Chap. 186.—An ACT to provide a new charter for the Town of Clifton, in the
County of Fairfax, Virginia, and to repeal all prior acts and amendments
thereto creating a charter for the said Town. | [H B 287]

Approved March 18, 1938

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, as follows:

Section 1. The town of Clifton, in Fairfax County, Virginia, shall
continue to be a town corporate in the name and style of the town of
Clifton, in Fairfax county, Virginia, and as such shall have and may
exercise the powers and privileges hereinaiter set forth, and all powers
and privileges conferred upon it by this charter and which are now or
may be hereafter delegated to towns in accordance with the Constitution
or laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

~ Section 2. The boundaries of said town shall be as follows, namely :
Beginning at sign post corner Chappel and Main streets in said town.
measuring four hundred and forty yards in opposite directions parallel
with Main and Chappel streets, forming a square of one-half mile on
each boundary, containing one-fourth square mile of territory.

Section 3. (a) Government of said town shall be vested in a town
council, which shall be composed of a mayor and five councilmen, who
shall be residents and qualified voters in said town. The mayor shall
preside at all meetings of the council and in the absence of the mayor,
one of the members of the council, to be chosen by the members present,
shall act as mayor pro tempore and shall be clothed with all the powers
of the regularly chosen mayor during the latter’s absence from the meet-
ing.

(b) The mayor and five councilmen shall be elected on the second
Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight, and every two years.
thereafter, and shall hold office for two years from the first day of Sep-
tember next succeeding their election. The said mayor and five council-
men shall be elected under and pursuant to the provisions of the election
laws of the State of Virginia governing town elections.

(c) The officers aforesaid shall qualify by taking the necessary
oaths of office on or before the first day of September next succeeding
the election, and shall enter upon the duties of their office on the first
day of September next succeeding their election, and shall continue in
office until their successors have qualified.

(d) The council shall appoint a clerk and a town sergeant, and
if they deem it advisable a deputy town sergeant and also a town treas-
urer and such other officers as the council may deem necessary and
proper, all of whom shall hold office at and during the pleasure of the
council, and the said.officers shall qualify and execute bond in the man-
ner prescribed. by resolution of the council, and the council shall have
power to fill the vacancy in any of these offices, and in any other muni-
cipal office. created by death, resignation, semoval or otherwise. The
same person may be appointed town clerk and town treasurer. — -

(e) The town council shall.or, should the town council fail to act,
the mayor shall, not less than five days before any town election, appoint
three judges of election who shall also act as commissioners of election,
and should any judge fail or decline to act, the mayor or town council
may fill such vacancy either on or before the day of election.

(f) The town clerk, who shall also act as the town registrar, shall
before any election in the town register all voters who have acquired a
legal voting residence in the town, and who shall have previously regis-
tered or are entitled to register, as voters in this State under the pro-
visions of the present Constitution and none others, provided, however,
that no person shall be required to register a second time to enable him to
vote in any town election. -

(g) The said town clerk while acting as registrar as aforesaid
shall be governed as to his qualifications and powers and in the per-
formance of his duties by the general laws of this Commonwealth.

(h) Such list of registered voters shall be placed by said registrar
in the hands of the judges of election, who shall at the time and in the
manner prescribed by law open a poll at the place designated by the
proper authority ; and the manner of receiving the ballots and canvassing
the votes, shall be in accordance with the provisions of general law.

(i) Any person who intends to be a candidate for any town office
shall at least ten days before such election notify the mayor or town
clerk in writing, attested by two witnesses, of such intention, designat-
ing the office for which he is a candidate. No person, not announcing
his candidacy as above provided, shall have his name printed, typewritten
or mimeographed on the ballots provided for such election.

(j) The town council shall provide printed, typewritten or mimeo-
graphed ballots for use in all town elections, and such ballots shall
contain the names of all candidates for office in such town elections,
who shall have given written notice hereinbefore provided for; but
any voter may erase any name or names in the ballot voted by him,
and insert another or others therefor, but no other ballot shall be used
in any election than such as are provided by the town council.

(k) The judges shall count the ballots and make duplicate returns
of the result. One of the said returns, with the ballots sealed up, shall
be returned to the mayor or council, and recorded in the record books
of said council; the other shall be returned to the clerk’s office of the
circuit court of Fairfax county. The mayor shall issue to those elected
certificates of election which shall.be countersigned by the town clerk.

(1) The-town council shall except as above provided, judge of the
election, qualification and returns of its members; may fine them for
disorderly behavior, and may, with the concurrence of two-thirds of
all members elected, and after due notice, expel a member.

(m) There shall be an annual meeting of the town council on
the first Tuesday of September in each year, at which time the town
sergeant and treasurer shaH make their annual settlements with the
council, and at the annual meeting next succeeding a town election the
new council shall organize and elect a town clerk, a town sergeant, a
deputy town sergeant if they deem it advisable, and a town treasurer and
such other officers as the town council may deem necessary or proper.

(n) There shall be such other regular and special meetings of the
town council as the by-laws may prescribe, and at all meetings, four
members of the council, of whom the mayor may be one, shall con-
stitute a quorum for the transaction of all business.

Section 4. In so far as not prohibited by general law, the council
of said town shall have all of the general powers vested in it by the
general laws of this State, and shall also have the power to mark the
bounds of existing streets and to widen or narrow, lay out and graduate,
pave and otherwise improve streets and public highways within said
town, to remove obstructions therefrom, and shall also have the power
to pass and enforce all by-laws, rules, regulations and ordinances which
the town council may deem necessary for the government of the town,
the management of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the peace,
order, comfort, convenience, morals, health and protection of its citizens
or their property, or do such other things, adopt any ordinance that
may be necessary or proper to carry into full effect all power, authority,
capacity or jurisdiction which is or shall be granted to or vested in
said town, or in the council or officers thereof, or which may be
incident to a municipal corporation.

Section 5. The said council shall have the power to regulate the
sanitary condition of said town, and to regulate the building and keep-
ing in a sanitary condition all stables, hog pens, privies and slaughter
houses, et cetera, and to abate nuisances at the expense of those who
create them. They shall punish all violations of law by fine or im-
prisonment, or both, at the discretion of the mayor or the trial officer
designated by the council to try such violation, subject to the general
laws of this State and ordinances of said town applicable to said
violations.

Section 6. The corporate limits of said town are hereby created
and declared to be a separate and distinct road district of Fairfax
county, and no road tax shall be levied on any property within said
limits, except by the council of Clifton, which tax shall be expended
within the limits of said corporation for the construction, repair and
improvement of the streets and roads therein, exclusive of the bridge
across Pope’s Head run, under the direction of the town council.

Section 7. The jurisdiction of the corporate authorities of said
town shall extend one mile beyond the limits thereof for imposing and
collecting a license tax upon all shows or performances which may take
place anywhere within said extended limits. ss en we

Section 8. The council of said town shall have the right to impose
a license tax by ordinance and collect the same from business, trades
professions or callings, and upon the persons, firms, associations ot
corporations engaged therein or offering to do business within the
boundaries of said town, whose principal office is or is not located ir
said town, except when prohibited by general law, whether or not a
license may be required therefor by the State, and it may exceed the
State license if any be required. It is the purpose of this section tc
give the council of this town the power to assess, issue a license. or
permit on any or all subjects within its jurisdiction not withheld from
taxation by towns in accordance with the Constitution and general laws
of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Section 9. All the rights, privileges and property of the town
heretofore acquired, now owned or enjoyed, shall continue undiminished
and remain vested in the town; and all laws of the Commonwealth
of Virginia, ordinances, and resolutions of the council now in force
and not inconsistent with this act, shall continue in full force and effect
until repealed by the Commonwealth of Virginia or the council of
the town of Clifton.

Section 10. The enumeration of particular powers and authority
in this charter shall not be deemed or held to be exclusive but in
addition to the powers herein enumerated, implied hereby or appropriate
to the exercise thereof, the said town shall have and may exercise
all other powers which are now or may be hereafter conferred upon
or enjoyed by towns under the Constitution and general laws of this
State.

Section 11. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and the
general laws of this State and the terms of this charter, the town of
Clifton shall have the right and power to grant franchises to public
utilities, persons, firms and corporations.

Section 12. The present town council shall continue in office
through August thirty-first, nineteen hundred and thirty-eight and shall
enjoy all the powers and privileges conferred upon the town council
of the town of Clifton by this act.

Section 13. If any clause, sentence, paragraph or part of this act
shall, for any reason, be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdic-
tion to be invalid, such judgment, order or decree shall not affect, impair
or invalidate the remainder of said act, but shall be confined in its
operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph or part thereof directly
volved in the controversy in which said judgment, order or decree
shall have been rendered.

2. All prior acts and amendments thereto, creating a charter for
he said town, are hereby repealed.

3. An emergency existing, this act shall be in force from its pas-
age.