(A) The Town Police Department shall send notice of abandonment to:
(1) The last known registered owner of each motor vehicle, watercraft or outboard motor taken into custody by the agency or for which a report is received under Tex. Transp. Code, § 683.031; and
(2) Each lien holder recorded under Tex. Transp. Code, Chapter 501, for the motor vehicle or under Parks and Wildlife Code, Chapter 31, for the watercraft or outboard motor.
(B) The notice under division (A) above must:
(1) Be sent by certified mail not later than the tenth day after the date the agency:
(a) Takes the abandoned motor vehicle, watercraft, or outboard motor into custody; or
(b) Receives the report under Tex. Transp. Code, § 683.031.
(2) Specify the year, make, model and identification number of the item;
(3) Give the location of the facility where the item is being held;
(4) Inform the owner and lien holder of the right to claim the item not later than the twentieth day after the date of the notice on payment of:
(a) Towing, preservation and storage charges; or
(b) Garage keeper’s charges and fees under Tex. Transp. Code, § 683.032.
(5) State that failure of the owner or lien holder to claim the item during the period specified by division (B)(4) above is:
(a) A waiver by that person of all right, title and interest in the item; and
(b) Consent to the sale of the item at a public auction.
(C) Notice by publication in one newspaper of general circulation in the area where the motor vehicle, watercraft or outboard motor was abandoned is sufficient notice under this section if:
(1) The identity of the last registered owner cannot be determined;
(2) The registration has no address for the owner; or
(3) The determination with reasonable certainty of the identity and address of all lien holders is impossible.
(D) Notice by publication:
(1) Must be published in the same period that is required by division (B) above for notice by certified mail and contain all of the information required by that division; and
(2) May contain a list of more than one abandoned motor vehicle, watercraft or outboard motor.
(E) The agency is not required to send a notice, as otherwise required by division (A) above, if the agency has received notice from a vehicle storage facility that an application has or will be submitted to the department for the disposal of the vehicle.
(Ord. 2003-006, passed 10-20-2003)