Chap. 381.—An ACT to amend and re-enact Sections 39, 59, 60, 62, and 64 of an
act entitled “An act to provide a new charter for the City of Lynchburg, Vir-
ginia.”, approved March 21, 1928, as heretofore amended. [H B 419]

Approved March 28, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections tHirty-nine, fifty-nine, sixty, sixty-two, and sixty-
four 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
that said amended sections shall read‘as follows:

Section 39. There shall be a police department and a fire depart-
nent, which may be incorporated into one department known as the ‘‘de-
yartment of public safety”, with the director therefor to be appointed by
he city manager.

First. (a) The city manager shall, through the director of the de-
yartment of public safety, if such department be established, appoint a
thief of police whose duties and bond shall be such as the council may
yrdain. The city manager shall further, on nomination of the chief of po-
ice through the director of the department of public safety, if such of-
fice be established, appoint such number of policemen as may be autho-
rized by the council.

(b) The chief of police and policemen appointed as hereinbefore
provided, shall constitute the police force of the city and shall hold their
respective positions during good behavior or until they are removed by
the city manager.

(c) The police force shall be under the control of the city manager
for the purpose of enforcing peace and executing the laws of the State
and ordinances of the city. It shall perform such other duties as the
council may prescribe. For the purpose of enabling it to execute its du-
ties, every member thereof is hereby made a conservator of the peace
and endowed with the powers of a constable in criminal cases and with
such other powers under the laws of the State as may be necessary to the
discharge of the duties of his office.

(d) The pay of the said police shall be prescribed by the council,
but the uniforms, rules and regulations of said police force shall be pre-
scribed by the city manager, or by the director of public safety with the
approval of the city manager.

Second. (a) The city manager shall, through the director of the
department of public safety, if such department be established, appoint a
chief engineer of the fire department, whose pay, duties and bond shall
be such as the council may ordain. The city manager shall further, upon
the nomination of the chief engineer, appoint such number of firemen as
may be authorized by the council. Vacancies in the force of firemen shall
be filled in like manner. The chief engineer and firemen shall retain
their position during good behavior or until they are removed by the city
manager.

(b) The pay of the said members of the fire department shall be
prescribed by the council, but the uniforms, rules and regulations of said
fire department shall be prescribed by the city manager, or by the direc-
tor of public safety with the approval of the city manager.

Section 59. On the second Monday in December in the year next
after the year in which the real estate shall have been returned delinquent
for taxes thereon for the preceding year, the city collector shall sell, as
hereinafter provided, all real estate embraced in his said list of delinquent
real estate for the said year, on which the leviesefor which the same were
returned delinquent, or any part thereof, may remain unpaid on the day
of sale.

Before making any such sale the collector shall give general notice
thereof by posting a printed list of the real estate to be sold at the front
door of the court house of the corporation court for the city, and he shall
also post a copy of said list at the front door of his office or in the lobby
of the city hall, and shall publish said list in one issue of some newspaper
published in the city, such list to be published and posted at least thirty
days before the delinquent sale.

The list to be so published and posted shall contain the names of the
persons in whose names said real estate was returned delinquent and a
description of the property in the same way it appears on the land books,
and the amount for the satisfaction of which each certain parcel will be
sold, and said list shall have appended thereto a notice to the effect that
each and every parcel of real estate therein contained, or so much there-
of as may be necessary, will be sold at public auction on the second Mon-
day in December of said year, between the hours of ten in the morning
and four in the afternoon, at the front door of the court house of the city,
to satisfy all levies, penalties, interest and charges due thereon, unless the
same shall have been previously paid to the city collector.

The cost of printing and publishing such notices, and all other prop-
er expenses in connection with such sale, shall be apportioned among the
delinquents embraced in said list, according to the amount of levies, penal-
ties, and interest due by them respectively.

If the sale be not completed on the day fixed in said notice, it shall
be adjourned from day to day between the same hours until it shall be
completed.

Section 60. If such taxes, levies, interest, costs, and charges and a
due proportion of said expenses be not previously paid, the collector shall
proceed to make sale of the said several parcels of real estate according
to said notice so published, and sell the several parcels of real estate
separately, or such portion of each as shall be sufficient to satisfy the
taxes, penalties, interest, and costs thereon, including the proportionate
cost of expenses of sale; and the sale may be adjourned from day to day,
and proceed between the hours aforesaid, until it shall be completed.

The city collector, on receipt from the purchaser of the amount of
purchase and also an additional sum of fifty cents as a prerequisite, shall
execute to the purchaser a certificate in which he shall set forth with
reasonable certainty the quantity of land so sold, the land book descrip-
tion of the same, in whose name it was sold, the price paid, and the ag-
gregate amount of taxes, penalties, interest and expenses of sale against
said parcel, and also the fact that the additional sum of fifty cents as a fee
for the certificate was received.

The city collector shall not for himself, either directly or indirectly,
purchase any real estate so sold. If he does, he shall forfeit to the city
fifty dollars for every such purchase, and the purchase shall be absolutely
void.
Section 62. (a) Where sold to city.—In all cases where the city
has become the purchaser of any lot at any such sale as herein provided,
the original owner, or his heirs or assigns, or anyone holding a lien
thereon, may, within two years from the sale, redeem the same by pay-
ing to the collector of the city the amount for which the same was sold,
and such additional taxes thereon as would have accrued to the city had
it not been the purchaser, with interest on such purchase money and
taxes at the rate of six per centum per annum from the time the same
may have or would have been paid, and all costs of sale and also the ad-
ditional sum of fifty cents as a fee for the receipt therefor; and the city
collector upon such payment shall give the party paying the same a re-
ceipt acknowledging receipt of taxes, interests, penalties, and costs, which
receipt shall state the name of the owner in whose name the property was
assessed for the year or years in which sold, the number of the lot, the
feet frontage, the location, the amount of the tax due for each year, the
penalty, interest and costs, and which receipt shall be acknowledged be-
fore a notary public for the purpose of providing for the satisfaction of
the taxes on the delinquent land books and sale books in the clerk’s of-
fice as provided in section sixty-one of this charter.

(b) Where sold to others.—The owner of any real estate so sold to
others than the city, his heirs or assigns, or any person having a right to
charge such real estate for a debt, or any person having interest in said
real estate by way or reversion, remainder or otherwise, may redeem the
same by payment to the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, within two years
from the sale thereof, the amount for which the same was sold (including
the fifty cents fee for a certificate of purchase), and such additional taxes
thereon as may have been paid by the purchaser, his heirs or assigns, with
interest on the purchase money at the rate of six per centum per annum
from the time the same may have been paid, or the same may be paid
within the said two years, to the collector in any case in which the pur-
chaser, his heirs or assigns, may refuse to receive the same, or may not
reside or cannot be found in the city.

Section 64. The purchaser of any real estate sold for taxes and
not redeemed shall, after the expiration of two years from the sale, obtain
from the city auditor a deed conveying the same, wherein shall be set
forth what appears in the auditor’s office in relation to the sale. In no
case shall a deed to any such real estate be made to any such purchaser
until he has paid in full any other delinquent taxes against said real estate
and until after he has given to the person in whose name the real estate so
stood at the time of said sale and to the person to whom said real estate
so sold has been conveyed by record subsequent to the time of such sale,
or if any of said persons be dead, then to his or their personal representa-
tives and heirs or devisees, and to the trustees, mortgagees, and bene-
ficiaries as shown by the records in any deed of trust or mortgage on such
property, or their personal representatives, four months’ written notice
of his said purchase; provided, that no notice need be given to any trus-
tee, mortgagee or beneficiary of a mortgage which has been recorded, or
the lien thereon renewed, more than twenty years prior to the date of such
sale, and the person entitled to redeem the real estate shall have such
right of redemption at any time before the expiration of said four months,
although such time extends beyond the two years mentioned herein. Such
notice to any person entitled to redeem, who is a resident of Virginia,
shall be served by an officer authorized to serve process without the nec-
essity of court procedure. Where, however, one or more persons entitled
to redeem are non-residents of the State, or where diligence has been used
by and on behalf of the purchaser to ascertain in what county or corpora-
tion such persons are, without effect, or where a copy of the notice has
been twice delivered to the proper officer of the county or city in which
he resides without being executed, or where the names of persons who
may be interested in said real estate are unknown, the purchaser may file
a petition in any court of record for the city, in which petition shall be set
forth the facts relating to his purchase, and the person or persons, known
or unknown, who are or may be entitled to redeem shall be made parties
defendant to the proceeding. After the filing of the petition, on affidavit
by the purchaser setting forth the reason or reasons why personal service
of notice could not be had and also setting forth the last known post office
address of any person entitled to redeem, or that such address is un-
known, an order of publication may be entered by the court, or clerk
thereof, against such parties. The object of the proceedings shall be to
give notice to parties who are or may be entitled to redeem the real estate
from the purchaser, and to determine whether any party claiming the
right to redeem is in fact so entitled. The order of publication shall di-
rect such parties, including unknown parties, if any there be, to appear
within four months after due publication thereof and do what is necessary
to protect their interests. It shall be published once a week for four suc-
cessive weeks in some newspaper published in the city, and shall be posted
by the clerk at the front door of the court house wherein the court is
held, on or before the first day of the next term of court. The clerk shall
also mail a copy thereof to each party whose address 1s stated in said af-
fidavit directed to the post office address as stated therein, and file an af-
fidavit stating the fact of such publication, posting and mailing of the pa-
pers in the proceeding.

When such order shall have been published as heretofore provided,
if the defendants against whom it is published shall not appear within four
months after the completion of the expiration of the four weeks required
for the completion of such publication, the proceeding may be tried or
heard as to them, and no other publication or notice shall thereafter be
required. Any party having the right to redeem and who desires so to
do may, within the time limit hereinbefore provided, file an answer to
said petition setting forth the facts on which his right to redeem is based.
If on the trial the court adjudicates that such person is entitled to redeem,
an order shall be entered providing for such redemption on the payment
to the purchaser of the amount set forth in section sixty-two (b) hereof,
and, in addition, the costs of the proceeding. In the event, however, that
no party shall appear, or in the event that any party appears and upon
trial the court adjudicates that such party is not entitled to redeem, the
court shall enter an order directing the auditor to convey the property to
the purchaser. An appeal shall lie from the judgment of said court to
the Supreme Court of Appeals in the same manner as provided by law for
appeals in civil cases. |

When any purchaser has assigned the benefit of his purchase, the
deed may, with his assent, evidenced by his joining therein, or by writing
annexed thereto, be executed to his assignee. If the purchaser shall have
died, his heirs or assigns may move the corporation court of said city to
order the auditor to execute a deed to such heirs or assigns. Such deed
shall be executed in the name of the city by the auditor, under the seal
attested by the treasurer, and shall be with special warranty. For each
deed the auditor shall be paid by the purchaser one dollar.