The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-01-19
CHANGES TO THE CHARTER.

The Bill as Amended Ready to DO Placed
Before the Senate.
The now charter for the city has
passed the house of delegates and has
now gone to the senate, where it will,
of course, be passed without question,
and it is not unlikely that tho bill will
become law during tho present or not
later than next week.
w. L. Thomas, the clerk OF Council,
Yesterday morning received copy of
the bill as it passed the house. In the
main the frame of the charter is as
Coun prepared it, but several import
ant changes have been made, the first
being in section AZ, regarding the mat
ter of making public improvements on
streets, sidewalks and sewers, and the
mode of assessing the property owners
therefor.
The section, as prepared by the Coun.
Gil, has not been changed, but q proviso
is added which gives the Council the
power to issue bonds for the paving or
improving Of any street, to bear the
name of the street so improved. These
bonds are to mature in not less than
eight years, and to bear interest at the
rate of not exceeding six per centum
per annum and the interest to be paid
semi annually.
They can be issued by majority vote
OF the Council, and cannot be sold at
less than par value. The proceeds from
the sale Of such bonds are to be devoted
to improving the particular street whose
name the bonds bear, and when ths
work is completed the property owners
along the line of the street are required
to pay the interest on the bonds to the
city treasurer and to pay the pro rata
instalment or proportion OF the prin-
cipal OF the bond, pro rated according to
the length of time it is to run. The
property owner is thus given eight or
more years to pay for the improvement
in front Of his property. The adoption
Of this plan, however, is left to the dis
cretion OF Council.
In section So the vote required by the
Council to pass an ordinance or resolu-
ton over the mayors veto is placed at
two. thirds Of the entire body, in place
OF three-ffths, as in the draft prepared
by Council.
In section 50, providing for tho re.
noval of the mayor for malfeasance or
misfeasance in Office, the charter has
been so changed that the mayor can be
impeached only on presontment or in
formation by the Hastings Court
The fourth and only other change in
the draft prepared by the Council is in
section l03, in regard to awarding con
tracts for public Improvements. This
section provides that all contracts for
the erection of public Improvements
shall be let to the lowest responsible
bidder, after advertisement for thirty
days in one or more newspapers pub.
lished in the city; but that the Council
shall have power to make any manner
of public improvement not exceeding
S20o without letting the work to con-
tract, and providing further that on any
piece of work it may reject any and all
bids which have been submitted pur-
suant to advertisement, and have the
work done under its immediate direc
ton by the employment of labor and
the purchase of all necessary material.
The above comprises all the changes
which have been made in the proposed
draft of the charter as submitted to the
Legislature by the Council. Otherwise
the charter as prepared by it was
adopted as a whole.
One OF the most important changes
made in the municipal government by
the new charter is the abolition of the
board of public works, which takes
effect ten days after the approval of the
act.