Chap. 6.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22
and 27, of an act entitled ‘An act to provide a charter and special form of
government for the city of Norfolk and to repeal the existing charter of said city,
approved March 14, 1906, and the several acts amendatory thereof, approved
respectively March 12, 1908, March 14, 1908, March 7, 1912, March 13, 1912,
March 13, 1914, March 17, 1914, March 24, 1914, March 25, 1914, March 25,
1914, February 5, 1915, March 4, 1916, March 11, 1916, March 16, 1916, March
17, 1916, March 20, 1916, March 20, 1916, March 20, 1916, and all other acts
and parts of acts inconsistent with this act so far as they relate to the said city
of Norfolk,’’ approved February 7, 1918, as heretofore amended, and to pre-
scribe the conditions upon which this act shall become effective, in whole or in
part. [H B 14]

Approved February 7, 1940

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That
sections three, five, six, seven, fourteen, fifteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty-one, twenty-two and twenty-seven, of an act entitled ‘‘An
act to provide a charter and special form of government for the city
of Norfolk, and to repeal the existing charter of said city, approved
March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six, and the several acts
amendatory thereof, approved respectively March twelfth, nineteen
hundred and eight, March fourteenth, nineteen hundred and eight,
March seventh, nineteen hundred and twelve, March thirteenth,
nineteen hundred and twelve, March thirteenth, nineteen hundred
and fourteen, March seventeenth, nineteen hundred and fourteen,
March twenty-fourth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, March twenty-
fifth, nineteen hundred and fourteen, March twenty-fifth, nineteen
hundred and fourteen, February fifth, nineteen hundred and fifteen,
March fourth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, March eleventh, nine-
teen hundred and sixteen, March sixteenth, nineteen hundred and
sixteen, March seventeenth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, March
twentieth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, March twentieth, nineteen
hundred and sixteen, and March twentieth, nineteen hundred and
sixteen, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act
so far as they relate to the said city of Norfolk,’’ approved February
seventh, nineteen hundred and eighteen, as heretofore amended, be
amended and re-enacted, so as to read as follows:

DISTRICTS

Section 3. Wards.—Wards and Ward Lines are abolished. In
order, however, to guard against the possibility that all of the council-
men hereinafter provided for may at any one time reside in the same
section or locality, and for the purposes of section five and related
sections of this charter, the city is hereby divided into four districts
as follows:

DISTRICT NUMBER ONE

District number one shall be that part of the city of Norfolk lying
and embraced within the territorial limits of the following voting
precincts of said city as same existed on the first day of January,
nineteen hundred and forty:

Precincts ‘First’, ‘“Second”’, “Third”, ‘‘Fourth’’, ‘Fifth’, “Sixth
and Seventh’, ‘Eighth and Ninth”, ‘Tenth and Eleventh”, ‘“Twenty-
first’’, ‘‘Thirty-first”’ and ‘‘Thirty-second”’.

The foregoing shall be considered as a territorial delineation of
said district and shall so remain and constitute said District Number
One regardless of any future renumbering, dividing, combining or
other subsequent change in said precincts’ designations.

DISTRICT NUMBER TWO

District Number Two shall be that part of the city of Norfolk lying
and embraced within the territorial limits of the following voting pre-
cincts of said city as same existed on the first day of January, nineteen
hundred and forty:

Precincts ‘‘Twelfth’’, ‘‘Thirteenth’, ‘‘Fourteenth’, ‘Fifteenth’,
“Sixteenth”, “Sixteenth A’’, ‘Seventeenth’, ‘Eighteenth’, “Nine-
teenth” and ‘‘Nineteenth A’’.

The foregoing shall be considered as a territorial delineation of said
district and shall so remain and constitute said District Number Two
regardless of any future renumbering, dividing, combining or other
subsequent change in said precincts’ designations. |

DISTRICT NUMBER THREE

District Number Three shall be that part of the city of Norfolk
lying and embraced within the territorial limits of the following voting
precincts of said city as same existed on the first day of January,
nineteen hundred and forty:

Precincts ‘‘Twentieth’, ‘“Twenty-second”’, ‘“Twenty-third”,
“Twenty-fourth”, ‘“Twenty-fifth” and ‘“Twenty-fifth A”’.

The foregoing shall be considered as a territorial delineation of said
district and shall so remain and constitute said District Number Three
regardless of any future renumbering, dividing, combining or other
subsequent change in said precincts’ designations.

DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR

District Number Four shall be that part of the city of Norfolk lying
and embraced within the territorial limits of the following voting pre-
cincts of said city as same existed on the first day of January, nineteen
hundred and forty:

Precincts ‘“Twenty-sixth’’, ‘‘Twenty-seventh’”’, “‘Twenty-seventh
A”, “Twenty-eighth’, ‘“Twenty-eighth A”, “Twenty-ninth”’, and
“Thirtieth’”’.

The foregoing shall be considered as a territorial delineation of said
district and shall so remain and constitute said District Number Four
regardless of any future renumbering, dividing, combining or other
subsequent change in said precincts’ designations.

COMPOSITION OF COUNCIL

Section 5. Until the first day of September, nineteen hundred and
forty, the council shall consist of five members as provided by this
section before the effective date of this amendment. From and after
the first day of September, nineteen hundred and forty, the council
shall consist of nine members; five of whom shall be elected by the
qualified voters of the whole city on a general ticket at large and shall
serve for a term of four years from the first day of September next
following the date of their election and until their successors shall have
been duly elected and qualified; one of whom shall reside in and be
elected by the qualified voters of District Number One, as defined in
section three of this charter, and shall serve for a term of four years
from the first day of September, next following the date of his election
and until his successor shall have been duly elected and qualified; one
of whom shall reside in and be elected by the qualified voters of Dis-
trict Number Two, as defined in section three of this charter, and shall
serve for a term of four years from the first day of September, next
following the date of his election and until his successor shall have been
duly elected and qualified; one of whom shall reside in and be elected
by the qualified voters of District Number Three, as defined in section
three of this charter, and shall serve for a term of four years from the
first day of September, next following the date of his election and until
his successor shall have been duly elected and qualified; one of whom
shall reside in and be elected by the qualified voters of District Number
Four, as defined in section three of this charter, and shall serve for a
term of four years from the first day of September, next following the
date of his election and until his successor shall have been duly elected
and qualified; provided, however, that the three councilmen in office
on the effective date of this act whose terms of office expire on Sep-
tember first, nineteen hundred and forty-two, shall continue in office
until the expiration of their terms; and provided further, that at the
regular municipal election for the election of councilmen to be held on
the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and forty and every
four years thereafter there shall be elected for a term of four years by
the qualified voters of said city two candidates without regard to the
place of their residence, and at said elections there shall also be elected
for a term of four years by the qualified voters of the respective dis-
tricts one candidate residing in District Number One, as defined in
section three of this charter; one candidate residing in District Number
Two, as defined in said section; one candidate residing in District
Number Three, as defined in said section; and one candidate residing
in District Number Four, as defined in said section.

At the regular municipal election for the election of councilmen to
be held on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred and forty-
two and every four years thereafter there shall be elected for a term of
four years by the qualified voters of said city three candidates without
regard to place of their residence.

At each regular municipal election at which only councilmen are to
be elected without regard to the place of their residence, the names of
the candidates shall appear on the ballots under the designation of
“Councilmen at Large’. At every such election at which councilmen
are to be elected without regard to their place of residence, and also
from districts, the names of candidates for election without regard to
the place of their residence shall appear on the official ballot for such
election under the designation of ‘“‘Councilmen at Large’’, and the
names of the candidates from the several districts shall be grouped only
on the ballot of the respective district for which they have filed and in
which they respectively reside under the designation of ‘District
Councilman’. Such ballot shall bear a notation or direction sub-
stantially as follows: ‘“‘vote for two (or three, as the case may be)
candidates at large and one from the district’’, (if such are also to be
elected).

The two (or three, as the case may be) candidates at large receiving
the highest number of votes in said election of all such candidates shall
be declared elected; of the candidates from the several districts, the
candidates from each of such districts who shall receive the highest
number of votes cast in such district shall be declared elected.

The council shall be a continuing body and no measure pending
before such body shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the ex-
piration of the term of office or removal of the members of said body
or any of them; nor shall any resolution or ordinance of the council
which has been adopted in accordance with the requirements of this
charter be deemed invalid by reason of any vacancy or vacancies in the
office of councilman existing at the time such resolution or ordinance
was adopted.

Any councilman elected from a district who shall remove from such
district shall thereby vacate his office.

QUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS; CONDUCT OF
CANDIDATES

Section 6. Subject to the provisions of section five of this charter
relating to the election of candidates from districts, any person qualified
to vote in said city shall be eligible to the office of councilman therein.
No candidate for the office of councilman shall promise any money,
office, employment, or other thing of value, to secure a nomination
or election, or expend in connection with his candidacy any money
except as permitted by the general election laws of the State; and any
such candidate violating this provision shall be guilty of a misde-
meanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceed-
ing six months, or both, and shall forfeit his office, if elected; in which
event, the person receiving the next highest number of votes, who has
not violated the said provision, shall be entitled to said office.

VACANCIES

Section 7. Any vacancy in the council, except as otherwise pro-
vided in this charter, shall be filled by the remaining members. No
person shall be deemed to be elected unless he shall have received at
least five votes in his favor. If by reason of resignation, death, or
other circumstance, except in the case of vacancies resulting from a
recall election, five or more vacancies exist or occur at the same time
in said council, then the members of the board of sinking fund com-
missioners, and the members of the civil service commission shall at
once convene in joint session, a majority of each of said boards being
required to constitute such joint board, and by a majority vote of the
members of said joint board present forthwith make such number of
appointments as may be necessary to constitute a council of five quali-
fied members, which five members shall at once proceed to fill the
remaining vacancies, as herein provided. And if in any case the council
shall fail to fill a vacancy therein for a period of thirty days, after the
happening of the same, such vacancy shall be filled by said joint board
as provided herein. The city clerk shall act as the clerk of the joint
board so constituted, and shall cause his certificate of its action to be
entered on the journal of the council.

The foregoing provisions of this section are subject to the further
provision, that, any vacancy resulting from a recall election shall be
filled in the manner provided in such case, and also subject to the
further provision that any person elected a member of the council
pursuant to the provisions of this section, as the successor to a council-
man elected from a district, shall be a resident of such district.

LEGISLATIVE PROCEDURE

Section 14. Except in dealing with questions of parliamentary
procedure the council shall act only by ordinance or resolution, which
shall be introduced in writing, and all ordinances except ordinances
making appropriations, or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness
or issuance of bonds or other evidences of debt, shall be confined to one
subject, which shall be clearly expressed in the title. Ordinances mak-
ing appropriations or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness or
the issuance of bonds or other obligations and appropriating the money
to be raised thereby shall be confined to those subjects respectively.
Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the council from author-
izing in and by the same ordinance the making of any one public im-
provement and the issue for bonds therefor.

The enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall
be, ‘Be it ordained by the council of the city of Norfolk’’; the enacting
clause of all ordinances submitted to popular election by the initiative
shall be, “Be it ordained by the people of the city of Norfolk.”” No
ordinance, unless it be an emergency measure, shall be passed until it
has been read at two regular meetings, or the requirement of such
reading has been dispensed with by the affirmative vote of seven of the
members of the council. No ordinance or section thereof shall be
revised or amended by its title or section number only, but the new
ordinance shall contain the entire ordinance, or section as revised or
amended. The ayes and noes shall be taken upon the passage of all
ordinances or resolutions and entered upon the journal of the pro-
ceedings of the council, and every ordinance or resolution shall require,
on final passage, the affirmative vote of at least five of the members.
No member shall be excused from voting except on matters involving
the consideration of his own official conduct,.or where his financial
interests are involved.
In authorizing the making of any public improvement, or the
acquisition of real estate or any interest therein; or authorizing the
contracting of indebtedness or the issuance of bonds or other evidences
of indebtedness (except temporary Joans in anticipation of taxes or
revenues); or authorizing the sale of any property or rights in property
of the city of Norfolk, or granting any public utility franchise, privilege,
lease or right of any kind to use any public property or easement of any
description or any renewal, amendment or extension thereof, the coun-
cil shall act only by ordinance; provided, however, that after any such
ordinance shall have taken effect, all subsequent proceedings incidental
thereto and providing for the carrying out of the purposes of such
ordinance may, except as otherwise provided in this charter, be taken
by resolution of the council.

EMERGENCY MEASURES

Section 15. All ordinances and resolutions passed by the council
shall be in effect from and after thirty days from the date of their
passage, except that the council may, by the affirmative vote of seven
of its members, pass emergency measures to take effect at the time
indicated therein. An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health
or safety, or providing for the usual daily operation of a municipal
department in which the emergency is set forth and defined in a pre-
amble thereto. Ordinances appropriating money for any such emer-
gency may be passed as emergency measures, but no measure providing
for the sale or lease of city property, or making a grant, renewal or
extension of a franchise or other special privilege, or regulating the
rate to be charged for its service by any public utility, shall be so passed.

NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES

Section 19. Candidates for the council under the provisions of this
charter shall be nominated only by petition. Any qualified voter of the
city may be nominated as provided herein. Subject to the provisions
of sections twenty and twenty-one hereof, there shall be printed on the
ballots to be used in any municipal election for the election of council-
men, the names of all candidates who have been nominated by petition
as provided herein, and no others. A nominating petition shall conform
substantially to the following requirements:

(a) Such petition shall state the name and place of residence of
each person whose name is presented for a place upon the ballot, and
shall request such person or persons to become a candidate or candi-
dates for the office of councilman for the city of Norfolk, and shall
indicate with respect to each candidate whether he shall be a candidate
at large or from a district, and if the latter, the number of the district.

(b) Such petition for ‘‘councilman at large’’ shall be signed by at
least two hundred and fifty qualified electors of the city; and petition
for “District Councilman’”’ shall be signed by at least one hundrec
qualified electors of that particular district.

(c) Each elector signing a petition may subscribe to one nomina-.
tion for each of the places of councilman at large to be filled at the
ensuing election, and no more; provided further that each elector sign-
ing a petition may subscribe to only one nomination for district
councilman, and that for the particular district in which he may be
eligible to vote. |

(d) Such petition shall not be signed by any elector more than
fifty days prior to the day of such election, and such petition shall be
filed with the clerk of the corporation court of said city not less than
thirty days previous to the day of such election.

ACCEPTANCE

Section 20. Any person whose name has been submitted for
candidacy by any such petition, shall file his acceptance of such candi-
dacy with the clerk of the corporation court of said city at least twenty
days previous to the date of such election, otherwise his name shall
not appear on the ballot. The filing of such acceptance shall be
deemed equivalent to the filing of notice of candidacy under the general
election laws of the State, and no other notice of candidacy need be
given by the person filing the same. No person shall at the same time
be a candidate for a councilman at large and from a district.

BALLOTS

Section 21. (a) The ballots used in all elections provided for in
this charter for the election of councilmen shall be without party
marks or designations; provided, that such ballot shall bear a notation
or direction substantially as provided by section five of this charter.

(b) There shall not be printed on any such ballot the name of
any person who has been nominated, elected or designated for the
office of councilmen by any primary election conducted or held under
the auspices or authority of any political party, faction or combination.

METHOD OF CONDUCTING MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

Section 22. The candidates at large at any regular municipal
election for the election of councilmen, equal in number to the places
to be filled, who shall receive the highest number of votes as such
candidates at such election, shall be declared elected.

Of the candidates from the respective districts at any such election,
the candidate from each district who receives the highest number of
votes cast in said district, shall be declared elected.

In any such election each elector shall be entitled to vote for as
many persons as there are vacancies for councilman at large to be
filled and one district councilman, and no more; and no elector shall
in such election cast more than one vote for the same person.

In counting the vote for councilmen at large any ballot found to
contain more names than the required places to be filled for the office
shall be void as to the election of councilmen at large, but no ballot
shall be void for containing less names than the places required to be
filled.
In counting the vote for candidates from the several districts any
ballot found to contain more than one name for district councilman
shall be void as to that district, but shall not thereby be void as to
councilmen at large.

BALLOTS AND METHOD OF VOTING

Section 27. The ballots at such recall election shall conform to
the following requirements. With respect to each person whose re-
moval is sought, the question shall be submitted:

‘Shall (name of person) be removed from the office of councilman
by recall?”

Immediately following each such question, there shall be printed
on the ballots the following

“T] Yes
C] No”

The squares to be printed in such ballots shall not be less than one-
quarter nor more than one-half inch in size. Any person voting at
any such election shall, as to each question submitted upon which he
wishes to vote, place a check (./) or a cross mark (X or +) or a line
(—) in the square before the appropriate word indicating how he de-
sires to vote. In any such election if the majority of the votes cast on
the question of the removal of any councilman are affirmative, such
councilman shall be deemed removed from office upon the ascertain-
ment and certification of the results of such election by the commis-
sioners of election, and the vacancy or vacancies caused by such recall
shall be filled by the remainder of the council, according to the pro-
visions of section seven of this charter. If, however, an election is
held for the recall of more than four councilmen, candidates to suc-
ceed them for their unexpired terms shall be voted upon at the same
election, and shall be named by petitions signed, dated and verified
in the manner required for petitions presenting the names of candi-
dates for the council at a regular municipal election for the election of
councilmen similar in form to such petitions, and signed by at least
two hundred and fifty qualified voters, and filed with the clerk of the
corporation court of said city at least thirty days prior to the holding
of such recall election; but no such nominating petition shall be signed
or circulated until after the time has expired for signing the copies of
the petition for the recall, and no signatures thereon antedating such
time shall be counted. The person or persons nominated by such
petition shall file with the clerk of the corporation court of the said
city his or their acceptance of such nomination at least twenty days
prior to the date of holding such recall election, and the filing of such
acceptance shall be equivalent to notice of candidacy under the election
laws of the State, and no other notice of such candidacy need be filed.
Any person elected by the council to fill a vacancy caused by the
resignation or recall pursuant to this section of any councilman elected
from a district, shall be a resident of such district. If an election is
held for the recall of more than four councilmen, and any of such coun-
cilmen shall have been elected from a district, then the councilman to
be recalled and the candidate or candidates to succeed such council-
man, who shall reside in the said district, shall be voted upon only by
the qualified electors of such district. In a proceeding for the recall of
more than four councilmen, candidates shall not be named to succeed
any particular councilman, except as to any councilman involved in
such proceeding who has been elected from a district. If such pro-
ceeding involve any councilman elected from a district, and such
councilman shall be removed, the candidate residing in such district
who receives the highest number of votes shall be declared elected to
fill the vacancy. In case any councilman or councilman at large shall
be removed, the candidate or candidates at large receiving the highest
number of votes, equal to the number of such councilmen removed,
shall be declared elected to fill the vacancies.

2. The foregoing provisions of this act shall not become effective
except as hereinafter provided. Ata special election to be held on the
third Tuesday in March, nineteen hundred and forty, the question of
whether the foregoing provisions of this act shall become effective,
shall be submitted to the qualified voters of the city. It shall be the
duty of the regular election officers of the city to cause to be printed
and distributed in the manner prescribed by law for printing and dis-
tributing other ballots the requisite number of ballots, for the sub-
mission of the foregoing question, which ballots shall be separate from
any other ballots if any to be used in said election. The said ballots
shall be in the following form:

[-] For Charter Amendments

[_] Against Charter Amendments

Voters shall vote said ballot by putting a check (4/) or a cross
mark (X or +) or a line (—) in the square opposite the question for
or against which he wishes to vote.

All persons shall be qualified to vote in said dlentinn who shall be
qualified to vote at the regular election to be held in June, nineteen
hundred and forty, or were qualified to vote in the general election in
November, nineteen hundred and thirty-nine.

The said election shall be held and conducted by the election
officials, who shall hold the regular election and the votes shall be
canvassed and returned and the results ascertained, as provided by
law for regular elections. Separate ballot boxes shall be provided in
which shall be deposited the ballots cast on the foregoing questions
and no others.

If a majority of the qualified voters voting at said election shall
vote in favor of the charter amendments then such amendments shall
immediately become effective. If a majority of such voters voting at
such election shall vote against the charter amendments, then none of
the provisions of this act, except that portion of this act numbered
“two” and including this and the other four paragraphs herein set
forth, shall become effective.

3. An emergency existing the next preceding five paragraphs (all
of that portion of this act numbered ‘‘two”’ and providing for a refer-
endum on the charter amendments) of this act shall be in force from
its passage, and the other portions of the said act shall be in force if
and when voted for as therein provided.