 | Charter, ordinances and by-laws of the town of Charlottesville, Va. |  |
CHARTER.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That so much of
the land as lies and is contained within the following boundary: Beginning at
a stone on the north side of Alexander Garrett's lane, thence with said lane
south sixty-nine and one-half degrees east, fourteen, twenty-eight poles to the
west side of Merewether's mill road; thence with said road north thirty degrees
east twenty-one, twenty poles; thence crossing said road south sixty-seven
and one-half degrees east, thirty-four, forty poles to a fence between James
Minor and A. J. Farish; thence north thirty-one and one-half degrees east, fifteen,
forty-four poles to the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad; thence with said
road south eighty degrees east seventeen, twenty eight poles; thence north
fourteen degrees east, about eighteen, forty-four poles to the entrance of Goodman's
lane, on the south side of the turnpike; thence along the south margin
of said turnpike south sixty-one and three-fourths degrees east, eighty-two and
one-third poles to a point opposite the southwest corner of Thomas L. Farish's
lawn; thence crossing the turnpike road and following the fence of said lawn
north twenty-eight and one-half degrees east, thirty-six poles to a white oak
ree opposite said Farish's house; thence north thirty-one and one-fourth degrees
east, twenty-five [OMITTED] to a point near the northwest corner of the said Farish's
garden: thence in a line parallel to the east line of the Institute lot, and
running north twenty-four and one half degrees east, fifty and one half poles,
crossing the free bridge road, to a point on the north side of said road; thence
following the north margin said road south eighty-five degrees west, ninety-six
and one fourth poles to a point opposite the northeast corner of the Anderson
lot, in the present corporation line; thence with said line north ten and one
fourth degrees west to the corner of the graveyard wall, next to the old brickyard;
thence in the direction of a poplar tree in the corner of the old brick-yard
lot north twenty one and one fourth degrees east, twenty-six twenty poles to a
stone set in a field; thence crossing the old brick-yard, and with the south side
of the street leading to Park street, north seventy-four degrees west, forty-eight,
sixty-four poles to a stake corner to Shelton F. Leake's; thence north seventy-three
degrees west, eighty-four forty-four poles to a stone in Mrs. Gilmer's field;
thence south thirty-six and one fourth degrees west to a stone in the field, thirty-five,
fifty-six poles; thence south twenty-eight degrees west to a stone in B.
C. Flannagan's field forty-eight, sixty-four poles; thence south eighty-three degrees
west, fifty-six poles to Verinda West's corner; thence up the road south
seventeen degrees west thirteen, twelve poles; thence north seventy degrees
west, twenty-five poles to a stone set in a field at the back of Mrs. Digg's lot;
thence south twenty degrees west, twenty-eight, eighty poles to a locust tree in
Mrs. Reyburn's; thence with the same course sixteen poles to a stake in James
M. Hodge's lot, near the house; thence south sixty-nine and one half degrees
east, twenty-two, twenty poles to Minerva Kenney's, to a stake in the fence near
the kitchen; thence north thirty degrees east, six, twenty-eight poles to Alexander
Garrett's lane by the railroad; thence with the said line when completed,
south sixty-nine and one half degrees east, one hundred and thirty-eight, seventy-six
poles to the beginning (being nearly the same limits as are prescribed in
section one of an act passed fourteenth March, eighteen hundred and sixty, entitled
an act to amend the charter and extend the corporate limits of the town
of Charlottesville) shall be and is hereby made a town corporate, by the name
and style of the Town of Charlottesville; and by that name shall sue and be
sued, and shall have and exercise all the powers and be subject to all the provisions
of the Code of Virginia, except so far as may be herein otherwise provided.
2. The municipal authorities of said town shall consist of a mayor and
six aldermen, who shall be elected on the fourth Thursday in May, eighteen
hundred and seventy-five, and on the fourth Thursday in May in every second
year thereafter, by the qualified voters of the town. All persons qualified to
vote in said election shall be eligible to either of said offices.
3. The mayor and aldermen shall constitute the council of said town;
and all the corporate powers of said town shall be exercised by said council or
under its authority, except when otherwise provided.
4. There shall be elected by the council of said town, a town sergeant, a
town collector, clerk, treasurer, assessor, overseer of poor, and street commissioner.
Any one or more of said offices may be held, and exercised by the
the council within thirty days after the qualification of a majority of the members
thereof, and shall exercise the duties of their respective offices for the term
for which the members of the council have been elected, unless sooner vacated
by death, resignation, removal or for other cause.
5. The election of the mayor and aldermen, and the registration of electors
of said town, shall be held and conducted in the manner provided by the laws
of Virginia then existing.
6. The mayor and aldermen shall each, before entering upon the duties of
their offices, take the oaths prescribed for all other officers by the laws of Virginia;
but if any or either of them shall fail to do so for thirty days after the
commencement of the term for which he or they were elected, his or their office
shall be deemed vacant.
7. Whenever, from any cause, a vacancy shall occur in the office of mayor
or aldermen, the same shall be filled by the council at its next regular meeting,
either from its own body or from the qualified electors of said town; an entry
of said election to be made on the record book of the corporation.
8. The mayor, when present, shall preside over all meetings of the council;
and in his absence the president of the council (who shall be elected by the
council at its first annual meeting in July of each year) shall preside.
9. The mayor and three aldermen, or in the absence of the mayor, four
aldermen, shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business.
10. The mayor shall have no vote in the council, except in the case of a tie,
when he shall give the casting vote.
11. The council shall cause to be kept in a journal an accurate record of all
its proceedings, by-laws, acts and and orders, which shall be properly indexed,
and open to the inspection of any one who is entitled to vote for members of the
council.
12. At each meeting of the council the proceedings of the last meeting shall
be read to the council, and shall thereupon be corrected if erroneous, and signed
by the person presiding for the time being. Upon the call of any member the
ayes and noes may be recorded in the journal.
13. The council, so constituted, shall have power, within said town, to lay
off, open, curb, and pave streets, alleys, walks, and gutters, for public use; and
to alter, improve, and light the same, and have them kept in good order, and
free from obstructions on or over them: to regulate the width of sidewalks on
the streets, and to order the sidewalks, footways, and gutters to be curbed, paved
and kept in good order, free and clean, by the owners or occupants thereof; to
lay off public grounds, and to provide, contract for, and take care of, all buildings
necessary for the use of the town; to establish and regulate markets, to
prescribe the time for holding the same, and what articles shall be sold in such
markets; to prevent injury or annoyance to the public or individuals from anything
dangerous, offensive, or unwholesome; to protect places of divine worship
in and about the premises where held; to abate, or cause to be abated, anything
which, in the opinion of the whole council, shall be a nuisance; to regulate
the keeping of gunpowder and other combustibles; to provide, in and near
the town, places for the burial of the dead, and to regulate interments in the
town; to provide for the building of houses or other structures, and for the making
of division fences, and for the drainage of lots by proper drains and ditches;
to make regulations for guarding against danger or damage from fires; to provide
for the poor of the town, and appoint and publish the places of holding the
town elections; to provide a revenue for the town, and appropriate the same to
its expenses; and to provide the annual assessment of taxable persons and property
in the town; to establish rules for the transaction of business and for the
government and regulation of its own body; to promote the general welfare of
the town, and to protect the property of persons therein, and to preserve peace
and good order therein, keep a town guard, to appoint and order out a patrol for
the town in like manner and for like purposes, within the same, as the patrol
may be ordered out by the county court, or a justice within the county; to require
and take from the sergeant and treasurer, bonds, with such securities, and
in such penalty, as the council may see fit, which bond shall be made payable to
the town by its corporate name, and conditioned for the faithful discharge of
their duties; to permit or prohibit the establishment of new places for the interment
of the dead in or near the town, and to regulate the same; to erect or
authorize, or prohibit the erection of, gas works or water works in or near the
town, to prevent injuries to the same, to prohibit the pollution of the water
which may be provided for the use of the town; to regulate and provide for the
weighing and measuring of hay, coal, and other articles sold or for sale in said
town, to regulate the transportation thereof through the streets; and to enable
the authorities of said town more effectually to enforce the provisions of this
section, their jurisdiction is hereby declared to extend one mile beyond the
corporate limits.
14. To carry into effect the powers herein enumerated, and all other powers
conferred upon the said town or its council by the laws of Virginia, said council
shall have power to make and pass all needful and proper orders, by-laws, and
ordinances, not contrary to the constitution and laws of said State, and to prescribe
the county jail for a period not exceeding thirty days, in cases of contempt, or
to enforce the collection of fines; which fines, penalties or imprisonmenes shall
be imposed, recovered, or enforced, under the judgment of the mayor or any one
of the aldermen of said town. And the authorities of said town may, with the
consent of the county court of Albemarle county, entered of record, use the jail
of said county for any purposes for which the use of a jail may be needed by them,
under the acts of the council or of the state of Virginia; provided, however,
that in all cases where a fine is imposed by the mayor, any alderman, or by the
the council, exceeding ten dollars, the party or parties so fined shall have the
right of appeal to the county court.
15. The mayor and each one of the aldermen of said town, for the time
being, are declared to be, and are hereby constituted, conservators of the peace
within said town and within one mile from the corporate limits thereof; and
shall have all the powers and authority in civil as well as criminal cases of justices
of the peace.
16. The council shall cause to be made up annually and entered upon its
journal, an accurate estimate of all sums of money which are or may become
lawfully chargeable on said town, and which ought to be paid within one year;
and said council shall order a town levy for so much money as in its discretion
shall be sufficient to meet all just demands against the corporation.
17. The levy so made may be laid on all male persons who are residents of
said town, over twenty-one years of age; upon dogs, and upon all personal and
real estate within said town, except such persons, personal and real estate as are
exempt from taxation under the laws of this state, and also upon all other such
subjects within said town as may, at the time, be assessed with state taxes;
provided, however, that the tax on real estate and personal property, including
choses in action, shall not exceed in any one year, one dollar on every one hundred
dollars value thereof: and provided moreover, that the tax on income
shall not exceed the rate of taxation on the same, as fixed by the laws of this
state at the time of said levy. But nothing contained in this section, as hereby
amended, shall limit or restrict the power of the town council to levy such additional
taxation as they may deem necessary for the use and benefit of the town:
provided, such additional taxation shall be authorized and sanctioned by a vote of
the qualified voters of said town, in the mode and manner prescribed in section
twenty-three of the new charter of said town as hereinafter amended, for creating
a loan or loans of money.
18. In all cases in which the laws of the state require a license to be taken
out by any person engaged in the pursuit of any business, trade, occupation, or
calling, or for any other purpose, the said council shall have power to require a
license to be taken out in all such cases for the benefit of said town before such
person shall be permitted to pursue such business, trade, occupation, or calling
within the corporate limits of said town, or within one mile from said limits.
Said council may also grant or refuse license to owners or keepers of wagons,
drays, carts, hacks, and other wheeled carriages kept or employed in said town
for hire or as carriers for the public, and may require the owners of such wagons,
drays, carts, and so forth, using them in the town, to take out a license
therefore, and may require taxes to be paid thereon and subject the same to such
regulations as they may deem proper.
19. The revenue from these and other sources shall be collected, paid over,
and accounted for at such times, and to such persons as the council shall order.
20. The council shall require the treasurer of the said corporation to make
out a quarterly report of the receipts and expenditures of said town for the preceding
quarter, which report shall state on what account the expenditures were
made, and from what source or sources the receipts were derived; which report
the council shall cause to be published in one or more newspapers of the town,
on or before the fifteenth day of October, January, April, and July, of each year.
21. The council of the said town of Charlottesville is hereby authorized to
make and issue the registered or coupon bonds of said corporation, payable ten
years after their date, bearing interest at not more than eight per centum per
annum, payable semi-annually; said bonds to be used exclusively in paying off
and discharging the principal and interest of the present bonded debt of the
corporation of Charlottesville. Said registerd and coupon bonds shall be regularly
numbered, signed by the mayor, clerk, and treasurer of the town, and recorded
in a book kept for that purpose.
22. The council of said town shall annually invest in Virginia state or United
States bonds, as a sinking fund, such proportion of its annual revenue as
shall be equivalent in cash value to at least one twentieth of the bonded debt of
said town, out of which to pay, as they fall due, the bonds which are authorized
to be issued in the next preceding section: provided, nevertheless, that the said
council, may instead of investing its revenue in Virginia or United States
bonds, use said revenue, which is to be annually invested in said bonds, in paying
off and discharging the principal of the bonds which are authorized to be
issued by the twenty-first section of this bill, but for no other purpose or purposes.
23. The council of said town may negotiate any loan or loans, for the purpose
of improving the streets, lighting the same, buying necessary real estate,
erecting public buildings, supplying the town with water, and for other purposes;
and shall have authority to issue registered and coupon bonds for the
said loan or loans, payable not more than twenty years after the date of said
bonds, unless such loan or loans be made for the purpose of supplying the town
with water, in which case the bonds may be made payable not more than forty
years after their date; and said bonds shall bear interest at a rate no greater
than eight per centum, payable semi-annually: provided that two-thirds of the
council of said town shall approve and authorize said loan or loans: and provided,
further, that said loan or loans shall be sanctioned by three-fifths of the
qualified voters of said town voting upon the question; which three-fifths shall
include a majority of the votes cast by those tax-payers of the town, at such
election, who pay a tax on real or personal property assessed at five hundred
dollars or upwards; and, also, a majority of the registered voters of said town;
to be ascertained by a vote taken and conducted in the manner authorized for
any election under the charter of the said town, after having given notice thereof,
by publication for four weeks successively, in one or more of the newspapers
published in the said town. And at any election held under this section, each
ballot shall be endorsed with the name of the voter, which shall be inspected by the
officer or officers conducting the election at their respective voting places: and provided
further, that the counsel of said town shall, annually, invest in Virginia
state or United States bonds, as a sinking fund, such proportion of the revenue
of said town as shall be equal, in cash value, to one-twentieth of said loan or
loans; or in case said loan or loans be made for the purpose of supplying the
town with water, such proportion of such revenue as shall be equal, in cash
value, to one-fortieth of the loan or loans made for that purpose; which sinking
fund shall be used exclusively for payment of the bonds issued for said loan or
loans. Any bond issued under the provisions of this section, shall be regularly
numbered, signed by the mayor, clerk and treasurer, and recorded in a book to be
kept for that purpose.
24. The collector shall have the power to collect the town taxes, fines and
levies, and shall have power, one month after he shall have received the books
of the assessor of said town, to distrain and sell therefor, in like manner as the
the collector of taxes may sell and distrain for state taxes, and shall have in all
other respects, the same powers as such collector to enforce the payment and
collection thereof. And the said sergeant shall have power to exercise, within
the corporate limits of said town, and within one mile thereof, all the duties
that a constable can legally exercise in regard to the collection of claims, executing
and levying process; and shall discharge and enforce such police regulations
and by-laws as may be imposed upon him from time to time by the council
of said town; and he shall be entitled to receive such fees or compensation
therefor as may be allowed him by the said council. And he and his securities
shall be liable to all the fines, penalties, and forfeitures as a constable is legally
held to, for any failure or dereliction of duty in his said office, to be recovered in
the same manner, and before the same courts, that said fines, penalties, and forfeitures
are now recovered against a constable.
25. The officers of said town, elected or appointed by the council, shall during
the time they are in office, have all the power and authority, of like officers
in the county of Albemarle, unless the same be abridged or resiricted by the
council.
26. The mayor shall have power to suspend, and the council shall have
power to remove, all other town officers, whether they be elected or appointed,
for misconduct in office or neglect of duty, to be specified in the order of suspension
or removal; but no such removal shall be made without reasonable notice
to the officer complained of, and an opportunity afforded him to be heard in his
defence.
27. The council may order and require real estate in the town delinquent
for non-payment of town taxes to be sold by the sergeant at public auction, for
the arrears, with interest thereon; and with such additional per centum as the
council may prescribe for charges; and the surplus shall be paid to the owner;
and they may prescribe and regulate the manner, and the terms on which the
said delinquent real estate shall be sold and redeemed; provided, a list of said
delinquent lands, with the arrearage of tax thereon, shall be published for at
least four weeks in some newspaper published in the town, and posted at the
front door of the courthouse of Albemarle county: provided that such lien and
sale shall be subject to the lien of the state and county for all taxes and levies
due on such property.
28. The mayor or council may prohibit any theatrical or other performance,
show, or exhibition, within said town, or within a mile of its corporate
limits, which may be deemed injurious to the morals or good order of the town
or the people of the county.
29. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the town; he shall
take care that the by-laws, ordinances, acts, and resolutions of the council, are
faithfully executed; he shall be, ex-officio, a conservator of the peace within the
town, and within a mile of its corporation limits, and shall, within the same,
shall have control of the police of the town, and may appoint special police officers
when he deems it necessary; he shall have authority to issue his warrant
for the arrest of any person or persons violating any of the ordinance, acts, or
resolutions of said town; it shall be his duty especially to see that peace and
good order are preserved, and that persons and property are protected in the
town; he shall have power to issue executions for all fines and costs imposed by
him, or he may require the immediate payment thereof; and in default of such
payment, he may commit the party in default to the jail of Albemarle county
until the fine and costs shall be paid; but the term of imprisonment shall not
exceed thirty days; he shall, from time to time, recommend to the council such
measures as he may deem needful for the welfare of the town; he shall receive
a compensation for his services, to be fixed by the council, which shall not be
increased or diminished for the term for which he shall have been elected.
30. All moneys belonging to the said town shall be paid over to the treasurer,
and no money shall be by him paid out, except as the same shall have
been appropriated and ordered to be paid by the council; and the said treasurer
shall pay the same upon the certificate of the mayor, or, in his absence, upon
the certificate of the president of the council.
31. If the said treasurer shall fail to account for and pay over all or any
moneys that shall come into his hands, when thereto required by the council, it
shall be lawful for the council, in the corporate name of the town, by motion before
any court of record held in Albemarle county, to recover from the treasurer
and his sureties, or their personal representatives, any sum that may be due
from said treasurer to said town, on ten days' notice.
32. And if the sergeant shall fail to collect, account for, and pay over all
the taxes, fines, and other revenue of the town, in his hands for collection, according
to the condition of his bond, it shall be lawful for the council to recover
the same, by motion, in the corporate name of the town, before any court of record
of said county of Albemarle, against the said sergeant, his sureties in his
said bond, or any or either of them, his or their executors or administrators, on
giving ten days' notice of the same.
33. The said town, and the taxable persons and property therein, shall be
exempt and free from the payment of any poor rates or road tax for any year in
which it shall appear that said town shall at its own expense provide for its own
poor and keep its streets in order; but it shall contribute to other county expenses,
and pay pro rata for money expended in building bridges that were destroyed
by the fresh in the year eighteen hundred and seventy.
34. The council shall have power to make such ordinances, by-laws, orders,
and regulations as they may deem necessary, to prevent hogs, dogs, and other
animals from running at large in the limits of the town, and may subject the
owners thereof to such fines, regulations, and taxes, as the council may deem
proper, and may sell said animals at public auction, to enforce the payment of
said fines and taxes.
35. The council shall not take or use any private property for streets or
other public purposes, without making to the owner or owners thereof just compensation
for the same; but in all cases where the said corporation cannot, by
agreement, obtain title to the ground necessary for such purposes, it shall be
lawful for said corporation to apply to and obtain from the county court of Albemarle,
or the circuit court thereof, for authority to condem the same, which
shall be applied for and proceeded with according to law.
36. All the rights, privileges, and properties of the town of Charlottesville,
heretofore acquired and possessed, owned and enjoyed by any act now in force,
not in conflict with this act, shall continue undiminished, and remain vested in
said town, under this act; and all laws, ordinances, and resolutions of the corporation
of Charlottesville now in force, and not inconsistent with this act,
shall be and continue in full force and effect in the town of Charlottesville, until
regularly repealed by a council elected as provided under this act.
[The foregoing charter is found in Acts of Assembly 1870-71, except as follows:
"Section 33 is in acts of 1871-2; section 1 in acts 1872-3; sections 2, 4, 17, 24
in acts 1874-5 and section 23 in acts of 1876-7.]
[Act approved April 2, 1877.]
1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the corporate
authorities of the said town of Charlottesville be and they are hereby authorized
and empowered to erect suitable dams and reservoirs, and to lay suitable pipes,
to supply said town with an adequate supply of water, and for that purpose to
acquire either by purchase or by condemnation, according to the provisions of
the general law for the condemnation of lands by incorporated towns, such
lands and so much thereof as may be necessary for the aforesaid purposes.
| Charter, ordinances and by-laws of the town of Charlottesville, Va. | |