Chap. 44.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 17, 19-f and 23 of an act en-
titled “An act to provide a new charter for the city of Richmond, approved
March 24, 1926, as heretofore amended. [S B 74]

Approved February 24, 1932

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That sections
seventeen, nineteen-f, and twenty-three of the charter of the city of
Richmond, as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so as to
read as follows: 7

Section 17. Each branch shall have authority to adopt such rules
and to appoint such officers and clerks as it may deem proper for the
regulation of its proceedings, and for the convenient transaction of
business, to compel the attendance of absent members, to punish its
members for disorderly behavior, and by a vote of two-thirds of its
members to expel a member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office.
Each branch shall keep a journal of its proceedings and its meetings
shall be open, except when public welfare shall require secrecy. The
city council or any of its committees, when authorized by the said coun-
cil and the heads of the respective departments as hereinafter con-
stituted, may each, in any investigation held by them, respectively,
within their respective powers and duties, order the attendance of any
person as a witness, and the production by any person of all the proper
books and papers. Any person refusing or failing to attend may be
summoned before the police justice of the city, and upon failing to
give a satisfactory excuse to said police justice, may be fined not ex-
ceeding the sum of one hundred dollars or imprisoned not exceeding
thirty days; such person to have the right of appeal as in cases of mis-
demeanor to the hustings court of Richmond. Such witness may be
sworn by the officer presiding at such investigation, and shall be liable
to prosecution for perjury for any false testimony given at such inves-
tigation. The city council shall also be empowered to investigate any
or all of the departments of the city government, or any officer or em-
ployee thereof, whether administrative or not.

Section 19-f. To establish, construct, maintain, keep in order, alter
or repair landings, wharves, docks, canals and streets and approaches
thereto and the lands contiguous or appurtenant thereto, which are now
owned or controlled by the city of Richmond or which may hereafter
be acquired by gift, purchase, condemnation or otherwise for such pur-
pose, either within the corporate limits, or within five (5) miles there-
of ; and to that end the city of Richmond is expressly authorized to ac-
quire by condemnation or otherwise, docks, wharves, canals, approaches
thereto or lands to be used in connection therewith and to control,
operate and maintain the same for such purpose, and in connection
therewith may prescribe and collect reasonable charges from vessels
coming to or using the same, or may lease the use of such landings,
wharves, docks or canals upon such terms and conditions as to them
may seem proper, and may regulate the use of other wharves and land-
ings located within the corporate limits or within five (5) miles there-
of, and shall have power to prevent or remove obstructions from the
harbor of James river and in and upon landings, wharves, docks or
canals and collect the cost of such removal from the person or persons
responsible therefor; and the said city shall be authorized to close or
discontinue the use of any such wharf, landing, dock or canal now
owned or hereafter acquired by the said city, and upon the closing or
discontinuance of such use the same shall thereupon be forever dis-
charged from any public use or easement or from any obligation there-
tofore imposed by reason of such public use or easement, by statute or
otherwise. Provided, that before the dock or any part thereof, con-
veyed by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company to the William
R. Trigg Company, by deed dated the first day of June, nineteen hun-
dred and one, in accordance with the provisions of the act of assembly,
approved February fifteenth, nineteen hundred and one, shall be closed
or filled in, the city of Richmond, at its sole cost and expense, shall
make provisions for disposing of the water required by said act to be
delivered into said dock and shall, at its cost and expense, maintain the
provision so made, and in the event of such abandonment, closing or
discontinuance of the use of such landing, wharf, dock or canal the
said city shall have the right to use or dispose of the land upon which
the said landing, wharf, dock or canal may be located together with all
lands or other rights appurtenant thereto, to the same extent as if the
said landings, wharves, docks, canals or lands, or right thereto belong-
ing had never been charged with any public use or easement. The said
city shall also have the power to improve and keep in good, safe and
navigable condition James river in the corporate limits and within
twenty (20) miles thereof, and to that end, may acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise, all lands or interest therein, deemed necessary by the
council for the improvement of James river and the improvement of
navigation, and in that connection, where deemed desirable, may ac-
quire lands for the construction of canals or the widening of the river,
and may hold such lands for such purpose, or lease, sell or otherwise
dispose of same for the better improvement of James river, the main-
tenance of navigation, and to improve the harbor facilities, and may pro-
vide and operate such connections, by ferries, bridges, or otherwise, as
may be necessary for transportation between the sections of land divided
by such canals. They may also appoint port wardens for the port of said
city, who shall exercise such powers as the council may give them up to
the port warden’s lines, as they may be established from time to time
by the United States government, and fix their fees and compensation.
The city council of said city shall, in addition, have and exercise all the
powers and be charged with all the duties imposed upon it by chapter
one hundred and forty-five of the Code of Virginia, nineteen hundred
and nineteen, as the same now exists or as the same may be hereafter
amended, which powers it may delegate to some proper committee of
persons to be designated by the said council.

Section 23. In every case where a street, alley or other public place
in said city has been or shall be encroached upon by any fence, building,
or otherwise, the city council may require the owner or owners, if
known, and, if unknown, the occupant or occupants of the premises so
encroaching, to remove the same. Pending such removal the council may
charge the owner of the adjoining property so encroaching, compensa-
tion for the use of such portion of the street, alley or other public place
encroached upon, equivalent to what would be the tax upon the land so
occupied if it were owned by the person occupying the same. If such
removal shall not be made within the time ordered by the council, they
may impose a penalty of five dollars for each and every day that it is
allowed to continue thereafter, and may cause the encroachment to be
removed and collect from the owner all reasonable charges therefor,
with costs, by the same process that they are hereinafter empowered to
collect taxes. The said city shall have the right to sue in eyectment to
recover possession of land claimed by it as a public highway.

2. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its
passage.