CHAPTER 256

An Act to amend and reenact § 8.06 of Chapter 215 of the Acts of Assem-
bly of 1952, approved March 7, 1952, which provided a charter for the
city of South Norfolk, said section relating to removal of officers and
employees, and to amend said chapter by adding sections numbered
7.5 through 7.20, to create a civil service commission and provide com-
pensation for members thereof; prescribe the powers and duties
thereof; prescribe examinations for applicants for certain positions;
provide certain exemptions; provide for payment of certain salaries;
prohibit certain acts; impose penalties for violations; provide for
appropriations; require certain reports; create a Division of Police
and a Department of Fire and provide for the supervision thereof;
and to prescribe the effective date thereof. [H 148]

Approved March 8, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 3.06 of Chapter 215 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952, approved
March 7, 1952, be amended and reenacted and that said chapter be amended
by adding sections numbered 7.5 through 7.20 as follows:

§ 3.06. Any officer or employee, except officers and employees under
the Civil Service Commission, appointed by the city manager, or by a head
of any office, department or agency, appointed by the city manager, may
be removed for cause by the manager or other appointed department head
at any time. Any such employee removed by a department head or city
manager shall have the right of appeal to the council and upon appeal such
employee shall be given a hearing either public or private as he may elect.
The decision of the council upon such hearing shall be final. Pending final
sage the city manager may suspend such employee for not more than

m days.

§ 7.5. Prior to the first day of December, nineteen hundred and
fifty-eight, the Council shall elect three qualified voters to constitute the
civil service commission of said City, who shall be elected for terms of two,
four and six years respectively, from the first day of January, nineteen
hundred and fifty-nine, and until their respective successors shall have been
elected and qualified, and prior to the first day of December of every second
year thereafter, the Council shall elect a qualified voter as a member of the
said commission who shall serve for a term of six years from the first day
of January next following the date of his election, and until his successor
shall have been elected and qualified.

The commission shall elect one of its members president and two com-
missioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at
any meeting thereof. It shall appoint as secretary to the commission a man
who by education and experience is qualified to conduct the ordinary exami-
nations required by § 7.8 hereof. Each commissioner before entering upon
the duties of his office, shall take the oaths prescribed by the Constitution
of this State. Any vacancies in the commission shall be filled by election by
the Council for the remainder of the unexpired term.

§ 7.6. The civil service commission shall classify all the offices and
places of employment of policemen and firemen in the City with reference
to the examinations hereinafter provided for. The offices and places of
policemen and firemen so classified by the commission shall constitute the
classified civil service of the City, and no appointment to any such offices
and places shall be made except according to the rules hereinafter
mentioned.

87.7. The civil service commission shall prescribe, amend and enforce
rules for the classified service, which shall have the force and effect of law,
shall keep minutes of its proceedings and records of its examinations, and
shall make investigations concerning the enforcement and effect of said
rules. It shall make an annual report to the Council.

Rules shall provide:

(1) For the classification of all positions in the classified service.

(2) For open, competitive examinations to test the relative fitness of
the applicants for such positions.
(8)For public advertisement of all examinations at least ten days in
advance in at least one newspaper of general circulation published in the
City of Norfolk or South Norfolk.

(4) For the creation of eligible lists, upon which shall be entered the
names of successful candidates in the order of their standing in examina-
tion. Selections for positions to be filled in the classified service shall be
made from the five standing highest on said list. Such lists shall remain
in force not longer than two years.

__ (5) For the rejection of candidates or eligibles who fail to comply
with the reasonable requirements of the commission in regard to age, rest-
dence, sex, physical conditions, or who have been guilty of crimes or of
infamous or disgraceful conduct, or who have attempted any deception or
fraud in connection with an examination.

(6) For the furnishing of the eligible list to the city manager or other
appointing power.

(7) For a period of probation not to exceed twelve months, before
appointment or promotion is made complete, during which period a proba-
tioner may be discharged or reduced at the will of the City Manager. After
such period of probation, no officer or employee in the classified service
shall be reduced in rank, removed or discharged except for cause and upon
written charges, and after an opportunity to be heard in his own defense
in compliance with § 7.20 following.

_ (8) For temporary employment by the City Manager, without exami-
nation; but no such temporary employment shall continue longer than sixty
days, nor shall successive temporary employments be allowed.

(9) For transfer from one position to a similar position in the same
class and grade, and for reinstatement within one year of persons who,
without fault or delinquency, are dismissed from the service or reduced.

(10) For promotion, based on competitive examination and records
of efficiency, character, conduct and seniority. Lists shall be made and pro-
motions made therefrom in the same manner as prescribed for original
appointment. An advancement in rank or increase in salary beyond the
limit fixed for the grade by the rules shall constitute promotion. Whenever
practicable, vacancies shall be filled by promotion.

§ 7.8. All applicants for offices or places in the classified service,
except as otherwise provided in this Charter, shall be subjected to exami-
nation, which shall be public, competitive and free to all persons eligible
under the law, with specified limitations as to residence, age, health, habits
and moral character. Such examinations shall be practical in their char-
acter, and shall relate to those matters which will fairly test the relative
capacity of the persons examined to discharge the duties of the positions
to which they seek to be appointed, and shall include tests of physical
qualifications and health. No questions in any examination shall relate to
political or religious opinions or affiliations. The commission shall control
all examinations and may whenever an examination is to take place, unless
the same is to be conducted by the secretary, designate a suitable number
of persons, either in or not in the official service of the City, to be exam-
iners; and it shall be the duty of such examiners, and, if in the official
service, it shall be a part of their official duty, without extra compensation,
to conduct such examinations as the commission may direct, and to make
return or report thereof to said commission, and the commission may at
any time substitute any other person, whether or not in such service, in
the place of any one so selected; and the members of the commission may
themselves at any time act as examiners, and without appointing examiners.

§ 7.9. The offices of Chiefs of the Fire and Police Departments and
volunteer officers and volunteer firemen shall be exempted from civil serv-
ice and each of these offices s be appointed by the City Manager.

§ 7.10. The civil service commission shall maintain a list of all per-
sons in the classified service, showing in connection with each name the
position held, the date and character of every appointment and of every
subsequent change in status. The head of each administrative department
shall promptly transmit to the commission all information required for the
establishment and maintenance of said list. .

§ 7.11. The City Treasurer shall not pay any salary or compensation
for service to any person holding or performing the duties of a position in
the classified service unless the persons paid shall have been appointed or
employed and are performing service in accordance with the provisions of
this Charter relating to civil service and of the rules established thereunder.

It shall be the duty of the civil service commission to furnish the
Treasurer a list of all persons in the classified service, together with the
changes from time to time.

§ 7.12 No person, in the classified service, or seeking admission
thereto, shall be appointed, promoted, reduced or removed, or in any way
favored or discriminated against because of his political or religious opin-
tons or affiliation.

§ 7.18. No officer or employee hereunder shall, directly or indirect-
ly, solicit or receive, or be in any manner concerned in soliciting or re-
cewwing, any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political party
or political purpose whatever, or for a testimonial for any official. No
persons shall orally or by letter, solicit, or be in any manner concerned in
soliciting any assessment, subscription or contribution for any political
party or purpose whatever from any person holding a position in the
classified service.

§ 7.14. No person holding a position in the classified service shall
take any part in political management or in political campaigns other
than to cast his vote and to express privately his opinion.

§ 7.15. Any person willfully violating any of the provisions of §§ 7.
12, 7.18 and 7.14 hereof shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars,
nor more than one hundred dollars.

§ 7.16. The Council shall appropriate each year a sum of money suf-
ficient to defray the expenses and compensation of the civil service com-
mission, and the City Manager shall include the same in the annual budget.
The members of said commission shall receive such compensation as may
be provided by the council. .

§ 7.17. Within thirty days after the first day of January, nineteen
hundred fifty-nine, and within thirty days after the first day of January
of each succeeding year, the civil service commission shall make a report to
the Council showing its own actions, the rules in force, the practical ef-
fects thereof, and any suggestions it may have for the improvement of the
classified service. The Council may require a report from said commission
at any other time. ;

§ 7.18. The police force shall be composed of a Chief of Police and of
such officers, patrolmen and other employees as the City Manager may
determine, The Chief of Police shall have the immediate direction and con-
trol of the said force, subject, however, to the supervision of the City
Manager, and to such rules, regulations and orders as the said City Man-
ager may prescribe, and through the Chief of Police the City Manager
shall promulgate all orders, rules and regulations for the government of the
whole force. In case of the disability of the Chief of Police to perform his
duties by reason of sickness, absence from the City or other cause, the
City Manager shall designate am officer of the police force to act as Chief
of Police during such disability, and the officer so designated shall serve
without additional compensation. The members of the police force other
than the Chief shall be selected from the list of eligibles prepared by the
civil service commission, and in accordance with such rules as the said
commission may prescribe, provided that in case of riot or emergency the
City Manager may appoint additional patrolmen, and officers for tempor-
ary service, who need not be in the classified service. Each member of the
police force, both rank and file, shall have issued to him a warrant of ap-
pointment signed by the City Manager in which the date of his appoint-
ment shall be stated, and such warrant shall be his commission. Each mem-
ber of the said force shall, before entering wpon the duties of his
office, take and subscribe an oath that he will faithfully without fear or
favor, perform the duties of his office, and such oath shall be filed and
preserved with the records of said department and in addition the several
officers of the said force shall, if so required by the Council, give bond in
oe penalty and with such security as the Council may by ordinance pre-
scribe.

No person except as otherwise provided by general law or by this
Charter shall act as special police, special detective or other special police
officer for any purpose whatsoever except upon written authority from the
City Manager. Such authority, when conferred, shall be exercised only un-
der the direction and control of the Chief of Police and for a specified time.

The officers and privates constituting the police force of said City
shall be, and they are, hereby invested with all of the power and authority
which pertains to the office of constable at common law in taking cogniz-
ance of and in enforcing the criminal laws of the State and the ordinances
and regulations of said City, and it shall be the duty of each such officer
and private to use his best endeavors to prevent the commission within the
said City of offenses against the laws of said State, and against the ordi-
nances and regulations of said City; to observe and enforce all such laws,
ordinances and regulations; to detect and arrest offenders against the
same; to preserve the good order of said City and to secure the inhabitants
thereof from violence, and the property therein from injury. Such police-
man shall have no power or authority in civil matters, but shall execute
any criminal warrant or warrant of arrest that may be placed in his hands
by any justice of the City, and shall make due return thereof. Such police-
man shall not receive any fee or other compensation for any services rend-
ered in the performance of this duty, other than the salary paid him by
the City, nor shall he receive a fee as a witness in any case arising under
the criminal laws of the said State, or under the ordinances or regulations
of the said City.

The City Manager shall prescribe the uniforms and badges for the
members of the police force, and direct the manner in which the members
of the said force shall be armed. Any person other than a member of said
force who shall wear such uniform or badge as may be prescribed as afore-
said, may be subjected to such fine or imprisonment, or both, as may be
prescribed by the Council by ordinance.

§ 7.19. The fire department shall be composed of a Chief and of such
other officers, firemen and employees as the City Manager may determine.
The Fire Chief shall have immediate direction and control of the said de-
partment, subject, however, to the supervision of the City Manager, and to
such rules and regulations and orders as the said City Manager may pre-
scribe, and through the Fire Chief the City Manager shall promulgate all
orders, rules and regulations for the government of the whole force.

The members of the fire department, other than the Chief, shall be
appointed from the list of eligibles prepared by the civil service commis-
sion and in accordance with such rules and regulations as may be pre-
scribed by the said commission; provided, however, that in case of riot,
conflagration or emergency the City Manager may appoint additional fire-
men and officers for temporary service who need not be in the classified
service.
The City Manager shall prescribe the uniform and badges for the
members of the fire department. ; .

§ 7.20. The Chief of Police and the Fire Chief, with the approval of
the City Manager, except as hereinafter provided, shall have the right and
power to reprimand, or to suspend, for a given number of days or indefin-
itely, any of the officers and employees in their respective divisions who
may be under their management and control for incompetence, neglect of
duty, immorality, drunkenness, failure to obey orders given by proper
authority, or for any other just and reasonable cause. If any such officer
or employee be suspended for more than ten days or be suspended indefin-
itely, the Chief of the department concerned shall forthwith certify in
writing the fact, together with the cause for such suspension, to the trial
board hereinafter provided for, and a copy of such certificate of suspen-
sion, and the cause therefor, shall be promptly served on such officer or
employee, which service may be by an officer of his department or in the
manner prescribed by law for the service of civil process.

Any officer or employee so suspended may, within ten days after he
shall have been so served with such certificate of suspenston and the cause
therefor, file with said trial board a written request for a hearing upon the
accusations so made against him, whereupon said trial board shall, after
not less than five days’ written notice to such officer or employee, and to
the Chief of the department by whom he has been suspended, hold and con-
duct a hearing, which shall be open to the public, upon such accusations,
at a time and place to be specified in such notice, and may render judg-
ment thereon. Such judgment, in the event said accusations or any of them
are, in the opinion of said trial board, sustained, may be a reprimand, ex-
tra duty without extra compensation, suspension for a fixed time, reduc-
tion in rank, or dismissal, as to said trial board may seem proper, which
judgment shall be final, subject to the right of appeal to the City Manager
as hereinafter provided.

Whenever the judgment of said trial board is that the accusations
were not sustained, it may order the reinstatement of such officer or
employee in the office or position from which he was suspended. Such
order of reinstatement may, in the discretion of said trial board, be
retroactive and provide that such officer or employee shall be entitled ta
compensation for all or part of the time he was so suspended.

From any judgment of said trial board such officer or employee shall
have the right to appeal to the City Manager at any time within, but not
after, ten days from the date of such judgment, and the accusations shall
be heard de novo by the City Manager at such time as he may designate,
of which at least five days’ written notice shall be given to such officer
or employee, or to his counsel, and to the Chief of the department by
whom he was originally suspended.

The City Manager shall, after such hearing, render judgment on said
accusations, which judgment, if the City Manager considers said accusa-
tions, or any of them, sustained, may be by a reprimand, extra duty without
extra compensation, suspension for a fixed time, reduction in rank, or
dismissal; and such judgment of the City Manager thereon shall be final.

In the event any such officer or employee who is suspended for more
than ten days or suspended indefinitely shall not file with said trial board
a written demand for a hearing as hereinabove provided, the Chief of the
department by whom he was suspended may file with such trial board a
written request for a hearing on such accusations, and the proceedings
thereon shall be the same as are hereinabove provided in cases where such
hearing has been requested by such suspended officer or employee.

The trial board above referred to shall be known as the South Norfolk
Police-Fire Trial Board, and the members thereof shall be appointed by
the Council. It shall consist of not less than three nor more than five
members, in the discretion of the Council, who shall be qualified voters
residing in the City, none of whom shall be in any way connected with any
other city office. The first appointment of the members of the said trial
board shall be for a term of one year commencing January 1, 1959, and
all subsequent appointments shall be for consecutive term or terms, and
any vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Council for the remain-
der of the unexpired term. The judgment of a majority of the members
appointed on the said trial board shall control. The members shall receive
such compensation as may be provided by Council. Each member shall,
before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe the oaths
which other city officers take. .

The Council shall designate one member of said trial board as chatr-
man thereof. The chairman shall have the power to subpoena witnesses,
administer oaths and compel the production of any books and papers in
connection with any hearing held hereunder by said trial board. Any
person refusing or failing to appear and testify or to produce such books
and papers, or who shall testify falsely under oath at any hearing held
by said trial board, may be proceeded against in the same manner
shall be subject to the same penalties as provided by § $.07 of this Charter
relating to investigations as to City affairs.

The Council shall also designate one member of said trial board as
vice-chairman thereof to act in the absence, disability or inability to act
of the chairman, and when so acting, the said vice-chairman shall have
all the powers herein conferred upon the chairman.

Any such officer or employee against whom accusations are so filed
shall have the right to be represented by counsel at any hearing before
said trial board or before the City Manager on appeal. All notices required
to be given the trial board may be given to the chairman thereof, or in his
absence, to the vice-chairman.

2. This act shall not become operative within the city government until
the council shall adopt the provisions hereof by ordinance duly enacted.