Chap. 152.—-An ACT to provide a method for incorporating Arlington county
into a city of the first class, to be known and designated as the city of Arling-
ton; to prescribe a form of government for said city, and provide for organiza-
tion thereunder ; to designate the courts to have jurisdiction thereover; and to

' designate the officers of said city and fix their terms of office. [H B 207]

Approved March 20, 1930

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That from
and after the date, and in the manner, hereinafter provided, the terri-
tory now composing Arlington county shall constitute and be a body
politic and corporate to be known and designated as the city of
Arlington.

2. The boundaries of the city of Arlington as herein provided shall
coincide with the present boundaries of Arlington county.

3. So much of this act as provides that the territory now com-
posing Arlington county shall constitute and be a body politic and cor-
porate to be known and designated as the city of Arlington, shall not
take effect unless and until a majority of the qualified voters of said
Arlington county voting at a special or general election held as herein
provided shall vote in favor of incorporation.

4. The circuit court of the county, or the judge thereof in vacation,
shall upon the petition of not less than fifteen per centum of the quali-
ied voters of said county, make an order requiring the judges of elec-
tion in said county, at the next regular election to be held in said county,
or at a special election to be held not less than thirty days nor more
than ninety days from the date of the order, which date shall be stated
therein, to open a poll and take the sense of the qualified voters of the
county on the question of whether said county shall be incorporated as
herein provided. The notice of the order that a poll shall be taken of
the sense of the qualified voters of the county on the question of whether
said county shall be incorporated shall be posted in each and every
voting precinct not less than fifteen days prior to the date stated in said
order of the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation, directing
said election to be held; provided, however, that the petition herein
above mentioned, shall be filed with the judge of said court within three
years from the date of passage of this act, and may not be filed there-
after.

5. The regular election officers of the county shall open the polls at
the several voting places in said county, and shall conduct such election
and close the polls in such manner as is provided by law in other elec-
tions. For said election the ballots shall be printed and furnished by
the regular election officers as in a regular election and there shall be
printed on each ballot to be used in said election, in separate lines, the
following:

For incorporation
Against incorporation

Voters desiring to vote in favor of the incorporation of said county
as a city as provided in this act shall strike out the words “agiainst
incorporation,” and voters desiring to vote against the incorporation of
said county as a city shall strike out the words “for incorporation.”
Voters striking out or erasing the word “for” or “against” shal! be
deemed to have striken out or erased the entire line.

6. The judges of election of each of the several voting places shall
immediately after the closing of the polls at each of said places, count
the ballots deposited in said election at their respective polling places,
and shall, within two days after the said election, make return thereof
as provided in general elections.

7. The commissioners of election of said county shall, within two
days after the judges of election have made return of the poll books
and ballots as aforesaid, meet at the office of the county clerk and hav-
ing taken an oath before him faithfully to discharge their duties, can-
vass the returns and certify the results thereof to the circuit court of
said county or the judge thereof in vacation.

8. If it shall appear by the report of the commissioners of elec-
tion that a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question
are in favor of the incorporation of said county as a body politic and
corporate, the county clerk shall certify that fact to the circuit court if
then in session, or if not then in session, then to the judge thereof ir
vacation, whereupon the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation
shall enter of record an order directing that the government of saic
county as a county shall cease to exist thirty days thereafter, when the
new city government shall immediately become effective.

9. Whenever the sense of the qualified voters of said county shall
be taken on the question of whether said county shall be incorporated,
the said election and returns shall be subject to the inquiry, determina-
tion and judgment of the circuit court of the county in which said
election was held, upon the written complaint of fifty of the qualified
voters of said county, of an undue election or false return, five of
whom shall take an oath that the facts set forth in such complaint are
true to the best of their knowledge and belief, and the court shall, in
judging of such election and return, proceed upon the merits thereof
and determine concerning the same according to the Constitution and
laws of this State, but such complaint shall not be valid unless it shall
have been filed within ten days after said election, in the clerk’s office
of said circuit court. The board of supervisors of said county shall be
made a defendant by summons or notice to its chairman of the filing of
the complaint, and after such service of notice on the chairman of the
board of supervisors, either party upon reasonable notice to the other,
shall be at liberty to take depositions to sustain or invalidate such elec-
tion. Service of notice on any three of the complainants shall be suffi-
cient. The court shall proceed at its next term after such service of sum-
mons or notice to determine the contest without a jury on the evidence
oral or written, unless good cause be shown for a continuance, and shall
make a proper record of its judgment. If the judgment be that the
election was a valid one in favor of incorporation, the court shall make
an order in conformity with the preceding section. .

10. The circuit court of said county, which shall continue to exer-
cise jurisdiction over the territory thus incorporated, or the judge
thereof in vacation, shall appoint the members of the city council and
the other municipal officers, if any, of said city, and do such other acts
as may be required to effectuate the form of city government herein
provided for, and said city council and other municipal officers, if any,
appointed as provided in this act shall continue in office until their suc-
cessors have been duly elected and qualified, and said city councilmen
and other municipal officers, if any, appointed as herein provided, shall
perform all the duties of their respective offices and be subject to all
the penalties as prescribed by the Constitution and laws of this State
for the organization and administration of the form of city govern-
ment herein provided for; provided, further, however, that the circuit
court of said area thus incorporated, or the judge thereof in vacation,
shall do such other acts and make such further order or orders as may
be necessary to accomplish the immediate, peaceful, and uninterrupted
incorporation of said county as a body politic and corporate as pro-
vided in this act.

11. Upon the incorporation of Arlington. county, as the city of
Arlington, said city shall have all the rights, powers, and privileges
conferred, and shall be subject to all the duties, liabilities, and obliga-
tions now imposed by law upon said county. Such incorporation shall
not affect any offense or act committed or done, or any penalty or for-
feiture incurred, or any right of any nature established, accrued or
accruing, before the date of the incorporation of said county as the city
of Arlington as provided in this act; or any prosecution, suit, or pro-
ceeding pending on said date; and wherever the name “Arlington
county” appears or may hereafter appear in the Constitution, statutes,
ordinances, resolutions, decrees, judgments or elsewhere, or in any
other manner, the same shall be construed to mean the “city of Arling-
ton.”

12. Upon the incorporation of said county as the city of Arlington,
the ordinances of said former county shall remain in full force and
effect insofar as their provisions as ordinances of a city are not in
conflict with the Constitution and laws of this State, and they shall be
the ordinances of said city insofar as they are applicable, until they
are repealed by the authority of the city or the Constitution and laws
of the State; and the city of Arlington shall become and be liable for
the bonded indebtedness and current debts and obligations of said
cqunty, and shall become liable for the obligations and other liabilities
of said county, both in law and in equity, arising out of any acts of
said county for which it would have been liable, and said city shall
faithfully observe, keep and perform every such liability, and the title
to all the propertv of said county, and its rights and privileges under
any contract, including any and all money belonging to said county,
and its books, records, papers, and other things of value, shall vest in
and become the property of the city of Arlington.

13. The city of Arlington shall succeed to all the rights and privi-
leges of the former county with respect to the law under which its
water supply system is being installed and to all of the rights and
privileges granted by the congress of the United States to the former
county of Arlington or the sanitary district of Arlington for any pur-
pose. All the county levies and taxes, both current and delinquent, and
all school and other funds held by the State to the credit of the county
of Arlington shall be turned over to the city of Arlington and the tax
levy and assessments made for the succeeding year shall stand as the
levy and assessment for the city of Arlington. All contracts entered
into by the county of Arlington for materials or supplies or construc-
tion work in force on the date of incorporation shall thereby become
the contracts of the city of Arlington.

14. The offices of the Commonwealth’s attorney, clerk of the
court, city sergeant, city treasurer, and commissioner of revenue are
hereby created for the city of Arlington and persons holding offices of
Commonwealth’s attorney, county clerk, county sheriff, county treas-
urer, and commissioner of revenue, respectively, in the county of
Arlington at the time of its incorporation shall by virtue of such incor-
poration become, respectively, the Commonwealth’s attorney, clerk of
the court, city sergeant, city treasurer, and commissioner of revenue
of the city of Arlington, and shall hold office until their successors are
duly elected and qualified, have and exercise all the rights, powers and
privileges conferred, and shall be subject to all the duties, liabilities
and restrictions now imposed by law for the government of cities of
this Commonwealth.

15. Upon the incorporation of the city of Arlington as herein
provided it shall at once be, become and continue in every respect within
the jurisdiction of the circuit court of the judicial circuit wherein it is
situated, and shall continue and thereafter be known as the circuit court
of the city of Arlington and such court shall have the same jurisdiction
in the city of Arlington.

16. A civil and police justice court is hereby created and estab-
lished for the city of Arlington. The civil and police justice of said
court to have the qualifications, to be elected, and for the term, and to
possess and have all the powers, jurisdictions, duties and limitations.
as are conferred and imposed by, and in accordance with chapter one
hundred and twenty-four of the Code as amended, and shall receive
such compensation as the city council herein provided for shall deter-
mine.

Upon incorporation of the city of Arlington a vacancy in the civil
and police justice court is hereby declared to exist and shall be filled
by appointment by the judge of the circuit court of said city, and said
civil and police justice shall hold office until his successor has been
duly elected and qualified.

17, The judge of the circuit court of the said city of Arlington
shall divide the territory of said city into six wards; each of said
wards to have in so far as practicable the same population, and the
boundaries of such wards may be changed from time to time by the
council of the city of Arlington so as to maintain approximately equal
population.

18. A city council for the city of Arlington consisting of seven
members is hereby created and established. Each ward shall elect one
member to the city council. Such councilman shall at the time of his
election, and during the term of his office, be a resident of the ward
from which elected, and his removal therefrom shall create a vacancy
in such office. The seventh member of the city council shall be elected
at large and shall at the time of his election and during the term of his
office, be a resident of the city of Arlington, and his removal from said
city during his term of office shall create a vacancy in such office. He
shall in addition to the duties of a city councilman, also be and per-
form the duties of the mayor of the city of Arlington. Any vacancy
occurring in the office of the mayor or councilman shall be filled by a
majority vote of the remaining members of the council from among
those individuals qualified for election to the office to be filled.

19. The city manager form of government is hereby created and
established for the city of Arlington as provided in chapter one hun-
dred and nineteen of the Code, as amended, except that members of the
council shall be elected as provided in this act.

20. The city of Arlington when incorporated, shall have the same
representation in the general assembly of Virginia in both the senate
and house of delegates, as the county of Arlington now has and enjovs.
21. Any powers or duties conferred or imposed herein shall not
ye considered or construed as limitations upon the powers and duties
onferred by existing law governing cities of the first class.

22. The incorporation of the city of Arlington shall in no wise
uffect the laws of this State governing the school system within the
‘erritorial limits of cities of the first class.

23. If any section or provision of this act or any part of any sec-
ion shall be declared unconstitutional by the supreme court of appeals
of Virginia or the supreme court of the United States, the part so
declared unconstitutional shall cease to be operative, but the remainder
of the act, and every section or part thereof ‘not so declared unconstitu-
tional shall continue in full force and effect.

24. That all acts or parts of acts in conflict herewith are hereby
repealed to the extent that any such act or law conflicts herewith.