CHAPTER 109
An Act to amend 8§ 4, as amended, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and 9, as amended, 16,
17 and 44 of Chapter 423 of the Acts of Assembly of 1986, approved
March 80, 1936, which provided a charter for the town of Vinton, the
sections relating to the mayor and council of the town, appointment
or election of officials, elections, and vacancies; and to further amend
such chapter by adding a section numbered 10-a, providing for ap-
pointment of a police justice and justices of the peace. CH 292)

Approved February 25, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 4, as amended, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and 9, as amended, 16, 17 and 44
of Chapter 423 of the Acts of Assembly of 1936, approved March 30, 1936,
be amended and reenacted, and that said chapter be further amended by
adding a section numbered 10-a, as follows:

§ 4. On and after September one, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight,
the council shall consist of * a mayor and four councilmen, whose terms of
office shall be for terms of four years. At the June election, nineteen hun-
dred and fifty- * eight, a mayor and two councilmen shall be elected, who
shall serve for terms of four years, from September one, nineteen hundred
and fifty-eight and thereafter until their successors shall have been elected
and qualified; * those members whose terms of office shall expire September
first, nineteen hundred and fifty-eight shall be * succeeded in office by * a
mayor and two councilmen to be elected in nineteen hundred and fifty-eight.
The remaining two members, whose terms of office expire September first,
nineteen hundred and * sixty, shall be succeeded in office on September
first of that year by themselves or such other members as shall have been
elected to succeed them in the preceding June election. *

Any * qualified * voter residing in the town shall be eligible to
the office of mayor or councilman. No candidate for the office of council-
man shall promise any money, office, employment, or other thing of value,
to secure a nomination or election, or expend in connection with his can-
didacy any money except as permitted by the general laws of the State;
and any such candidate violating this provision shall be guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine not
exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding
six months, or both, in the discretion of the court or jury, 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.

§ 6. (a) The mayor or any member of the council who shall have
been convicted of a felony while in office shall thereby forfeit his office.

(b) * Neither the mayor nor any member of the council or other
officer shall be interested directly or indirectly in the profits of any contract
or work, or to be financially interested directly or indirectly in the sale to
the town of any land, materials, supplies, or services (other than official
services). Any member of the council or any other officer of the town
offending against the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction
thereof, be fined not more than five hundred dollars or be imprisoned not
more than ninety days, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall
forfeit his office. The prohibitions of this section shall not apply if the
council shall declare by unanimous vote of the members thereof that the
best interests of the town are to be served despite a personal interest direct
or indirect.

(c) Except for the purpose of inquiry, the council and its members
shall deal with the administrative service solely through the town manager,
and neither the * mayor nor any member * of the council shall give orders
to any of the subordinates of the town manager, either publicly or privately.
Any such orders or other interferences on the part of the council or any
of its members with subordinates or appointees of the town manager,
instead of dealing or communicating direct with the town manager, is
prohibited.

§ 7. (a) At seven thirty o’clock, p.m., on the first day of September
following a regular municipal election, or if such day be a Sunday, or legal
holiday, then on the day following, the council shall meet at the usual place
for holding the meetings of the legislative board of the town, at which
time the newly elected mayor and councilmen, after first having taken the
oaths prescribed by law, shall assume the duties of their office. Thereafter
the council shall meet at such times as may be prescribed by ordinance or
resolution, except that they shall regularly meet not less than once each
month. The mayor, any member of the council, or the town manager may
call special meetings of the council, at any time upon at least twelve hours,
written notice, with the purpose of said meeting stated therein, to each
member served personally or left at his usual place of business or resi-
dence, or such meeting may be held at any time without notice, provided
all members of the council attend. No business other than that mentioned
in the call shall be considered at such meeting. ;

(b) All meetings of the council shall be public and any citizen may
have access to the minutes and records thereof at all reasonable times.

(c) The council shall elect one of its members as vice-chairman, who
shall be * vice-mayor; also a town manager, a town clerk, a town attorney,
a town treasurer, and a town commissioner of the revenue. The council
shall also appoint the members of such boards and commissions as are
hereinafter provided for. The council may appoint all such other boards
and commissions as may be deemed proper, and prescribe the powers and
duties thereof, under the supervision of the director of the department
pertaining thereto. The council may determine its own rules of procedure,
May punish its own members for misconduct and may compel attendance
of members. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings. A majority of all
members of the council shall constitute a quorum to do business, but a
smaller number may adjourn from time to time, and compel the attendance
of absentees. All elections by the council shall be viva voce and the vote
recorded in the journal of the council. The council may at any time, for
good cause or reason, abolish any municipal office, whether the term of
office of the incumbent has expired or not.

§ 8. The mayor shall be elected for a term of * four years and shall
preside at meetings of the council and perform such other duties consis-
tent with his office as may be imposed by the council and he shall have a
vote and voice in the proceedings but no veto. He shall be the official head
of the town, and he shall be clothed with all the powers and authority in
civil and criminal matters as may be prescribed by the laws of the State.
In times of public danger, or emergency, he, or during his absence, or
disability, then the town manager, may take command of the police and
maintain order and enforce the laws, and for this purpose, may deputize
such assistant policemen as may be necessary. In the absence or disability
of both the mayor and the town manager, then any member of council
first arriving on the scene of the emergency shall assume control. During
the mayor’s absence or disability, except as above provided, his duties shall
be performed by * the vice-mayor. He shall authenticate by his signature
such instruments as the council, this charter, or the laws of the State
shall require.

§ 9. From and after the passage of this act, the salaries of the
councilmen and the * mayor shall be such as may be fixed by the council,
rovided, however, that the salary of no councilman shall exceed fifty dol-
lars per month, and that the salary of the * mayor shall not exceed the
sum of one hundred dollars per month, in addition to his salary as coun-
cilman.

All charges, costs and fees taxable and collectible by the * mayor, or
the police justice, in the trial of all cases, civil and criminal, when taxed
and collected, shall be paid into the treasury of the town, and the mayor
or the police justice shall have no personal financial interest therein. The
salaries and compensation of all other officers and employees of this town
shall e such as may from time to time be fixed and prescribed by the
council.

§ 10-a. The council may appoint a police justice for the town, who
shall have authority to issue warrants, summon witnesses, and try cases
involving violations of town ordinances and the collection of town taxes.
The council may appoint as such justice the same person who serves as
judge of the county court of Roanoke County. In the event the council
does not appoint a police justice, the mayor shall have and exercise the
jurisdiction herein conveyed. The council may also appoint one or more
justices of the peace whose jurisdiction shall be confined to the territorial
limits of the town and whose power and authority shall be limited to the
issuance of attachments, warrants and subpoenas, and to the granting of
bail in any case in which justices of the peace are authorized to grant bail
and to receive their fees therefor. All such attachments, warrants and
subpoenas shall be returnable before the mayor, or other trial officer, of
the town for action thereon. Nothing herein shall be construed as prohib-
iting the appointment of any person who may, at the time of such ap-
pointment, be serving in the capacity of a justice of the peace for the
county of Roanoke, or any magisterial district thereof. .

16. A municipal election shall be held on the second Tuesday in
June of every second year after the year nineteen hundred and thirty-six,
and shall be known as the regular municipal election for the election of
mayor and/or councilmen. All other municipal elections that may be held
shall be known as special municipal elections.

Nothing in the laws of the State applying to party registration, en-
rollment or other party procedure, shall apply to registrations, nomin-
ations, and elections held hereunder. Except as herein otherwise provided,
registration, nominations and elections held under this charter shall be in
accordance with the general laws of the State.

17. The candidates at any regular municipal election for the elec-
tion of mayor and/or councilmen, equal in number to the places to be filled,
who shall receive the highest number of votes at such election, shall be
declared elected.

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

In counting the vote any ballot found to contain a greater number
of names for the office of mayor and/or councilmen than the number of
vacancies * to be filled shall be void, but no ballot shall be void for
containing a less number of names than is permitted hereby.

§ 44. (a) Vacancies in any offices provided for in this charter shall
be filled by the authority and in the manner provided herein for the
original appointment or election of such officers except as hereinafter
provided. .

___ (b) In the event of a vacancy in the office of mayor, the council shall
within thirty days appoint one of its members to serve as mayor until his
successor shall have been duly elected and qualified.

At the next regular election for mayor and/or councilmen, a mayor
shall be elected for a term of four years or until his successor shall have
been elected and qualified. . ; ; .
(c) In the event of a vacancy in the office of councilman, council
shall appoint within thirty days a ye voter who is a resident of the
town to serve until the members elected at the next regular election for
mayor and/or councilmen shall have qualified. If the unexpired term of
the incumbent extend beyond such date, a successor shall be elected for
the unexpired term. .
2. An emergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.