CHAPTER 106

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 15-862, 15-870, 15-872, 15-876
and 15-888 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, relating to the
county board form of county organization and sh eties

Approved March 4, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 15-362, 15-370, 15-372, 15-376 and 15-383 of the
Code of Virginia of 1950 be amended and reenacted so as to
read as follows:

§ 15-362. Certain counties authorized to adopt county
board form of government.—Any county in the State adjoining
a county in the State having, according to the last preceding
United States census, a density of population of six hundred or
more inhabitants per square mile, and any county in the State
having a density of population, according to such last preceding
census, of five hundred or more inhabitants per square mile of
highland, and any county adjoining three cities in this State,
one of which has a population, according to the last preceding
United States census, of one hundred and ninety thousand or
more, is hereby authorized to adopt the county board form of
county organization and government provided for in the follow-
ing sections of this article, by complying with the requirements
and procedure hereinafter specified.

§ 15-370. Powers and duties of executive secretary.—
(a) * The board of county supervisors may by resolution desig-
nate the. executive secretary as clerk of the board of county
supervisors. In such case and upon the qualification of the
executive secretary authorized by this act, the County Clerk
of such county shall be relieved of his duties in connection with
the board of county supervisors and all of his duties shall be im-
posed upon and performed by the executive secretary. If the board
of county supervisors does not designate the executive secretary
as clerk, the County Clerk or one of his deputies shall attend the
meetings of said board and record in a book provided for the
purpose all of the proceedings of the board, but he shall not be
authorized and required to sign the warrants of the board, tf
iny, such authority being hereby vested in the executive secre-
‘lary; provided, however, the board of county supervisors may
by resolution of record require the County Clerk to sign all war-
rants of the board of county supervisors.

(b) He shall, in so far as he shall be required by the board
f county supervisors, be responsible to the board for the proper
idministration of all affairs of the county which the board has
iuthority to control. He shall keep the board advised as to the
financial condition of the county and shall submit to the board
monthly, and at such other times as may be required, reports
concerning the administrative affairs of the county.

(c) The executive secretary shall, if required by the board
of county supervisors, examine regularly the books and papers
of each department, officer and agency of the county and report
to the board the condition in which he finds them and such other
information as the board may direct.

(d) He shall from time to time submit to the board such
recommendations concerning the affairs of the county and its
departments, officers and agencies as he shall deem proper.

(e) Under the direction of the board of county supervisors,
the executive secretary shall, each year at least two weeks before
the board must prepare its proposed annual budget, prepare and
submit to the board a proposed annual budget for the county;
he shall, in so far as required by the board, see that the budget
as finally adopted is properly executed.

(f) He shall audit all claims against the county, except
those required to be received and audited by the county school
board, and shall present the same to the board of county super-
visors together with his recommendation, and such information
as shall be necessary to enable the board to act with reference
to such claims.

(g) In case the board of county supervisors shall by resolu-
tion of record designate the executive secretary as clerk of the
board of county supervisors, such executive secretary shall have
the following powers, authority and duties: (1) All the powers,
authority and duties vested in the County Clerk as clerk of the
board of supervisors, under general law; (2) To pay, with his
warrant, all claims against the county chargeable against any
fund under the control of the board of county supervisors, other
than the general county fund, when such expenditure is author-
ized and approved by the officer and/or employee authorized to
procure the services, supplies, materials or equipment account-
able for such claims, and after auditing the same as to its au-
thority and correctness; to pay with his warrant all claims
against the county chargeable against the general county fund
where the claim arose out of purchase made by the executive
secretary or for contractual services by him authorized and con-
tracted within the power and authority given him by the board
of county supervisors by resolution; (3) He shall pay with his
warrant all claims against the county authorized to be paid by
the board of county supervisors.

§ 15-872. County school board and division superintendent
of schools.—(a) The county school board and the division super-
intendent of schools shall exercise all the powers conferred and
perform all the duties imposed upon them by general law. |
(b) The county school board shall be composed of (1) not
less that two nor more than six trustees chosen by the board of
county supervisors and (2) from each town within the county
constituting a separate town school district operating under a
town school board, one trustee or member selected annually by
the town school board of such town from its own membership.
If the trustees or members of the county school board first
chosen by the board of county supervisors are three or less in
number they shall all be appointed for terms of four years, and
subsequent appointments shall be for terms of four years each.
If the trustees or members so chosen shall be four or five * in
number, one shall be appointed for a term of one year, one for
a term of two years, one for a term of three years, and so on up
to the number of trustees or members so appointed, and all
subsequent appointments of trustees or members chosen by the
board of county supervisors shall be for terms of such number of
years as there are trustees or members of the board chosen by
the board of county supervisors. All appointments to fill vacan-
cies shall be for the unexpired terms. If the trustees or members
of the county school board first chosen shall be six in number,
two shall be appointed for a term of two years, two for a term
of three years and two for a term of four years, and all subse-
quent appointments of trustees or members chosen by the board
of county supervisors shall be for terms of four years from the
date of the expiration of the term for which said trustee was
appointed. All appointments to fill vacancies shall be made by
the board of county supervisors and shall be for the unexpired
terms

(c) Each trustee or member shall receive as compensation
for his services an annual salary of two hundred and forty dol-
lars, payable in equal monthly installments, and mileage at a
rate not to exceed five cents per mile for each mile of travel by
the most direct route going to and returning from the place of
meeting.

§ 15-376. Purchasing agent.—(a) There shall be in the
county a county purchasing agent. The executive secretary shall,
unless and until the board of county supervisors shall select a
county purchasing agent or designate some other officer to act
as county purchasing agent, exercise all the powers conferred
and perform all the duties imposed upon the county purchasing
agent.

(b) The county purchasing agent shall, subject to such
exceptions as may be allowed by the board of county supervisors,
make all purchases for the county and its departments, officers
and agencies.

(c) He shall also have authority to make transfers of sup-
plies, materials and equipment between, and to sell surplus
equipment, materials and supplies not needed by, the depart-
ments, officers and agencies of the county.

(d) With the approval of the board of county supervisors,
he may establish suitable specifications or standards for all
equipment, materials and supplies to be purchased and inspect
all deliveries to determine their compliance with such specifica-
tions and standards.

(e) All purchases and sales by the county purchasing
agent shall be made under such rules and regulations as the
board of county supervisors shall provide.

(f) The county purchasing agent shall have charge of such
storage rooms and warehouses of. the county as the board of
county supervisors may provide.

(g) This section is, however, subject to the express provi-
sion that the county purchasing agent shall have no authority
to exercise any of the foregoing powers with reference to the
purchase, transfer and sale of equipment, materials and sup-
plies for or belonging to the county school board, or with refer-
ence to storage rooms and warehouses of the county school
board, unless authorized so to do by the county school board,
in which case the clerk of the county school board shall be au-
thorized and empowered to issue his warrants on the school
fund to which the service or purchase for the school board is
chargeable, upon the approval of the county purchasing agent
endorsed on the claim.

§ 15-383. Certain officers not affected.—(a) The follow-
ing officers shall not, except as herein otherwise provided, be
affected by the adoption of the county board form:

(1) Jury commissioners

(2) Notaries Public

(3) County electoral boards

(4) Registrars

(5) Judges and clerks of election

(6) County coroners

(7) Trial Justice; and

(8) Justices of the Peace, except as provided in paragraph
(b) of this section.

(b) In any county which adopts the county board form
there shall be appointed or elected in the manner provided by
law not to exceed one justice of the peace in each magisterial
district; provided that in any magisterial district in which there
is located a beach resort there shall be so elected or appointed
two justices of the peace; in any magisterial] district in which at
the time this form of organization and government is adopted
there is more than one justice of the peace or no justice of the
peace, the judge of the Circuit Court of the county shall appoint
one such justice, who shall hold office until his successor is
elected or appointed and qualified ; the terms of the other justices
of the peace in such magisterial district shall expire when the
appointee takes office. The term “justice of the peace” as used
in this paragraph does not embrace or mean the office of trial
justice or substitute trial justice. Provided, however, that the
Judge of the Circuit Court of any county adopting the county
board form of organization and government may appoint addi-
tional justices of the peace in said districts if it appears to the
judge that such additional justices of the peace in any or all of
said magisterial districts are necessary to serve the public in-
terests. Such additional justices of the peace when appointed
shall be appointed for a term to run concurrently with the term
of those justices of the peace elected by law and to expire at
the same time.

zs 8 & ;

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

passage.