CHAPTER 75
An Act to amend and reenact § 23 of Chapter 217 of the Acts of As-
sembly of 1918, approved March 14, 1918, being the charter of the
city of Clifton Forge, the section relating to the powers of council.

[H 182]
Approved February 21, 1958

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 23 of Chapter 217 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, approved
March 14, 1918, be amended and reenacted as follows: .

§ 23. The city council shall have, subject to the provisions of this
act, the control and management of the fiscal and municipal affairs of
the city and of all property, real and personal, belonging to the said city,
and make such ordinances and by-laws relating to the same as they shall
deem proper, and they shall likewise have power to make such ordinances,
orders, by-laws and regulations as they may deem necessary to carry out
the following powers which are hereby vested in them:

First. The city council is hereby vested with all the powers given to
cities under the Constitution and general laws of this Commonwealth.

Second. The city council shall have power to establish a market or
markets in and for said city and appoint proper officers therefor, pre-
scribe the time and place for holding same, provide suitable buildings and
grounds therefor, and to enforce such regulations relative thereto as shall
be necessary and proper.

Third. The council shall have power to erect and provide in or near
said city suitable workhouses, houses of correction or reformation and
houses for the reception and maintenance of the poor and destitute, and
they shall possess and exercise authority over all persons within the limits
of the city receiving or entitled to the benefit of the poor laws, appoint
necessary officers and other persons proper to be connected with the afore-
said institution, and regulate pauperism within the limits of the city, and
the council, through the agency they shall appoint for the direction and
maintenance of the poor of the city, shall exercise the powers and perform
the duties vested by law in overseers of the poor.

Fourth. The council shall have power to erect and keep in order all
public buildings, parks necessary or proper for said city.

Fifth. The council shall have power to establish, enlarge or operate
a system of sewerage, water works, gas works, telephone works and elec-
tric light works within or without the limits of the city, to contract or
agree with the owners of any land for the use and purchase thereof, or to
have the same condemned according to law, within or without the city,
for the location, extension and enlargement of their said works, the pipes
or wires connected therewith, or any other appurtenances or fixtures there-
of, and shall have power to protect from injury, by ordinances prescrib-
ing adequate penalties, the works, pipes, fixtures and land, or anything
connected therewith, whether within or without the limits of said city.

And the council of said city shall have the power to prescribe, fix
and regulate the rates of charges to be observed from time to time, by
ordinances, in any franchise which the council has granted or issued, or
that may be hereafter issued under the provisions of section ten hundred
and thirty-three-f of the Code of Virginia and acts amendatory thereof, to
any public service corporation, other than transportation, transmission
ei telephone companies, whose service is wholly within the limits of said
city.

Sixth. The city council shall have power to establish, enlarge and
operate works or plants within or without the limits of the city for
furnishing water and light, or either to the inhabitants of said city, to
persons, firms or other municipalities in the vicinity thereof; to contract
and agree with the owners of any land for the use and purchase thereof,
or have the same condemned according to law, for the location, extension,
or any of the fixtures or appurtenances thereof, and shall have power to
protect from injury, by ordinances prescribing adequate penalties, the
said work, pipes, fixtures and land, or anything connected therewith
whether within or without the limits of the city.

_. Seventh. The city council shall have the power to close or extend,
widen or narrow, lay out, graduate, curb and pave or otherwise improve
the streets, sidewalks and public alleys in said city, and have them kept in
good order and properly lighted, and over any street or alley in the city
which has been or may be ceded or conveyed to the city by proper deed
they shall have like power and authority as over other streets and alleys;
they may buy or build bridges in and culverts under said streets, and may
prevent or remove any obstruction or encroachment over or under, or in
any street, sidewalk or alley in said city, and may permit shade trees to
be planted along said streets, but no company shall occupy with its works,
or any appurtenances thereof, the streets, sidewalks or alleys of the city
without the consent of the council duly entered upon its record. In the
meantime, no order shall be made and no injunction shall be awarded by
any court or judge to stay the proceedings of the city in the prosecution
of their works unless it be manifest that they, their officers, agents or
servants are transcending the authority given them by this act, and that
interposition of the court is necessary to prevent that which cannot
adequately be compensated in damages.

_ Eighth. The city council shall have the power to prevent the cumber-
ing of streets, sidewalks, alleys, lanes or bridges in the city in any manner
whatever.

Ninth. The city council shall have the power to secure the inhabit-
ants from contagious, infectious or other dangerous diseases, and to pre-
vent, by appropriate legal remedy, all measures affecting or likely to af-
fect the city or the inhabitants thereof, when the same may originate out-
side of the limits of said city; to establish, erect and regulate hospitals;
to provide and enforce the removal of patients to hospitals; to appoint
and organize a board of health for said city, with the authority necessary
for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties.

Tenth. The council shall have power to require and compel the abate-
ment and removal of all nuisances within said city at the expense of the
person or persons causing same, or the owners of the ground whereon the
same shall be; to prevent and regulate slaughter-houses within said city,
or the exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business, trade or
employment therein, and to regulate the transportation of explosives and
other articles through the streets of said city.

Eleventh. If any grounds in the said city shall be subject to be
covered with stagnant water, or if the owner or owners, occupier or oc-
cupiers thereof, shall permit any offensive or unwholesome substance to
remain or accumulate therein, the council may cause such grounds to be
filled, raised or drained, or may cause such substance to be covered or to
be removed therefrom, and may collect the expenses of so doing from the
said owner or owners, occupier or occupiers, or any of them (except in
cases where such nuisance is caused by the action of the city authorities
or their agents, in which case the city shall pay the expense of abating
the same), by distress and sale, in the same manner in which taxes levied
upon real estate for the benefit of said city, are authorized to be collected;
provided, that reasonable notice shall first be given to said owners or
their agents. In case of non-resident owners who have no agents in said
city, such notice may be given by publication for not less than four weeks
in any newspaper in said city; provided, also, that should the expense of
abating such nuisance exceed the sum of ten dollars, the owner of the
premises shall have the right of appeal to the circuit court of the city.

Twelfth. The council shall have power to direct the location of all
buildings for storing gunpowder and other combustible substances, and to
regulate the sale and use of gunpowder, firecrackers, or other combustible
material; to regulate the exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of fire-
arms, the use of lights and candles in barns, stables and other buildings,
and to restrain the making of bonfires in streets and yards.

Thirteenth. The council shall have power to prevent hogs, dogs and
other animals from running at large in said city, and may subject the
same to such confiscations, regulations and taxes as they may deem proper.

Fourteenth. The council shall have the power to prevent the riding
or driving of horses or animals or motor vehicles at an improper speed,
throwing stones or the engaging in any employment or sport on the
streets, sidewalks or public alleys, dangerous or annoying to passengers,
and to prohibit and punish the abuse or cruel treatment to horses or other
animals in such city.

Fifteenth. The council shall have the power to restrain and punish
drunkards, vagrants and street beggars; to prevent vice and immorality;
to preserve the public peace and good order; to prevent and quell riots,
disturbances and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame
and gambling houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and dis-
orderly conduct or exhibitions in said city, and for the violation of any
eet ordinance may impose fines in addition to those prescribed by the

e.

Sixteenth. The council shall have power to pass any ordinance, re-
lating to the sale of spirituous liquors or prohibiting and regulating the
sale thereof, not in conflict with the laws of the State and may impose
fines and penalties in addition to those prescribed by the laws of the State
for any violations thereof.

Seventeenth. The council shall have the power to prevent the coming
into the city of persons having no ostensible means of support, and of
persons who may be dangerous to the peace and safety of the city.

Eighteenth. The city council is empowered to acquire by purchase
or otherwise such lands as may be necessary for the burial of the dead,
authority ‘to purchase burial grounds either within or without city limits.
The said council shall also have power to prescribe and enforce all needful
rules and regulations not inconsistent with the laws of the State, of the
use, protection, preservation and ornamentation of the cemetery; to set
aside, in their discretion, by metes and bounds a portion thereof for the
interment of strangers and the indigent poor; to divide the remainder
into burial lots, and sell or lease the same, and to execute all proper deeds
or other writings, in evidence of such sale or lease, and to prescribe in
what the money from such sale or lease of burial lots shall be invested,
used and employed for the use, protection, preservation and ornamentation
of said cemetery. The cemetery when established and inclosed with the
property included in it, shall be exempt from all State, county and muni-
cipal taxation, and the council shall hold all property, franchises and
choses in action of whatever nature heretofore acquired by the city of
Clifton Forge.

Nineteenth. * Whenever by the provisions of * the city charter, or by
the Constitution or general law of the Commonwealth the council, * is
authorized to adopt ordinances on any subject, * the council may * provide
suitable penalties for the violation of such ordinance. No such penalty
shall exceed a fine of five hundred dollars or confinement in the city jail
for six months, either or both. Upon conviction for violation of any ordt-
nance the court trying the case may require bond of the person so con-
victed with proper security in a penalty of not more than two thousand
dollars, conditioned that such person shall keep the peace and be of good
behavior for a period of not more than one year. Whenever any fine, costs
or penalty shall be imposed on any person but be not paid, the court trying
the case may, unless an appeal be taken forthwith, commit such person
to jail as provided by § 19-809 of the Code of Virginia and may issue a
writ of fieri facias directed to the proper officer for the collection of the
amount due, returnable within sixty days from its issuance. The city is
hereby expressly authorized and empowered to institute and maintain a
suit or suits to enjoin a violation of any ordinance legally adopted by it,
notwithstanding such ordinance may provide penalties for its violation.
In all cases the accused shall have the right to appeal to the circuit court
of the city of Clifton Forge.

Twentieth. In every case where a street or alleyway in said city
has been or shall be encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise,
the council may require the owner (if known) to remove the same, and
if such removal be not made within the time prescribed by the council,
they may impose a penalty of five dollars for each and every day it is
allowed to continue thereafter, and may cause the encroachment to be
removed and collect from the owner all reasonable charges therefor, with
costs, by the same process that they are hereinafter empowered to collect
taxes. No encroachment upon any street, however long continued, shall
constitute any adverse possession to or confer any rights upon the persons
claiming thereunder as against the said city.

Twenty-first. Whenever any street, alley or lane in said city shall
have been open to and used as such by the public for a period of five
years, the same shall thereby become a street, alley or lane, for public
purposes, and the council shall have the same authority and jurisdiction
over, and right and interest therein, as they have by law over the streets,
alleys and lanes laid out by them, and any street or alley reserved in the
division or sub-division into lots of any portion of the territory within
the corporate limits of said city, by plan or plat of record, shall be deemed
and held to be dedicated to public use, unless it appears by said record
that the street or alley so reserved is designed for private use, but, upon a
petition of the majority of the persons interested therein, the council
shall have power to open the same for the use of the public.

Twenty-second. The city council shall have the authority and power
to levy taxes or assessments upon abutting land owners for street or
other local improvements as given by general law.

Twenty-third. For the purposes of guarding against the calamities
of fire, the city council, may from time to time, designate such portions and
parts of the city as they may deem proper within which no buildings of
wood shall be erected; they may prohibit the erection of wooden buildings
in any portion of the city without their permission, and shall, on the
petition of the owners of at least one-fourth of the ground included in any
square of said city, prohibit the erection on such square of any building, or
addition to any building, unless the outer walls thereof be made of brick
and mortar, or stone and mortar, or concrete, and may provide for the
removal of any such building, or addition, which shall be erected contrary
to such prohibition, at the expense of the builder or owner thereof, and if
any such buildings shall have been commenced before said petition can be
acted upon by the council, or if any building in progress of erection ap-
years clearly to be unsafe, the council may cause such building to be taken

own.

The city council shall have the power to provide by ordinance for the
placing by the owners of fire escapes on buildings and to provide reason-
able regulations for the protection of the public against dangers of fire in
theatres and public places of amusement.
Twenty-fourth. And the city council shall have power to make such
regulations and orders as will protect its citizens against danger from
unsafe houses or walls, and to that end shall have power to cause to be
condemned and taken down any such building or wall, but no such con-
demnation shall be made, or such house or wall taken down until the
owner thereof, or, in case of an infant or insane person, his guardian or
committee, be duly summoned before the mayor of the city, who shall be
charged by the ordinances with such duty, and allowed reasonable oppor-
tunity to show cause against such action.

And the said city council shall have power to provide for the regular
and safe construction of all buildings and houses in the said city.