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

CHAPTER 180
An Act to amend and reenact §§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, which provided a charter for the City of Colonial Heights, and to repeal §§10.4, 10.5, as amended, 10.6, as amended, and 12.8 of Chapter 213 of the Acts of Assembly of 1960, relating to city manager; city attorney; purchasing; capital improvements.
[H 227]
Approved March 28, 2024

 

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.

Chapter 10.
Department of Law Office of the City Attorney.

§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.

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