[This order of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia, was entered on March 28, 1922, in C.L.O.B.11, page 302, in the office of the Clerk of such Court. The order was entered prior to the enactment of the present Charter, which provides for the Council-Manager form of government, and is included herein for historical purposes.]
VIRGINIA: In the Circuit Court of Southampton County, the 28th day of March, 1922.
Ex Parte
In the matter of petition: Town of Franklin, in the County of Southampton, State of Virginia.
This day came the Town of Franklin and filed its petition in words and figures as follows, to-wit:
"To The Honorable James L. McLemore, Judge of the Circuit Court of Southampton County, Virginia:
"Your petitioners, the undersigned qualified voters, respectfully represent the Town of Franklin, Va., was duly chartered by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia on the 15th day of March, 1876, and it being desirous that a change be made in the town government as set forth in said act and amendments thereto, your petitioners respectfully pray that § three (3) of said Charter be repealed, which said section reads as follows:
'Sec. 3. The officers of said town shall consist of a mayor, six councilmen, a recorder, a sergeant and street commissioner; the sergeant and street commissioner may be the same person if the council think proper, and both shall be selected by the council. The mayor and councilmen shall compose the council of the town. The said officers shall hold their offices for two years and until their successors are duly elected and qualify, except that the sergeant and street commissioner may be removed by the council at any time for good cause.'
"We further pray that the said town be permitted to adopt the commissioner-manager form of government as set forth in the general laws of Virginia as follows: A commission composed of five (5) members who shall be elected by the qualified voters of the town at the regular election to be held on the second Tuesday in June, 1922, and the said commission to elect someone outside of its members for town manager, and to elect one of its members as mayor who shall have such powers as is provided by law under the commission-manager plan, and in addition to such powers he shall be empowered and authorized to act and preside over the mayor's court with the same jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters as is in such cases made and provided.
"And your petitioners further pray that such general and further relief in the premises may be granted as their case may require in accomplishing the purposes hereinbefore set forth."
On consideration whereof, it appearing that a majority of the qualified voters of the said Town of Franklin have affixed their signatures to the said petition, in accordance with Chap. 399 of the Acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, 1920, as shown by a certificate of the Clerk of this Court, filed with the papers in this cause, the Court doth adjudge, order and decree that Sec. 3 of the Charter of the said Town of Franklin be, and the same is hereby repealed and hereby declared null, void and of no effect.
The court doth further adjudge, order and decree that the said Town of Franklin shall have the authority and same is hereby vested in it, to adopt what is commonly known as the "city or town manager plan of government," as provided by the general laws of the State of Virginia and more specifically set forth in Secs. 2942, 2944 and 2945 of the Code of Virginia, as amended by the Acts of 1920.
The council of the said town shall consist of five members.
In addition to the powers now conferred upon mayors or that may hereafter be conferred upon them by law, the mayor elected under the provisions of this Charter shall have criminal and civil jurisdiction commensurate with those now exercised by justices of the peace, in the county where the town is situated, as prescribed by § 3011 Va. Code of 1919.