Chap. 17.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 6, 15, and 18 as amended, of
Chapter 69 of the Acts of Assembly of 1922, approved February 25, 1922, which
provided a new charter for the town of Strasburg, the sections relating,
respectively, to mayor and council of town, their powers and duties, plats of
streets and ways, and election, salaries and compensation of certain officers.

[S B 104]
Approved February 18, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections six, fifteen, and eighteen as amended, of chapter
sixty-nine of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred twenty-two, ap-
proved February twenty-five, nineteen hundred twenty-two, be amended
and re-enacted, as follows:

Section 6. The mayor and councilmen of the town shall be clothed
with all the powers and authority of a justice of the peace in civil mat-
ters within the corporate limits of the town and one mile beyond. The
council shall have the authority, however, by a majority vote to designate
and appoint any person residing within the County of Shenandoah, or
who maintains his principal place of business in said county to be the
police judge of the town, and who shall hear and dispose of all violations
of the ordinances of the town within its corporate limits and one nule be-
yond the corporate limits, and of all criminal cases within said territory
and which are within the jurisdiction of such trial officer. Such trial of-
ficer shall be provided with a place within said town to be used in the
trial of such cases and the administration of such office. and he shall hold
office at the pleasure of the council, and he shall subscribe to such oath of
office as other officers of the town subscribed to. All trials held in pursu-
ance to this section shall be held and conducted as criminal cases are
heard and tried by the Trial Justice and State Courts, and appeal shall
be to the Circuit Court of Shenandoah County. The fees in connection
with such cases shall be the same as the fees provided by law for trial
Justices, and all such fees, and all fines imposed by such trial officer, shall
be collected by him and paid into the treasury of the town, unless said
town by ordinance directs some other disposition thereof. The council
may from time to time pass such ordinances as may be necessary to give
this section proper force and effect and prescribe rules of procedure, col-
lection of penalties, costs, et cetera, and provide for a clerk of such court
and the proper records and supplies therefor.

Section 15. Any street or alley reserved in the division or subdi-
vision in the lots of any portion of the territory within the corporate
limits of the town by plat or plan of record, shall be deemed and held to be
a dedication to the uses of the town and general public and this provision
shall apply, through the subdivision of such territory into lots, streets and
alleys, shall have taken place prior to the inclusion of such territory with-
in the corporate limits of the town. Whenever any street or alley within
the town shall have been opened to and used by the public for a period of
five years, the same shall thereby become a public street or alley. And
provided further, that all plats and replats hereafter made subdividing
any land within the corporate limits of the town into streets, alleys, roads,
lots or tracts, shall be submitted to and approved by the council before
the land in question may be so subdivided.

Section 18. There shall be elected by the council at its first meet-
ing in September after its election, or as soon as practicable thereafter, a
treasurer, a town manager, clerk of the council (the town manager and
clerk may be combined in one office), and a town sergeant, whose term of
office shall be co-equal with the time the council appointing same shall
continue in office, unless sooner removed for cause. The salaries and
compensation to be paid such officers, together with their respective du-
Hes shall be fixed by the council. The council may also appoint or elect
such other officers as may be necessary and desirable for the best interest
of the town. All such officers as may be elected or appointed by the coun-
il shall be residents of said town and shall have resided therein at least
hree months prior to their election or appointment, except the town man-
ger.

2. An emergency exists, and this act is in force from its passage.