(a) Except as may be provided otherwise in any case by State Law, this Code or other Ordinances, whenever any person is arrested for any violation of an ordinance of the City or for any offense of which the municipal judge has jurisdiction, it shall be lawful for the Municipal Judge, Recorder, Mayor, Chief of Police and the desk sergeant or person in charge of police headquarters to admit such person to bail upon the execution of a bond to the City in such an amount, not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than the maximum fine which may be adjudged against such person for the offense or offenses he is alleged to have committed plus the costs which could be assessed against him, as in the discretion of the officer will secure the prisoner's presence, conditioned that the accused will appear upon a day named, before the municipal judge of the City, to await trial; and every such bond taken shall be filed as soon as practicable with the Municipal Court by the officer approving and taking such bond; and the Municipal Judge, Recorder, Mayor, Chief of Police and the desk sergeant or person in charge of police headquarters shall each have the power to approve any bond taken under the provisions of this section, precedence being given to the ranking officer 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 Greenbrier County and worth the amount of the bond over and above his debts and liabilities; but the officers hereinbefore named in this section are hereby authorized and empowered to accept a deposit in cash of an amount, not less than the minimum nor more than the maximum hereinbefore specified for a bond, which, in the judgment of the officer accepting the deposit, will be sufficient to cause the prisoner's appearance upon the day required of him before the Municipal Judge to await trial upon the charge against him. In the event any person so released upon bond or such deposit shall fail to appear before the Municipal Judge for trial at the appointing time, or, having appeared, shall leave the court without awaiting trial, his bond shall be forfeited thereby to the City, and if a cash deposit has been made to secure his release, the sum so deposited shall be delivered to the Municipal Judge and by him promptly turned into the City treasury to the credit of the general fund and accounted for by him in the same manner that fines collected by him are counted for; and in the event of the forfeiture of a penal bond, the Treasurer shall forthwith take the steps necessary at law for the collection thereof.
(b) No cash bond shall be accepted by any officer authorized to accept such bond unless the prisoner and the officer authorized to accept it are present at police headquarters. The money deposited as security for any person's appearance shall be deposited with the desk sergeant at police headquarters, to be by him safely kept until the next regular session of the Municipal Court, when it shall be turned over by the desk sergeant who received it to the judge of the Municipal Court, and by the Judge disposed of as required by the bond and this and the preceding section.
(c) If any officer shall accept or approve any cash bond at any place or in any other manner than is provided for and authorized by this article, such unauthorized acceptance or approval shall constitute good cause for his suspension or removal or the reprimand or fining of such officer after a hearing on the charge by the City Council. In case of the arrest of any person upon a charge of a felony, the bond for his release, if approved, shall only be approved by the Municipal Judge, or the Judge of a court having jurisdiction to try the prisoner for the felony alleged to have been committed by him.
(d) No practicing attorney, officer of the Municipal Court or member of the Police Department shall be accepted as surety on any bond provided for in this article.
(Ord. 279. Passed 4-6-19.)