(A) Duty of officer in charge; notice. If any such vehicle is found parked in violation of this code, or abandoned on the streets of the town, it shall be the duty of a police officer to cause such vehicle to be removed and conveyed to a garage designated by the officer in charge at the owner’s expense. The owner, or person in whose name such vehicle is registered, shall be given immediate personal notice, if he or she is a resident of the town. If he or she is a non-resident, he or she shall be given notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, if his or her address can be ascertained.
(B) Contents of notice; publication. If the address of such owner cannot be ascertained, the officer in charge or his or her agent shall advertise that such vehicle has been abandoned and impounded, giving an accurate description thereof. He or she shall include the name of the person licensed to operate it, the circumstances under which the same was found and removed and calling upon the owner to reclaim the same within 30 days. Such notice shall be published once a week for two consecutive weeks in any newspaper published in the town. If such vehicle is not reclaimed after such advertisement, the same shall be sold for cash at public auction to the highest bidder in front of the Town Hall or such other place as may be designated therefor.
(C) Sale; disposition of proceeds; owner’s claim. The expenses of removing, keeping, advertising and selling the vehicle shall be paid from the proceeds of such sale, and the balance, if any, deposited with the Town Clerk, subject to the claim of the owner which shall be filed and proved within 12 months thereafter.
(D) Forfeiture. If no such claim is filed and proven within 12 months as prescribed in subsection (C) above, such proceeds shall be forfeited to the town.