CHAPTER 447

An Act to provide a new charter for the town of Rocky Mount, in Franklin
County, and to repeal Chapter 90, Acts of Assembly, 1872-1878, in
force February 17, 1878, which incorporated the town of Rocky
Mount, in the County of Franklin, and all acts amendatory thereto.

[H 281]
Approved March 31, 1962

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. The inhabitants of the territory embraced within the present
limits of the town of Rocky Mount, as hereinafter defined or as the same
may be hereafter altered or established by law, shall constitute, and
continue a body politic and corporate, to be known and designated as the
town of Rocky Mount, and as such shall have and may exercise all powers
which are now, or may hereafter be, conferred upon or delegated to
towns under the Constitution and laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia
as fully and as completely as though all such powers were specifically
enumerated herein. The territory embraced within the present limits
of the town of Rocky Mount is described by metes and bounds as set out
In a Decree entered in the suit Town of Rocky Mount V. Franklin County
on the 19th day of December, 1961, which Decree is of record in the
Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of Franklin County, Virginia, and to
which Decree reference is hereby made for a metes and bounds description
of the corporate limits of the town of Rocky Mount.

The administration and government of the town shall be
vested in a council which shall consist of seven members, six of whom
shall be denominated the councilmen and one to be denominated the
mayor, all of whom shall be residents and qualified voters of the town.
The council shall elect a vice-mayor from one of their number, who, in
the absence of the mayor, shall be responsible for and perform all duties
of the mayor. Each councilman may receive a salary for his services as
such, the amount thereof to be fixed by the council, but in no event to be
in excess of One Hundred Dollars per month. The mayor may receive a
salary for his services, the amount to be fixed by the council, but in no
event to be in excess of Three Hundred Dollars per month.

§ 3. The councilmen and the mayor shall be elected by the qualified
voters of the town on the second Tuesday in June, nineteen hundred sixty-
two and every two years thereafter, in the manner prescribed by law,
taking office on the first day of September, after their election. The present
mayor and councilmen shall continue in office until the expiration of the
terms for which they were respectively elected. In the event of resignation,
removal or disqualification of the mayor for any reason or cause, the
council shall appoint a councilman to act as mayor for the remainder of
the term of office and until his successor shall be elected and qualified.

§ 4. The council shall, by ordinance, fix the time for its regular
meetings. Special meetings shall be called by the clerk of the council
upon the written request of the mayor or any three councilmen. At least
twelve hours notice shall be given to the other members of the council,
of the purpose, place and time of any such special meeting. Special
meetings may also be held at any time without notice, provided all
members of the council are present. No business shall be transacted at
any such special meeting which is not stated in the notice calling the
same, a all members of the council attend the meeting or waive notice

ereof.

§ 5. The council shall appoint a clerk and a treasurer, and may
appoint a town attorney and such other officers and create such boards
and departments as it deems necessary or proper, and define their duties
and functions. Such officers so appointed shall hold office during the
pleasure of the council, shall give such bonds as the council requires, and
shall receive such compensation as the council prescribes. The same person
may hold two or more of such offices, in the discretion of the council.

§ 6. The council of the town shall be empowered to borrow such
sum or sums of money as may be requisite or necessary, subject to
such limitations that are now or may be imposed by the Constitution of and
the Laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The council of the town shall
be empowered to issue Revenue Bonds as may be requisite or necessary,
in the manner prescribed by law.

§ 7. The council shall appoint a sergeant and such other officers
as may be requisite who shall qualify as provided by law, and give bond
In such amount as the council requires. Those appointed shall be con-
servators of the peace, and shall have the same powers and perform
the same duties within the corporate limits of the town and to a distance
of one mile beyond the same. They shall perform such other duties and
receive such compensation as the council prescribes, and shall hold office
during the pleasure of the council.

§ 8. The mayor shall be a conservator of the peace, and shall, unless
and until a police justice is appointed as hereinafter provided, have power
to issue warrants and summon witnesses, and exclusive original juris-
diction to try cases involving violations of town ordinances, or the collection
of town taxes or assessments or any other form of debts owing to the
town and shall have like powers in the matter of collecting fines and costs
imposed by him, as are vested in such office. The fees and costs in
connection with such cases shall be the same as are authorized by law to
be charged, taxed and collected and such fees, and all fines collected by
the mayor shall be promptly paid by him into the town treasury, unless
the council by ordinance directs some other disposition thereof ; provided
that the council may at any time it deems the same expedient, appoint a
police justice for the town, who shall be a resident and qualified voter
of the town, shall give such bond as the council requires, shall serve
during the pleasure of the council, and shall receive such compensation
as the council prescribes.

In the event of the appointment of such police justice, he shall have
during such time as he serves, and to the exclusion of the mayor, the
same powers and jurisdiction as are hereinabove conferred upon and
vested in the mayor, and shall exercise the same in like manner as they
are above authorized and directed to be exercised by the mayor.

§ 9. In addition to, and supplementary of the powers conferred
upon towns and town councils by general law, the town of Rocky Mount
and its council shall have the powers set forth in the following sections
of this charter.

§ 10. The Town is empowered to acquire, establish, enlarge, maintain
and operate such water works and systems as the council deems necessary
for the purpose of providing an adequate supply of water to consumers
within the corporate limits of the town and within such adjacent territory
as the council deems it expedient or proper to serve at such rates as the
council prescribes, any or all of which rates the council may alter at any
time without notice.

The council may discontinue serving water to any consumer who
defaults in payment for such service within the time prescribed by the
council for the payment thereof, for so long as such default continues.

§ 11. The town is empowered to establish, construct, enlarge and
maintain such sanitary sewer lines and sewerage disposal systems as the
council deems necessary or expedient, and when the health or develop-
ment of an area demands, after a public hearing and ordinance duly
enacted, require owners or occupiers of real estate within the corporate
limits of the town, which fronts or abuts on any such sewer line, to make
connection with and use the same; and shall have power to assess and
collect reasonable fees and rates for making sewer connections and for
sewer services, the reasonableness of which the council shall be the sole
judges. Sewer service may be discontinued for default in payment for such
service within the time prescribed by the council for payment thereof, for
so long as such default continues.

§ 12. The town is empowered to acquire by purchase, condemnation
or otherwise property, real or personal, either within or without its cor-
porate limits, as the council deems necessary for the purpose of estab-
lishing, enlarging, maintaining, or operating its water system, sewer
system, and for streets, sidewalks, roads, rights-of-way and recreational
purposes.

§ 13. Insofar as not expressly prohibited by general law, the town
is empowered (a) to control and regulate the operation upon its streets
and alleys, of motor vehicles carrying passengers or freight for hire, and
fo require the owners or operators of such carriers to provide and main-
fain within the town, suitable terminals for the convenient loading and
unloading of passengers and freight; (b) to regulate the fares to be
*harged by operators of taxicabs or other motor vehicles operating from
sstablished stands within the town, for carrying passengers within its
<orporate limits, and to require that the drivers of such vehicles be of such
noral character as meets with the approval of the council; and, (c) to
prescribe rules and regulations with respect to motor traffic of all kinds,
within the town, and the parking of motor vehicles on its streets and
eys.

§ 14. The town is empowered (a) to regulate the holding of shows,
carnivals, fairs and other similar public exhibitions, or to prohibit the
holding of same, or any of them, within its corporate limits or within one
mile thereof; (b) except as prohibited by general law, to impose and
collect a license tax for the privilege of doing within the town anything
upon which the State imposes a license tax provided that the town may,
unless expressly prohibited by general law, impose a higher license tax
on any such thing, than that imposed by the State on the same thing, the
amount of the license tax imposed by the town to be, in each instance, in
the discretion of the council.

The town is empowered (a) to provide a building code for the
town; to provide for the orderly and safe construction of houses and other
buildings; to prescribe setback lines on designated streets; to designate
standards to be observed in the construction of dwellings and business
houses on designated streets and in designated sections; and, (b) to adopt
a comprehensive plan concerning the subdivision of lands within the cor-
porate limits of the town or within one mile thereof; to require that plats
of all such subdivisions shall, after having been approved by the council,
as hereinafter provided, be recorded in the clerk’s office of Franklin
County; and the term “subdivision”, when and as used in this charter,
means the division of a tract of land into two or more lots, with appro-
priate streets and alleys, and with the intention on the part of the owner
of the land, of developing the same, or making it available for develop-
ment by others, for residential and business purposes.

§ 16. The town is empowered to prohibit encroachments upon the
streets or alleys, or upon parks or other public places of the town by any
fence, building, porch, or other projection, and to require the removal of
any such encroachment heretofore or hereafter made unless made with
the consent and approval of the council, and to punish for any such
encroachment hereafter made without such consent first obtained; and
any such encroachment made without such consent shall be deemed a
nuisance, of which the town may compel the abatement and removal by
and through appropriate court action or proceeding, against which right
of the town, no statute of limitation shall run.

§ 17. The town is empowered to permit and regulate, or to prohibit,
the erection of poles and wires for electric telegraph or telephone service
or the laying of any kinds of pipes in the streets or alleys of the town,
and to prescribe, assess and collect annual or other periodical charges for
the doing of any such things under permits hereafter granted; and the
power to require the owners or operators of any such electric light, tele-
phone or telegraph lines to change the location of any of their poles when-
ever the council deems any such change expedient; and to require all
wires or cables carrying electric current, whether heretofore or hereafter
installed to be placed in suitable conduits, underground, in the discretion
of the council; provided that none of the powers above enumerated shall
be exercised in a manner inconsistent with the provisions of any franchise
granted by the town.

§ 18. The town is empowered to exercise all such police powers as
the council deems reasonably necessary for the promotion and protection
of the health, morals, safety and general welfare of the inhabitants of the
town, for the protection of the property of the town and its inhabitants,
for the preservation of peace and good order, and for the general welfare;
and the council is empowered to make ordinances and by-laws for the pur-
pose of carrying into effect the enumerated powers conferred upon the
town by this charter, including police powers, and to prescribe punish-
ments for violations thereof, provided that no such punishment shall
exceed the maximum punishment prescribed by general law for a misde-
meanor, and provided further, that all ordinances, by-laws and resolutions
made and adopted by the council shall become effective thirty days after
their passage, unless a different date is specified in any such ordinance,
by-laws or resolution, upon which the same shall become effective.

§ 19. Town manager—(a) The council may appoint a town man-
ager who shall be the chief administrative officer of the town and shall be
chosen solely on the basis of his executive and administrative qualifica-
tions, and shall have some knowledge of civil, mechanical, and electrical
engineering. He need not, when appointed, be a resident of the town, or of
the State of Virginia, but shall during his term of office, reside within
the corporate limits of the town, and shall be appointed for such term as
he and the council agree upon, not to exceed two years, but in any event,
to end with the term of the council making the appointment. The town
Manager may be suspended or removed by the council for any cause it
deems sufficient, provided that no order of suspension or removal shall be
made until after he shall have been given at least five days notice in writ-
ing, stating the cause for such suspension or removal and fixing a day
when he may be heard thereon. The action of the council, suspending or
removing the town manager, shall be final. The council may place the
control and supervision of the police force of the town under either the
mayor or the town manager.

(b) Except as otherwise provided in this charter, the town manager
may, with the consent of the council, appoint or employ and remove or
discharge, such officers, employees and assistants as he deems necessary
to carry on the work of such departments of the town as are committed
to him by the council, in all their respective details, in an economical and
satisfactory manner. The salary or compensation, and the terms of office
or employment of such officers, employees and assistants shall be fixed by
the town manager, subject to approval by the council; and his actions
in all respects shall be subject to review by the council, and he shall be
accountable to the council only.

§ 20. Subdivisions—No plat of any subdivision within the corporate
limits of the town or within one mile thereof shall be recorded in the
Clerk’s Office of Franklin County unless and until it shall have been
approved by the council, and the council shall not approve any plat of any
such subdivision unless the streets, alleys or other roadways provided for
therein conform to the subdivision control ordinance of said town or any
amendment thereto.

§ 21. The council may annually levy a real estate and personal
property tax on the property located within the corporate limits of said
town and may appoint annually an assessor to assess the real estate and
personal property within said town and said assessor may impose a
greater or less valuation than that made by the State or County.

§ 22. The council shall have the authority, unless prohibited by gen-
eral law, to impose a specific license tax upon all professions, businesses
and callings conducted in any way within the corporate limits; to prescribe
all pursuits which may not be followed within the corporate limits with-
out a license as a requisite to doing business and to fix the terms upon
which the licenses shall issue.

§ 23. The council may levy and assess taxes and charge license fees
upon motor vehicles, trailers and semitrailers, located within the corpo-
rate limits of said town, the amount of the license fee or tax shall not be
greater than that imposed by the State on vehicles of like class.

§ 24. All ordinances now in force in the town of Rocky Mount not
inconsistent with this charter, shall be and remain in full force and effect

Google
until altered, amended or repealed by the council of the town after the
effective date of this act.

. The powers set forth in §§ 15-77.2 through 15-77.70 of Chap-
ter 5.1 of the Code of Virginia (1950) as in force on the 22nd day of
sanuary, 1962, are hereby conferred on and vested in the town of Rocky

ount.

2. Chapter ninety of the Acts of Assembly of eighteen hundred seventy-
three in force February 17th, eighteen hundred seventy-three, which pro-
vided a charter for the town of Rocky Mount and all acts amendatory
thereof, are hereby repealed, and all other acts and parts of acts incon-
sistent with any of the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed to the
extent of such inconsistencies.

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