SEARCH SITE
VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL
- Code of Virginia
- Virginia Administrative Code
- Constitution of Virginia
- Charters
- Authorities
- Compacts
- Uncodified Acts
- RIS Users (account required)
SEARCHABLE DATABASES
- Bills & Resolutions
session legislation - Bill Summaries
session summaries - Reports to the General Assembly
House and Senate documents - Legislative Liaisons
State agency contacts
ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
- Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
- Summaries: Since 1994
Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.
2022 SESSION
22101376DBe it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §§ 3.01, as amended, 3.01:2, and 3.06, as amended, of Chapter 167 of the Acts of Assembly of 1979 are amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 3.01. Composition; election and terms.
The council shall consist of seven members, a mayor and six
councilmen, who shall be elected at large from the qualified voters of the
city. There shall be a general municipal election on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in May
November of each even-numbered year. In
May November
of 1986
2022 there shall be elected three councilmen, and in May
November of 1988 2024 there shall be elected
three councilmen, and
thereafter their respective successors shall be elected every four years. In
the May,
1984 November
2024 municipal election and every four years thereafter
there shall be elected at large from the voters of the city a mayor. The
members shall take office on July one January 1 of the
year in which their election takes place and shall qualify in the manner
prescribed by general law, and
remain in office until their successors have qualified.
Provided, however,
that in the municipal election held in May, 1982, there shall be elected two
councilmen to serve four-year terms and a mayor to serve a two-year term and in
the municipal election held in May, 1984, there shall be elected four
councilmen with the councilman receiving the smallest vote among the four
elected serving a two-year term and the remaining three councilmen serving
four-year terms; in such year a mayor shall be elected as hereinabove provided.
The council shall be a continuing body, and no measure pending before it shall abate or be discontinued by reason of the expiration of the term of office or the removal of the members of the body or any of them.
§ 3.01:2. Election of mayor.
No candidate for election to the office of mayor shall simultaneously run for election to any other position on the council.
In the event that a councilmember other than a sitting mayor
desires to be a candidate for mayor, the councilmember not elected on the same
election cycle as the mayor is eligible to do so but must tender his or her
resignation as a councilmember at least ten days prior to the final date for filing petitions and notices of
acceptance filing
deadline for all documents necessary to qualify as a candidate for the office
of mayor as specified by general law, with such resignation
to be effective on June 30 of
the election year the last day before the commencement of the term of
the councilmember’s elected successor. Such resignation
shall state the councilmember's intention to be a candidate for mayor, require
no formal acceptance by the remaining councilmembers, and be final and
irrevocable as of the date it is tendered.
The vacancy resulting from any such resignation shall be
filled for the remaining two-year term at the same succeeding general municipal
election at which the office for mayor is filled.
Such two-year term shall begin on the first day of
July next following the date of such election.
§ 3.06. Meeting of council, mayor and vice-mayor.
At the first meeting of the council immediately following the
taking of office of councilmen after a general councilmanic election, the
council shall select by majority vote of all the members thereof one of their
number to be vice-mayor for a two-year term. The first meeting of a newly
elected council shall take place on the date of the first regularly scheduled
meeting of the city council in the month of
July January
following the election at 12:00 noon at a place specified in the notice sent to
the council members in accordance with the provisions of § 3.04 pertaining to
special meetings. At or before this first meeting, the oath of office shall be
administered to the duly elected members as provided by law.
The mayor shall preside over the meetings of council and shall have the same right to vote and speak therein as other members. He shall be recognized as the head of the city government for all ceremonial purposes, the purposes of military law, and the service of civil process. The vice-mayor, in the absence or disability of the mayor, shall perform the duties of mayor. In the absence or disability of both the mayor and the vice-mayor, the council shall by majority vote of those present, choose one of their number to perform the duties of mayor.