CHAPTER 169

An Act to amend and reenact § 2 of Chapter 590 of the Acts of Assembly
of 1952, approved April 8, 1952, which provided a charter for the
town of Emporia, the section relating to powers of the town. rH 811]

Approved March 3, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 2 of Chapter 590 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952, approved
April 3, 1952, be amended and reenacted as follows:

2. Enumeration of powers.—lIn addition to the powers elsewhere
mentioned in this Charter and the powers conferred by the general laws
and the Constitution, the said town of Emporia shall have the following
powers: .

(1) Annual tax levy; tax on town bonds.—To raise annually, by the
levy of taxes and assessments in the town, on all such property, real and
personal, as is now or may be subject to taxation by towns by the general
laws of this State, such sums of money as the council thereof shall deem
necessary for the purpose of the town, in such manner as the council shall
deem expedient in accordance with the Constitution of this State and of the
United States; provided, however, that it shall impose no taxes on the
bonds of the town. The levy shall not exceed four dollars on the one hun-
dred dollars of value of such property.

(2) Special and local assessments.—To impose special or local assess-
ments for local improvements and enforce payment thereof, subject to such
limitations prescribed by the Constitution and laws of the State as may
be in force at time of the imposition of such special or local assessments.

(3) Capitation Tax.—To impose, in accordance with the provisions
of the general law of the State, a tax not exceeding one dollar per annum
upon all persons residing in town above the age of twenty-one, not exempt
from the payment of State capitation tax.

(4) Debts, borrowing, etc.—To contract debts, borrow money and
make and issue evidences of indebtedness.

(5) Expenditures.—To expend the money of the town for all lawful
purposes.

(6) Acquisition, etc., of property.—To acquire by purchase, gift,
devise, condemnation or otherwise, property, real or personal, or any estate
therein within or without the town, for any of the purposes of the town;
and to hold, improve, sell, lease, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose
of the same or any part thereof, including any property now owned by

e town.

(7) Markets: hucksters, peddlers, junk dealers, etc.—To establish
markets in the town and regulate the same, and to enforce such regula-
tions at such markets in regards to the keeping and sales of fresh meat,
vegetables, eggs and other green groceries and other articles of human
consumption as may be deemed advisable; to make and enforce such regu-
lations as shall be necessary to prevent huckstering, forestalling or re-
grating; to enforce such regulations as to hucksters, peddlers, junk dealers
and dealers in secondhand articles as may be deemed expedient.

(8) Water supply.—To own, operate and maintain waterworks and
to acquire in any lawful manner in any county of the State, such water,
lands, property rights, and riparian rights as the council of the town may
deem necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate water supply
for the town and piping and conducting the same; to lay, erect and main-
tain all necessary mains and service lines, either within or without the
corporate limits of the town, for the distribution of water to its customers
and consumers, both within and without the corporate limits of the town
and to charge and collect water rents therefor; to erect and maintain
all necessary dams, pumping stations and other works in connection
therewith; to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting the
purity of its water supply and for protecting the same from pollution;
and for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sanitary patrol
over all land comprised within the limits of the watershed, tributary
to any such water supply wherever such land may be located in this State;
to impose and enforce adequate penalties for the violation of any such
rules and regulations; and to prevent by injunction any pollution or threat-
ened pollution of such water supply, and any and all acts likely to impair
the purity thereof; and carry out the powers herein granted, the town may
exercise within the State all powers of eminent domain provided by the
laws of this State.

(9) Materials for use by town.—To acquire by gift, purchase, ex-
change or by the exercise of the powers of eminent domain within this
State lands, or any interest or estate in lands, rock quarries, gravel pits,
sand pits, water and water rights and the necessary roadways thereto,
either within or without the town, and acquire and install machinery
and equipment, and build the necessary roads or tramways thereto; and
operate the same for the purpose of producing materials required for any
and all purposes of the town; and to acquire, by purchase, exchange or by
the exercise of the power of eminent domain within this State, lands, ma-
chinery and equipment, and build and operate a plant or plants for the prep-
aration and fixing of materials for any and all purposes of the said town.

(10) Disposition of sewage, garbage, etc.—To collect and dispose of
sewage, offal, ashes, garbage, carcasses of dead animals and other refuse,
and make reasonable charges therefor; to acquire and operate reduction
or any other plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials,
or any of them; to contract or regulate the collection and disposal thereof
and to require and regulate the collection and disposal thereof.

(11) Weights and measures.—To inspect, test, measure and weigh
any commodity or commodities or articles of consumption for use within
the town; and to establish, regulate, license, and inspect weights, meters,
measures and scales.

(12) Shows, circuses, etc.—To license and regulate the holding and
location of shows, circuses, public exhibitions, carnivals, and other similar
shows or affairs, or prohibit the holding of the same, or any of them, within
the town or within one mile thereof.

(13) Registration and licensing of motor vehicles.—To require every
owner of motor vehicles residing in the town, on a date to be designated
by the council, to annually register such motor vehicles and to obtain a
license to operate the same by making application to the treasurer of the
town, or such other person as may be designated by the council of the
town, to issue such license, and to require the said owner to pay an annual
license fee therefor to be fixed by the council; provided, that such license
fee shall not exceed the amount charged by the State on such machine.

(14) Public improvements.—To construct, maintain, regulate and
operate public improvements of all kinds, including municipal and other
buildings, markets, and all buildings and structures necessary or appro-
priate for the use and proper operation of the various departments of
the town; and to acquire by condemnation or otherwise, all lands, riparian
and other rights and easements necessary for such improvements, or any
of them. .

(15) Streets, sidewalks, etc.; parks, playgrounds, etc.; bridges,
sewers, etc., shade trees; railroads and crossings; operation of vehicles.—
To establish, enter, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, construct, main-
tain and clean public highways, streets, sidewalks, boulevards, parkways,
and alleys, and to alter, vacate, or close the same; to establish and main-
tain parks, playgrounds, and public grounds; to keep them lighted and
in good order; to construct, maintain and operate bridges, viaducts, sub-
ways, tunnels, sewers and drains and to regulate the use of all such high-
ways, parks, public grounds and works; to plant and maintain or remove
shade trees along the streets and upon such public grounds; to prevent
the obstruction of such streets, alleys, and highways, abolish and prevent
grade crossings over the same by railroads in the manner prescribed
by the general law for the elimination of grade crossings; to require any
railroad company operating a railroad at a place where any highway or
street is crossed within the town limits to erect and maintain at such
crossing any style of gate deemed proper and keep a man in charge
thereof, either or both, or keep a flagman at such crossing during such
hours as the council may require in accordance with the general law of the
state, and to regulate the length of time such crossing may be closed
due to any operations of the railroads; to regulate, to the extent permitted
by general law, the parking and operation of cars, and vehicles upon such
streets and highways, as well as the speed of all engines, cars, and trains
on railroads within the town; and to do all other things whatsoever adapted
to make such streets and highways safe, convenient and attractive.

(16) Stadiums, swimming pools, recreation buildings, etc.—To con-
struct in such parks, playgrounds, and public grounds, as it may maintain,
or upon any town property, stadiums, swimming pools, and recreation
or amusement buildings, structures, or inclosures of every character, re-
freshment stands, restaurants, etc.; to charge for admission, and use
of the same, and rent out or lease the privileges of construction or using
such stadiums, swimming pools, recreation or amusement buildings,
structures, or inclosures of every character, refreshment stands, or res-
taurants, etc.

(17) Water and sewerage rates and charges.—To establish, impose,
and enforce the collection of water and sewerage rates, and rates and
charges for public utilities, or other services, products, or conveniences,
operated, rented or furnished by the town, and to assess, or cause to be
assessed, after reasonable notice to the owner or owners, water and
sewerage rates and charges directly against the owner or owners of the
buildings or against the proper occupant or occupants; and in event such
rates and charges shall be assessed against an occupant or owner or owners
then the council may by ordinance, require of such occupant or owner
or owners a deposit of such reasonable amount as it may by such ordi-
nance prescribe before furnishing such service to such occupant, or owner
or owners.

(18) Sewers and sewer connections.—To establish, construct, and
maintain sanitary sewers, sewer lines and systems, and to require the
abutting property owners to connect therewith and to establish, construct,
maintain and operate sewage disposal plants, and to acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise, within or without the town, all lands, rights of ways,
riparian and other rights, and easements necessary for the purposes
aforesaid, and to charge, assess, and collect reasonable fees, rentals,
assessments or cost of service for connecting with and using the same.

(19) Public utility franchises.—Subject to the provisions of the Con-
stitution and general laws of Virginia and this Charter to grant fran-
chises for public utilities.
(20) Charges for permits for use of public facilities —To charge and
to collect fees for permits to use public facilities and for public services and
privileges. The town shall have the power and right to charge a different
rate for any service rendered or convenience furnished to citizens with-
out the corporate limits from the rates charged for similar service to
citizens within the corporate limits. ;

(21) Nuisances; condition of premises; offensive or dangerous busi-
nesses, etc.; transportation through streets; smoke and dust; noise; stables ;
things detrimental to health; etc.; condition of sidewalks.—To compel the
abatement and removal of all nuisances within the town or upon property
owned by the town beyond its limits at the expense of the person or per-
sons causing the same, or of the owner or occupant of the ground or
premises whereon the same may be, and to collect such expense by suit or
motion or by distress and sale; to require all lands, lots and other
premises within the town, to be kept clean and sanitary and free from
stagnant water, weeds, filth, and unsightly deposits, or to make them
so at the expense of the owners or occupants thereof, and to collect such
expense by suit or motion or by distress and sale; to regulate or prevent
noisome or offensive businesses within the town, or the exercise of any
dangerous or unwholesome business, trade or employment therein; to
regulate the transportation of all articles through the streets of the town;
to compel the abatement of smoke and dust and prevent unnecessary
noise; to regulate the location of stables and the manner in which they
shall be kept and constructed; to regulate the location, construction, oper-
ation, and maintenance of billboards and generally to define, prohibit,
abate, suppress and prevent all things detrimental to the health, morals,
well-being, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the town; and to re-
quire all owners or occupants of property having sidewalks in front thereof
to keep the same clean and sanitary, and free from all weeds, filth, un-
sightly deposits, ice and snow.

(22) Fires and fire prevention; regulation of building; fire limits.—
To prevent or extinguish fires, and to establish, regulate, and control a
fire department or division; to regulate the size, height, materials and
construction of buildings, fences, walls, retaining walls or other structures
hereafter erected, in such manner as the public safety or conveniences may
require; to remove or require to be removed or reconstructed any building,
structure or addition thereto, which by reason of dilapidation, defect of
structure, or other causes, may have become dangerous to life or property,
or which may be erected contrary to law; to establish or designate from time
to time fire limits, within which limits wooden buildings shall not be con-
structed, removed to, added to, enlarged, or repaired and to direct that any
and all future buildings within such limits shall be constructed of stone.
natural or artificial, concrete, brick, iron or other fireproof material; and
may enact stringent and efficient laws for securing the safety of persons
from fires in halls and buildings used for public assemblies, entertainments
or amusements.

(23) Explosives, flammables, fireworks, firearms, bonfires.—To direct
the location of all buildings for storing explosives or combustible sub-
stances; to regulate the sale and use of gunpowder, nitroglycerin, fire-
works, gasoline, kerosene oil or other like materials, to the extent not pro-
hibited by general law of the State; to regulate the exhibition of fire-
works, ae discharge of firearms, and the making of bonfires in the streets
and yards.

(24) Health; foodstuffs; diseases; hospitals; department of health.—
To provide for the preservation of the general health of the inhabitants of
such town, make regulations to secure the same, inspect all foodstuffs and
prevent the introduction and sale in such town of any articles or thing
intended for human consumption, which is adulterated, impure or other-
wise dangerous to health, and to condemn, seize and destroy or otherwise
of any such article or thing without liability to the owner thereof ;
to prevent the introduction or spread of contagious or infectious diseases,
and prevent and suppress disease generally; to provide and regulate
hospitals within or without the town limits, and if necessary to the sup-
pression of disease, to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with con-
tagious or infectious diseases to hospitals provided for them; to provide
for the organization of a department or bureau of health, to have the
powers of a board of health for such town, with the authority necessary
for the prompt and efficient performance of its duties, with the power
to invest any or all of the officials or employees of such department of
health with such powers as the public officers of the town have, to establish
quarantine ground within or without the town, and establish such quaran-
tine regulations against infectious and contagious diseases as the council
may see fit, subject to the laws of the State and of the United States.

(25) Children, aged persons, etc.—To provide for the care, support
and maintenance of children and of sick, aged, insane or poor persons and
pauper
(26) Speeding animals; throwing stones; dangerous or annoying
employments; cruelty to animals.—To prevent the riding or driving of
horses or other animals at an improper speed; to prevent the throwing of
stones, or engaging in any sort of employment in public streets which is
dangerous or annoying to passersby, and to prohibit and punish the abuse
of animals.

(27) Motor vehicles carrying passengers for hire; automobiles, trucks
and traffic.—To the extent permitted by general law of the State: To
control, regulate, limit and restrict the operation of motor vehicles carry-
ing passengers for hire upon the streets or alleys of the town; to regulate
the use of automobiles and other automotive vehicles upon the streets;
to regulate the routes in and through the town to be used by motor vehicle
carriers operating in and through such town and to prescribe different
routes for different carriers; to prohibit the use of certain streets by
motor trucks; and generally to prescribe such regulations respecting
motor traffic therein as may be necessary for the general welfare.

(28) Acquisition, ete., of land to encourage commerce, etc.—To
acquire in any lawful manner, for the purpose of encouraging commerce
and manufacture, lands within or without the town not exceeding at any
one time five hundred acres in the aggregate, and from time to time to
sell or lease the same or any part thereof for industrial or commercial
uses and purposes.

(29) Burial places.—To provide in or near the town, lands to be
used as burial places for the dead; to improve and care for the same and
the approaches thereto, and to charge for and regulate the use of the
ground therein, and to cooperate with any nonprofit corporation or asso-
ciation in the improvements and care of burial places and approaches
thereto; and to provide for the perpetual upkeep and care of any plot or
burial lot therein, the town is authorized to take and receive sums of money
by gift, bequest, or otherwise to be kept invested, and the income thereof
used in and about the perpetual upkeep and care of such lot or plot, for
which such donation, gift, or bequest shall have been made.

(380) Police powers; police force.—To exercise full police powers and
establish and maintain a police force, the members of which shall be vested
with the powers of a conservator of the peace and shall have the same
powers and duties as a sheriff within the corporate limits of the town and
to the distance of one mile beyond the same, and such further jurisdiction
as may be provided by the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

(31) Paupers, dangerous persons, etc.—To prevent any person hav-
ing no visible means of support, paupers, and persons who may be dan-
gerous to the peace and safety of the town, from coming to such town
from without the same; and also to expel therefrom any such person who
has been in such town less than twelve months.

(32) Drunkards, vagrants, beggars; riots, etc.; houses of ill-fame
and gambling houses; lewd, etc., exhibitions——To restrain and punish
drunkards, vagrants and street beggars, to prevent and quell riots, dis-
turbances and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame and
gambling houses; to prevent and punish lewd, indecent and disorderly
exhibitions in such town; and to expel therefrom persons guilty of such
conduct who have not resided therein as much as one year.

(33) Damage to property.—To prohibit and punish mischievous,
wanton, or malicious damage to school and public property, as well as
private property.

(34) Minors in poolrooms, etc.—To prohibit minors from frequent-
ing, playing in or loitering in any public poolroom, billiard parlor, or
bowling alley, and to punish any proprietor or agent thereof for permitting
same or any minors violating such a regulation.

(35) Working prisoners; use of county jail—To compel persons sen-
tenced to confinement in the jail of the town for any misdemeanor or
other violation of the laws or ordinances of the town to work on the public
streets, parks or other public works of the town; and on the requisition
of the mayor or other person acting as judge in the trial of violations of
the town ordinances, it shall be the duty of the jailer to deliver such
person to the sergeant of the town who shall deliver such person to the
duly authorized agent of the town of such purposes from day to day as he
may be required. For the purpose for carrying into effect the police regu-
lations of the town, the town shall be allowed to use the county jail of
Greensville County, for the safe keeping and confinement of all persons
who shall be sentenced to imprisonment under the ordinances of the town.

(36) Rewards.—To offer and pay rewards for the apprehension and
conviction of criminals.
at {37 ) Street names.—To give names to or alter the names of the

reets.
(38) Plan for town; approval of subdivision plats.—To make and
adopt a comprehensive plan for the town, and to that end all plats and
replats hereafter made subdividing any land within the town or within one
mile thereof, into streets, alleys, roads and lots or tracts shall be submitted
to and approved by the council before such plats or replats are filed for
record or recorded in the office of the Clerk of Greensville County,
Virginia.

(39) Municipal supply of electricity and gas.—To own, operate and
maintain electric light and gas works, either within or without the cor-
porate limits of the town and to supply electricity and gas whether the
same be generated or purchased by such town, to its customers and
consumers both without and within the corporate limits of the said town,
at such price and upon such terms as it may prescribe, and to that end it
may contract and purchase electricity and gas from the owners thereof
upon such terms as it may deem expedient.

(40) Inspection of meat and milk; slaughterhouses.—To provide by
ordinance for a system of meat and milk inspection, and appoint milk and
meat inspectors, agents, or officers to carry the same into effect; to pro-
hibit, license, regulate, control and locate slaughterhouses within or with-
out the corporate limits of the town, and for such services of inspection
to make reasonable charge therefor; and to provide such reasonable
penalties for the violation of such ordinances.

(41) Poles and wires.—To regulate, permit or prohibit poles and
wires for electric, telephone and telegraph purposes to be erected and gas
pipes to be laid in the streets and alleys, and to prescribe and collect
annual charges for such privileges, heretofore or hereafter granted; to
require the owner or lessee of an electric light, telephone or telegraph
pole, or poles, or wires, now in use or hereafter erected, to change the
location or move the same; to prescribe rules and regulations for the
construction and use of conduits containing telephone and telegraph wires
and all wires and cables carrying electricity.

_ (42) Contracts as to water system and sewerage system.—To nego-
tiate and contract with any person, firm, corporation, municipality, or
sanitary district with regard to the connections of any water system or
sewerage system owned or operated by the town with any other system
or systems now in operation or hereafter to be established, within or
without the corporate limits and with regard to any other matter necessary
and proper for the construction or operation and maintenance of any such
systems within or without the town.

(43) Ordinances, etc., effecting powers of town.—To pass and enforce
all by-laws, rules, regulations and ordinances, not inconsistent with the
laws of this State, which it may deem necessary for the good order and
government of the town, the management of its property, the conduct of
its affairs, the peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health and
protection of its citizens of their property and to do such other things and
pass such other laws as may be necessary or proper to carry into full
effect, all powers, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction, which is or shall
be granted to or vested in such town, or in the council, court, or officers
thereof, or which may be necessarily incident to a municipal corporation.

(44) Injunction of violation of ordinance, ete.—To enjoin and re-
strain the violation of any such by-law, rule, regulation or ordinance
although a penalty is provided upon conviction of such violation.

(45) Penalty for violation of ordinance, etc.—To prescribe any
penalty for the violation of any town ordinance, rule, or regulation or of
any provision of this charter, not exceeding five hundred dollars or twelve
months’ imprisonment in jail, or both.

(46) General welfare, comfort, etc.—To do all things whatsoever
necessary or expedient and lawful to be done for promoting or maintain-
ing the general welfare, comfort, education, morals, peace, government,
health, trade, commerce, or industries of the town or its inhabitants.

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