(a) Police officers are authorized to provide for the removal of a vehicle under the following circumstances:
(1) When any vehicle is left unattended upon any street, bridge or causeway and is so illegally parked so as to constitute a hazard or obstruction to the normal movement of traffic, or so as to unreasonably interfere with street cleaning or snow removal operations.
(2) When any vehicle or "abandoned junk motor vehicle" as defined in Ohio R.C. 4513.63 is left on private property for more than seventy-two consecutive hours without the permission of the person having the right to the possession of the property, or on a public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking, or upon or within the right of way of any road or highway, for forty-eight consecutive hours or longer, without notification to the Police Chief of the reasons for leaving such vehicle in such place. Prior to disposal of an "abandoned junk motor vehicle" as defined in Ohio R.C. 4513.63, it shall be photographed by a law enforcement officer.
(3) When any vehicle has been stolen or operated without the consent of the owner and is located upon either public or private property.
(4) When any vehicle displays illegal license plates or fails to display the current lawfully required plates and is located upon any public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.
(5) When any vehicle has been used in or connected with the commission of a felony and is located upon either public or private property.
(6) When any vehicle has been damaged or wrecked so as to be inoperable or violates equipment provisions of this Traffic Code whereby its continued operation would constitute a condition hazardous to life, limb or property, and is located upon any public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.
(7) When any vehicle is left unattended either on public or private property due to the removal of an ill, injured or arrested operator, or due to the abandonment thereof by the operator during or immediately after pursuit by a law enforcement officer.
(8) When any vehicle has been operated by any person who has failed to stop in case of an accident or collision and is located either on public or private property.
(9) When any vehicle has been operated by any person who is driving without a lawful license or while his license has been suspended or revoked and is located upon a public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.
(10) When any vehicle is found for which two or more citation tags for violations of this Traffic Code have been issued and the owner or operator thereof has failed to respond to such citation tags as lawfully required, and is located upon a public street or other property open to the public for purposes of vehicular travel or parking.
(b) Any vehicle removed under authority of subsection (a)(2) hereof shall be ordered into storage and/or disposed of as provided under Ohio R.C. 4513.60 et seq.
(c) The Director of Public Safety is authorized to create a vehicle pound, either in the City Garage, or such other place as he deems suitable for such purpose to which vehicles may be towed and stored.
Except as otherwise provided herein, whenever any vehicle, except a bicycle, shall be found parked in violation of subsection (a) hereof, such vehicle may be removed and conveyed by any members of the Police Division, or by anyone under their direction, by means of towing same, or otherwise, to the vehicle pound.
(d) It shall be the duty of the police officer, or person in charge of any impounded vehicle, to inform the owner, or other person claiming an impounded vehicle of the nature and circumstances of the violation on account of which such vehicle has been impounded. If such owner, or other person claiming such impounded vehicle, shall furnish evidence of his identity and ownership, together with a receipt from the Clerk of the Court, or his deputy, showing the payment of all fees for violations of the Traffic Code of the City, as well as the costs of towing and impounding the vehicle as hereinafter provided, the impounded vehicle shall be surrendered to him by the police officer, or person in charge thereof, who shall take a receipt for such impounded vehicle.
(Ord. 51-04. Passed 7-20-04.)
(Ord. 51-04. Passed 7-20-04.)
(e) A fee not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00), plus fifteen dollars ($15.00) of which shall be paid to the City for compensation for administrative expenses incurred by the City in conjunction with the impoundment of vehicles, to cover the cost of removal, in addition to a storage charge of eight dollars ($8.00) for each day, or fraction of a day any impounded vehicle is stored in accordance with this section, shall be assessed against the owner or other person claiming any impounded vehicle. (Ord. 89-18. Passed 11-20-18.)
(f) In case protest is made against the payment of any impounding or storage fee, the police officer or person in charge of such impounded vehicle, upon satisfactory evidence of the identity and ownership of the person claiming such impounded vehicle, and upon the furnishing of a bond in an amount as set by rule of the Court by the owner or driver of such vehicle to the satisfaction of the Clerk of the Court, or his deputy, conditioned that such owner or driver will appear before the Court to answer to the violation on account of which such vehicle has been impounded, shall surrender the impounded vehicle to the claimant, and it shall thereupon be the duty of the police officer having knowledge of the facts forthwith to institute the proper proceedings in the Court, charging the owner or driver of such vehicle with the violation of the Traffic Code by which the vehicle was impounded.
(g) It shall be the duty of the police officer or person in charge of the vehicle pound to keep the names of all owners of vehicles impounded, the number of their license tags, the nature and circumstances of the violation, as well as the disposition of each case; and it shall be the duty of the Clerk of Courts to account for all fees collected and pay the same into the City Treasury.