HB 171

            
2020 SESSION

20101746D

HOUSE BILL NO. 171


Offered January 8, 2020


Prefiled December 26, 2019

A BILL 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.
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Patron-- Morefield

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Referred to Committee on Counties, Cities and Towns

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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.