CHAPTER 120
An Act to amend and reenact §§ 5, 8 and 9, as amended, and 10 of Chapters 406 and 521 of the Acts of Assembly of 1999, which provided a charter for the Town of Bluefield in the County of Tazewell, relating to town council, mayor, and town powers.
[H 171]
Approved March 4, 2020
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 5, 8 and 9, as amended, and 10 of Chapters 406 and 521 of the Acts of Assembly of 1999 are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 5. Composition of council and vacancies.
The council shall consist of five six members
and a mayor. The five six council members, who shall be voted for
at large, shall have terms of office of four years. At the November election,
2012 2020, and every four years thereafter, two three
council members shall be elected, being the two three candidates
who receive the largest number of votes, individually, at such election, who
will serve for terms of four years from January 1, 2013 2021, and
thereafter until their successors have been elected and qualified. At the
November election, 2014 2022, and every four years thereafter,
three council members shall be elected, being the three candidates who receive
the largest number of votes, individually, at such election, who shall serve
for terms of four years from January 1, 2015 2023, and thereafter
until their successors have been elected and qualified.
The mayor and members of council the terms of whom would
have expired on June 30, 2012, shall continue to serve until December 31, 2012,
unless their term of office is otherwise terminated. The members of council the
terms of whom would have expired on June 30, 2014, shall continue to serve
until December 31, 2014, unless their term of office is otherwise terminated.
All elections for members of the council shall be held at the time and in the manner provided for by general law.
Vacancies in on the council shall be filled
within thirty days, for the unexpired term, by a majority vote of the remaining
mayor and the council members.
§ 8. Council; organization.
A. At a time designated by the council on the first day of
January, or at some other times as designated by the council, following
a regular municipal election, or if such a day be a Sunday, then on the day
following, the council shall meet at the usual place for holding the meetings
of the legislative board of the town, at which time the newly elected council
members and the mayor, after first having taken the oaths prescribed by law,
shall assume the duties of their offices. Thereafter the council shall meet at
such times as may be prescribed by ordinance or resolution except that they shall
regularly meet not less than once each month. The mayor, any member of the
council member, or the town manager may call special meetings of the
council, at any time at least twelve hours after written notice, with the
purpose of said meeting stated therein, to each member served personally or
left at his usual place of business or residence, or such meeting may be held
at any time without notice, provided all members of the council attend. No
business other than that mentioned in the call shall be considered at such
meeting. Notice of any meeting of the council shall be in accordance
with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act as contained in the Code
of Virginia.
B. All meetings of the council shall be public, and any citizens may have access to the minutes and records thereof at all reasonable times; however, by majority vote of the council, it may convene an executive session to consider such matters as may be the appropriate subject of an executive session as provided by the Code of Virginia.
C. The council shall appoint a town manager and a town clerk.
During the organizational meeting, the council shall appoint one of the members
of the council as vice-mayor to act in the absence or disability of the
mayor. The vice-mayor shall be appointed by a majority vote of all members
of the council and the mayor members and shall serve
for a period of two years until the next organizational meeting of the council.
D. The council may appoint all such other boards and
commissions as may be deemed proper, and prescribe the powers and duties
thereof. The council may determine its own rules or procedures, may punish its
own members for misconduct and may compel attendance of members. It shall keep
a journal of its proceedings. A majority of all members of the council shall
constitute a quorum to do business, but a smaller number may adjourn from time
to time, and may compel the attendance of absentees. All elections and
appointments by the council shall be viva voce and the vote
recorded in the journal of the council.
E. Council The council shall fix the
compensation of the members of the council for its members, the
mayor, and all other officers the compensation of whom is not otherwise
provided for herein.
§ 9. Council; mayor generally.
A. At the November election, 2012 2020, and
every four years thereafter, the candidate for mayor who receives the largest
number of votes at such election shall be elected and shall serve for a term of
four years from January 1, 2013 2021, and thereafter until a
successor has been elected and qualified.
B. The mayor shall preside at meetings of the council and,
shall perform such other duties consistent with the office as may be
imposed by the council and, shall have a vote and voice in
the proceedings, but shall vote only in the case of a tie, and shall
have no veto power. The mayor shall be the official head of the
town; however, he shall have no jurisdiction or authority to hear, determine or
try any civil or criminal matters. In times of public danger or emergency, the
mayor, or during the mayor’s absence or disability, the town manager, may take
command of the police and maintain order and enforce laws, and for this purpose
may deputize such assistant policemen as may be necessary. During the mayor’s
absence or disability, except as above provided, the mayor’s duties shall be
performed by the vice-mayor. The mayor shall authenticate by his signature such
instruments as the council, this charter, or the laws of the Commonwealth shall
require.
C. A vacancy on in the office of mayor or
vice-mayor shall be filled, within thirty days for the unexpired term, by a
majority vote of the council and mayor remaining council members.
§ 10. Ordinances and resolutions.
A. Except in dealing with parliamentary procedure, the
council shall act only In addition to the ability to act by motion, the
council may act by ordinance or resolution and, with the exception of
ordinances making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of
indebtedness, shall be confined to one subject.
B. Each proposed ordinance or resolution shall be introduced in a written or printed form, and the enacting clause of all ordinances passed by the council shall be, substantially: "Be it ordained by the council of the Town of Bluefield, Virginia."
C. No ordinance, resolution having the effect of an ordinance,
or resolution suspending an ordinance, unless it is an emergency measure, shall
be passed until it has been read at two meetings not less than one week apart,
one of which shall be a regular meeting and the other of which may be either an
adjourned or called meeting; however, the requirement of a second reading by
the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the council may be
confined to the reading of the title only. Any ordinance or resolution read at
one such meeting may be amended and passed as amended at the next such meeting,
provided that the amendment does not materially change the ordinance. No
ordinance shall be amended unless such section or sections as are intended to
be amended shall be reenacted. The ayes and nays shall be taken and recorded
upon the passage of all ordinances or resolutions and entered upon the journal
of the proceedings of the council. Except as otherwise provided in by
this charter, an affirmative the Constitution of Virginia, or the
Code of Virginia, a majority vote of a majority of the council
members elected to the council shall be necessary to adopt any ordinance
or resolution.
D. An emergency measure is an ordinance for the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety, or providing for the daily operation of a municipal department. The emergency shall be stated in every such measure. Ordinances appropriating money may be passed as emergency measures; however, no measure selling or conveying any real estate; making a grant, renewal, or extension of a franchise or other special privilege; or regulating the rate to be charged for its service by any public utility, shall ever be so passed.
E. Every ordinance or resolution having the effect of an ordinance when passed shall be recorded and indexed by the town clerk in a book kept for that purpose, and shall be authenticated by the signatures of the presiding officer and the town clerk.
F. All ordinances and resolutions of the council may be read in evidence in all courts and in all other proceedings in which it may be necessary to refer thereto, either from the original record thereof, from a copy thereof certified by the town clerk, or from any volume of ordinances printed by authority of the council.