CHARTER
OF
The City of Charlottesville.
Approved March 14, 1908.
[Acts 1908, p. 442.]
Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia,
That an act of the General Assembly of Virginia, in force March
3, 1900, entitled "An act to provide a new charter for the city of
Charlottesville, and to repeal all acts inconsistent therewith," be
amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
Sec. 2. That so much of the land as lies and is contained
within the following boundaries, beginning at the entrance to the
Brennan estate from the Monticello road (the gate nearest to
town); thence north forty-eight, east one hundred and six poles,
crossing the Chesapeake and Ohio railway, to corner of the yard
belonging to (the farm) late Thomas L. Farish estate, on the road
to the woolen mills; thence with said yard fence, north thirty-three
and one-half, east fifty-eight and one-half poles; thence
north twenty-one, west one hundred and seventy-six and one-half
poles, to the northeast corner of B. C. Flannagan's dwelling
house; thence north seventy-two and one-half, west one hundred
and fourteen poles, to the south bank of the Virginia Midland
railway; thence along said southern bank, south forty-eight and
one-half, west one hundred poles, and south fifty-eight and one-half,
west thirty-five poles, to the south side of Preston avenue;
thence along the south side of said avenue, north forty-seven and
one-half, west thirty-seven poles, to the southeast corner of John
M. White's lot; thence leaving the road or avenue, south eighty-seven
and one-half, west thirty-seven and four-tenths poles to
the southeast corner of Jesse Seay's lot; thence north eighty-two
and one-half, west one hundred and forty-eight poles, to the
southeast corner of Mistress Turner's slaughter-house; thence
north sixty-nine and one-half, west thirty-four poles, to the lane
leading to the said Mistress Turner's house; thence with said lane
south twenty-six, west thirty poles, to the Chesapeake and Ohio
railway; thence east with said railway to the crossing of the University
avenue; thence leaving the railway, south thirteen and
one-fourth, west one hundred and eighteen poles, crossing the
Virginia Midland railway, to a corner in line with the Fife lots;
thence south eighty-seven and one-half, east thirty-six poles, to
the southern line of said lots, and along the same sixty-eight and
one-half poles to the southwest corner of Thomas B. Bunch's lot,
at the head of R. H. Fife's ice pond; thence south forty-three and
one-half, east thirty-seven poles, to the corner in branch below
said ice pond; thence south twenty-four and three-fourths, east one
hundred and twenty-seven and one-half poles, to the southwest
corner of James S. Barksdale's lot on the road to Hartman's mill;
thence along the northern margin of said road, south sixty-one
and three-fourths, east twenty-three and one-half poles, to the
southeast corner of said Barksdale's garden; thence south eighty-one,
east seventy-five poles, to Pollock's branch; thence with said
branch as far as its several courses will admit, north forty-two
and a half, east eighty-five poles, north seventy-four and a
half, east twenty poles, and north forty-five and a half, east
eight poles, to a point on said branch west of J. L. Hay's house;
thence south sixty-nine and one-half, east one hundred and eleven
ane one-half poles, crossing the Scottsville road (and including
the said Hay's house) to the place of beginning, shall be, and is
hereby, made the city of Charlottesville; and the inhabitants of
the city of Charlottesville for all purposes for which towns and
cities are incorporated in this Commonwealth, shall continue to
be one body politic in fact and in name, under the style and denomination
of the city of Charlottesville, and as such shall have
all the rights, immunities, powers and privileges, and be subject
to all the duties and obligations now incumbent and pertaining
to said city as a municipal corporation; and by that name may
sue and be sued, and be subject to all the provisions of the Code
of Virginia, except so far as may be herein otherwise provided.
Sec. 3. The said city shall be divided into wards as now constituted,
but the number of wards may be hereafter increased or
diminished and the boundaries thereof changed by the city council,
as authorized by law.
Sec. 4. The municipal authorities of the said city shall consist
of a mayor, twelve aldermen, a clerk of the corporation
court, a Commonwealth's attorney, a treasurer, a sergeant, a commissioner
of the revenue, a justice of the peace, a constable, who
shall be elected by the qualified voters of the city of Charlottesville
at elections held at the intervals and on the days prescribed
for such elections by the laws of the State. All persons who are
qualified voters of the city of Charlottesville shall be eligible to
any of the said offices. The terms of office of all of said officers
shall begin and continue for such length of time as is prescribed
by the general law: provided, that any one of said officers shall
be eligible to one or more offices to be filled by the council—that
is to say, that any officer elected by the people may hold the office
to which he was elected as well as one or more offices to which
he may be elected or appointed by the council.
Sec. 5. The aldermen of said city (three from each ward)
shall constitute the council of said city, and all the corporate powers
of said city shall be exercised by said council, or under its
authority, except when otherwise provided.
Sec. 6. There may be elected by the council of said city from
among the qualified voters of said city, an overseer of the poor,
a city engineer, a street commissioner, a police justice, and such
officers and clerks as said council may deem proper and necessary,
and any one or more of said offices may be held and exercised by
the same person. The officers herein mentioned shall be elected or
appointed by the council on the first day of September, nineteen
hundred and eight, or as soon thereafter as practicable, and biennially
thereafter, except when elected to fill a vacancy (which
may be done by the council) in which case the election shall be
for the unexpired term. But no office or offices not specially provided
for in this charter shall be created except by a vote of two-thirds
of all the members elected to the council in regular meeting
assembled.
It may be competent for the council, in order to secure the
services of a suitable person as city engineer or street commissioner,
to elect a non-resident to said offices, but each of said
officers shall reside in the city during his tenure of office.
Sec. 7. The mayor, aldermen and other officers elected by the
people shall each, before entering upon the duties of their offices,
take the oaths prescribed for all other officers by the laws of
Virginia, and qualify before the corporation court of said city,
or the judge thereof in vacation, and in the cases of the mayor
and the aldermen, a certificate of such oaths having been taken,
shall be filed by them, respectively, with the clerk of the council,
who shall enter the same upon the journal of the council; but if
any or either of said officers shall fail to qualify, as aforesaid,
for ten days after the commencement of the term for which he,
or they, were elected, or shall neglect for a like space of time
to give such bond as may be required of him by the city council,
his or their office shall be deemed vacant.
Sec. 8. Whenever, from any cause, a vacancy shall occur in
the office of mayor, alderman, president or vice-president of the
council, the same shall be filled by the council at its next regular
meeting from its own body or from the qualified electors of said
city, and the officer thus elected shall hold his office for the term
for which his predecessor was elected, unless sooner vacated by
death, resignation, removal or from other cause: provided, that
in case of an alderman, he shall be taken from the ward in which
he is a voter. An entry of said election shall be made in the
record book of the council. If the mayor of said city shall remove
from the city limits, or an alderman shall remove from the ward
which he represents, such removal shall operate to vacate his
office.
Sec. 9. At its first meeting in September, nineteen hundred
and eight, and biennially thereafter, the council shall elect one
of its members to act as president, who shall preside at its meetings
and continue in office two years. Or if a vacancy occur in
the office before the end of his term, such vacancy shall be filled
by the council as provided in section eight.
At the same time the council shall elect one of its members to
be a vice-president, who shall preside at such meetings in the
absence of the president, and who, when the president shall be
absent or unable to perform the duties of his office, by reason of
sickness or other cause, shall perform any and all duties required
of, or entrusted to, the president, and when, for any cause, both
the president and the vice-president shall be absent from any
meeting, a president
pro tempore shall be elected by the council,
who shall preside. The president of the council, or the vice-president,
when authorized, as above stated, to act, shall have
power at any time to call a meeting of the council; and in case
of absence, sickness, disability or refusal to act of both the president
and the vice-president of the council, said council may be
convened by the order in writing of any three members of the
body, addressed to its clerk.
Sec. 10. Seven aldermen shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business at any meeting of the council.
Sec. 11. The president, vice-president, or president pro tempore,
as the case may be, shall be entitled to a vote on all questions
before the council, as any other alderman, but in no case
shall he be entitled to a second vote on any question, though it
be necessary to break a tie—that is to say, his office shall not
entitle him to a vote.
Sec. 12. The council shall have authority to adopt such rules
and to appoint such officers and clerks as it may deem proper
for the regulation of its proceedings, and for the convenient
transaction of business, to compel the attendance of absent members,
to punish its members for disorderly behavior, and by vote
of two-thirds of all the members elected to the council, expel a
member for malfeasance or misfeasance in office. The council
shall keep a journal of its proceedings, and its meetings shall be
open, except when, by a recorded vote of two-thirds of those
members present, the council shall declare that the public welfare
requires secrecy. The council shall also require to be kept by its
clerk a separate book, termed "the general ordinance book," in
which shall be recorded all ordinances and resolutions of a general
and permanent character, properly indexed and opened to
the public inspection. Other documents or papers in the possession
of the clerk of the council which may affect the interest of
the city, shall not, without special order of the council, its president
or vice-president, be exhibited, nor copies thereof furnished
to other persons than the committees or city officials entitled
thereto.
Sec. 13. At each regular meeting of the council the proceedings
of the last regular meeting and all intervening called meetings,
shall be read to the council, and 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 shall be recorded
in the journal.
Sec. 14. The council of the city shall have power within said
city to control and manage the fiscal and municipal affairs of
the city and all property, real and personal, belonging to said
city; it shall have power to provide a revenue for the city, and
approximate the same to its expenses, also to provide the annual
assessments of taxable persons and property in the city, and it
may make such ordinances, orders, and by-laws relating to the
foregoing powers of this section as it shall deem proper and necessary.
It shall likewise have power to make such ordinances,
by-laws, orders and regulations as it may deem desirable to carry
out the following powers which are hereby vested in it:
First. To close, extend, widen, narrow, lay out, graduate, improve
and otherwise alter streets and public alleys in the said
city, and have them properly lighted and kept in good order, and
it may make or construct sewers or ducts through the streets or
public grounds of the city, and through any place, or places whatsoever,
when it may be deemed by the said council expedient.
The land included in any street that is closed shall revert to the
abutting owners on either side of the same, each receiving one-half
thereof. That is, the new line of each abutter shall be the
middle of the former street. The said council may have over any
street or alley in the city, which has been, or may be ceded to the
city, like authority as over other streets or alleys, and may prevent
or remove any structure, obstruction or encroachment over, or
under, or in a street or alley, or any sidewalk thereof, and may
have shade trees planted along the said streets.
Second. To prevent the cumbering of the streets, avenues,
walks, public squares, lanes, alleys, or bridges in any manner
whatsoever; to compel the occupant or owner of buildings or
grounds to remove snow, dirt or rubbish from the sidewalks in
front thereof.
Third. To extinguish and prevent fires, prevent property from
being stolen, and to compel citizens to render assistance to the
fire department in case of need, and to establish, regulate and
control a fire department for said city; to regulate the size of,
materials, and construction of buildings 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, or shall 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 all future buildings within such limits
shall be constructed of stone, natural or artificial, concrete, brick
or iron.
Fourth. To regulate and prescribe the breadth of tires upon
the wheels of wagons, carts, and vehicles of every kind and description
used upon the streets of said city.
Fifth. To provide for the preservation of the general health
of the inhabitants of said city, make regulations to secure the
same, prevent the introduction or spreading of contagious or infectious
diseases, and prevent and suppress diseases generally;
to provide and regulate hospitals within or without the city limits,
and to enforce the removal of persons afflicted with contagious
or infectious diseases, to hospitals provided for them; to provide
for the appointment and organization of a board of health or
other board 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 regulate the burial, cremation,
or disposition of the dead; to compel the return of births and
deaths to be made to its health department, and the return of all
burial permits to such department.
Sixth. To acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise,
either within or without the city, lands to be appropriated, improved
and kept in order as places for the interment of the dead,
and may charge for the use of the grounds in said places of interment,
and may regulate the same; to prevent the burial of
the dead in the city, except in public burying grounds; to regulate
burials in said grounds; to require the keeping and return of bills
of mortality by the keepers (or owners) of all cemeteries, and
shall have power to acquire by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise,
according to law, such lands, and in such quantity as it may
deem proper or necessary for the purpose of burying the dead.
Seventh. To establish a quarantine ground within or without the
city limits, and such quarantine regulations against infectious and
contagious diseases as the said council may see fit, subject to the
laws of the State, and of the United States.
Eight. To require and compel the abatement and removal of
all nuisances within said city, or upon any property owned by
said city, without its limits, at the expense of the person or persons
causing the same, or the occupant or owner of the ground
whereon the same may be; to prevent and regulate slaughter
houses, and soap and candle factories within said city, or the
exercise of any dangerous, offensive or unhealthy business, trade
or employment therein; to regulate the transportation of all articles
through the streets of the city; to compel the abatement
of smoke and dust; to regulate the location of stables, and the
manner in which they shall be constructed and kept.
Ninth. 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, and may collect the expense
of so doing from the said owner or occupant by distress or sale,
in the same manner in which taxes levied upon real estate for
the benefit of said city are authorized to be collected: provided,
that reasonable notice shall be first given to the said owner or
occupant or his agent. In case of non-resident owners, who have
no agent in said city, such notice may be given by publication
for not less than ten days, in any newspaper published in said
city, such publication to be at the expense of said owner, and
cost thereof to be collected as a part of the expense hereinbefore
provided for.
Tenth. 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, nitro-glycerine, camphene, burning fluid, and all
explosive or combustible materials, 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.
Eleventh. To prevent the running at large in said city of all
animals and fowls, and to regulate and prohibit the keeping or
raising of the same within said city, and to subject the same to
such confiscation, levies, regulations and taxes as it may deem
proper.
Twelfth. To prevent the riding or driving of animals at improper
speed, to regulate the speed and manner of use upon the
streets of said city of all animals or vehicles; to prevent the flying
of kites, throwing of stones, or the engaging in any employment
or sport in the streets or public alleys, dangerous or annoying
to the public, and to prohibit and punish the abuse of animals.
Thirteenth. To restrain and punish drunkards, vagrants, mendicants
and street beggars.
Fourteenth. To prevent vice and immorality; to preserve public
peace and good order, to prevent and quell riots, disturbances,
and disorderly assemblages; to suppress houses of ill-fame, and
gaming houses, to prevent lewd, indecent or disorderly conduct
or exhibitions in the city, and to expel from said city persons
guilty of such conduct who shall not have resided therein as
much as one year.
Fifteenth. To prevent, prohibit or regulate the coming into
the city from points either within or beyond the limits of the
State, of paupers or persons having no ostensible means of support,
or persons who may be dangerous to the peace or safety
of the city; and for this purpose may require any railroad company,
or the owners of any conveyance bringing any such person
to, or leaving him in said city, to enter into bond with satisfactory
security, that such person shall not become chargeable
to the city within one year from the date of his arrival, or may
compel such company, or owner, to take any such person back
to the city whence he was brought, and may compel any such
person to leave the city, if he has not been in the city more than
ninety days before the order is given.
Sixteenth. And the said council shall also have power to make
such other and additional ordinances as it may deem necessary
for the general welfare of said city; and nothing herein contained
shall be construed to deprive said city of any of the powers conferred
upon it, either by general or special laws of the State of
Virginia, except in so far as the same may be inconsistent with
the provisions of this charter.
Seventeenth. Said council shall have power to require and take
from the city's chief of police, treasurer, auditor, commissioner
of the revenue, and all other bonded officers, bonds with security
and in such penalty as the council may see fit, which said bonds
shall be made payable to the city by its corporate name, and conditioned
for the faithful discharge of their duties; said bonds
shall be entered on the record of the council, and shall be filed
with the clerk of the corporation court of the city.
Eighteenth. Said council shall have power to erect, or authorize
or prohibit the erection of gas works, water works, or electric
light works in or near the city, and to regulate the same.
Nineteenth. To prohibit the pollution of water which may be
provided for the use of the city.
Twentieth. To pass all by-laws, rules and ordinances, not repugnant
to the Constitution and laws of the State, which it may
deem necessary for the good order and government of the city,
the management of its property, the conduct of its affairs, the
peace, comfort, convenience, order, morals, health, and protection
of its citizens or their property, including authority to keep a city
police force; and to do such other things, and pass such other
laws as may be necessary or proper to carry into full effect any
power, authority, capacity, or jurisdiction, which is, or shall be
granted to, or vested in said city, or in the council, court or officers
thereof, or which may be necessarily incident to a municipal
corporation; and to enable the authorities of said city more effectually
to enforce the provisions of this section, and any other
powers conferred upon them by this charter, their jurisdiction,
civil and criminal, is hereby declared to extend one mile beyond
the corporate limits of said city.
Sec. 15. Local assessments upon abutting land owners for
making and improving the sidewalks upon the streets and improving
and paving the alleys, and for either the construction or
for the use of sewers, may be imposed not in excess of the peculiar
benefits resulting therefrom to such abutting land owners.
And the same shall be regulated as prescribed by the general law.
Sec. 16. To carry into effect the powers herein enumerated,
and all other powers conferred upon said city and its council by
the laws of Virginia, said council shall have power to make and
pass all proper and needful orders, by-laws and ordinances not
contrary to the Constitution and laws of said State, and to prescribe
reasonable fines and penalties, including imprisonment in
the city jail for a period not exceeding six months, and for the
enforcement of the collection of fines, to impose imprisonment in
the city jail for a period not exceeding ninety days, which fines,
penalties or imprisonment shall be imposed, recovered and enforced
by and under the police justice, or any one of the aldermen
of said city. The city may maintain a suit to restrain by injunction,
the violation of any ordinance, notwithstanding such
ordinance may provide punishment for its violation. And the authorities
of said city may, in accordance with the contract between
the council of said city and the county of Albemarle, continue to
use the jail of said county for any purpose 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 or imprisonment is imposed by the police justice, any alderman,
or by the council, the party or parties so fined or imprisoned
shall have the right of appeal to the corporation court of said
city. All fines imposed for the violation of the city charter, bylaws,
or ordinances, shall be paid into the city treasury.
Sec. 17. Each one of the aldermen, and the police justice of
said city, for the time being, are declared to be, and are hereby,
constituted conservators of the peace within said city, and within
one mile from the corporate limits thereof, and shall have all the
powers and authority, in civil, as well as in criminal cases, as justices
of the peace. And the chief of police and the policemen of
the city shall also be conservators of the peace within the limits
aforesaid, and all proper arrests may be made and warrants of
arrest executed by such chief of police and policemen.
Sec. 18. 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 city, and
which ought to be paid in one year; the said council shall order
a city levy of so much money as in its discretion shall be sufficient
to meet all just demands against the corporation.
Sec. 19. The levy so made shall be laid on all male persons
who are residents of said city over twenty-one years of age, upon
dogs, and upon all personal and real estate within said city, 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 city 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 and twelve and one-half cents on every hundred
dollars value thereof: and provided, also, that lands while used for
agricultural or grazing purposes included in this charter, at the
time they are taxed, shall be assessed for incorporation purposes
at the same rates that the said lands would be assessed for county
purposes if outside the corporation limits: 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 city council to levy such additional
taxation as they may deem necessary for the use and benefit
of the city: provided, such additional taxation shall be authorized
and sanctioned by a vote of the qualified voters of said city,
in the mode and manner prescribed in section twenty-four of this
charter.
Sec. 20. The council may require a license and impose a tax
thereon from merchants, commission merchants, auctioneers, manufacturers,
traders, lawyers, physicians, dentists, brokers, keepers
of ordinaries, hotel keepers, boarding house keepers, keepers
of drinking or eating houses, keepers of livery stables, photographic
artists of all kinds, agents of all kinds (including the
agents of insurance companies, whose principal office is not located
in the city), sellers of wines and other liquors, vendors of
quack medicine, public theatrical or other performances or shows,
keepers of billiard tables, ten pin alleys, pistol galleries, hawkers,
peddlers, sample merchants, railroad companies, telegraph companies,
telephone companies, gas companies, electric companies,
traction companies of all sorts, street railway companies, express
companies, insurance companies, and on any other person, firm,
corporation or employment which it may deem proper, whether
such person, firm, corporation or employment be herein specially
enumerated or not, and whether any tax be imposed thereon by
the State or not.
And this right to require a license and impose a tax thereon shall
apply to all persons who use the streets of the city for delivery
wagons: provided, that the license tax paid by any merchant to
the city of Charlottesville shall be in lieu of any tax on a delivery
wagon used by him in said city.
And said council may also grant or refuse license to owners or
keepers of wagons, drays, carts, hacks and other wheeled vehicles
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 city, to take out a license therefor, and
require taxes to be paid thereon and subject same to such regulations
as they may deem proper.
Sec. 21. 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, and pursuant to such ordinance
as now exists or may hereafter be passed by the council. The city
treasurer shall be the custodian of all the funds of the city.
Sec. 22. The council shall require the treasurer of the said
corporation to make out a quarterly report of the receipts and expenditures,
together with a balance sheet of said city 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 when approved by the council,
or in such manner as the council may direct, shall be published in
one or more newspapers of the city on or before the fifteenth day
of December, March, June, and September of each year.
Sec. 23. The council of said city of Charlottesville is hereby
authorized to make and issue the registered or coupon bonds of
said corporation, payable not exceeding forty years after their
date, bearing interest at not more than five 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. The said council
shall not be authorized to dispose of such bonds at less than
par value, except by a recorded affirmative vote of three-fourths
of all the members elected to the council. Said registered and
coupon bonds shall be regularly numbered, signed by the mayor,
clerk and treasurer of the city, and recorded in a book kept for
that purpose.
Sec. 24. The council of the city of Charlottesville shall set
apart from the resources of the city, such proportion of its annual
revenue as shall be equivalent in cash value to at least one-fortieth
of the bonded debt of said city, out of which to pay as they
fall due, the bonds of the town or city of Charlottesville. The
fund thus set apart shall be called the sinking fund, shall be paid
in two equal installments on the first of January and the first of
July of each year, to the sinking fund commissioners hereinafter
designated, and shall be applied to the payment of the debt of said
town or city, as it shall become due; and if no part of said debt
be due or payable, said fund shall be invested in the bonds or certificates
of debt of said city, or of this State, or the United
States, or of some State of this Union, or any other bonds the sinking
fund commissioners may deem a safe investment; said fund
shall, in the hands of the treasurer, as to all questions of investment,
purchase or sale within the limitations of this section, be
subject to the orders and management of the mayor, chairman of
finance committee of the council, auditor, treasurer, and president
of the common council, who together shall compose the sinking
fund commissioners.
Sec. 25. The council of said city 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 city with water, sewerage, and for other purposes; and shall
have authority to issue registered and coupon bonds for the said
loan or loans, payable not more than forty years after the date of
said bonds, and said bonds shall bear interest at a rate not greater
than five per centum, payable semi-annually:
provided, that the
council shall not negotiate such loan or loans, and issue bonds
therefor, for sums which when added to the debt of the city
then existing, shall cause the total indebtedness of the city to be
greater than eighteen per centum of the assessed valuation of the
real estate of the city subject to taxation, as shown by the last
preceding assessment for taxes:
provided, however, that in determining
the limitation of the power of the city to incur indebtedness,
there shall not be included the classes of indebtedness
mentioned in sub-section
a and
b of section one hundred and
twenty-seven of the Constitution of the State: and
provided, further,
that such bonds are authorized by an ordinance enacted in
accordance with section one hundred and twenty-three of the
Constitution of Virginia, and approved by the affirmative vote of
the majority of the qualified voters of the city, voting upon the
question of their issuance, which majority shall include a majority
of the votes cast by those taxpayers of the city at such election,
who pay a tax on real or personal property assessed at five hundred
dollars or more, to be ascertained by submission to the qualified
voters of the city at the general election next succeeding the
enactment of the ordinance, if practicable, or if not practicable, at
a special election held for that purpose; said special election, if
one be held, to be ordered by the council, and to be conducted in
accordance with the law of the State of Virginia regarding election
by the people. But no election touching the question shall be
held until notice thereof has been given by publication for four
successive weeks in one or more newspapers published in said city,
and recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose.
Sec. 26. The rights of the city in its gas, water, and electric
works and sewer plant, now owned, or hereafter acquired, shall
not be sold even after such action of the council as is prescribed
by section ten hundred and thirty-three-e of the Code of Virginia
of nineteen hundred and four, until and except such sale shall
have been approved by a majority of the qualified voters of the
city, voting on the question at a special election ordered by the
council, and subject in other respects to the provisions of section
twenty-five of this charter applicable to a special election.
Sec. 27. The city sergeant shall attend the terms of the corporation
court of said city and shall act as the officer thereof; the
said sergeant may, with the approval of the said court, appoint one
or more deputies, who may be removed from office by the sergeant
or the said court, and may discharge any of the duties of the office
of sergeant, but the sergeant and his sureties shall be liable therefor.
Sec. 28. The officers of said city 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 State under its general laws,
unless the same be abridged or restricted by the council.
Sec. 29. The mayor or the council may prohibit any theatrical
or other performance, show or exhibition within said city or a
mile of its corporate limits, which may be deemed injurious to the
morals or good order of the city or the people of Albemarle
county.
Sec. 30. The mayor shall be the chief executive officer of the
city, and shall take care that the by-laws and ordinances thereof
are fully executed. He shall see that the duties of the various
city officers, members of the police and fire departments, whether
elected or appointed, in and for the city, are faithfully performed.
He shall have power to investigate their acts, have access to all
books and documents in their offices, and may examine them and
their subordinates on oath. The evidence given by persons so examined
shall not be used against them in any criminal proceedings.
He shall also have power to suspend such officers and the members
of the police and fire departments, and to remove such officers 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 person or by counsel, and to
present testimony in his defense. From such order of suspension
or removal the city officer so suspended or removed, or the member
of the police or fire department so suspended, shall have an
appeal of right to the corporation court.
Said mayor shall have all other powers and duties which may
be conferred upon him by general laws. The corporation court of
said city may remove the mayor of said city from office for malfeasance,
misfeasance, or gross neglect of official duty, and such
removal shall be deemed a vacation of the office. All proceedings
against the mayor for the purpose of removing him from office,
shall be by order of, or motion before said court, upon reasonable
notice to the party affected thereby, and with the right to said
party of an appeal to the supreme court of appeals. In the event
of the death, resignation or removal of the mayor, or his inability
to discharge his duty from some other cause, his place shall be
filled and his duties shall be discharged by the president of the
council until another mayor is elected and qualified, or until such
inability shall cease. A vacancy in the office of mayor shall be
filled as provided for in section eight of this charter.
Sec. 31. The police justice shall have and possess all the jurisdiction,
and exercise all the powers and authority in all criminal
cases of a justice of the peace for said city, and his jurisdiction
shall extend to within one mile of the corporate limits of the city;
but he shall receive no fees for services as such police justice, but
all such fees shall be covered into the city treasury. He shall also
have jurisdiction of and try all violations of the city ordinances,
and inflict such punishment as may be prescribed for a violation
of the same. He shall have authority to issue his warrant for the
arrest of any person or persons violating any of the ordinances,
acts or resolutions of said city; it shall be his duty especially to
see that peace and good order are preserved, and persons and
property are protected in the city; 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 city jail until the
fine and costs be paid, for a period, however, not exceeding ninety
days. He shall hold his court daily except Sundays, at the place
prescribed by the council, and if from any cause he shall be unable
to act, he shall appoint any other justice of the peace, or any
of the aldermen of said city, to discharge the duties of the police
justice prescribed herein during such inability, and who shall be
paid for such services by the police justice at the same rate
per
diem as such police justice receives. The police justice shall keep
a regular account of all fines, forfeitures, fees and costs imposed,
arising or collected in the administration of his office, which he
shall report monthly to the city treasurer, except that all fines collected
for offenses committed against the State, shall go to the
literary fund, as provided by law. The police justice of said city
shall be removed as hereinbefore provided, by the mayor upon
proof of malfeasance or misfeasance in office. The police justice
shall receive a compensation for his services, to be fixed by the
council, which shall not be increased or decreased during the term
for which he is elected, but said compensation shall not be less
than two hundred dollars per annum, or more than six hundred
dollars per annum.
Sec. 32. The salaries of all officers who receive stated compensation
for their services from the city, shall be fixed by the
council.
Sec. 33. The council shall fix by ordinance the time for holding
its stated meetings and no business shall be transacted at a
special meeting except that for which it shall have been called, and
every call for a special meeting shall specify the object thereof.
Sec. 34. The regulations and restrictions for granting any
franchise in the city shall be such as are provided by the general
law as found in sections ten hundred and thirty-three-e and ten
hundred and thirty-three-f of the Code of Virginia of nineteen
hundred and four.
Sec. 35. All moneys belonging to said city 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 also pay the same upon
warrant approved in such manner as may be prescribed by ordinance
of the council.
Sec. 36. 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 city, by motion before any court of
record having jurisdiction in the city of Charlottesville, to recover
from the treasurer and his sureties, or their personal representatives,
any sum that may be due from said treasurer to said
city on ten days' notice.
Sec. 37. All fines imposed for any violation of any city ordinance
or State law shall be collected by the chief of police; and if
said chief of police shall fail to collect, account for, and pay over
all the fines in his hands for collection, it shall be lawful for the
council to recover the same, so far as the same are accruing to
the city, by motion, in the corporate name of the city, before the
corporation court of said city, against the said chief of police, his
sureties on his said bond, or any or either of them, his or their executors
or administrators, on giving ten days' notice of the same.
Sec. 38. 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 city, 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; and may order such dogs, as to
which taxes are in default, to be killed by a policeman or constable.
Sec. 39. The city shall not take or damage 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 city council cannot by agreement obtain title
to the ground necessary for such purposes, it shall be lawful for
it to apply to the circuit court of the county in which the land
shall be situated, or to the proper court of the city having jurisdiction
of such matters, if the subject lie within the city, to condemn
the same.
Sec. 40. In every case where a street in said city has been or
shall be encroached upon by any fence, building or otherwise, the
city council may require the owner or owners, if known, and if
unknown the occupant or occupants of the premises so encroaching,
to remove the same. If such removal shall not be made within the
time ordered by the city council, it may impose a penalty of five dollars
for each and every day that it is allowed to continue thereafter,
and may cause the encroachment to be removed, and collect
from the owner all reasonable charges therefor, with costs, for
which there shall be lien on the premises so encroaching, which
lien may be enforced in a court of equity having jurisdiction of the
subject. No encroachment upon any street, however long continued,
shall constitute an adverse possession thereto, or confer
any right upon the person claiming thereunder as against said city.
Sec. 41. All rights, privileges and properties of the city 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 city 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 affect in the city of Charlottesville,
until regularly repealed by a council elected as provided
under this charter.
Sec. 42. The corporation court of the city of Charlottesville
shall remain as it now exists and be held by the city judge at such
times as are, or may be, designated by law, and the jurisdiction of
said court shall be such as is now prescribed: provided, of course,
that the power to abolish said court in accordance with Constitution
of the State is in no way hereby affected. And the city of
Charlottesville shall remain a part and parcel of the same legislative
and senatorial districts to which it now belongs.
Sec. 43. That the corporate authorities of said city be, and
they are hereby, authorized and empowered to erect suitable dams
and reservoirs, and to lay suitable pipes to supply said city with
an adequate supply of water, and to establish and construct a
sewerage system for said city; and for such purpose to acquire,
either by purchase or by condemnation, according to the provisions
of the general law for the condemnation of lands by incorporated
cities, such lands and so much thereof as may be necessary for
the aforesaid purposes.
Sec. 44. All elections under this charter shall conform to the
general law of the State in regard to elections by the people.
Sec. 45. The property now belonging to the county of Albemarle
within the limits of the city of Charlottesville, shall be within
and subject to the joint jurisdiction of the county and city authorities
and officers, and shall not be subject to taxation by the authorities
of either county or city; and if the county and city aforesaid
cannot agree upon the term of joint occupancy and use of such property
in regard to which settlements may not have already been affected,
the right of said city to such joint occupancy and use being
hereby recognized, then the board of arbitration herein provided
for, shall determine the terms of such joint occupancy and use,
and said board of arbitration shall determine what rights, if any,
the city aforesaid has in all other county property; but this is
subject to the recognition of the right of the city, as well as the
county (through the district school board or otherwise) in the
school property in Charlottesville school district; and nothing
herein contained shall affect the rights of the inhabitants of said
city to participate in the benefits of the Miller Manual Labor
School in the Samuel Miller district in said county.
Sec. 46. A board of arbitrators composed of three members,
one to be selected by the board of supervisors of Albemarle
county, one by the the city council of Charlottesville, and they to
choose a third, is hereby established, whose duty it shall be to adjust
and decide the matters hereinbefore submitted to them, and
all such other questions as may arise between said city and county,
growing out of the extension of the corporation limits, and the
establishment of a city government. The awards of said arbitrators
shall be entered up as the judgments of the city court or the
county circuit court, as the arbitrators may designate.
Sec. 47. And it is further provided that the same person shall
be eligible to and, if elected, may hold a county office and a city
office, if the said offices be of the same nature, at the same time:
provided, such officer lives within the city limits; and any person
otherwise qualified, who is a resident of the city of Charlottesville,
shall be eligible to election or appointment to any county office of
Albemarle county.
Sec. 48. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent herewith are
hereby repealed.
Sec. 49. Owing to the fact that license taxes have to be adjusted
in the city of Charlottesville on the first day of May, nineteen
hundred and eight, this act is hereby declared to be an emergency
act within the provisions of section fifty-three of the Constitution
and shall be in force from its passage.
