Chap. 433.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Section 4 of an act entitled ‘‘An act to
provide a new charter for the town of Waynesboro, Virginia, and to repeal all
acts or parts of acts in conflict therewith.”, approved March 26, 1928, relating
to the powers of the said town, so as to make further provisions with reference
to town cemeteries. [H B 478]

Approved April 2, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sec-
tion four of an act entitled ‘‘An Act to provide a new charter for the
town of Waynesboro, Virginia, and to repeal all acts or parts of acts
in conflict therewith.”’, approved March twenty-sixth, nineteen hund-
red and twenty-eight, be amended and re-enacted so as to read as
follows:

Section 4. Powers of the town of Waynesboro.—In addition to
the powers mentioned in section two hereof, the said town of Waynes-
boro shall have the following powers:

First. To raise annually by taxes and assessments in said town
such sums of money as the council thereof shall deem necessary for
the purposes of said town, and in such manner as said council shall
deem expedient, 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 or local assessments for local improve-
ments and enforce payment thereof, subject, however, to such liml-
tations prescribed by the Constitution of Virginia, as may be in force
at the time of the imposition of such special or local assessments.

Third. To contract debts, borrow money and make and issue
evidence of indebtedness.

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

Fifth. To acquire by purchase, gift, 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, improve, sell, lease, mortgage or pledge the
same or any part thereof, including any property now owned by the
town, except school property, water works or lighting plant, unless it
is submitted to a vote of the people.

Sixth. To acquire, in any lawful manner, for the purpose of
encouraging commerce, manufacture, education, and the building
of homes, lands within and without the town, not exceeding at any
one time one thousand acres in the aggregate, and from time to time to
sell, dispose of, lease, or donate the same or any part thereof for
commercial, industrial, educational, or residential uses and purposes,
including any 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 re-plats subdividing any land within
the town or within one mile of the corporate limits thereof, into streets,
alleys, roads, and lots or tracts shall be submitted to and approved by
the council before such plats or re-plats are filed for record or recorded
in the office of the clerk of the circuit court of the county of Augusta,
Virginia.

Eighth. To construct, maintain, regulate and operate public
improvements of all kinds, including municipal and other buildings,
armories, comfort stations, markets, and all buildings and structures
necessary or appropriate for the use and proper operation of the
various departments of the town; and to acquire by condemnation
or otherwise all lands, riparian and other rights and easements neces-
sary for such improvements, or any of them.

Ninth. To own, operate and maintain water works and 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 watet
supply for said town and of piping or conducting the same; to lay al!
necessary mains; and service lines, either within or without the cor.
porate limits of the said town, and to charge and collect water rent:
therefor; 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 said water supply anc
for protecting the same from pollution; and for this purpose to exercise
full police powers and sanitary patrol over all lands comprised withir
the limits of the watershed tributary to any such water supply wher.
ever 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 pollution 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. For any of the purposes aforesaid said town
may, if the council shall so determine, acquire by condemnation,
purchase or otherwise, any estate or interest in such lands or any of
them in fee.

Tenth. To own, operate, and maintain electric light and gas
works, either within or without the corporate limits of the said town
for the generating of electricity and the manufacture of gas for
illuminating, power and other purposes, and to supply the same,
whether said gas and electricity be generated or purchased by said
town, to its customers and consumers both within and without the
corporate limits of the said town, at such price and upon such terms
as it may prescribe, and to that end it may contract with owners of
land and water power for the use thereof, or may have the same con-
demned, and to purchase such electricity and gas from the owners
thereof, and furnish the same to its customers and consumers, both
within and without the corporate limits of the said town at such price
and on such terms as it may prescribe.

Eleventh. To establish, impose and enforce water, light and
sewerage rates, and rates and charges for public utilities, or other
service, products, or conveniences, operated, rendered or furnished
by the town; and to assess, or to cause to be assessed, water, light and
sewerage rates and charges directly against the owner or owners of
the buildings, or against the proper tenant or tenants; and in event
such rates and charges shall be assessed against a tenant, then the
said council may by an ordinance, require of such tenant a deposit of
such reasonable amount as may be by such ordinance prescribed before
furnishing such services to such tenant.

Twelfth. To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve,
construct, maintain, light, sprinkle and clean public highways,
streets, alleys, boulevards and parkways, and to alter or vacate the
same; to establish and maintain parks, playgrounds, and other public
grounds; to construct, maintain and operate bridges, viaducts, sub-
ways, tunnels, sewers and drains, and to regulate the use of all such
highways, parks, public grounds and works; to plant and maintain or
remove shade trees along the streets and upon such public grounds;
to prevent the obstruction of such streets and highways, abolish and
prevent grade crossings over the same by railroads in the manner
prescribed by general 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 crossings 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; and to regulate the length of
time such crossings may be closed due to any operations of the rail-
roads; to regulate the operations, weight of load, and speed of all
cars and vehicles using the same, as well as the operation and speed
of all engines, cars and trains, or railroads within the town; to regu-
late, limit, restrict, and control the services to be rendered, including
route traversed, and rates charged by buses, motor cars, cabs and
other vehicles for the carrying of passengers and property; to permit
railroads to be built in the streets and alleys, and to determine and
designate the route and grade thereof; and to specify and require the
proper construction and maintenance of the streets between the rails
and on either side thereof for such distances as such streets may be
affected by the construction, operation, repair or maintenance of
such railroads, and to require the reconstruction of so much of said
streets as may be damaged by the removal of such railroads; to permit
or prohibit poles and wires for electric, telephone and telegraph
purposes to be erected and gas pipes to be laid in the streets and alleys,
and to prescribe and collect an annual charge for such privileges,
heretofore or hereafter granted; to require the owner or lessee of any
electric light, telephone or telegraph pole, or poles or wires now in
use or hereafter used, to be placed in conduits underground and
prescribe rules and regulations for the construction and use of such
conduits; to open, lay out, and improve new streets across the track
or tracks, yard or yards, of any railroad in the town, and any such
new or existing street or streets may cross any such track or tracks,
yard or yards, of any railroads in the town, in the discretion of the
council, either at grade, or pass above or below any such existing
structure or structures; provided, that after due notice to such rail-
road company and full opportunity to be heard and after the council
shall have decided whether such crossing shall be made at grade, or
pass above or below any such existing structure or structures, the
plans and specifications for such crossing as the council shall have
determined upon, shall be submitted to the principal agent of such
railroad company in the town, and in the event the town and railroad
company cannot within sixty days thereafter agree upon such plans
and specifications, or cannot agree in regard to the division of the
cost of constructing such crossing, then the town shall submit such
plans and specifications to the State Corporation Commission,
and the State Corporation Commission, after reasonable notice to
such railroad company and after hearing such evidence as either party
may adduce, shall approve, or revise and approve, the plans for such
crossing as the council shall have determined shall be made, or sub-
stitute such other plans or character of crossing, whether at grade,
overhead or underpass, as-the State Corporation Commission may
deem proper under all the facts, circumstances and conditions in
the case the said improvement shall be made by the corporation
whose track is to be crossed and the expense thereof shall be borne
equally by the said corporation and the town, and after such crossing
shall have been constructed, it shall be maintained, within the limits
of the railroad right of way, by such railroad company or by the
lessee thereof; and to do all other things whatsoever adapted to make
said streets and highways safe, convenient and attractive.
Twelve and one-half. To acquire by gift, purchase, exchange
or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain within the State
lands, and any interest or estate in lands, rock quarries, gravel pits
water and water rights and the necessary roadways thereto, eithe
within or without the town, and acquire and install machinery anc
equipment and build the necessary roads or tramroads thereto, and
operate the same for the purpose of producing materials required
for the construction, repair and maintenance of streets, highways
sidewalks, water works, reservoirs, sewers, electric lights, public
buildings, and any and all public purposes; and to acquire by gift.
purchase, exchange, or by the exercise of the power of eminent domain
within the State, lands and machinery and equipment, and _ build
and operate a plant or plants for the preparation and mixing of
materials for the construction of improved streets and other public
improvements, and the maintenance and repair thereof, and to build
and operate coal tipples and yards in connection therewith.

Thirteen. To establish, construct and maintain sanitary sewers,
sewerlines 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, assess, and collect reasonable fees, rentals or assessments or
costs of service for connecting with and using the same.

Fourteen. In connection with the system of sewerage, the town
may continue to use the south branch of the Shenandoah River as
heretofore.

Fifteen. Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia
and of this Charter to grant franchises for public utilities.

Sixteen. To collect and dispose of sewerage, offal, ashes, garbage,
carcasses of dead animals, and other refuse, and to make reasonable
charges therefor; and to acquire and operate reduction or any other
plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials, or any of
them; to contract for and regulate the collection and disposal thereof,
and to require and regulate the collection and disposal thereof.

Seventeen. To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances
within the town or upon property owned by the town 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, and to collect said expense by suit or motion or by distress
and sale; to require all lands, lots and other premises within the town
to be kept clean and sanitary and free from stagnant water, weeds,
ilth and unsightly deposits, or to make them so at the expense of
the owners or occupants thereof, and to collect said expense by suit
9r motion, or by distress and sale; to regulate or prevent slaughter
10uses or Other noisome or offensive business within the said town,
the keeping of hogs or other animals, poultry or other fowl therein,
or the exercise of any dangerous or unwholesome business, trade or
employment therein; to regulate the transportation of all articles
through the streets of the town; to compel the abatement of smoke
and dust, and prevent unnecessary noise; to regulate the location of
stables and the manner in which they shall be kept and constructed ;
to regulate the location, construction and operation and maintenance
of billboards and generally to define, prohibit, abate, suppress and
prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals, aesthetics, safety,
convenience and welfare of the inhabitants of the town; and to require
all owners or occupants of property having sidewalks in front thereof
to keep the same clean and sanitary, and free from all weeds, filth,
unsightly deposits, ice or snow. ,
-Eighteen. To inspect, test, measure, and weigh any commodity.
or article of consumption for use within the town, and to establish,
regulate, license, and inspect weights, meters, measures and scales.

Nineteen. ‘To extinguish and prevent fires and to compel citizens
to render assistance to the fire department in case of need, and to
establish, regulate and control a fire department or division, to regulate
the size, height, materials and construction of buildings, fences, walls,
retaining walls and other structures hereafter erected in such manner
as the public safety and conveniences may require; to remove or
require to be removed or reconstructed any building, structure or
addition thereto, which by reason of dilapidation, defect of structure,
or other causes, may have become dangerous to life or property, or
which may be erected contrary to law; to establish and designate from
time to time fire limits, within which limits wooden buildings shall
not be constructed, removed, added to, enlarged, or repaired, and
to direct any or all future buildings within such limits shall be con-
structed of stone, natural or artificial, concrete, brick, iron or other
fireproof material; and may enact stringent and efficient laws for
securing the safety of persons from fires in halls and buildings used
for public assemblies, entertainments or amusements. ,

Twenty. To charge and to collect fees for permits to use public
facilities and for public service and privileges. _

Twenty-first. To prevent any person having no visible means of
support, paupers and persons who may be dangerous to the peace or
safety of the town, from coming to said town from without the same;
and for this purpose to require the owner of any conveyance other
than a common carrier bringing such person to the town to take such
person back to the place whence he was brought, or enter into bond
with satisfactory security that such person shall not become a charge
upon said town within one year from the date of his arrival; and also
to expel therefrom any such person who has been in said town less
than six months; also to expel from the town all persons found dan-
gerous to the peace, safety and welfare of the town, or any person
who may be advocating the overthrow of the Federal, State or munic-
ipal government by force or violence or inciting the people or any of
them, to riot, or any unlawful effort against the social, governmental,
industrial, educational or moral welfare of the people. ‘

Twenty-second. To provide for the preservation of the general
health of the inhabitants of said town, make regulations to secure
the same, inspect all foods and foodstuffs and prevent the introduc-
tion and sale in said town of any articles or thing intended for human
consumption, which is adulterated, impure or otherwise dangerous to
health, and to condemn, seize and destroy or otherwise dispose of any
such article or thing without liability to the owner thereof; prevent
the introduction or spread of contagious or infectious diseases, and
prevent and suppress disease generally; to provide and regulate
hospitals within or without the town limits, and if necessary to the
suppression of diseases, to enforce the removal of persons afflicted
with contagious or infectious diseases to hospitals provided for them:
to provide for the organization of a department or bureau of health,
to have the powers of a board of health for said town, with the au-
thority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its
duties, with power to invest any or all the officials or employees of
such departments of health with such powers as the police officers of
the town have; to establish quarantine ground within or without the
town limits, and such quarantine regulations against infectious and
contagious diseases as the council may see fit.

Twenty-third. (a) To acquire by purchase, gift, condemnation,
devise or otherwise lands within or without the town to be used as
burial places for the dead, and to take title to same in its own corporate
name.

(b) To take and receive gifts, transfers, bequests, and other
grants or deliveries of sums of money or property to be kept invested
in the manner provided for the investment of trust funds, the income
therefrom to be used for the perpetual care and upkeep of the lot or
plot designated by the person or persons providing such money or
property. Such fund shall be deposited and carried in a special,
separate account to be designated “River View Cemetery Perpetual
Care Fund” and such fund shall not be invested in any notes, bonds,
securities, or other evidence of indebtedness of the town of Waynes-
boro, nor shall any of such funds or the income therefrom be used for
any purpose except in connection with the town’s cemeteries. And
no disposition of money or property for such purpose shall fail by
reason of its having been made in perpetuity, but shall be valid.

(c) There is hereby created a separate and additional department
of the town government to be known as the Cemetery Department.

(d) The town council shall have the right and power to make by
ordinance such rules and regulations for the burial of the dead, the
laying off, assignment and sale of burial lots, the management, care,
preservation and improvement of the grounds, as they may deem
proper, and shall have the right to designate and appoint all cus-
todians of funds and all officers or persons whose duty shall be as
prescribed by the council to secure and provide for the proper man-
agement, care, operation, preservation and maintenance of such
cemetery or cemeteries. And shall have the right to adopt ordinances
of a police nature for protection of such property and prescribe
penalties for the violation thereof. )

(e) The town shall have the right to take and accept legal con-
veyance of title to cemetery property, including real estate, securities,
money and other assets, and thereupon all control by the circuit
court of Augusta county in connection with same shall cease and
determine. .
(f) In any suit brought by the trustees of any cemetery for au-
thority to execute a deed and other transfers of property, real and
personal, to the town of Waynesboro, it shall be legal notice to all
parties in interest if they be proceeded against by publication, whether
resident or non-resident and they shall be proceeded against after the
circuit court of Augusta county shall have directed publication of
such an order once a week for four successive weeks in a newspaper
having general circulation in Augusta County, requiring the parties
to appear within ten days after due publication, and do what may
be necessary to protect their interests.

(g) In addition to the powers herein enumerated in connection
with its cemeteries the town council shall have all the powers prescribed
by general law and vested in cemetery trustees without control by
the circuit court of Augusta County.

Twenty-fourth. To accept and receive, unconditionally or upon
conditions, absolutely or in trust, gifts, grants, bequests and devises
of any kind of property, real or personal, for educational, charitable
or other public purposes; and to do all the things and acts necessary
to carry out the purposes of such gifts, grants, bequests, and devises,
with power to manage, maintain, operate, sell, lease, or otherwise
handle or dispose of the same, in accordance with the terms and
conditions of such gifts, grants, bequests and devises.

Twenty-fifth. To acquire by purchase, gift, devise or condemna-
tion property adjoining its parks, or lots on which its monuments are
located, or other property used for public purposes, or in the vicinity
of such parks, plats or property which is used and maintained in such a
manner as to impair the beauty, usefulness or efficiency of such parks,
plats of public property, and may likewise acquire property adjacent
to any street, the topography of which, from its proximity thereto,
impairs the convenient use of such street, or renders impracticable,
without extraordinary expense, the improvement of the same, and
the town may subsequently dispose of the property so acquired,
making limitations as to the use thereof, which will protect the
beauty, usefulness, efficiency or convenience of such parks, plats and
property.

And when the town proposes to open or widen a street, or change
the channel of a creek, by taking any part of a block or square in such
manner that the value of the property abutting the proposed street
or creek would be injuriously affected, unless the property on such
block or square is replatted and the property line or lines readjusted,
then and in that event the town at the same time it acquires the land
for said street or creek channel, may in its discretion, also acquire by
purchase, gift, condemnation or otherwise, all or any part of the
property on such squares or block and may subsequently replat and
dispose of the property so acquired in whole or in part, making such
limitations as to the uses thereof as it may see fit.

Twenty-sixth. To exercise full police powers and establish and
maintain a department or division of police.

Twenty-seventh. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants
and street beggars; to prevent vice and immorality; to preserve the
peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and
disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame and gambling
houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly exhibi-
tions in said town; and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such
conduct who have not resided therein as much as one year.

Twenty-eighth. To license and regulate the holding and location
of shows, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals and similar shows or
fairs, or prohibit the holding of the same or any of them within the
town, or within one mile thereof. a

Thirty. To establish, maintain and operate a market or markets
in and for said town; to prescribe the times and places for holding the
same; and to make and enforce such regulations as shall be necessary
to prevent huckstering, forestalling or regrating.

Thirty-first. To provide for the development of power and light
and the distribution and sale of same, and to construct, own, maintain,
and operate facilities necessary thereto, and to acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise, within or without the town, land, interest in land,
water, power sites, easements, property, and property rights necessary
for such purpose.

Thirty-second. To do all things whatsoever necessary or ex-
pedient for promoting or maintaining the general welfare, comfort,
education, morals, peace, government, health, trade, commerce, or
industries of the town; or its inhabitants.

Thirty-third. To prescribe any penalty for the violation of any
town ordinance, rule or regulation or of any provisions of this charter,
not exceeding five hundred dollars or twelve months’ imprisonment
in jail or both.

Thirty-fourth. To prohibit and punish for mischievous, wanton
or malicious damage to school and public property as well as private
property.

Thirty-fifth. To prohibit and punish minors from frequenting,
playing in or loitering in any public poolroom, billiard parlor or ten-
pin alley and to punish any proprietor or agent thereof for permitting
same.

Thirty-six. To pass and enforce all by-laws, rules, regulations
and ordinances which it may deem necessary for the good order and
government of the town, the management of its property, the con-
duct of its affairs, the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals,
health and protection of its citizens or their property, and to do such
other things and pass such other laws as may be necessary or proper
to carry into full effect and power, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction,
which is or shall be granted to or vested in said town, or in the council,
court or officers thereof, or which may be necessarily incident to a
municipal corporation.

The town of Waynesboro may maintain a suit to restrain by in-
junction the violation of any ordinance notwithstanding punishment
may be provided for the violation of such ordinance.

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