CHAPTER 413

AN ACT to amend and reenact §§ 5, 14, 15, 20, 22, 27 and 82 of
Chapter 384 of the Acts of Assembly of 1946 approved
March 28, 1946, which provided a new charter for the City
of Charlottesville, as amended, relating to the duties of the
Council, the mayor and city manager of the city; the powers
of taxation thereof; the assessment of real estate for taxa-
tion; the issuance of bonds by the city; the creation of a
floating debt, and borrowing in anticipation of rr eae ;

Approved April 5, 1950

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 5, 14, 15, 20, 22, 27 and 32 of Chapter 384 of the
Acts of Assembly of 1946, approved March 28, 1946, be amended
and reenacted as follows:

§ 5. Elective officers; qualifications; terms; form of gov-
ernment; corporate powers vested in council; salaries of coun-
cilmen and mayor; city manager; director of finance.—(a) The
municipal authorities of the said city shall consist of a council
of five members, one of whom shall be mayor, as hereinafter
set forth, unless and until this form be changed in manner pre-
scribed by law, a clerk of the corporation court, a Common-
wealth’s attorney, a treasurer, a sergeant, a commissioner of
revenue, a civil and police justice, two justices of the peace,
who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the City of Char-
lottesville at elections held at the intervals and on the days pre-
scribed for such elections by the laws of the State. All persons
who are qualified voters of the City of Charlottesville shall be
eligible to any of the said offices. The terms of offices of all of
said officers shall begin and continue for such length of time
as is prescribed by law; provided, that any of said officers shall
be eligible to one or more offices to be filled by the council—that
is to say, that any officer elected by the people may hold office
to which he was elected as well as one or more offices to which
he may be elected or appointed by the council. All the corporate
powers of said city shall be exercised by said council, or under
its authority, except as otherwise provided herein.

(b) The form of government for said city shall be modified
commission plan as follows: All corporate powers, legislative *
and executive authority vested in the City of Charlottesville by
law shall be and are hereby vested in a council of five members
to be elected at large from the qualified voters of the city, except
as hereinafter provided.

(c) Each of said councilmen shall receive an annual salary
of three hundred dollars each (except the president of said
council, who shall be mayor, and shall receive five hundred dol-
lars) from the city for their services.

(d) An election shall be held in the said city pursuant to
law, at the time for the next regular election for councilmen in
June, nineteen hundred and twenty-eight. At said election the
three candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall
hold office for four years and the two receiving the next highest
number of votes, shall hold office for two years. Thereafter the
term of office of the councilmen shall be four years. As
soon as the said councilmen shall qualify, they shall meet and
elect from their number a president, who shall be mayor without
veto power, and who shall preside and also have vote on all
questions.

Said council shall also elect a vice-president. Said council
so composed shall take office on September first, nineteen hun-
dred and twenty-eight.

(e) It shall be the duty of the said council of five members
to immediately elect for a period of two years a business man-
ager, whose title shall be city manager, at the salary to be fixed
by them, who may be removed from office by said council at their
discretion.

(f) * Subject to general control by the council as provided
in subsection (b) hereof, the city manager shall have full execu-
tive and administrative authority and shall have the right to
employ and discharge all employees under his control. * All
departments of city government, including the fire department
and police department, shall be under the general supervision
of the city munager. The city manager shall give a bond for
the faithful performance of his duties in such sum as the council
may require. * Subject to the general power of the council as
provided in subsection (b) hereof and except as the council may
by ordinance otherwise provide, the city manager shall have the
powers vested in city managers by §§ * 15-485 and 15-4386 of
the Code of Virginia and general laws amendatory thereof.

(g) Said council shall elect for a period of two years a
director of finance who shall superintend the fiscal affairs of
the city, and shall manage the same in the manner required by
the council.

In all other respects the said council shall have and be vested
with the same authority heretofore exercised by the council, and
in all other respects their duties and liabilities shall be regulated
by the existing laws, not in conflict herewith.

§ 14. Same— Powers enumerated. — The council of the
city, except as hereinbefore provided, shall have the power within
said city to control and manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of
the city and all property, real and personal, belonging to said city;
they shall have power to provide a revenue for the city, and
appropriate the same to its expenses, also to provide the annual
assessments of taxable persons and property in the city, and it
may make such ordinances, orders, and by-laws relating to the
foregoing powers of this section as it shall deem proper and
necessary. They shall likewise have power to make such ordi-
nances, by-laws, orders and regulations as it may deem desirable
to carry out the following powers which are hereby vested in
them:

First. To close, extend, widen, narrow, lay out, grade, im-
prove and otherwise alter streets and public alleys in the said
city, and have them properly lighted and kept in good order, and
it may make or construct sewers or ducts through the streets or
public grounds of the city, and through any place, or places what-
soever, when it may be deemed expedient by the said council.
The land included in any street that is closed shall revert to the
abutting owners on either side of the same, each receiving one-
half thereof. That is, the new line of each abutter shall be the
middle of the former street. The said council may have over any
street or alley in the street, which has been, or may be ceded to
the city, like authority as over streets or alleys, and may prevent
or remove any structure, obstruction or encroachment over, or
under, or in a street or alley, or any sidewalk thereof.

Second. To prevent the cumbering of the streets, avenues,
walks, public squares, lanes, alleys, or bridges in any manner
whatsoever; to compel the occupant or owner of buildings or
grounds to remove snow, dirt or rubbish from the sidewalks in
front thereof.

Third. To extinguish and prevent fires, prevent property
from being stolen, and to compel citizens to render assistance to
the fire department in case of need, and to establish, regulate and
control a fire department for said city; to regulate the size of
materials, and construction of buildings hereafter erected, in such
manner as the public safety and convenience may require; to re-
move, or require to be removed, any building, structure, or addi-
tion thereto which, by reason of dilapidation, defect of structure,
or other causes, may have, or shall, 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 or
enlarged, and to direct that all future buildings within such limits
shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial, concrete, brick
or iron.

Fourth. To regulate and prescribe the breadth of tires upon
the wheels of wagons, carts, and vehicles of every kind and de-
scription used upon the streets of said city.

Fifth. To provide for the preservation of the general health
of the inhabitants of said city, make regulations to secure the
same, prevent the introduction of spreading of contagious or in-
fectious diseases, and prevent and suppress diseases generally; to
provide and regulate hospitals within or without the city limits,
and to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious
or infectious diseases to hospitals provided for them; to provide
for the appointment and organization of a board of health or
other board to have the powers of a board of health for said city,
with the authority necessary for the prompt and efficient perfor-
mance of its duties, with power to invest any or all the officials or
employees of such department of health with such powers as
the officers of the city have; to regulate the burial, cremation, or
disposition of the dead; to compel the return of births and deaths
to be made to its health department, and the return of all burial
permits to such department.

Sixth. To acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise,
either within or without the city, lands to be appropriated, im-
proved and kept in order as places for the interment of the dead,
and may charge for the use of the grounds in said places of in-
terment, and may regulate the same; to prevent the burial of the
dead in the city, except in public burying grounds; to regulate
burials in said grounds; to require the keeping and return of bills
of mortality by the keepers (or owners) of all cemeteries, and
shall have power within the city to acquire by purchase, condem-
nation, or otherwise, such lands, and in such quantity as it may
deem proper or necessary for the purpose of burying the dead;
provided, however, that no part of such cemeteries, when estab-
lished or enlarged, shall be within one hundred feet of any resi-
dence without the consent of the owner of the legal and equitable
title of such residence, and provided further that the provisions
of Chapter one hundred and seventy-six of the Code of Virginia,
as now existing or hereafter amended, for condemnation of land
thereunder so far as applicable shall apply to condemnation pro-
ceedings by the city hereunder.

The title to any land acquired by condemnation hereunder
shall vest in the City of Charlottesville.

Seventh. To establish a quarantine ground within or with-
out the city limits, and such quarantine regulations against in-
fectious and contagious diseases as the said council may see fit,
subject to the laws of the State, and of the United States.

Eighth. To require and compel the abatement and removal
of all nuisances within the said city, or upon any property owned
by said city, without its limits, at the expense of the person or
persons causing the same, or the occupant or owner of the ground
whereon the same may be; to prevent and regulate slauthter
houses, and soap and candle factories within said city, or the
exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business, trade
or employment therein; to regulate the transportation of all
articles through the streets of the city; to compel the abatement
of smoke and dust; to regulate the location of stables, and the
manner in which they shall be constructed and kept.

Ninth. If any ground in the said city shall be subject to be
covered by stagnant water, or if the owner or occupant thereon
shall permit any offensive or unwholesome substance to remain
or accumulate thereon, the said council may cause such ground to
be filled up, raised, or drained, or may cause such substance to
be covered or removed therefrom, and may collect the expense
of so doing from the said owner or occupant by distress or sale,
in the same manner in which taxes levied upon real estate for the
henefit of said city are authorized to he collected; provided, that
reasonable notice shall be first given to the said owner or occupant
or his agent. In case of nonresident owners, who have no agent
in said city, such notice may be given by publication for not less
than ten days, in any newspaper published in said city, such pub-
lication to be at the expense of said owner, and cost thereof to be
collected as a part of the expense hereinbefore provided for.

Tenth. To direct the location of all buildings for storing
gunpowder or other explosives or comhustible substances; to
regulate or prohibit the sale and use of dynamite, gunpowder,
firecrackers, kerosene oil, gasoline, nitro-glycerine, camphene,
burning fluid, and all explosives or combustible materials, the
exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of firearms, the use of
candles and lights in barns, stables and other buildings, the
making of bonfires and the carrying of concealed weapons.

Eleventh. To prevent the running at large in said city of
all animals and fowls, and to regulate and prohibit the keeping
or raising of the same within said city, and to subject the same
to such confiscation, levies, regulations and taxes as it may
deem proper.

Twelfth. Insofar as not prohibited by general law, to pre-
vent the riding or driving of animals at improper speed, to reg-
ulate the speed and manner of use upon the streets of said city
of all animals or vehicles; to prevent the flying of kites, throw-
ing of stones, or the engaging in any employment or sport in
the streets or public alleys, dangerous or annoying to the public,
and to prohibit and punish the abuse of animals.

Thirteenth. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants,
mendicants and street beggars.

Fourteenth. To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve
public peace and good order, to prevent and quell riots, dis-
turbances and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of
ill-fame, and gaming houses; to prevent lewd, indecent or dis-
orderly conduct or exhibitions in the city, and to expel from
said city persons guilty of such conduct.

Fifteenth. To prevent, prohibit or regulate the coming into
the city from points either within, or beyond the limits of the
State, of paupers or persons having no ostensible means of sup-
port, or persons who may be dangerous to the peace or safety of
the city ; and for this purpose may require any railroad company,
or the owners of any conveyances bringing any such person to, or
leaving him in said city, to enter into bond with satisfactory
security, that such person shall not become chargeable to city
within one year from the date of his arrival, or may compel
such company, or owner, to take any such person back to the city
whence he was brought, and may compel any such persons to
leave the city, if he has not been in the city more than ninety
days before the order is given.

Sixteenth. And the said council shall also have power to
make such other and additional ordinances as it may deem neces-
sary for the general welfare of said city; and nothing herein con-
tained shall be construed to deprive said city of any of the powers
<onferred upon it, either by general or special laws of the State
of Virginia, except insofar as the same may be inconsistent with
the provision of this charter.

Seventeenth. Said council shall have power to require and
take from the city’s business manager, chief of police, treasurer,
director of finance, commissioner of the revenue, and all other
bonded officers, bonds with security and in such penalty as they
may see fit, which said bonds shall be made payable to the city
by its corporate name, and conditioned for the faithful discharge
of their duties; said bonds shall be entered on the record of the
council and shall be filed with the clerk of the corporation court
of the city.

Eighteenth. Said council shall have power to erect, or au-
thorize or prohibit the erection of gas works, waterworks, or
electric light works in or near the city, and to regulate the same.

Nineteenth. To prohibit the pollution of water which may
be provided for the use of the city.

Twentieth. To pass all by-laws, rules and ordinances, not
repugnant to the Constitution and laws of the State, which they
may deem necessary for the good order and government of the
city, the management of its property, the conduct of its affairs,
the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health, and pro-
tection of its citizens or their property, including authority to
keep a city police force; and to do such other things, and pass
such other laws as may be necessary or proper to carry into full
effect any power, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction, which is, or
shall be granted to, or vested in said city, or officers thereof, or
which may be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation;
and to enable the authorities of said city more effectually to en-
force the provisions of this section, and any other powers con-
ferred upon them by this charter, their jurisdiction, civil and
criminal, is hereby declared to extend one mile beyond the cor-
porate limits of said city.

Twenty-first. To create a floating debt not exceeding two
hundred thousand dollars when, by a vote of the total membership
of the council, the council has passed a resolution declaring it
expedient to do so, and when the creating of the floating debt
thereby provided for is for the purpose of installing, or extend-
ing, one or more public utilities, which constitute an asset, or
assets, at least equal in value to the amount expended thereon,
which utility, or utilities, shall materially add to the service ren-
dered by the city to its taxpayers and other citizens; and it shall
be the duty of the council to provide in the next bond issue ior
the bonding of the floating debt thus created, and failure to do
this shall suspend this clause.

§ 15. Same—Borrowing in anticipation of taxes; evi-
dences of debt; interest.—The council may also borrow money
in anticipation of the collection of the taxes and revenues in the
city, in any amount or amounts not exceeding two hundred thou-
sand dollars at any one time. The council may issue negotiable
notes or other evidences of debt for all money borrowed under
this section. Such notes or other evidences of debt may be re-
newed from time to time, but all such notes or other evidences
of debt shall mature within twelve months. No money shall be
borrowed under this section at a rate of interest exceeding six
per cent per annum, and it shall be the duty of the council to
provide in the next bond issue for the bonding of the floating
debt thus created.

§ 20. Tax levy; persons and property liable; amounts; ad-
ditional taxation.—In order to execute its powers and duties and
to meet the wants and purposes of the city, the council is hereby
vested with power and authority to levy taxes upon persons,
property, real and personal, privileges, businesses, trades, pro-
fessions and callings and upon such other subjects of taxation
and in such amounts as the council shall deem necessary and
proper to provide such sums of money as they shall deem ex-
pedient without limitation as to subject, except such as may be
expressly provided by general laws or Constitutional provision
and without limitation as to rate except such as may be pro-
vided by the Constitution of this State.

§ 22. Licenses and license taxes; regulation of vehicles for
hire.—License taxes may be imposed by ordinance on businesses,
trades, professions and callings and upon the persons, firms, asso-
ciations and corporations, engaged therein and the agent thereof
* without limitation as to subject or rate except such as may be
provided by the Constitution of this State and the Constitution
of the United States.

License taxes not inconsistent with general law may be im-
posed upon vehicles using the streets of the city, and the council
Pal Reserve a schedule of charges for vehicles using said streets

or hire.
§ 27. Loans and bonds; debt limitation; bond elections.—
The council of said city may negotiate any loan or loans for the
purpose of improving the streets, lighting the same, buying
necessary real estate, erecting public buildings, supplying the
city with water, sewerage, and for other purposes; and shall have
authority to issue registered and coupon bonds, as well as serial,
registered and coupon bonds, for the said loan or loans, payable
not more than forty years after the date of said bonds, and said
bonds shall bear interest at a rate not greater than five per cen-
tum, payable semi-annually; provided, that the council shall not
negotiate such loan or loans, and issue bonds therefor, for sums
which when added to the debt of the city then existing, shall cause
the total indebtedness of the city to be greater than eighteen per
centum of the assessed valuation of the real estate of the city
subject to taxation, as shown by the last preceding assessment
for taxes; provided, however, that in determining the limitation
of the power of the city to incur indebtedness, there shall not be
included the classes of indebtedness mentioned in subsections (a)
and (b) of section one hundred and twenty-seven of the Constitu-
tion of the State. * Whenever the question of the issuance of any
bonds of said city is required by the Constitution of Virginia or
by the action of the council of said City to be approved by the
affirmative vote of a majority of the qualified voters of the city
who vote upon the question of their issuance, such majority shall
also include a majority of the votes cast by those taxpayers of
the city at such election who pay a tax on real or personal pro-
_perty assessed at * five hundred dollars or more. * Such election
shall be held and conducted in accordance with the law of Vir-
ginia regarding elections by the people.

§ 32. Mayor.—The mayor, except as hereinbefore pro-
vided in section five, subsection (f), shall be the chief executive
officer of the city, and shall take care that the by-laws and ordi-
nances thereof are fully executed. He shall see that the duties of
the various city officers, * whether elected or appointed, in and
for the city, are faithfully performed. He shall have power to
investigate their acts, have access to all books and documents in
their offices, and may examine them and their subordinates on
oath. The evidence given by persons so examined shall not be
used against them in any criminal proceedings. He shall also have
power to suspend such officers * and to remove such officers for
misconduct in office or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order
of suspension or removal; but no such removal shall be made
without reasonable notice to the officer complained of and an
opportunity afforded him to be heard in person or by counsel,
and to present testimony in his defense. From such order of
suspension or removal the city officer so suspended or removed
* shall have an appeal of right to the corporation court.

The mayor, except as herein provided, shall have all other
powers and duties which may be conferred upon him by general
laws. The corporation court of said city may remove the mayor
of said city from office for malfeasance, misfeasance, or gross
neglect of official duty, and such removal shall be deemed a vaca-
tion of the office. All proceedings against the mayor for the
purpose of removing him from office shall be by order of or
motion before said court, upon reasonable notice to the party
affected thereby, and with the right to said party of an appeal
to the Supreme Court of Appeals. In the event of the death, resig-
nation or removal of the mayor, or his inability to discharge his
duty from some other cause, his place shall be filled and his duties
shall be discharged by the vice-president of the council until such
inability ceases or another mayor is elected and qualified. A
vacancy in the office of mayor shall be filled as provided for in
§ 7 of this charter.