Bill Text: VA HB1512 | 2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Martinsville, City of; amending charter, notice of special meetings to council members.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-04-05 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0566) [HB1512 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB1512-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§5 and 6, as severally amended, and §8 of Chapter 2, §1 of Chapter 3, §1 of Chapter 5, §1 of Chapter 6, §§1, 2, and 3 of Chapter 7, §§2 and 3, as severally amended, of Chapter 11, and §2 of Chapter 12 of Chapter 193 of the Acts of Assembly of 1950 are amended and reenacted as follows:
Chapter 2. The Council.
§5. Organization rules of the council.
(a) At nine o'clock ante meridian on the first regular
business weekday of January following a regular municipal election, the council
shall meet at the council chamber of the City, at which time the newly elected
councilmen, after first having taken the oaths prescribed by law, shall assume
the duties of their office. Thereafter the council shall meet at such times as
it may prescribe by ordinance or resolution, except that it shall regularly
meet not less than once each month. The mayor, and any member of the council,
or any two members of the council, or the city manager and any councilman, may
call special meetings of the council, at any time after at least twelve hours'
written or duly documented verbal notice, with the purpose of said
meeting stated therein, with notice given to each member served
personally or left at his usual place of business or residence by
electronic mail, text message, or telephone call; or such meeting may be
held at any time without notice, provided all members of the council attend and
vote unanimously on all matters acted upon. No business other than that
mentioned in the call notice shall be considered at such
meetings.
(b) 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 procedure, may punish its own members for misconduct in office 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 no resolution or ordinance shall be adopted except by affirmative vote of a majority of all members elected to the council, but a smaller number may adjourn from time to time and compel the attendance of absentees. All elections by the council shall be viva voce and the vote recorded in the journal of the council. No vote or question decided at a regular meeting shall be reconsidered at a special meeting unless all members are present and three of them concur.
§6. Compensation of council.
Each The compensation to be paid to each member
of the City council shall receive not to exceed eighty dollars for each
regular or special meeting he attends, provided however, that the annual
compensation paid to any councilman shall not exceed twenty-four hundred
dollars for his services as such be fixed by a majority vote of all
members elected to the council subject to the procedures and limitations as
provided by law.
§8. Clerk.
The council shall appoint a clerk to serve at the will of the council, and shall have authority to adopt rules and appoint such officers and committees as they may deem proper for the regulations of their proceedings and for the convenient transactions of business; to compel the attendance of absent members; and enforce orderly conduct at meetings. The council may appoint the city manager as clerk, in which case the city manager may appoint a deputy clerk to perform the functions of clerk as directed by the city manager.
The council shall keep a minute book, in which the clerk shall note the proceedings of the council, and shall record said proceedings at large on the record book, and keep the same properly indexed.
Chapter 3. Ordinances.
§1. Legislative procedure.
Except in dealing with parliamentary procedure, the council shall act only by ordinance or resolution, and with the exception of ordinances or resolutions making appropriations or authorizing the contracting of indebtedness, shall be confined to one subject.
Chapter 5. The City Manager.
§1. General provisions.
The administrative and executive powers of the City, including
the powers of appointment of officers and employees, are vested in an official
to be known as the City Manager, who shall be appointed by the council at its
first meeting, or as soon thereafter as practicable. The City council shall
appoint the city manager for an indefinite term and may remove him at any time
by a majority vote of all its members. At least sixty (60) days before such
removal shall become effective the council shall advise the manager in writing
of the reason for his removal. The council may suspend the manager from duty
(with pay) during the sixty (60) day period. The manager shall receive such
compensation as shall be fixed by the council, by ordinance, in a
written agreement and shall devote his entire time to the business of the
City. The city manager need not be a resident of the City at the time of his
appointment, but shall, within a time certain and in accordance with a written
agreement between the council and the city manager, reside in the City or
within an agreed upon distance from the City.
Chapter 6. City Officers.
§1. The City council shall grant and pay to all city officers such salaries or compensation, if any, as the said council may from time to time deem just and proper, or shall be fixed by this act, except such salaries or compensation as may be fixed by general law. No officer appointed by the council shall also be a city officer or employee appointed by the city manager.
Chapter 7. Department of Law.
§1. There shall be a department of law which shall consist of the city attorney and such assistant city attorneys and other employees as may be provided by ordinance. The city attorney shall not be employed by the city in a non-attorney position.
§2. Qualifications and appointment of city attorney.
The head of the department of law shall be the city attorney.
He shall be an attorney at law or member of a firm of attorneys licensed
to practice under the laws of the Commonwealth and who shall have
actively practiced his profession therein for at least five (5) years
immediately preceding his appointment as city attorney. He
The city attorney shall be appointed by the council for an indefinite term.
§3. Powers and duties of city attorney.
The city attorney shall:
(a) Be the legal advisor of the council, the city manager and of all departments, boards, commissions and agencies of the City, including the school board, in all matters affecting the interest of the City and shall upon request furnish a written opinion on any question of law involving their respective official powers and duties.
(b) At the request of the city manager or any member of the council prepare ordinances for introduction and at the request of the council or any member thereof shall examine any ordinance after introduction and render his opinion as to the form and legality thereof.
(c) Draw or approve all bonds, deeds, leases, contracts or other instruments to which the City is a party or in which it has an interest.
(d) Have the management and control of all the law business of the City and the departments, boards, commissions and agencies thereof or in which the City has an interest, and represent the City as counsel in any civil case in which it is interested and in criminal cases in which the constitutionality or validity of any ordinance is brought in issue.
(e) Institute and prosecute all legal proceedings he shall deem necessary or proper to protect the interest of the City.
(f) Attend meetings of the council in person or
assign one of his assistants to attend all meetings of the council by
electronic means as directed by the council.
(g) Appoint and remove such assistant city attorneys and other employees as shall be authorized by the council, and authorize the assistant city attorneys or any of them or special counsel to perform any of the duties imposed upon him in this charter.
(h) Have such other powers and duties as may be assigned to him by ordinance.
Chapter 11. Bond Issue.
§2. Election on question of the issuance Issuance
of bonds.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, no bonds of
the City of Martinsville shall be issued until the question of issuing these
shall have first been submitted to the qualified voters of the city at a
general or special election and shall have been approved by a majority of such
voters voting on the question of such issue. The question or propositions
submitted to the voters as aforesaid shall state in general terms the purpose
or purposes of the proposed bond issue and the actual or maximum amount of the
bond issue. All other details of the bond issue shall be left to be determined
by ordinance adopted by the council of the City of Martinsville. Any election
held pursuant to this chapter shall be conducted in accordance with, and the
form of ballot used in such election shall be in such form as prescribed by,
general law now or hereafter in effect. No question as to the validity of such
an election, or as to the determination of the result thereof shall be raised
in any court except in an action or proceeding commenced in the Circuit Court
of the City of Martinsville within ten days (10) days after the determination
of the result of said election. No election shall be required with respect to
any indebtedness described in Article VII, Section 10 (a) (1) of the
Constitution of Virginia of nineteen hundred seventy-one (1971). For the
execution of its powers and duties, the City Council may, in the name and for
the use of the City, contract loans and cause to be issued certificates of
debts or bonds, provided no such certificate of debt or bonds shall be issued
except by resolution adopted in accordance with the requirements of the
Virginia Public Finance Act, Chapter 26 (§15.2-2600 et seq.) of Title 15.2 of
the Code of Virginia.
§3. When bonds to be made payable.
All bonds of the City of Martinsville hereafter issued shall
be made payable within the probable life of the improvement or undertaking
on account of which they are to be issued. The determination of or by the
council as to the probable life of any such improvement or undertaking shall be
conclusive. The probable life of any improvement or undertaking shall not be
deemed to be more than thirty (30) years; provided, however, that the probable
life of real property acquired by the City may be deemed to be as long as forty
(40) years. In case of a bond issue for a hydroelectric project, the probable
life of the improvement or undertaking requiring said bond issue, and of any
real property acquired therefor, may be deemed to be as long as fifty (50)
years. In case of a bond issue for several different purposes, having different
probable periods of usefulness; the council shall determine the average of said
period, taking into consideration the amount of bonds to be issued on account
of each purpose for which a period is determined and the bonds shall mature
within such average period executed and delivered by representatives of
the council at any time and from time to time, may be in such form and
denominations and of such terms and maturities, may be in registered or bearer
form either as to principal or interest or both, may be payable in such
installments and at such time or times not exceeding 40 years from the date
thereof, may be payable at such place or places whether within or outside the
Commonwealth of Virginia, may bear interest at such rate or rates, may be
payable at such time or times, may be evidenced in such manner, and may contain
such provisions not inconsistent herewith all as shall be determined by the
council, provided, however, that in case of a bond issue for a hydroelectric
project such issue may be payable at such time or times not exceeding 50 years
from the date of issuance thereof.
Chapter 12. Budget, Accounting and Audit.
§2. By ordinance, the City council shall not later than July First, Nineteen Hundred and Fifty (1950), provide for a thorough system of post audit of all expenditures, receipts and financial affairs of the City. The council shall cause this work to be done by a Certified Public Accountant of their selection and appointment or the Auditor of Public Accounts of the Commonwealth of Virginia. The council may direct an audit of any or all financial records at any time but they shall cause a complete audit to be made of all accounts, books, records and financial transactions of the City at least once each fiscal year in accordance with general law. No auditor or auditing firm shall be hired for a term of greater than three years, and the council shall issue a request for proposal or undertake such other appropriate procedures for the procurement of an auditor or auditing firm not less than every three years.
2. That §2 of Chapter 8 and §§4, 5, 7, and 8 of Chapter 11 of Chapter 193 of the Acts of Assembly of 1950 are repealed.
