CHAPTER 58

An Act to amend §8§ 8a and 44 of Chapter 184 of the Acts of Assembly
of 1938, approved March 18, 1938, as amended, which provided a
charter for the town of Manassas, in the county of Prince William,
and to further amend such chapter by adding a section 8a, the amended
and new sections relating, respectively, to the term of office of the
police justice, the vote of the mayor in case of a tie vote on an
emergency measure and the adoption of certain provisions of Title
15.1 of the Code of Virginia, relating to certain localities.

[H 121]
Approved February 26, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 8a and 44 of Chapter 184 of the Acts of Assembly of 1938,
approved March 18, 1938,as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that
said chapter be further amended by adding a section numbered 8a, the
amended and new sections being as follows:

§ 3a. The powers set forth in Chapter 18 of Title 15.1 of the Code
of Virginia as in force on January 1, 1968, are hereby conferred on and
vested in the town of Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia.

§ 8a. The council shall have power to elect a legally qualified person
trained in the law, who is a resident of the town of Manassas, to be known
as the police justice of the town of Manassas, who shall have the power
to issue process, hear and determine prosecutions and controversies which
may arise under the ordinances of the town, impose fines and inflict
punishment when and wherever they are authorized by the said ordinances;
and to issue executions for the collections of fines. Appeals may be taken
from the decision of the police justice of the Circuit Court of Prince
William County.

such police justice shall qualify in the same manner as the mayor.
The term of office shall be * two years beginning * September one, nineteen
hundred sixty-nine. Such police justice shall be paid a salary by the town
to be fixed by the council. The police justice may be removed from office
for cause by the council.

The police justice shall have original jurisdiction in criminal matters
involving the violation of any ordinance of the town of Manassas, which
violation occurs within the corporate limits of the said town and within
an area of one mile from the corporate limits of said town.

In instances where a warrant is issued charging the violation of a
town ordinance and it develops prior to trial or at any time prior to the
imposition of sentence that the alleged offense involved is a felony, then
the police justice may certify said case to the judge of the county court of
Prince William County, Virginia, to there be dealt with as provided by
law, and it may be there dealt with on the original warrant the same as
though said warrant had charged the violation of a State law and had
been issued by a person authorized to issue State warrants provided such
warrant 1s amended to charge that the offense was committed against the
peace and dignity of the Commonwealth.

The police justice shall have power to issue warrants for the violations
of town ordinances; to issue subpoenas for witnesses, take recognizances
and bail bonds, and in the performance of such duties to administer oaths.

Nothing herein contained shall impair the authority of the mayor
to exercise the same powers as the police justice in any case in which the
mayor shall act.

§ 44. Ordinances making the annual tax levy, appropriation ordi-
nances, ordinances and resolutions pertaining to local improvements and
assessments, ordinances and resolutions providing for or directing any
investigation of town affairs, resolutions requesting information from
administrative bodies, or directing administrative action and emergency
measures shall take effect at the time indicated in such ordinances. Except
as otherwise prescribed in this charter, all other ordinances and resolu-
tions passed by the council shall take effect at the time indicated in such
ordinances, but in event no effective date shall be set forth in any such
ordinance, resolution or bylaw passed by the council, the same shall be-
come effective thirty days from the date of its passage.

An emergency measure is an ordinance or resolution to provide for
immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety, in
which the emergency claimed is set forth and defined in a preamble thereto.
The affirmative vote of at least three members of the council shall be
required to pass any ordinance or resolution as an emergency measure. In
case there shall be a tie among the * members of the council, the vote
of the mayor, in event of such tie, shall be controlling.

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