(a) Except as may be provided otherwise in any case by the provisions of Article 1C, Chapter 62 of the Code of West Virginia as amended, and in effect November 4, 1974, whenever any person is arrested for any violation of an ordinance of the Town or for any offense of which the Municipal Judge has jurisdiction, it shall be lawful for the Municipal Judge, Mayor, Chief of Police or the Town Recorder to admit such person to bail upon the execution of a bond to the Town in such an amount as in the discretion of the official will secure the prisoner’s presence, conditioned that the accused will appear upon a day named, before the Municipal Judge of the Town, to await trial; and every such bond taken shall be filed as soon as practicable with the Town Recorder by the official approving and taking such bond; and the Municipal Judge, Mayor, Chief of Police and the Town Recorder shall each have the power to approve any bond taken under the provisions of this section, precedence being given to the ranking official present when such bond is presented. No person shall be accepted as surety upon any penal bond unless he shall acknowledge the bond before some official duly authorized by this Code or by State law to administer an oath, and shall make oath that he is the owner in fee of real estate situate in Putnam County, West Virginia and worth the amount of the bond over and above his debts and liabilities. A cash bond shall be permitted in an amount not less than a sum sufficient in the judgment of the official accepting the same to satisfy any reasonable fine and costs which may be imposed by the Municipal Judge. In the event any person so released upon such cash bond shall fail to appear before the Municipal Judge for trial at the appointed time, or having appeared, shall leave the court without awaiting trial, his bond shall be forfeited thereby to the Town, and if a cash deposit has been made to secure his release, the sum so deposited shall be delivered to the Municipal Judge as soon as may be practicable, not later than the following morning, and by him promptly turned in to the Town Treasury to the credit of the General Fund and accounted for by him in the same manner that fines collected by him are accounted for; and in the event of the forfeiture of a penal bond, the Town Recorder shall forthwith take the steps necessary at law for the collection thereof.
(b) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the admission of a person to bail upon his own recognizance when such is authorized by law and when the official, in the exercise of sound discretion, considers it proper to do so.
(Ord. 80-2. Passed 9-18-80.)