CHAPTER 164

An Act to amend and reenact 8§ 3.3, 3.4, as amended, 3.9 and 3.902, 3.928,
as amended, and 4.17 of Chapter 825 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952,
approved March 12, 1952, which provided a charter for the city of
Buena Vista, the sections relating to size and election of council,
passage of ordinances, rules of procedure, appointment of municipal
judge, and additional appropriations, and to repeal § 5-201 of said
chapter, relating to the judge of the municipal court. rH 134]

Approved March 1, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 3.3, 3.4, as amended, 3.9 and 3.902, 3.928, as amended, and
4.17 of Chapter 325 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952, approved March 12,
1952, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 3.8. The council of the City of Buena Vista shall consist of a body
of * seven members elected at large, all of whom shall be residents of the
City of Buena Vista and the State of Virginia for one year and are quali-
fied to vote in the City of Buena Vista.

3.4. The council shall be elected in the manner prescribed by law,
as follows:

At the regular municipal election to be held on the second Tuesday
in June, nineteen hundred * sixty-two, five members shall be elected, to
take office on September first next following the date of their election.
The * four members, each of whom has received more votes in said elec-
tion than * the other member, shall serve as members of the council for
terms of four years each. The remaining * one member shall serve for a
term of two years *. The two holdover members of council in office on
the first day of September, nineteen hundred sixty-two, shall continue for
the length of their elected term, ending September one, nineteen hundred
sixty-four. At the regular municipal election to be held on the second
Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred * sixty-four, and each four years
thereafter, * three councilmen shall be elected each for a term of four
years beginning on the first day of September next following their elec-
tion. At the regular municipal election to be held on the second Tuesday
in June, nineteen hundred * sixty-six, and every four years thereafter, *
four councilmen shall be elected each for a term of four years beginning
on the first day of September next following their election. Each council-
man elected as hereinabove provided shall serve for the term stated or
until his successor shall have been elected and qualified. The council shall
be a continuing body, and no measure pending before such body shall
abate or be discontinued by reason of expiration of the term of office or
removal of any of its members. Provided, however, in the event member-
ship of the council shall for any reason, be reduced to * three or less
members, the clerk of the council shall cause notice of such fact to be
directed to the circuit court of the City of Buena Vista, or the judge
thereof in vacation, who shall thereupon order a special election to be held
within thirty days, and all vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term
thereof at such election.

.9. The council is empowered, subject to the provisions of the
Charter, to adopt its own rules of procedure. Such rules shall provide for
the time and place of holding regular meetings of the council which shall
not be less frequently than once each month. They shall also provide for
the calling of special meetings by the mayor or by any * four members
of the council and shall prescribe the method of giving notice thereof,
provided that the notice of each special meeting shall contain a statement
of the specific item or items of business to be transacted and no other
business shall be transacted at such meetings except by the unanimous
consent of all the members of the council. The meetings of the council
shall be open to the public, except when the public welfare, in the opinion
of three-fourths of the council, requires secrecy. A majority of the council
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

§ 3.902. The enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council
shall be: “Be it ordained by the council of the City of Buena Vista’. No
ordinance, unless it be an emergency measure, shall be passed until it has
been read at two regular meetings not less than seven days apart, unless
the requirement of such reading has been dispensed with by the affirma-
tive vote of * five of the members of the council. No ordinance or section
thereof shall be revised or amended by its title or section only, but the
new ordinance shall contain the entire ordinance, or section as revised or
amended. The ayes and nays shall be taken upon the passage of all ordi-
nances or resolutions and entered upon the journal of the proceedings of
the council and every ordinance or resolution shall require, on final pass-
age, the affirmative vote of at least * four of its members.

§ 3.928. The council of the City of Buena Vista shall, * at its first
meeting in September, nineteen hundred sixty-two, and during the same
month every two years thereafter, appoint a judge, substitute judge and
clerk of the Municipal Court of the * said city, said judge, substitute judge
and clerk to hold office for terms of two years each commencing on the
first day of October next succeeding such appointments. Provided, how-
ever, that the foregoing appointments shall * be subject to approval
thereof by the Circuit Court of the City of Buena Vista, or the judge
thereof in vacation.

4.17. The council may, after referring to the city manager for a
recommendation, make additional appropriations during the fiscal year
upon the affirmative vote of * four members of the council.

2. That § 5-201 of Chapter 325 of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen
hundred fifty-two, approved March twelve, nineteen hundred fifty-two, is
hereby repealed.

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