CHAPTER 442

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17, 21, 38, 34,
46, 47 and 56, as severally amended, of Chapter 216 of the Acts of
Assembly of 1952, approved March 7, 1952, which provided a new
charter for the City of Roanoke, the sections relating to powers of city,
composition of council, qualification of members, compensation of
mayor and councilmen, limitations upon powers of council, officers
elective by council, meetings of council, mayor, elections and conduct
thereof, city manager, budget, appropriations, sinking fund commis-
sion, bond issues and school board.

[H 269]

Approved March 31, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 15, 16, 17, 21, 33, 34, 46, 47 and 56, as
severally amended, of Chapter 216 of the Acts of Assembly of 1952,
approved March 7, 1952, be amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 2. Powers of the city.—In addition to the powers mentioned in the
preceding section, the said city shall have power:

(1) To raise annually by taxes and assessments in said city such sums
of money as the council hereinafter provided for shall deem necessary
for the purposes of said city, and in such manner as said council shall
deem expedient, in accordance with the Constitution and laws of this
State and of the United States; provided, however, that it shall impose
no tax on the bonds of said city; and provided, further, that said tax
rate shall not exceed the sum of two dollars and fifty cents on the one
hundred dollars of assessed value of real and personal property in this
city, except for providing for the payment of the principal and interest
on any non-revenue bonds issued after January one, nineteen hundred
forty-two issued and approved by a vote of the freeholders, or for any
bonds issued to refund the same * and except for providing for the cost of
operating the public schools.

(2) To impose special or local assessments for local improvements
and enforce payment thereof, subject, however to such limitations pre-
scribed by the Constitution of Virginia as may be in force at the time of
the imposition of such special or local assessments.

(3) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia and of
sections forty-seven, forty-eight and forty-nine of this charter, to contract
debts, borrow money and make and issue evidence of indebtedness.

(4) To expend the money of the city for all lawful purposes.

(5) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation or otherwise,
property, real or personal, or any estate or interest therein, within or
without the city or State and for any of the purposes of the city; and to
hold, improve, sell, lease, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of the
game or any other part thereof.

(6) To acquire, in any lawful manner, for the purpose of encouraging
commerce and manufacture, lands within and without the city not exceed-
ing at any one time five thousand acres in the aggregate, and from time
to time to sell or lease the same or any part thereof for industrial or com-
mercial uses and purposes.

(7) To make and maintain public improvements of all kinds, includ-
ing municipal and other public buildings, armories, markets, comfort sta-
tions or rest rooms and all buildings and structures necessary or appro-
priate for the use of the departments of fire and police; and to establish
a market or markets in and for said city, and to appoint proper officers
therefor; to prescribe the time and place for holding the same; to provide
suitable buildings and grounds therefor and to make and enforce such
rules and regulations as shall be necessary to restrain and prevent huck-
stering, forestalling and regrating, and for the purpose of regulating and
controlling the sale of fresh meats, fresh fish, farm and domestic products
in said city the council shall have authority to confine the sale of such
articles or products to the public markets and public squares provided by
the city for that purpose, and shall have full power and authority to use
such streets, avenues or alleys in the city around the public market and
public squares as may be necessary to provide for vehicles from which
farm and domestic products are offered for sale and may by resolution
or ordinance designate the streets or other public places on or in which
all license peddlers may sell or offer for sale their goods, wares or mer-
chandise, and shall have authority to levy and collect a license tax for
the sale of fresh meats and fresh fish and may impose a curbage tax for
each vehicle containing farm and domestic products brought into said
city and sold or offered for sale on the market and to acquire by condemna-
tion or otherwise all lands, riparian and other rights and easements neces-
sary for such improvements, or any of them.

(8) To furnish all local public service, to purchase, hire, construct,
own, lease, maintain and operate local public utilities, to acquire by con-
demnation or otherwise, within or without the corporate limits, lands and
property necessary for any such purpose.

9) To acquire in any lawful manner in any county of the State, or
without the State, such water lands, and lands under water as the council
of said city may deem necessary for the purpose of providing an adequate
water supply for said city and of piping or conducting the same; to lay
all necessary mains; to erect and maintain all necessary dams, pumping
stations and other works in connection therewith; to process, filter, or
purify such water supply and to add thereto mineral or other substances
to make the water more potable or more healthful, or to promote the public
welfare; to make reasonable rules and regulations for promoting the purity
of its said water supply and for protecting the same from pollution; and
for this purpose to exercise full police powers and sanitary patrol over
all lands comprised within the limits of the watershed tributary to any
such water supply wherever such lands 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 threatened
pollution of such water supply and any and all acts likely to impair the
purity thereof; and to acquire lands or material for any such use. For
any of the purposes aforesaid said city may, if the council shall so deter-
mine, acquire by condemnation, purchase or otherwise, any estate or in-
terest in such lands or any of them, or any right or easement therein, or
may acquire such lands or any of them in fee, reserving to the owner or
owners thereof such rights or easements therein as may be prescribed in
the ordinance providing for such condemnation or purchase. The said city
may sell or supply to persons, firms or industries residing or located out-
side of the city limits any surplus of water it may have over and above
the amount required to supply its own inhabitants.
(10) To establish and enforce water rates and rates and charges for
public utilities, or other service products, or conveniences, operated,
rendered or furnished by the city; to employ necessary competent in-
spectors to inspect the reservoirs, watersheds, filtering plants, pumps
and pumping machinery and all other equipment of and all sources of
water supply of every water company furnishing such water for domestic
purposes, or use in the homes, of the inhabitants of the city, to compel
any such water company, which owns or operates such reservoirs, water-
sheds, filtering plants, pumps and pumping machinery or other equipment
or source or sources of said water supply to pay the reasonable cost of
such inspectors; to give reasonable notice to any such water company of
any condition disclosed by any such inspection which, in the opinion of
said inspector and of a majority of the city council renders, or unless
remedied probably will render the said water or water supply of the city
or its inhabitants or any part thereof dangerous or unfit to be used for
drinking purposes or general domestic purposes and to require any such
water company to remedy any such condition within a reasonable time
to be stated in said notice; to specify in said notice the particular acts
or things which are required to be done by any such water company to
remedy or prevent any such condition of said water or water supply; and
if said condition be not remedied by said water company and the acts
and things specified in said notice to said water company to be done by it,
be not done within the time specified in said notice, and if a majority of
said city council shall by resolution, at a meeting of the said council,
at which said water company has had reasonable notice and opportunity
to produce evidence and be heard, declared that an emergency exists re-
quiring the doing of said acts or things, so specified in said notice or any
part of them, to remedy or prevent such unfit or improper water or water
supply being provided for or furnished to the inhabitants of the city or
any of them, then the city council is hereby empowered and it shall be its
duty immediately to do the acts or things so specified in said notice to said
water company, and in said emergency resolution, and said city council
shall have the power and it shall be its duty, either by withholding the
water rentals which may thereafter become due from the city to said
water company, to reimburse the city for any amount expended in the
doing of said acts or things, or to recover said amount from said water
company by any appropriate action at law or suit in equity; provided,
however, that the maximum amount which the said city may so expend
in any calendar half-year period, between January first and June thirtieth,
or between July first and December thirty-first, shall not exceed the sum
of seven thousand and five hundred dollars; and provided further, that
any such water company shall have the right by proper legal proceedings
to have determined whether or not any such expenditure which may
have been so made by said city was made through abuse of discretion or
without probable cause to believe said expenditure a necessary one for
the protection of the city’s water supply; and if in any such proceeding it
shall be finally determined that said expenditure was one not necessary for
said purpose, said water company shall recover from the city any water
rentals which may have been retained as a reimbursement for said ex-
penditure; and provided, further, that if said expenditure be found not a
necessary one the city shall be entitled to receive from said water company
by reason of said expenditure only such amount as under a quantum meruit
it may be determined the said water company has received actual benefit
of and in justice ought to pay value received for. Permitting the growth
of algae in an amount which materially affects the purity, taste or smell
of such water, so as to render the same unfit for drinking purposes or
general domestic use, in the reservoirs or sources of water supply is
hereby declared a condition which it is the duty of the city council to
prevent or remedy under the powers granted in this subsection. Nothing
herein contained shall be construed as in anywise limiting, altering,
affecting or impairing the existing duties, jurisdiction or powers of the
State Corporation Commission or of the State Board of Health or any
other agency of the State over water companies in the city of Roanoke
or elsewhere, but any existing powers, duties or jurisdiction of the State
Corporation Commission, State Board of Health or other agency of the
State which are hereby conferred or imposed upon the city council, shall
be deemed to be concurrent.

(11) To acquire in the manner provided by the general laws any
existing water, gas or electric plant, works or system, or any part thereof.

(12) To establish, open, widen, extend, grade, improve, construct,
maintain, light, sprinkle and clean, public highways, streets, alleys, boule-
vards and parkways, and to alter, or close the same; to establish and main-
tain parks, playgrounds and other public grounds; to construct, maintain
and operate bridges, viaducts, subways, tunnels, sewers and drains, and
to regulate the use of all such highways, parks, public grounds and works;
to plant and maintain shade trees along the streets and upon such public
grounds; to prevent the obstruction of such streets and highways, and
abolish and prevent grade crossings over the same by railroads in the man-
ner provided by law; regulate the operation and speed of all cars and ve-
hicles using the same, as well as the operation and speed of all engines,
cars and trains on railroads within the city; to provide by ordinance for
the removal from such streets, highways, alleys, boulevards, parkways and
other public places of vehicles and other objects abandoned thereon or left
or placed thereon in violation of law or of an ordinance of the city, and to
take charge of, impound and thereafter dispose of by sale or otherwise,
such vehicles or other objects, any such sale to be held only after the owner
or person lawfully entitled to the possession thereof shall have refused to
pay the costs of such removal and keeping or after such vehicle or other
object shall have remained unclaimed in the custody of the city for not less
than sixty days, and, in either case, after notice of such sale, describing
the vehicle or object to be sold, shall have been published for not less than
five days in a local daily newspaper of general circulation, and to recover
the costs of such removal, keeping and sale; to provide for the condemna-
tion and scrapping or other disposition of abandoned or unclaimed motor
vehicles which, by reason of damage or dilapidation, are unsafe and im-
practicable of repair; to regulate the service to be rendered and rates to be
charged by buses, motor cars, cabs and other vehicles for the carrying of
passengers and by vehicles for the transfer of baggage; to require all
telephone and telegraph wires and all wires and cables carrying electricity
to be placed in conduits under ground and prescribe rules and regulations
for the construction and use of such conduits; and to do all other things
whatsoever adapted to make said streets and highways safe, convenient
and attractive.

(13) To construct and maintain, or aid in constructing and main-
taining, public roads, boulevards, parkways, tunnels and bridges beyond
the limits of the city, in order to facilitate public travel to and from said
city and its suburbs and to and from said city and any property owned
by said city and situated beyond the corporate limits thereof, and to
acquire land necessary for such purpose by condemnation or otherwise.

(14) Subject to the provisions of the Constitution of Virginia to
grant franchises for public utilities.

(15) To collect and dispose of sewage, offal, ashes, garbage, carcasses
of dead animals and other refuse, and to acquire and operate reduction or
other plants for the utilization or destruction of such materials, or any
of them; or to contract for and regulate the collection and disposal thereof.
To compel the abatement of smoke, dust and fly-ash; to regulate and con-
trol the installation, alteration and repair of all combustion equipment
other than internal combustion engines, and to control and prohibit pollu-
tion of the air. a,

(16) To compel the abatement and removal of all nuisances within
the city, or upon property owned by the city, beyond its limits; to require
all lands, lots and other premises within the city to be kept clean, sanitary
and free from weeds; to regulate or prevent slaughter houses or other
noisome or offensive business within said city; the keeping of animals,
poultry and other fowls therein, or the exercise of any dangerous or
unwholesome business, trade or employment therein; to regulate the trans-
portation of all articles through the streets of the city; to compel the
abatement of smoke and dust, and prevent unnecessary noise therein;
to regulate the location of buildings or lots where animals or fowls are
kept and the manner in which such shall be kept and constructed, and
generally to define, prohibit, abate, suppress and prevent all things detri-
mental to the health, morals, comfort, safety, convenience and welfare
of the inhabitants of the city.

(17) If any ground in the said city shall be subject to be covered
by stagnant water or if the owner or occupant thereof shall permit any
offensive or unwholesome substance to remain or accumulate thereon, the
said council may cause such ground to be filled up, raised or drained, or
may cause such substance to be covered or removed therefrom, provided,
that reasonable notice shall be first given to the said owner or occupant
or his agent. In case of nonresident owners who have no agent in said
city, such notice may be given by publication; in which event two inser-
tions of such notice on separate days, in any newspaper published in said
city, at least ten days before the first day any action is to be taken shall
be sufficient notice.

(18) To direct the location of all buildings for storing gunpowder or
other explosive or combustible substances, to regulate or prohibit the sale
and use of dynamite, gunpowder, firecrackers, kerosene oil, gasoline, nitro-
glycerine, camphene, burning fluid, and all explosive or combustible mate-
rials, the exhibition of fireworks, the discharge of firearms, the use of
candles and lights in barns, stables and other buildings, the making of
bonfires and the carrying of concealed weapons, and to regulate the move-
ment over its streets of dangerous, explosive, or highly combustible
materials.

(19) To regulate or prohibit the running at large in said city of
any or all animals and fowls; to regulate or prohibit the keeping or rais-
ing of same within said city, and to subject the same to such levies, regu-
lations and taxes as it may deem proper; to prohibit or regulate the
keeping or raising of pigeons or other birds; and to provide for the
seizure, impounding, destruction or disposition of any such animal or fowl
found running at large or raised or kept in violation of such regulation.

(20) To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, mendicants and
street beggars, and to provide for the treatment of drunkards, alcoholics
and drug addicts.

(21) To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve public peace and
good order, to prevent and quell riots, disturbances and disorderly assem-
blages; to suppress houses of ill-fame, gambling houses and gambling
devices of all kinds, to prevent lewd, indecent or disorderly conduct or
exhibitions in the city.

(22) To inspect, test, measure and weigh any commodity or article
for consumption or use, manufactured, stored, processed or offered for
sale within the city, and to establish, regulate, license and inspect weights,
meters, measures and scales.

23) To extinguish and prevent fires and compel citizens to render
assistance to the fire department in case of need, and to establish, regulate
and control a fire department or division; to regulate the size, materials
and construction of buildings, fences, and other structures hereafter
erected in such manner as the public safety and convenience may require;
to remove, or require to be removed, 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 and designate from time to time
fire limits within which limits wooden buildings shall not be constructed,
removed, added to or enlarged, and to direct that any or all future build-
ings within such limits shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial,
concrete, brick, iron or other fireproof material.

(24) To provide for the care, support and maintenance of children
and of sick, aged, insane, disabled, or poor persons and paupers.

(25) To establish, organize and administer public schools, colleges
and libraries subject to the general laws establishing a standard of educa-
tion for the State.

(26) To provide and maintain, either within or without the city,
charitable, recreative, curative, corrective, detentive, or penal institutions.

(27) To provide for the removal of paupers or dependent persons
recently come into the city where permitted by State or Federal laws.

(28) To provide for the preservation of the general health of the
inhabitants of said city, make regulations to secure the same, inspect all
food and foodstuffs and prevent the introduction and sale in said city
of any article or thing intended for human consumption, which is adul-
terated, impure or otherwise dangerous to health, and to condemn, seize
and destroy or otherwise dispose 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 diseases gen-
erally; to provide and regulate hospitals within or without the city limits,
and to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious or infec-
tious disease to hospitals provided for them, to provide a department
of health, to have the powers of a board of health, for said city, with
the authority necessary for the prompt and efficient performance of its
duties, with power to invest any or all the officials or employees of such
department of health with such powers as the police officers of the city
have; to establish a quarantine ground within or without the city limits,
and such quarantine regulations against infectious and contagious disease
as the said council may see fit, subject to the laws of the State and the
United States; to provide and keep records of vital statistics and compel
the return of all births, deaths and other information necessary thereto.

(29) To acquire by purchase, gift, devise, condemnation, or other-
wise, lands, either within or without the city, to be used, kept and im-
proved as a place for the interment of the dead, and to make and enforce
all necessary rules and regulations for the protection and use thereof; and
generally to regulate the burial and disposition of the dead.

(30) To exercise full police powers, and establish and maintain a
department or division of police.

(31) To do all things whatsoever necessary or expedient for pro-
moting or maintaining the general welfare, comfort, education, morals,
peace, government, health, trade, commerce or industries of the city or
its inhabitants.

(32) To make and enforce all ordinances, rules and regulations neces-
sary or expedient for the purpose of carrying into effect the powers
conferred by this charter or by any general law, and to provide and impose
suitable penalties for the violation of such ordinances, rules and regula-
tions, or any of them, by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or im-
prisonment not exceeding twelve months, or both, the city may maintain
a suit to restrain by injunction the violation of any ordinance notwith-
standing such ordinance may provide punishment for its violation. The
enumeration of particular powers in this charter shall not be deemed
or held to be exclusive, but in addition to the powers enumerated herein
implied thereby, or appropriate to the exercise thereof, the said city shall
have and may exercise all other powers which are now or may hereafter
be possessed or enjoyed by cities under the Constitution and general laws
of this State.

§ 4. Composition of council: vacancies.—The Council as presently
composed shall continue and shall consist of seven members *, one of which
shall be the mayor, all of whom shall be elected at large and shall serve for
the respective terms as hereinafter provided. The members of council shall
serve for a term of four years, from the first day of September next fol-
lowing the date of their election and until their successors shall have been
elected and qualified. The mayor shall serve for a term of four years from
the first day of September next following the date of election and until a
successor shall have been elected and qualified; provided, however, that on
the second Tuesday in June, * nineteen hundred sixty-two, three council-
men shall be elected for a term of four years or until their successors shall
have been elected and qualified; and provided further that on the second
Tuesday in June, * nineteen hundred sixty-four, three councilmen and a
mayor shall be elected * for a term of four years * and until their succes-
sors shall have been elected and qualified; and provided further that on the
second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred sixty-six, and on said day each
four years thereafter, three councilmen shall be elected for a term of four
years, and on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred sixty-eight,
and each four years thereafter, three councilmen and a mayor shall be
elected for a term of four years.

The member of council receiving the largest number of votes in the
election at which the mayor is elected shall be the vice-mayor of the city.

Pending the election of a mayor as hereinabove provided, the council
shall elect one of its members mayor and one of its members vice-mayor.

The council shall be a continuing body, and no measure pending before
such body shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the expiration of the
term of office or removal of the members of said body, or any of them. In
the event any member of council during his term of office shall desire to
offer for the office of mayor, he shall be eligible so to do, but shall tender
his resignation as a member of council at least thirty days prior to the
date required for the filing of declarations of candidacy, and the vacancy
so created shall be filled at the next regular councilmanic election as here-
in provided.

Vacancies in the council shall be filled within thirty days, and until
the first day of September next following the next regular councilmanic
election, by a majority vote of the remaining members of council, and if
as much as two years of any such unexpired term of a member of council
remains at the time of such * regular councilmanic election, a councilman
shall be elected * at said election for the remaining portion of such unex-
pired term. Vacancy in the office of mayor shall be filled within thirty
days, and until the first day of September following the regular council-
manic election, by a majority vote of the members of council, and if as
much as two years of any such unexpired term of the mayor remains at
the time of such next regular councilmanic election, a mayor shall be
elected at said election for the remaining portion of such unexpired term.
In the event the mayor is appointed from the members of the council and
elects to serve as such, he shall immediately tender his resignation as a
member of council and the vacancy created thereby shall be filled for the
unexpired term within thirty days by a majority vote of the members of
council remaining, and if as much as two years of any such unexpired
term of a member of council chosen as mayor remains at the time of the
next regular councilmanic election, the councilman shall be elected at said
election for the remaining portion of such unexpired term. In the event of
a vacancy in the office of vice-mayor, the vacancy shall be filled by a ma-
jority vote of the remaining members of council from its membership.

§ 5. Qualification of members; conduct of candidates.—Any person
qualified to vote in said city shall be eligible to the office of councilman or
mayor therein; provided, however, that in the event a member of council
during his term of office desires to seek the office of mayor, he shall re-
sign from the council not less than thirty days prior to the time for filing
declarations of candidacy for the said office of mayor, and the vacancy
thereby created shall be filled as provided by this charter. No candidate
for the office of councilman or mayor shall promise any money, office, em-
ployment or other thing of value, to secure a nomination or election, or *
accept in connection with his candidacy any money except as permitted by
the general laws of the State; and any such candidate violating this pro-
vision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall
be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisonment
for a term not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of the court
or jury, and shall forfeit his office, if elected; in which event, the person
receiving the next highest number of votes, who has not violated the said
provisions shall be entitled to said office.

§ 6. Compensation of the mayor and of councilmen.—* Effective
September one, nineteen hundred sixty-two, the salary of the mayor shall
be forty-eight hundred dollars per year and that of the vice-mayor and of
each other councilman shall be eighteen hundred dollars per year. Such
salaries shall be payable in equal monthly installments.

§ 7. Limitations of the powers of the council.—Neither the mayor,
the council, nor any of its members, shall dictate, urge or suggest the ap-
pointment of any person to office or employment by the city manager, or in
any manner interfere with the city manager, or prevent him from exercis-
ing his own judgment in the appointment of officers or employees in the
administrative service; provided, however, that any appointments of de-
partment heads by the city manager shall be subject to confirmation by
a majority of the members of the council. Except for the purpose of in-
quiry, the mayor, the council and its members shall deal with the admin-
istrative service solely through the city manager, and neither the mayor,
the council, nor any member thereof, shall give orders to any of the subordi-
nates of the city manager either publicly or privately.

§ 8. Officers elective by council; rules.—The council shall elect * a
city manager, a city clerk, a city auditor, a city attorney, and two, or more,
municipal judges, one of whom shall be chief municipal judge. Unless here-
in otherwise specifically provided, the council shall also appoint the mem-
bers of such boards and commissions as are hereafter provided for. All
elections by the council shall be viva voce and the vote recorded in the
journal of the council. The council may determine its own rules of pro-
cedure; may punish its members for misconduct and may compel the at-
tendance of members in such manner and under such penalties as may be
prescribed by ordinance. It shall keep a journal of its proceedings. A
majority of all the members of the council shall constitute a quorum to
do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time. No
person elected to the council, whether he qualify or not shall during the
term for which he is elected, be elected or appointed to any position or
office of trust or profit under the city government.

§ 10. Meetings of council.—At three o’clock post meridian on the
first day of September next following the regular municipal election, or
if such day be Sunday, then on the day following, the council shall meet
at the usual place for holding meetings of the legislative body of the city,
at which time the newly elected councilmen shall assume the duties of
their offices. Thereafter the council shall meet at such times as may be
prescribed by ordinance or resolution, provided, that it shall hold at least
one regular meeting each week, except during the months of June, July
and August, when two regular meetings each month may be held. The *
mayor, any member * of the council, or the city manager, may call special
meetings of the council at any time upon at least twelve hours written
notice to each member, served personally or left at his usual place of busi-
hess or residence; or such meeting may be held at any time without notice;
provided, all members of the council attend. All meetings of the council
shall be public, except where the public interest may require executive
Sessions, and any citizen may have access to the minutes and records there-
of at all reasonable times.

§ 15. The mayor.—The * mayor shall preside at meetings of the
council, and perform such * duties as are imposed upon him by this charter
and such other duties consistent with his office as may be imposed by the
council. He shall be entitled to a vote, but shall possess no veto power. He
shall be recognized as the official head of the city for all ceremonial pur-
poses, by the courts for the purpose of serving civil process, and by the
governor for military purposes. He may, * as mayor, execute all requisite
contracts or other legal instruments in writing for and on behalf of the
city and as such mayor perform all other functions or requirements arising
from federal or State law, procedure, rules or regulations * but * these
authorizations shall not be construed as conferring upon him the adminis-
trative or judicial functions, or other powers or functions, of a mayor,
under the general laws of the State. In time of public dangers or emer-
gency, he may, with the consent of the council, take command of the police
and maintain order and enforce the laws, and for this purpose may depu-
tize such special policemen as may be necessary. During his absence or
disability his duties shall be performed by the vice- * mayor of the * city.

The powers and the duties of the * mayor shall be such as are con-
ferred upon him by this charter, together with such others as may be con-
ferred by the council in pursuance of the provisions of this charter, and
no others.

§ 16. Time of holding municipal elections—A municipal election
shall be held on the second Tuesday in June in nineteen hundred sixty-two,
and every second year thereafter which shall be known as the regular
election for the election of councilmen.

§ 17. Method of conducting municipal elections.—The candidates at
any regular municipal election for the election of councilmen, equal in
number to the places to be filled, who shall receive the highest number of
votes at such election, shall be declared elected to the council, and the can-
didate receiving the highest number of votes for the office of mayor shall
be declared elected mayor.

In any such election each elector shall be entitled to vote for as many
persons as there are vacancies to be filled, and no more; and no elector shall
in such elections cast more than one vote for the same person.

§ 21. Same—Power and duties *.—The city manager shall be re-
sponsible to the council for the efficient administration of all offices of the
city. He shall have power, and it shall be his duty:

(a) To see that all laws and ordinances are enforced.

(b) Subject to the limitations contained in § 7 of this charter and
except as otherwise provided in this charter, to appoint such city officers
and employees as the council shall determine are necessary for the proper
administration of the affairs of the city, with the power to discipline and
remove any such officer and employee, but he shall report each appoint-
ment and removal to the council at the next meeting thereof following any
such appointment or removal.
(c) To attend all meetings of the council, with the right to take part
in the discussion, but having no vote.

(d) To recommend to the council for adoption such measures as he
may deem necessary or expedient.

(e) To make reports to the council from time to time upon the affairs
of the city and to keep the council fully advised of the city’s financial con-
dition and its future financial needs.

-

(g) To perform such other duties as are prescribed by this charter or
as may be prescribed by the council.

§ 33. The annual budget.—* The mayor shall on the first day of the
seventh month prior to the end of the fiscal year appoint a budget commis-
sion which shall be composed of the mayor, the city manager, the city
auditor, and four freehold citizens of the city who are qualified to vote and
are not members of council and not employees of the city, which freehold
citizens shall be appointed with the approval of the majority of the mem-
bers of council, who shall prepare and submit to the council sixty days
prior to the end of the fiscal year a proposed annual budget for the ensuing
year, based upon detailed estimates furnished to the commission by the
several officers and department heads of the city government according to
classification as nearly uniform as possible. The mayor shall serve as chair-
man of the commission and a budget shall be adopted by the council on or
before the end of the fiscal year in which the proposed budget is submitted
by the commission to the council, which budget shall * contain the follow-
ing information:

(a) An itemized statement of the appropriations recommended with
comparative statement in parallel columns showing appropriations made
for the current and next preceding year.

(b) An itemized statement of the taxes required and of the estimated
revenues of the city from all other sources for the ensuing fiscal year, with
comparative statements in parallel columns of the taxes and other revenues
for the current and next preceding year, and of the increases or decreases
estimated or proposed.

(c) A fund statement showing a condition of the various appropria-
tions, the amount of appropriations remaining unencumbered, and the
amount of revenues remaining unappropriated.

(d) Explanatory text relative to the conditions, reasons, et cetera,
connected with the estimates for the ensuing year; also a work program
showing the undertakings to be begun and those to be completed during
the next year and each of several years in advance.

(e) A statement of the financial condition of the city.

(f) Such other information as may be required by the council.

(g) Such other information as the * budget commission deems
appropriate or advisable.

The budget commission in preparing the proposed budget, and the
council in adopting the budget, after taking into consideration all rev-
enues available for appropriation from sources other than from real and
personal property, shall recommend a levy on real and personal property
first in such an amount as is estimated to be necessary for the general
operation and administrative costs of the government, and no more, and
secondly in such an amount as is estimated to be necessary for the opera-
tion of the public schools.

The budget commission shall present to the council a balanced pro-
posed budget, and in preparing and submitting the same to the council,
it shall segregate and accurately show in said proposed budget the actual
costs of the operation and administration of the government and show
separately and accurately the actual costs of the operation of the public
schools including interest on and retirement of bonds issued for school
purposes.

The budget commission shall also make such other recommendations
to the council as in the opinion of the council may be necessary whereby
a sufficient sum may be raised to insure a balanced proposed budget and
to carry into effect the appropriations recommended in the proposed
budget submitted.

§ 34. The annual appropriation.—Before the end of each fiscal year,
* the council shall pass an annual appropriation ordinance * which shall be
based on the proposed budget submitted by the * budget commission, and
shall levy such tax for the ensuing fiscal year as in its discretion shall be
sufficient to meet all just demands against the city on any account, sub-
ject, however, to the provisions and limitations contained in § 2 and
§ 83 of this charter. The tax tickets shall prominently show the rate
of tax per one hundred dollars of assessed value appropriated for the
operation and administration of the city government and shall separately
show the rate of tax per one hundred dollars of assessed value appro-
priated for the operation of the public schools.

§ 46. Sinking fund commission.—The * mayor, the city treasurer,
the city auditor, and either one or two, as the council may determine,
resident freeholders of the city shall compose the sinking fund commis-
sion, the last such member, or members, to be appointed by the council
for successive terms of three years, and to be ineligible to enter upon any
other city office, either elective or appointive, while he continues to serve
on this commission.

There shall be set apart from the resources of the city a sum equal
to one and one-half per centum per annum of the aggregate debt not pay-
able within one year, whether contracted heretofore or hereafter. The
fund thus set apart shall be called the sinking fund, and shall be applied
to the payment of the debt of this city as it shall become due, and if no
part be due or payable it shall be invested in the bonds or certificates of
debt of this city; or of the State of Virginia, or of the United States, or
some State of the Union. Said fund shall be subject to the orders and
management of the sinking fund commission. Said sinking fund commis-
sion shall report to council the condition of said fund on the first day of
July and January of each year or oftener if required by council; provided,
however, that if serial bonds are issued, then no sinking fund shall be
provided therefor.

Whenever the city shall not have outstanding any term bonds, then
the sinking fund commission shall cease to function and all of the provi-
sions of this section shall be inoperative, and all funds and assets in the
sinking fund shall immediately become a part of the general fund of the
city.

§ 47. Bond issues.—The council may, in the name and for the use
of the city, cause to be issued bonds for any one or more of the following
purposes, namely: To provide for parks and other recreational purposes,
water supply, water works, electric lights or other lighting system, suitable
equipment against fire, or for erecting or improving bridges, viaducts,
school buildings, jails, city halls, fire houses, libraries, museums, and
other public buildings, incinerators, auditoriums, armories, airports and
equipment and furnishings for same; hospitals and clinics, a local bus
transportation system to operate on regular schedules; grading, paving,
repaving, curbing, or otherwise improving any one or more of the streets
or alleys, or widening existing ones; or for locating, instituting and
maintaining sewers, drains and culverts, or for any other permanent public
improvement; provided that no such bonds, except such providing for
the purchase or acquisition of a supply of water to said city and its in-
habitants, or for other specific undertaking, from which said city may
derive a revenue, shall be issued except by ordinance adopted by a
majority of all members of the council and approved by the affirmative
vote of the majority of the freehold voters of the city voting on the
question at an election for such purpose to be called, held and conducted
in accordance with an ordinance adopted by the council of the city of
Roanoke providing for such elections and for giving due publicity to the
same, and also providing by whom and how the ballots shall be prepared
and return canvassed, and the result certified; no such bonds to provide
for the acquisition of a supply of water to said city and its inhabitants,
or for other specific undertaking, from which the city may derive a
revenue, as provided in § 127 of the Constitution of Virginia and
Chapter 358 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, as amended by Chapter 217
of the Acts of Assembly of 1930, shall be issued except by ordinance
adopted by a majority of all members of council and approved by the
affirmative vote of the majority of the qualified voters of the city voting
on the question at an election for such purpose to be called, held and
conducted in accordance with an ordinance adopted by the council of the
city of Roanoke providing for such elections and for giving due publicity
to the same, and also providing by whom and how the ballots shall be
prepared and return canvassed, and the result certified; but such bonds
shall not be irredeemable for a period greater than thirty-five years,
provided, further, that if a separate levy be made for school purposes,
then and in that event the school board of the city of Roanoke shall semi-
annually pay into the city treasury such amounts from said levy as may
be necessary to pay interest and sinking fund on and for all outstanding
bonds of the city of Roanoke which have been or may hereafter be issued
for school purposes, in the event that no special levy should be made for
school purposes, then the school board shall render the city council a
statement at the end of each month, showing the collections and dis-
bursements made by said board. And provided, further, that in no case
shall the aggregate debt of the city at any time exceed eighteen per
centum of the assessed value of real estate within the city limits, subject
to taxation, as shown by the last preceding assessment for taxes, except
where bonds are issued for a supply of water to said city and its in-
habitants, or for other specific undertaking, from which the city of
Roanoke may derive a revenue, as provided in § 127 of the Constitution
of Virginia and Chapter 358 of the Acts of Assembly of 1918, as amended
by Chapter 217 of the Acts of Assembly of 1930.

Provided, further, that the said council shall not endorse the bonds
of any company whatsoever or make the city liable therefor without the
same authority.

In bond elections, except for specific undertakings from which the
city may derive a revenue, there shall be plainly printed on the face of
the ballots the following, to-wit: “The city council is authorized if neces-
sary to increase the tax rate above two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) on
the one hundred dollars ($100) of assessed value of real and personal
property to pay the principal and interest of any bonds approved by this
election.”

All bonds issued under the provisions of this section shall be *
authenticated by the manual signature of the city treasurer and shall bear
the facsimile signature of the mayor and a facsimile of the seal of the
city attested by the facsimile signature of the city clerk. The said bonds
shall be sold by resolution of the council and the proceeds used under its
direction. Every bond issued by the council shall state on its face for
what purpose or purposes it is issued, and the proceeds shall be applied
exclusively to the purpose or purposes for which such bonds are issued.

§ 56. Powers and duties of the school board.—The school trustees
of said city shall be a body corporate under the name and style of the
School Board of the city of Roanoke, and shall have all of the powers,
perform all of the duties and be subject to all of the limitations now pro-
vided, or which may hereafter be provided by law in regard to school
boards of cities and except that all real estate with the buildings and
improvements thereon heretofore or hereafter purchased with money
received from the sale of bonds of this city, appropriated by the council
or received from any other source for the purpose of public education,
shall be the property of the said city of Roanoke, unless such money so
received from any other source be received on other conditions. The
school board shall transmit to the council and to the city auditor a detailed
statement of all moneys received by said board or placed to its credit.
No money shall be expended by said board until the account, claims or
demand has been approved by said school board and a record thereof
made in the proceedings of said board, and said account, claim or demand
submitted to the auditor of the city of Roanoke for audit. After such
account, claim or demand has been audited as above provided, a warrant
on the city treasurer shall be drawn, signed by the chairman of the board
and countersigned by the clerk thereof, payable to the person or persons
entitled to receive such money, and stating on the face the purpose or
service for which it is to be paid, and that such warrant is drawn in
pursuance of an order entered by the board on thee... ceceeesssseccccscccseeeeeee day of
sesssenecesececsesenngunseceesussssnustsssscesee Separate accounts shall be kept by the said board of
moneys appropriated by the council, and moneys received from other
sources, and every such statement shall show the balance of each class
of funds on hand or under control of said board as of the date thereof.

The school board shall on or before the * first day of the third month
prior to the end of each fiscal year prepare and submit to * the budget
commission for its information in making up * its proposed annual budget
a detailed estimate, in such form as said budget commission shall require,
of the amount of money required for the conduct of the public schools of
the city for the ensuing fiscal year, with an estimate of the amount of all
funds which will probably be received by said board for the purpose of
public education from sources other than appropriations by the council.

The council may, at its discretion, by ordinance provide for an audit
of the affairs and records of the school board by the city auditor or by
any other competent person or firm selected by the council.