Chap. 278.—An ACT to amend and re-enact section 38 of an act entitled an act

to provide a new charter for the city of Lynchburg, Virginia, approved March

21, 1928, as heretofore amended, defining the powers of the council of said

city and relating to when certain ordinances shall be published and take

effect. [H B 347]
Approved March 28, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion thirty-eight of an act entitled an act to provide a new charter for
the city of Lynchburg, Virginia, approved March twenty-first, nineteen
hundred and twenty-eight, as heretofore amended, be amended and
re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 38. The council shall have all the general powers vested
in it by the Constitution and laws of the State, and it shall have power
to enact ordinances providing for the exercise within its jurisdiction
of all police powers which the State itself may exercise under the
Constitution, except such as may be specially denied cities by act of
the General Assembly; and shall further have power:

First. To control and manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of the
city, and all property, real and personal, belonging to the city, and
make such ordinances, orders and by-laws, relating to the same as it
may deem proper and necessary; and to provide for group, life, health,
and accident insurance on the lives and persons of the weekly payroll
or salaried employees of the city on such terms as it may deem proper.
and to make appropriation out of the city treasury to cover such por-
tion of the cost of such insurance as it may deem wise and proper

Second. To purchase, hold, sell and convey all real and persona
property necessary for its uses and purposes.
Third. To establish markets in the city and regulate the same, and
to enforce such regulations in regard to the keeping and sale of fresk
meat, vegetables, eggs, and other green groceries, and the trade of
hucksters and junk dealers, as may be deemed advisable.

Fourth. To erect in or near the city limits suitable workhouses.
houses of correction or reformation, and houses for the reception and
maintenance of the poor and destitute. It shall possess and exercise
exclusive authority over all persons within the limits of the city re-
ceiving the benefits of the poor law; appoint officers and other persons
connected with any institution or house which it may establish, and
regulate pauperism within the limits of the city, and the council,
through a board of overseers of the poor, or such other agencies as
it may appoint for the direction and management of the poor of the
city, shall exercise the powers and perform the duties vested by law
in overseers of the poor.

Fifth. To erect and keep in order all necessary public buildings;
to establish and regulate public squares, airports, playgrounds, and
parks in or near the city, and to acquire by purchase, condemnation,
or otherwise, the land it may deem necessary for such uses, and to
construct in such public squares, playgrounds or parks, as it may
maintain, or upon any city property, stadiums, swimming pools, and
recreation or amusement buildings, structures, or inclosures of every
character, refreshment stands, restaurants, et cetera; to charge for
admissions, and use of the same, and to rent out or lease the privileges
of construction or using such swimming pools, recreation or amuse-
ment building, structures or inclosures of every character, refreshment
stands or restaurants, et cetera.

Sixth. To establish, maintain and enlarge water works or gas works
within or without said city; to contract with the owners of land, water
and riparian rights, for the use or purchase thereof, or to have the
same condemned for the location or enlargement of said works, or
the pipes and fixtures thereof, and to acquire by purchase or condemna-
tion such quantity of the watershed land adjacent to the intake or source
of supply, as in the judgment of the said council may be necessary to
insure a sufficient supply of water for said city, and to protect the
same from pollution; to acquire by purchase or condemnation from
lower riparian owners the right to divert streams into the present or
any future reservoir; to prevent the throwing of filth or offensive
matter in James river within six miles of the city limits, and to pro-
tect said water supply, works, pipes, reservoirs and fixtures, whether
within or without the city, against injury and pollution, by appropriate
ordinances and penalties, to be enforced as are other ordinances of
said city.

Seventh. To establish or acquire by purchase and to maintain and
operate within or without the corporate limits suitable works for the
generation of electricity for illumination or other purposes, and to
supply the same to consumers in or near the city at such price and
on such terms as it may prescribe, and to that end may contract with
owners of land and water power for the use thereol, or may have
the same condemned.

Eighth. To establish, or acquire by purchase, such other public
utilities, abattoirs and other enterprises, either within or without the
city, as may in its judgment be in the public interest, and to that end
may contract with owners of land, with or without buildings, for the
use or the purchase thereof, or may have the same condemned.

Ninth. To take care, supervision and control of streets, squares and
commons, and to close, vacate, abandon, extend, widen, narrow, lay
out, pave, graduate, improve and otherwise alter the streets in said
city; have the streets properly lighted and kept in good order; make
or construct sewers or public ducts through the same wherever else
they may deem expedient; build bridges in or culverts under said
streets or alleys, prevent or remove obstructions or encroachments
over, under or in the same; plant shade trees along the same, and pre-
vent the cumbering of streets, alleys, walks, public squares, lanes or
bridges in any manner whatever. }

Tenth. To permit railroads to be built and to determine and desig-
nate the route and grade thereof; to permit poles for electrical, tele-
phone, or telegraph purposes to be erected, gas and stream pipes and
conduits for wires to be laid in the streets, and to prescribe an annual
license charge for the privileges granted hereunder; and to levy an
annual inspection charge upon all such poles, pipes and conduits; to
regulate the speed of engines and cars upon the railroads within the
city, and to wholly exclude the same where the welfare of the city
may demand it.

Eleventh. To provide for the weighing of hay, fodder, oats and
shucks or other long forage, ice, coal and live stock, and the meas-
uring of wood and lumber.

Twelfth. To require every merchant or trader in property of any
description which is sold by measure or weight, to have his weights
and measures sealed by the city sealer, or other officer designated to
perform such duties.

Thirteenth. To provide for aid in the support or maintenance of
public free schools; to appoint the school board for the city, and to
designate the age of pupils to be admitted into the public schools and
the grade of such schools. |

Fourteenth. To grant aid to military companies and to contribute
to the support of a band maintained within the city, to associations for
the advancement of agriculture or the mechanic arts, to scientific,
literary, educational or benevolent organizations or institutions and to
public libraries, provided such action is not prohibited by the Consti-
tution of the State, and that all such societies, organizations or insti-
tutions be located in or near the city, and provided further that no
appropriation for any such purposes shall be made, nor shall aid be
otherwise granted through exemption from charge for use of water ot
light facilities or otherwise, either with or without charge, beyond the

city limits, unless two-thirds of all the members elected to the council
vote therefor.
Fifteenth. To secure the inhabitants from contagious, infectious or
other dangerous diseases ; to establish a quarantine ground; to provide
and maintain hospitals; to compel the removal of patients to same; to
appoint and organize a board of health or a department of public wel-
fare; to define its duties, and grant to it the necessary authority effec-
tually to discharge them.

‘Sixteenth. To provide for the registration of births in the city,
and to that end may require physicians, midwives, or parents to report
the same to the board of health or department of public welfare under
such regulations as it may deem proper.

Seventeenth. To provide in or near the city lands to be used as
burial places for the dead, to improve and care for the same and the
approaches thereto, and to charge for and regulate the use of ground
therein; to prohibit the burial of dead within the city and to regulate
public cemeteries, and to require the return of bills of mortality by the
keepers of all cemeteries in or near the city.

Eighteenth. To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within the city, or upon property owned by the city beyond its limits,
at the expense of the person or persons causing the same, or of the
owner or occupant of the ground or premises whereon the same may
be; to require all lands, lots and other premises within the city to be
kept clean, sanitary and free from weeds or to make them so at the
expense of the owners or occupants thereof; to regulate or prevent
slaughter houses or other noisome or offensive business within the said
city; the keeping of animals, poultry or other fowl therein, or the
exercise of any dangerous or unwholesome business, trade or employ-
ment therein; to regulate the transportation of all articles through the
streets of the city; to compel the abatement of smoke and dust; to
prevent unnecessary noise therein; to regulate the location of stables
and the manner in which shall be kept and constructed; to provide
means for and to regulate the cleaning of all dry closets and to assess
against the owner or occupant of the premises on which the same is
located a reasonable charge therefor, which shall be collectible as any
other city taxes, and generally to define, prohibit, abate, suppress and
prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, safety, comfort,
convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the city.

Nineteenth. To authorize and regulate the erection of party walls
and fences, and to prescribe how the cost thereof shall be borne by
co-terminous owners.

Twentieth. To direct the location of all buildings for storing ex-
plosives or combustible substances ; to regulate the sale and use of gun-
powder, nitro-glycerine, fireworks, kerosene oil or other like material;
to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of firearms and the
making of bonfires in the streets and yards.

Twenty-first. To prevent fowls and animals being kept in or run-
ning at large in the city, and to subject the same to such taxes, regu-
lations and confiscations as it may think proper.

Twenty-second. To prevent the riding or driving of horses or other
animals at improper speed; to regulate the use of automobiles and
other automotive vehicles upon the streets in accordance with law; to
prevent the flying of kites, throwing of stones, or engaging in any sort
of employment in the public streets which is dangerous or annoying
to passersby, and to prohibit and punish the abuse of animals.

Twenty-third. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants and
mendicants.

Twenty-fourth. To prevent vice and immorality ; to preserve public
peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and dis-
orderly assemblages ; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gaming houses
and gambling devices of all kinds; to prevent lewd, indecent and dis-
orderly conduct or exhibitions in the city, and to expel therefrom per-
sons guilty of such conduct who have resided therein less than one
year.

Twenty-fifth. To prevent the coming into the city of persons having
no ostensible means of support, or of persons who may be dangerous
to the peace and safety of the city, and for this purpose may require
any railroad company bringing such passengers into the city to enter
into bond, with approved security, that such persons shall not become
chargeable to the city for one year, or may compel such company to
take them back from whence they came, or compel such persons to
leave the city if they have been in the city more than six months
before the order is given.

Twenty-sixth. To regulate and control auction sales, livery stables,
garages, gasoline filling stations, slaughter houses, theatrical perform-
ances or other public shows or exhibitions, the hiring or use for pay
of carriages, carts, wagons and drays, automobiles and other automo-
tive vehicles, and the business of hawkers, peddlers, persons selling
goods by sample, persons keeping billiard tables, tenpin alleys and pistol
galleries for profit, and all other similar businesses and occupations and
employments, and as to such trades, occupations and employments, and
any other of a like nature, may grant or refuse license as it may deem
proper.

Twenty-seventh. To compel persons sentenced to confinement in the
jail of the city for petty larceny or other misdemeanor or other viola-
tions of the city ordinances to work on the public streets, parks or
other public works of the city or on the city farm, or be sent to the
poorhouse, there to perform such labor as the overseers of the poor or
officer having charge of such department may direct; and on the requi-
sition of the judge of the municipal court it shall be the duty of the
sergeant of the city to deliver such person to the duly authorized agent
of the city for such purposes from day to day as he may be required.

Twenty-eighth. To divide the administrative work of the city into
such departments as the council, in its judgment, may deem proper
and to appoint a city engineer, city surveyor, city electrician, a collector
of city taxes, a city attorney and an auditor, and such other officers and
employees as it may deem proper and necessary, and to prescribe their
respective powers and duties, terms of office and compensation; and
all such officers may have such assistants and clerks as the council may
approve. Any office which the council has the power to fill by appoint-
ment or election it may abolish or declare vacant at any time whether
the term of office of the incumbent has expired or not; and it may
likewise at any time consolidate any such office with any other of the
offices that the council has the power to fill by election or appointment,
or it may consolidate any such office with any office to which the
incumbent is elected by the voters of the city, provided that the fire
and police departments shall not be abolished. When a vacancy occurs
in any office to which the incumbent is elected by the council, the council
is empowered to fill the vacancy, and when such vacancy occurs other-
wise than by the regular expiration of the term of the incumbent the
election shall be only for the unexpired term.

Twenty-ninth. To change the boundaries of wards and increase
the number thereof.

Thirtieth. To give names to or alter the names of streets.

Thirty-first. To make such regulations and orders as will protect
its citizens from unsafe houses or walls, and to that end it shall have
power to cause to be condemned and take down any such building or
wall, but no such condemnation shall be made or such house or wall
taken down until the owner thereof, or in case of an infant or insane
person, his guardian or committee, be duly summoned before the board
of officers of the city, or the committee of the council thereof charged
by the ordinances with such duty, and allowed reasonable opportunity
to show cause against such action. .

Thirty-second. To provide for the regular and safe construction
of houses in the city for future, and to provide a complete building
code for the city, and to provide setback lines on the streets beyond
which no building may be constructed.

Thirty-third. To designate and prescribe from time to time the
parts of the city within which no buildings of wood shall be erected,
and to regulate the construction of buildings in the city so as to pro-
tect it against danger from fire; and to enact an ordinance dividing the
city into zones under the provisions of the State law; and to provide
for a city planning commission and define its powers.

Thirty-fourth. To provide any penalty for the violation of any
city ordinance, not exceeding three hundred dollars, or three months’
imprisonment in the city jail, or both.

Thirty-fifth. To pass all by-laws, rules and ordinances not repug-
nant to the Constitution and laws of the State which it may deem
necessary for the good order and government of the city, the manage-
ment of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace, comfort,
convenience, order, morals, health and protection of its citizens or
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 said city, or in the council, court or officers thereof, or which
may be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

- Thirty-sixth. To provide for the due publication in the newspapers
or otherwise of its ordinances and resolutions.

Thirty-seventh. To contribute funds or other aid to the building
or improvements of permanent public roads leading to the city, or of
bridges on such roads, or to the purchase of bridges on such roads
by an affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the members elect of
the council, provided that no such appropriation shall be made toward
the building, purchase, or improvement of any road or bridge at a
point more than forty miles beyond the corporate limits of the city
measured along the route of such road. .

Thirty-eighth. No ordinance or section of ordinance, hereafter
passed or amended by the council for the violation of which any
penalty is expressly imposed in the ordinance or section of ordinance
as passed shall take effect until the same shall have been published
for five days consecutively in one of the daily newspapers of the said
city to be designated by the city council; provided, however, that this
requirement as to publication shall not apply to an ordinance merely
granting to a person some individual right or privilege, nor to any
ordinance re-ordained or amended in or by a compilation or codification
of said ordinances, nor to the amendment of any ordinance, or section
thereof, where no specific penalty for the violation thereof is provided
in the ordinance or section of ordinance as amended or re-enacted,
where the penalty for the violation of such ordinance or section of
ordinance so amended and re-enacted is only the penalty imposed by
the general ordinances of the city for the violation of any ordinance
of the city, or is only the penalty imposed for violation of any of the
provisions of an ordinance, where only one or more of the sections of
said ordinance are so amended or re-enacted.

The record or entry made by the clerk of said city, or a copy of
such record or entry duly certified by him, shall be prima facie evi-
dence of the fact and time of such publication; and all laws, regula-
tions and ordinances of the city council may be read in evidence in
all courts of justice and all proceedings before any officer, body or
board in which it shall be necessary to refer thereto, either from a
copy thereof certified by the clerk of said council or from the volume
or ordinances printed by authority of the city council.

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