CHAPTER 158

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 4 and 23 as amended, § 23-e, § 32 as
amended, §§ 46, 46-a and 47, § 2 of Chapter X and § 5 as amended
of Chapter XII of Chapter 157 of the Acts of Assembly of 1908, ap-
proved March 10, 1908, which provided a charter for the city of
Portsmouth, and to amend said chapter by adding to Chapter IX
thereof, a section numbered 1-a, the amended and new sections re-
lating, respectively, to election and terms of members of the council;
powers of the city; election and terms of members of the planning
commission; payment of taxes; duties and powers of the city treas-
urer; collection of taxes; lists of uncollected taxes; effective date of
certain ordinances; qualifications for employment; and jurisdiction of
certain courts.

[H 208]

Approved March 3, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 4 and 23 as amended, § 23-e, § 32 as amended, §§ 46, 46-a
and 47, § 2 of Chapter X and § 5 as amended of Chapter XII of Chapter
157 of the Acts of Assembly of 1908, approved March 10, 1908, be amended
and reenacted and that said chapter be amended by adding to Chapter IX
thereof a section numbered 1-a as follows:

Ch. I. § 4. *

The Councilmen * shall be elected at large and shall hold office for
terms of four years each beginning on the first day of * July next follow-
ing the date of their election and until their successors are duly elected
and qualified. * Four of the Councilmen shall be elected in the general
election to be held in June of nineteen hundred sixty and every four years
thereafter. Three of the Councilmen shall be elected in the general election
to be held in June of nineteen hundred sixty-two and every four years
thereafter. Provided, however, the terms of those Councilmen now tn office
whose terms would otherwise extend until September one, nineteen hun-
dred sixty, shall expire on July one, nineteen hundred sixty, and the terms
of those Councilmen now in office whose terms would otherwise extend
until September one, nineteen hundred sixty-two, shall expire on July one,
nineteen hundred sixty-two.

Ch. III. § 23. * The powers set forth in §§ 15-77.5 through 15-77.70,
inclusive, of the Code of Virginia, as in force on January one, nineteen hun-
dred pnd sixty, are hereby conferred on and vested in the city of Ports-
mout

Ch. III. § 23-e. The members of the Planning Commission created
under the provisions of general law hereafter shall be elected by the coun-
cil and shall serve for such term as may be ordained by the council within
the limits of general law, except that the council may by ordinance pre-
scribe shorter terms, for any member or members of the Planning Com-
mission thereafter * elected, for the purpose of staggering the terms of
office so that the terms of some member or members shall commence each
year, but subsequent terms served by such member or members or their
successors in office shall be of the same length as the terms served by other
members of the Planning Commission.

Each ex officio member of the Planning Commission shall serve on
the Planning Commission during the tenure of his official position, except
that his term in no event shall exceed in length the regular term of mem-
bership on the Commission of the * elected members.

Ch. IV. § 32. For the execution of its powers and duties, the city
council may raise annually, by taxes and assessments in said city, such
sums of money as they shall deem necessary to defray the expenses of and
for the purposes of said city, and in such manner as they shall deem ex-
pedient, in accordance with the laws of this State and of the United States;
provided, however, that they shall impose no tax upon the bonds of said
city. Said taxes shall be equa] and uniform upon the same class of sub-
jects within said city. The city council may, by ordinance, provide for the
collection of said taxes and levies on property in annual or equal semi-
annual or quarterly installments at such times and with penalties for non-
payment on time, and with interest from such date as may be fixed by
ordinance.

The said council may also provide by ordinance for the prepayment
of such taxes during the preceding twelve months prior to the time the
same become due, and shall allow interest at the rate of six per centum
upon such prepayment to such date notwithstanding that the taxes for
such year have not been levied or that the tax rate has not been fixed.

Ch. IV. § 46. The city council may vest in the city * treasurer any
and all powers which are now, or may hereafter be vested in any collec-
tor of State taxes, for the purpose of collecting the city taxes and other
assessments or levies which the council is authorized to make, and may
prescribe the mode of his proceedings, and the mode of proceedings against
him for failure to perform his duties.

Ch. IV. § 46-a. The payment of any taxes to the city of Portsmouth,
both those which have been assessed and those which ought to have been
assessed, may in addition to any remedies otherwise allowed by law, be
enforced by warrant, motion, action of debt or assumpsit, bill in chancery,
or by attachment before justices of the peace, civil and police justices and
courts of record within this State in the same manner, to the same extent
and with the same rights of appeal, as now exist or may hereafter be
provided by law for the enforcement of demands between individuals.

Such proceedings shall be instituted and conducted in the name of the
city of Portsmouth at the request of the city council or the city * treasurer.
Any bill in chancery for the enforcement of a lien of taxes against land
may be brought in the corporation or circuit court of the city and in such
proceedings the property may be sold for the payment of the taxes due
thereon, and such lien shall be superior to any other lien or. encumbrance
upon the property or to any claim of dower or curtesy, and it shall not be
necessary to allege or prove any equitable grounds of jurisdiction.

The remedies provided in this section shall be in addition to any other
remedies provided by law for the collection of taxes, and this section shall
not be construed to repeal any other provisions of law.

IV. § 47. The city * treasurer, after using due diligence to
collect said levies, shall make out a list of such as cannot be collected, upon
forms similar to those prescribed in * § 58-980 of the Code of Virginia.

Ch. IX. § 1-a. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter,
the city council may provide by ordinance for the division of the jurisdiction
and functions of the civil and police justice herein mentioned so that pro-
vision may be made for two or more judges, clerks and court rooms. Such
ordinance shall either divide between the said judges the jurisdiction and
functions mentioned in this chapter or provide that any or all of such
jurisdiction and functions shall devolve upon one or more courts conform-
ing to the provisions of Title 16.1 of the Code of Virginia; provided, how-
ever, that whenever the provisions of this section shall become operative,
the judge and associate judge of the juvenile and domestic relations court
of the city shall be appointed by the judge of the Court of Hustings.

. X. § 2. No ordinance passed by the council, unless (a) other-
wise required by the general laws of the State, or (b) an ordinance 1m-
mediately necessary for the preservation of the public morals, health or
safety, and which contains a statement of such immediate necessity and is
passed by at least a * recorded affirmative vote of four of the seven mem-
bers elected to the council, shall go into effect until thirty days after its
final passage. If at any time during said thirty days a petition signed by
electors equal in number to at least twenty per centum of the electors vot-
ing for governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election, protesting
against the enactment of such ordinance and requesting its repeal, or re-
questing its adoption in a proposed amended form, be presented to the
council, such ordinance shall thereupon be suspended from going into effect,
and it shall be the duty of the council to reconsider such ordinance. If upon
reconsideration thereof, said ordinance is not entirely repealed, if so re-
quested, or adopted in the amended form, as proposed, the council shall sub-
mit the question of the repeal, or the adoption of the ordinance in its pro-
posed amended form, in the manner provided by (a) of section one of this
act; if the repeal of such ordinance was requested, such ordinance shall not
go into effect unless a majority of the electors voting thereon at such elec-
tion shall vote against its repeal; if the amendment of said ordinance was
proposed, the ordinance shall become effective in its proposed amended
form if such majority vote is cast in favor thereof, but if not such ordi-
nance shall become effective in the form as enacted by the council.

No resolution of the council appropriating money other than for the
regular payrolls, or incurring or providing for the incurring of any expense
or disposing of any property or rights of the city, shall become effective
until thirty days after its adoption; and its operation shall be suspended,
and it shall be reconsidered and submitted to the electors, in the same
manner as in this section provided with respect to an ordinance.

Petitions hereunder shall conform substantially to the requirements
of article one hereof as to signatures, verification and authentication, and
the presentation, presumption of sufficiency, and summary review thereof,
shall be as provided in said article.

Ch. XII. § 5. (a) An applicant for * an entrance examination
under civil service, must be a citizen of the United States of America and a
voter of the city of Portsmouth, who can read and write the English lan-
guage, and must have been a resident of said city for at least * one year,
or in the case of an applicant residing within territory which has been
annexed by the city less than one year before such application, provided
such applicant shall have resided therein not less than one year; provided,
however, the civil service commission may reduce such residence requtre-
ments with respect to any examination to six months if in their opinion
such reduction is necessary to secure sufficient qualified applicants. In the
discretion of the civil service commission, residence requirements may be
waived only for technical and professional positions for which qualified
applicants who are residents of the said city cannot be obtained. *

(b) An applicant for a position of any kind under civil service must
be of an age suitable for the position applied for, in ordinary good health,
of good moral character and of temperate and industrious habits; these
facts to be ascertained in such manner as the commission may deem
advisable.

2. Anemergency exists and this act is in force from its passage.