
which the council may deem proper to accomplish the purposes de-
sired ; and to regulate the length of time such crossings may be closed
due to any operations of the railroad; and to regulate the operation,
weight of load and speed of all cars and vehicles using the same, as
well as the operation and speed of all engines, cars, trains or railroads
in the said town; to prevent or prohibit poles and wires for electric
telephone or telegraph purposes to be erected in the streets and alleys
and to prescribe and to collect annual license charge for such privi-
leges heretofore or hereafter granted.

The said town and citizens living within its corporate limits shall
be exempt from all road taxes and taxes for the support of the poor
and other local purposes, provided, the said town shall maintain and
keep its road and streets in good repair, support its poor and levy
its school taxes for the support of the local schools of the town. The
town may keep its poor in the parish house or poorhouse of the county,
provided, it pays all necessary expenses therefor.

Thirteenth. To establish, construct and maintain sanitary sewers,
sewer lines and systems and to require the abutting property owners
to connect therewith and to establish, construct, maintain and operate
sewage disposal plants and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise,
within or without the town, all lands. rights of way, riparian and other
rights and easements necessary for the purposes aforesaid, and to
charge and collect reasonable fees and assessments or costs of service
for connecting with and using the same. To collect and dispose of
sewage, garbage, carcasses of dead animals and fowls and other refuse,
and to acquire and operate plants for the utilization or destruction of the
same or any of them.

Fourteenth. To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within the town at the expense of the person or persons causing the
same or the owner or occupant of the ground or premises wherein the
same may be found, and to require all lands and lots and other prem-
ises within the town to be kept clean and sanitary and free from stag-
nant water, weeds, filth and unsightly deposits or to make them at the
expense of the owners or occupants thereof; to regulate or prevent
slaughter houses or other noisome and offensive business within the
town, the keeping of hogs or other animals; to regulate the transporta-
tion of ‘all articles through the streets, to compel the abatement of
smoke and dust and prevent unnecessary noise; to regulate the loca-
tion of stables, and other obnoxious buildings, and the manner in
which they are to be kept and constructed and generally to define, pro-
hibit, abate and suppress and prevent all things detrimental to health,
morals, safety, convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the town.

Fifteenth. To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity or
articles of consumption or use within the town and to establish, regu-
late, license and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

Sixteenth. To establish, regulate and control a fire department, to
regulate the size, height and construction of buildings, fences, walls
and altered structures as public safety may require; to remove or re-
quire to be removed any structure which by reason of dilapidation or
other causes may have become dangerous to life or property and enact
efficient laws to secure the safety of persons from fires in halls or
buildings used for public assemblies or entertainments.

Seventeenth. To provide for the care, support and maintenance of
aged, insane, poor persons or paupers.

Eighteenth. To establish, organize and administer public schools
and libraries as provided in section forty-seven hereof.

Nineteenth. ‘To prevent paupers and persons having no visible
means of support or who may be dangerous to the peace and safety of
the town from coming into the town and to expel any one from the
town dangerous to the peace, safety and welfare of the town and its
inhabitants.

Twentieth. To provide for the promotion of the general health of
the residents of said town, make regulations to protect the same, in-
spect all foods and foodstuffs and to prevent the introduction and sale
in said town of any articles or things intended for human consump-
tion, which is adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to health;
to prevent the introduction and spread of contagious or infectious dis-
eases, and prevent and suppress disease generally; and to establish
quarantine grounds within or without the town and regulations re-
specting the same, subject to the laws of the State.

Twenty-first. To accept and receive unconditionally or upon con-
ditions, absolutely or in trust, gifts, grants, bequests and devises of
anv kind of property, real or personal, for educational, charitable or
public purposes and to do all things necessary to carry out the purpose
of the donor in accordance with the terms and conditions of such gifts,
grants, bequests or devises.

Twenty-second. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and
street beggars, to prevent vice and immorality; to preserve peace and
good order; to prevent riots, disorderly assemblages and suppress
houses of ill-fame and gambling and punish lewd, indecent and dis-
orderly exhibitions in the town.

Twenty-third. To license and regulate the holding of shows and
their location, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals, or fairs, or pro-
hibit the holding of the same within the town.

Twenty-fourth. To make and enforce ordinances similar to the
prohibition laws of the State. No license to sell strong drink in said
town, within two miles thereof, without first obtaining permit of the
council and then on such terms as may be required by said council.

Twenty-fifth. The town is authorized to exempt, by four-fifths
vote of the members of the council, the buildings, machinery and
equipment of factories and industries from town taxes for a reason-
able period of time not exceeding ten vears.

Twenty-sixth. To contract, own and maintain power and light and
operate facilities necessary thereto and to acquire by condemnation or
otherwise, within or without the town, land, waterpower sites, case-
ments, property and property rights necessary for such purposes.

Section 27-32. In addition to the right of the town under the gen-
eral law to negotiate temporary loans and thereby anticipate its in-
come for and during any year, the council in the name of and for the
use of the said town of Woodstock, may contract loans, incur debts
and cause certificates of debt or bonds to be issued whenever two-
thirds of its members, by a recorded vote, decide that such course 1s
in the best interest of the town and necessary in the acquirement and
establishment of some needed public improvement or utility, but such
council may borrow money in such manner and for such purposes only
to the extent and subject to the provisions prescribed by the Constitu-
tion and laws of Virginia. The council shall not have the power to
issue any bonds or certificates of debt except such as are to be paid
and discharged within one year from date of issue out of the regular
income of the town until it shall have first submitted to the qualified
voters of said town whether or not such bonds shall be issued and the
majority of the qualified voters voting at any election held for such
purposes have voted for such issue. Such election shall be held in the
manner prescribed and under the provisions of the general laws of the
State of Virginia, except that the council shall have the power to call
such election and fix the date thereof by ordinance, copies of which
shall be published in some newspaper published in said town or the
nearest paper published thereto and posted at least twenty days from
such election in at least five public places by the sergeant thereof. The
judges conducting any such election shall certify the return to the clerk
of the circuit court of Shenandoah county and to the said council, and
the court shall enter of record such order as the case may require and
as provided by law. Any bonds which may be issued under this act
may be either registered or coupon bonds and the purpose for which
said bonds are issued shall be clearly set forth therein. They shall be
issued in such denominations and bear such rate of interest, not ex-
ceeding six per centum, as may be determined by the council. They
shall be made payable at such time as the council may prescribe, not
exceeding thirty years from their date, and may at the option of the
council be made redeemable after such time and in such amounts as
the council may prescribe. The interest thereon may be made pay-
able at such place as the council may designate, either annually or
semi-annually. All bonds issued under this act shall be signed by the
mayor and countersigned by the clerk of the council with the seal of
the town attached. They shall be sold in such manner as the council
may prescribe, and the proceeds from such sale used and expended
under the orders of the council.

Thirty-third. To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any
town ordinance, rule or regulation, or any provision of this charter,
not exceeding five hundred dollars, or twelve months imprisonment
in jail, or both. And to carry into effect the police regulations of said
town, the said town shall be allowed the use of the jail of Shenandoah
county for the safekeeping and imprisonment of all persons sentenced
to prison under the ordinance of said town.

Thirty-fourth. Creation of wards and council.——The town shall be
divided into two wards, as follows:

The first ward shall consist of that portion of the town south of
Court street of the town, and the second ward shall consist of that
portion of the town north of Court street of the town, and there is
hereby created a council consisting of three members from each of
said wards, and a mayor to be elected by both wards, numbers one
and two, which shall have full power and authority, except as herein-
after otherwise provided, to exercise all the power conferred upon the
town and to pass all laws and ordinances, relating to its municipal
affairs, subject to the Constitution and general laws of the State and
of this charter.

Thirty-fifth. The said mayor and six councilmen shall be elected
on the sixth day of June, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and shall
serve for a term of four years from the first day of September next
following the date of election and until their successors shall be duly
elected and qualified. Vacancies in the council, except as otherwise
provided by general laws, shall be filled within thirty days for the un-
expired term by a majority vote of the remaining members. Any
person qualified to vote in the town shall be eligible to the office of
mayor and councilman. But no member of the council or other officer
shall be interested directly or indirectly in the profits of any contract
or work, to be financially interested directly or indirectly in the sale
to the town of any land, materials, supplies or unofficial services, but
this prohibition shall not apply if the council by unanimous vote of the
members thereof shall declare that the best interests of the town are
served despite a personal interest, direct or indirect.

Thirty-sixth. The council shall make such rules for its organization,
government and order of business, appointment of committees, as it
may deem proper, including the times of meeting and special meetings.

Thirty-seventh. The mayor shall preside at the meetings of the
council and perform such duties consistent with his office and pre-
scribed by the ordinances of the town. During his absence or dis-
ability the council shall elect a member of the council to perform the
duties of the mayor. The mayor shall have the right to vote in case
of a tie.

Section 38. On the first day of September following the regular
municipal election and organization of the council, or as soon thereafter
as may he practicable, the council shall elect a clerk, sergeant, town
attorney, superintendent of water works, town physician or health
officer, overseer of the poor, chief or captain of the fire department,
and such other officers as may come within their jurisdiction, each of
whom shall serve for four years, or at the pleasure of the said
council. Providing, however, that nothing in this act shall apply to
present incumbents during their present term of office.

The treasurer of the town shall be elected by the qualified voters of
the town at the same general election when the mayor and councilmen
are elected and shall hold office for four years, the same as the mayor
and councilmen.

Thirty-ninth. Legislative procedure—Except in dealing with
parliamentary procedure as set forth in the ordinances, the council
shall act only by ordinance or resolution and with the exception of
ordinances making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of
indebtedness, shall be confined to one subject.

Forty. Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced
in writing or printed form and the enacting clause of all ordinances
hereinafter passed by the council shall substantially be “be it ordained
by the council of the town of Woodstock.” And all ordinances shall
be read at two meetings not less than a week apart, one of which shall
be a regular meeting and the other of which may be either an adjourned
or called meeting, provided the requirement of a second reading by
the affirmative vote of four members of the council may be confined to
the reading of the title only, but this provision shall not apply to an
emergency measure. No ordinance shall be amended unless such
section or sections as is intended to be amended shall be re-enacted.
The ayes and noes shall be taken and recorded upon the passage ot all
ordinances, and so entered upon the minutes of the proceedings of the
council.

Forty-first. No ordinance passed by the council shall take effect
until at least thirty days from the date of its passage, except the council
may by an affirmative vote of a majority of its members, pass emer-
gency measures to take effect at the time indicated therein. Every
ordinance passed shall be recorded by the clerk in a book kept for that
purpose and shall be authenticated by the signatures of the presiding
officer and the clerk. Every ordinance of a public and permanent char-
acter passed shall be published in full once within ten days after its
final passage.

_ Forty-second. Nominations and elections; municipal elections —A
municipal election shall be held on the second Tuesday in June of every
fourth year after nineteen hundred and twenty-two, and shall be known
as the regular municipal election for the election of mayor and six
councilmen, sergeant and treasurer. All other municipal elections that
may be held shall be known as special municipal elections. The elec-
tions held under this charter shall be in accordance with the general
laws of the State.

The duties of the officers as elected by the council and general elec-
tion shall be as defined and provided for in the ordinances of the town,
and as shown by said ordinances.

Forty-third. Licenses and taxation.—License taxes may be 1m-
posed by ordinances on business, trades, profession and callings and
upon the persons, firms, associations and corporations engaged therein
and the agents thereof, except in cases where licenses or taxations are
expressly prohibited by the general laws of the State. Any one who
shall fail to procure the license required by the council shall be subject
to such penalty as provided by ordinances of the town.

Forty-fourth. General taxes.—The council may impose a tax of one
dollar per annum upon the residents of the town who have attained the
age of twenty-one years. The council may also tax dogs.

Forty-fifth. The council of the town of Woodstock is authorized to
and shall annually order a town levy of so much as is in their opimion
necessary to be raised in that way, in addition to what may be raised
for licenses and from other sources, to meet the appropriations made
and to be enabled to pay the indebtedness of the town and meet all of
its municipal expenses, required by law to be raised. The levy or
assessment shall be on all real and tangible personal property owned
or possessed by any and all of the residents and corporations located in
said town; provided, however, that the rate assessed does not at any
time exceed the maximum rate provided by the law of the State in
force at that time. The values of such property as fixed by the State
shall be accepted as the basis of the taxation and assessment by the
council, or as the general laws of the State may hereafter prescribe.
There shall be a lien on real estate for the town taxes as assessed
thereon, from the commencement of the year for which they are as-
sessed. The council may require real estate in the town delinquent for
the non-payment of taxes to be sold for taxes, with interest thereon
and said council may regulate the terms on which real estate so de-
linquent may be sold or redeemed, provided, that such sales shall be
made subject to the prior lien of the Commonwealth for taxes. And
all town taxes shall be due and payable as and when similar State taxes
are due and payable otherwise by ordinance.

The town shall also have a lien for its taxes and levies upon all
such corporate property as is authorized by law. All goods and chattels
of any person against whom taxes for the town are assessed may be
distrained and sold for said taxes when due and ‘unpaid in the same
manner and to the same extent that goods and chattels may be dis-
trained and sold for State taxes.

Forty-sixth. Franchises—The granting of franchises by the coun-
cil shall be as provided by the general law of the State and ordinances
not in conflict therewith.

Forty-seventh. The town of Woodstock shall constitute a separate
school district. It shall have a school board consisting of three mem-
bers, to be appointed by the town council, the first appointment to be
made on or before the first day of July next following the date this
act becomes effective, one member for a term of one year, one for a
term of two years and one for a term of three years, beginning on the
said first day of July; and on or before the first day of July of each
year thereafter one member shall be appointed for a term of three
years; the eligibility and compensation of the members of the school
board shall be the same as prescribed by law.

The school board shall be a body corporate under the name of the
Woodstock school board, by which name it may sue and be sued, con-
tract and be contracted with, purchase, take, hold, lease, and convey
school property, both real and personal. The title to all public school
property within the corporate limits of the town shall be and the same
is hereby by operation of law transferred to and vested in the Wood-
stock school board.

By mutual consent of the school board and the council of the town,
the title to the said school property may by the said board be trans-
ferred to and vested in the said town.

The school board shall submit to the council annually or oftener
an estimate of what funds may be needed for the proper maintenance
and growth of the public schools of the town, and the council may levy
a tax upon property subject to local taxation for the purpose of main-
taining the schools, to be collected along with other taxes by the treas-
urer of the town and placed in a special account, subject to the order
of the school board. The State school fund shall be apportioned to
the Woodstock school district separately from the county of Shenan-
doah, and all such funds designated for the benefit of the schools therein
shall be paid by the disbursing officers of the State to the treasurer of
the said town and by such treasurer kept in his school account, to be
paid out on the orders of the said school board.

The said school board shall establish and maintain in the said town
a general system of public schools in accordance with the requirements
of the Constitution and general education policy of the Commonwealth,
for the accomplishment of which purpose it shall have the following
powers and duties:

First. To explain, enforce and observe the school laws, and to make
rules for the government of the schools and for regulating the conduct
of pupils going to and returning therefrom.

Second. To determine the studies to be pursued, in accordance with
the regulations of the State board of education, the methods of teach-
ing, the government to be employed in the schools, and the length of
the school term.

Third. To employ teachers from a list or lists of eligibles to be
furnished by the division superintendent, and to dismiss them when
delinquent, inefficient, or in any wise unworthy of the position, but no
teacher shall be employed unless such teacher has the qualifications
prescribed by law.

Fourth. To suspend or expel pupils when the prosperity and
efficiency of the schools make it necessary; to decide what children
entering the schools of the town are entitled by reason of the poverty
of their parents or guardians to receive textbooks free of charge, and
provide for supplying them accordingly; to establish a high school or
high schools; to see that the census of children is taken within the
proper time and in the proper manner, as prescribed by law.

Fifth. To hold regular and special meetings of the school board
and to call meetings of the people of the town for consultation in regard
to the school interests thereof.

Sixth. To provide suitable schoolhouses with proper furniture and
appliances and to care for, manage and control the school property of
the town. For these purposes it may lease, purchase, or build such
schoolhouses according to the exigencies of the town and the means at
its disposal. The plans for all schoolhouses shall be submitted to and
approved in writing by the division superintendent of schools, before
the same is contracted for or erected. All school buildings shall be
maintained in a safe and sanitary condition, with due regard for health
and decency, and for the lack of which the division superintendent shall
condemn the same and immediately give notice to the chairman of the
said school board in writing, and thereafter no school shall be held
therein nor shall any of the State or town funds be applied to support
any such schoolhouses, until the division superintendent shall certify in
writing to the town school board that he is satisfied with the condition
of such building, and with the equipment pertaining thereto.

Seventh. To visit the public schools of the town from time to time
and to take care that they are conducted according to law and with the
utmost efficiency ; to manage and control the school funds of the town,
and to provide for the pay of the teachers, and for any expenses attend-
ing the administration of the public school system in the said town, so
far as the same is under the control or at the charge of the school
officials.

Eighth. To examine all claims against the school board and when
approved pay the same, provided that a record of such approval shall
be made in the proceedings of the board and a warrant on the town
treasurer shall be drawn, signed by the chairman of the board and
countersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person or persons
entitled to receive such money and stating on its face the purpose or
service for which it is to be paid, and that such warrant is drawn in
pursuance of an order entered by the board on the ...........2....seeeeeeeeeeees

Ninth. If in the judgment of the school board the public interest
demands that a schoolhouse be located on a particular spot, and if no
equitable arrangements for its purchase are possible, the school board
is authorized, and it shall be its duty to cause the desired parcel of land
to be surveyed by a competent surveyor, and a plat of the same to be
filed, together with a general statement of the case, with the clerk of
the circuit court; and thereupon, on application of the school board, the
same proceeding shall be had as is prescribed by law relating to the
exercise of the right of eminent domain; but no parcel of land thus
condemned shall exceed five acres.

Tenth. And in addition to the foregoing enumerated powers and
duties the said school board shall exercise such other powers and
perform such other duties not inconsistent herewith as are prescribed
for county school boards in so far as applicable, or imposed by the
State board of education.

Eleventh. The school board of the town of Woodstock shall have
control over the school property and over the administration of the
public schools in said town, and shall have such representation on the
county school board as may be provided by general law.

Twelfth. The Woodstock school board is hereby obligated to pay
its proportion of the existing indebtedness of the Shenandoah county
school board, the proportion to be based on the school population, as of
date approved by town council.

Thirteenth. The Woodstock school board is hereby authorized to
make necessary arrangements for the instruction of pupils who reside
beyond the corporate limits of the said town with authority to make
provision for proper tuition fees for such pupils, in compliance with
sections seven hundred and nineteen and seven hundred and twenty
of the Code of Virginia.

(48) The present mayor and councilmen, and all other officers of
the town of Woodstock shall continue to hold office and to perform
the duties of their respective offices for the said town for the terms
for which they were elected until their successors be elected and
qualify, and all liabilities, actions, claims, contracts heretofore existing
under the former charter and amendatory acts under the corporate
name of the council of the town of Woodstock shall remain and con-
tinue in force and effect as if this act had not been passed.

And all now in force in the town of Woodstock, not inconsistent
with this charter, shall be and remain in full force until altered,
amended or repealed by the council of said town.

If, however, any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act
shall for any reason be adjudged by any act of competent jurisdiction
to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the
remainder of this act.

(49) The enumeration of particular powers and authority in this
charter shall not be held exclusive, but the said town shall have and
may exercise all other powers which are now or may hereafter be
possessed or applied to towns under the Constitution and general laws
of the State.

2. The provisions of subsections eighteenth and forty-seventh of
section four, as amended by this act, shall not become operative until
approved by the council of the town of Woodstock, which approval
must be given within two years from the date this act became effective.