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R. C. P.
<br />
<br />January 9, 1917.
<br />
<br />Second. ReportsLof Officers ah~ other unfir~shed~business~
<br />
<br /> The regular~ reports of Officers for the month of December, 1916,~were presented and 'were
<br />ordered to take the usual course.
<br />
<br />The following ordinance ordered to lie on the table December 26th was taken up and read:
<br />
<br /> AN ORDINANCE O~tLEATING'THE OFFICE OF ~UPERINTENDENT OF FIRE A~PJ~ AND POLICE'TELEPHONE SYS-
<br />TEMS, PRESCRIBING E~TIES, QUALIFICkTION~, T~ OF OFFICE, AND SALARY.
<br />
<br /> The ordinance h~ving been res~l, some discussion followed as to how the Superintendent
<br />should be appointed.
<br /> The City Attorney, who w~s present, wms &sked to give his opinion on the matter.
<br /> The City Attorney stated that the Council.has authority to create the office and fix
<br />the pay, but the appointment belongs to the City Managem only~
<br /> Then Mr. Dashiell moved to amend the ordinance by inserting after the words "shall be"
<br />in the third line the.words "from appointment by the City M~nager~and qualification," and strik-
<br />ing~out the words "for a period of four years from J~nuary 1, 1917."
<br />
<br /> Mr. Morris moved that the ordinance be adopted, as amended, and the motion wms ~dopted
<br />by the following vote:
<br /> Ayes--Dashiell, Hanvey, Herbert, Morris, ~Norg~n, Panfish, 6.
<br />
<br />The following opinion was read from the City Attorney ~nd same was ordered to file:
<br />
<br />"To the Hon. City Council,
<br />
<br />"Portsmouth, Va., January 9, 1917.
<br />
<br /> "Portsmouth,
<br /> "Gentlemen:--
<br /> "Replying to your request, addressed to me through the City Clerk, calling
<br />for my ~ritten opinion as to the authority of the School Board to borrow $30,000.00 for the e-
<br />rection of ~ohool buildings and whether the same would limit the City's borrowing capacity for
<br />general city purposes, etc., I beg to say:
<br />
<br /> "That under the provisions of our law, (Sec. 1525 of the Code, 1904), the school trustees
<br />of each city is a body corporate, and "mmy sue and be sued, contract, and be contracted with,
<br />a~dpurchase, take, hold, lemse, s~ud convey school property, both real and-personal.'
<br />
<br /> 'The l~nguage of this Act is very broad, and without some limitation~ gives to the School
<br />Board even greater powers tham those conferred upon the Councils, the only restriction o: limi-
<br />tation we find is that embraced in Sec. I$66 a of the Code, (See Vo~. 3 of Code, Sec. 1~66 a)
<br />which requires the School Boards to get the leave of the Oourt to sell or eEoh~nge~chool ~pro-
<br />perry. This section, in my opinion, would deny to the SchoolBoard the authority to borrow
<br />money~ where a specific lien is to be given upon school property, which embrace~ the power of
<br />~le; ms the school property mi ght be thus sold without' the leave of the Court.
<br />
<br /> "By an Act, however, of the General Assembly, in effect June 17, 1916, (See4 Vai~Dode, p~
<br />6~9) the State Board of Education is authorized to lend ~o the School Boards of school districts
<br />~ud cities in this State making application therefor, money belonging to the litera~y fund for
<br />the erection ~nd enlarging of school houses on the terms ~nd conditions set forth inthe act
<br />and subject to such rules and regulations as may bepromutgmted by the State Boardof EducatiOn.
<br />
<br /> "By the second section of said Act, the School Boards are authorized to borrow money be-
<br />longing to the said literary fund Upon w~itten application to the State Board of Educatio~,
<br />~etting forth the amount of the proposed loa~; th~ plans and specifications, estimated cost
<br />a~d l~oation of the building to be erected; and ~tne facts showing the advisabilmty of erecting
<br />the same.
<br />
<br /> "Upon this application, the State Board may m~ks loa~not to exceed $15,000.00,
<br />coed two-th~rds of the cost of the school .house and any addition theretO, nor shall
<br />the building or mldition thereto be less than $250.00.
<br />
<br /> ~All los~ns ~hus made, in excess of $3,000.00 shall bear fou~ per-cent interest,
<br />be payable in fifteen mnnu~l instalments.~
<br />
<br /> nor to exe&
<br />the cost of
<br />
<br />and shall
<br />
<br /> "Should the money b~borrowed, the School Boar~s~l request the Council to levy a taxx
<br />sufficient to meet the liability. The failure of the School Board, or the Council, to provide
<br />for the pmyment of such loan sh~ll be deemed a cause for removal from office.
<br />
<br /> "Hence, it is my opinion that while the School Board may borrow from the State Board of
<br />Education without the leave of the Court or the Council, it can not borrow from any other
<br />source where & speciTic lien is created.upon school property without the leave of Court.
<br />
<br /> "Should a loe~n be granted by the State Board of Education, it would cremte m specific lien
<br />on the. land andbuildings upon which such loan was m~de. This would in no way limit the City's
<br />borrowing ca,pacify for general City purposes,
<br />
<br /> "Under Section t2~ of the Constitution, the borrowing capacity of the City is eighteen per
<br />centum of the assessed valuation of the real estmte subject to t~x~tion; as school property is
<br />not subject ~o tax~tion, a lien ~e~ted upon the s~me can in no way s~ffeot the borrowing c~p~ci~y
<br />of the city.
<br /> "Respectfully ~ubmitted,
<br />
<br />"Jno. W. Happe=, City Attorney."
<br />
<br />At this point, the matter of borrowing money for the erection of a High School and a
<br />
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