Bill Text: VA HB227 | 2024 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Colonial Heights, City of; amending charter, relating to duties of city manager, etc.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-03-28 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0180) [HB227 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2024-HB227-Chaptered.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§5.5, 6.19, as amended, 8.12, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, as amended, and 12.7 of Chapter 213 of the Acts of Assembly of 1960 are amended and reenacted as follows:
§5.5. Duties.
It shall be the duty of the city manager to: (a) attend
all meetings of the council with the right to speak but not to vote; (b) keep
the council advised of the financial condition and the future needs of the city
and of all matters pertaining to its proper administration, and make such
recommendations as may seem to him desirable; (c) prepare and submit the annual
budget to the council as provided in Chapter 6 of this charter and be
responsible for its administration after its adoption; (d) prepare or have
prepared in suitable form for publication and submit to the council not
later than sixty days after the end of each fiscal year of the city a concise,
comprehensive report of the financial transactions and administrative
activities of the city government during the preceding fiscal year a
report of the city's annual financial audit in the format and by the due date
the Commonwealth of Virginia requires, and cause to be printed such number
of copies thereof as the council shall direct; (e) present adequate financial
and activity reports at each regular meeting of the council; and (f) perform
such other duties as may be prescribed by this charter or required of him in
accordance therewith by the council or which may be required of the chief
executive officer of a city by the general laws of the Commonwealth other than
the duties conferred on the mayor by this charter.
§6.19. Certification of funds.
No payment shall be made and no obligation incurred by or on
behalf of the city except in accordance with an appropriation duly made;,
provided that the council shall have the power to authorize and direct and
the making of expenditures and contracts for the expenditure of funds not
appropriated in any budget for the then current fiscal year. No payment
shall be made from or obligation incurred against any allotment or
appropriation, except those of the School Board school board,
unless the director of finance shall first certify determine that
there is a sufficient unexpended and unencumbered balance in such allotment or
appropriation to meet the same; provided that nothing herein shall be taken
to prevent the advance authorization of expenditures for small purchases as
provided in this charter. Every payment made in violation of the provisions of
this charter shall be deemed illegal and every official who shall knowingly
authorize or make such payment or knowingly take part therein and every person
who shall knowingly receive such payment or any part thereof shall be jointly
and severally liable to the city for the full amount so paid or received. If
any officer, member of a board or commission, or employee of the city shall
knowingly incur any obligation or shall authorize or make any expenditure in
violation of the provisions of this charter or knowingly take part therein,
such action shall be cause for his removal.
§8.12. Accounting control of purchasing.
All purchases made and contracts executed by the purchasing
agent shall be pursuant to a written requisition, in such form as may be
prescribed by the director of finance, from the head of the using agency whose
appropriation is to be charged, or from the head of a bureau or other operating
unit to whom such authority has been delegated in writing, filed with the
purchasing agent, except as provided in subsection (f) of §8.3 of this
charter, by the head of the using agency. No purchase order made or contract
entered into by the purchasing agent shall be valid unless there be endorsed
thereon the certificate of the director of finance determines that
there is an unexpended and unencumbered balance in the appropriation and
allotment applicable thereto. Nothing herein, however, shall be taken to
prevent the purchasing agent from making purchases from a store's revolving
fund which the council is hereby authorized to establish, or from making sales
from the stores to the several using agencies based on their requisitions,
provided the director of finance certified determined that there
is an unexpended and unencumbered balance in the appropriation to be charged.
§10.1. Department of law Office of the City
Attorney.
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 an Office of the City Attorney, which shall
consist of the City Attorney and such Deputy and Assistant City Attorneys and
other employees as the City Council authorizes.
§10.2. Qualifications and, appointment, and
compensation of the City Attorney.
The head of the department of law shall be the city
attorney. He shall be an attorney at law licensed to practice under the laws of
the Commonwealth. He shall be chosen in the manner provided in §10.5
Office of the City Attorney shall be the City Attorney. The City Council shall
appoint the City Attorney, who shall be an attorney-at-law licensed to practice
law in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The City Attorney shall not be required to
reside in the City when he is appointed or during his tenure as City Attorney.
The City Council shall determine the City Attorney's salary and other
compensation.
§10.3. Powers and duties of the City attorney;
powers and duties Attorney.
The city attorney shall (a) be the legal advisor of (1) the
council, (2) the city manager, (3) the city school board, and (4) all
departments, boards, commissions, and agencies of the city, in all matters
affecting the interests of the city, and shall, upon written request, furnish a
written opinion of 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 or city school
board is a part or in which it has an interest; (d) have the management and
control of all the law business of the city and of the city school board and
the departments, boards, commissions and agencies thereof, or in which the city
has an interest, and represent the city and the city school board 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) with
the approval of the council or of the city school board, as the case may be,
institute and prosecute all legal proceedings he shall deem necessary or proper
to protect the interests of the city or the city school board; (f) attend in
person or assign one of his assistants to attend all meetings of the council and
any regular meeting of the city school board when requested by the
Superintendent of Schools; (g) appoint and remove such assistant city attorneys
and other employees as shall be authorized by the council, subject to the
provisions of Chapter 9 of this charter as to employees in the classified
service, 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; and (h)
have such other powers and duties as may be assigned to him by ordinance. The
city attorney may, with the concurrence of the Commonwealth's Attorney,
prosecute misdemeanor violations of city ordinances not prosecuted by the
Commonwealth's Attorney pursuant to §21.7 of this charter. The approval or
withholding of approval by the city attorney in the matters provided for in §§
8.7 (c) and 8.7 (d) shall relate only to the legality of the proposed action. The
City Attorney shall (1) be the legal advisor of the City Council, the City
Manager, and all of the City's departments, boards, commissions, and agencies,
and he shall furnish to them written or oral opinions concerning any questions
of law involving their powers and duties; (2) upon request of the City Manager
or any City Council Member, prepare ordinances and resolutions for
consideration; (3) draft or approve all bonds, deeds, leases, contracts, or
other documents to which the City is a party, and review any other document in
which the City has an interest; (4) manage all of the City's legal business and
either represent the City as counsel in any civil case in which the City is a
party or arrange for other legal counsel to represent the City; (5) with City
Council approval, institute and litigate civil legal proceedings he deems
necessary or proper to protect the City's interests; (6) whenever practicable,
attend in person or have a Deputy or Assistant City Attorney attend City
Council meetings; (7) employ Deputy and Assistant City Attorneys and other
employees that the City Council approves, contract with special counsel, and
authorize the Deputy or Assistant City Attorneys, or special counsel, to
perform any duties the City Attorney delegates to them; and (8) have any other
power or duty that the City Council assigns to him in an ordinance or
resolution or which this Charter or general law imposes on him. The City
Attorney may, with the concurrence of the Attorney for the Commonwealth,
prosecute misdemeanor violations of the City Code which the Attorney for the
Commonwealth does not prosecute.
§12.7. Contracts for capital improvement projects.
Whenever any capital improvement project is to be
undertaken by the city or any department, board, commission or agency thereof,
including the school board, the department of public works shall cause plans,
specifications and estimates of cost of such capital improvement project to be
made. The school board and department of public utilities may utilize the
services of the department of public works in preparing plans, specifications
and estimates of cost for capital improvement projects relating to their respective
functions but they may, in the discretion of the school board or director of
public utilities, as the case may be, cause such plans and specifications to be
prepared by their own employees or by architects and engineers engaged for the
purpose. In the case of any capital improvement project, except one relating to
school buildings and grounds, if the estimate of cost is $10,000 or less it
may, in the discretion of the city manager, be constructed either by contract
or by the employees of the department of public works or the department of
public utilities, as the case may be. If the estimate of cost is more than
$10,000, such capital improvement project shall, except as hereinafter
provided, be constructed by contract. No contract for any capital improvement
project estimated to cost more than $1000 shall be let except upon sealed bids
based on the plans and specifications prepared by the department of public
utilities, which bids shall be advertised for, received, opened and tabulated
by the purchasing agent in the manner and subject to the conditions prescribed
by ordinance. The contract shall be awarded by the purchasing agent to the
lowest responsible bidder, provided that the city manager, when the estimated
cost of the capital improvement project is $10,000 or less, and the council in
all cases, may authorize the rejection of all bids, instruct the purchasing
agent to readvertise for bids with or without modification of the plans and
specifications for such capital improvement project or order the same to be
constructed by the department of public works or the department of public
utilities, as the case may be. A record of all bids, showing the names of the
bidders and the amounts of the bids and indicating in each case the successful
bidder, together with the originals of all sealed bids and other documents
pertaining to the award of contracts, shall be preserved by the purchasing
agent for six years in a file which shall be open to public inspection during
regular business hours. No capital improvement project which is essentially a
unit shall be divided for the purpose of evading the intent of this section.
Before and during the construction of a capital improvement project, the city, and any of its departments, offices, or other component entities administering the project, shall comply with the public procurement requirements specified by general law and the Colonial Heights City Code. Also, before and during the construction of a capital improvement project, the city school board shall comply with the public procurement requirements specified by general law and any policies the school board has adopted.
2. That §§10.4, 10.5, as amended, 10.6, as amended, and 12.8 of Chapter 213 of the Acts of Assembly of 1960 are repealed.
