Any article of personal property found by the Inspector to be abandoned in a house or abandoned structure which the Board of Commissioners has ordered the Inspector to demolish and being found by the Inspector to have an appraised value of $50 or more shall be disposed of in the following manner.
(A) The Inspector shall first make an effort to communicate with the owner of the articles of personal property and to request that he or she remove the same from the premises.
(B) If the Inspector is unable to communicate with the owner of the articles of personal property promptly or if the owner thereof fails or refuses to remove the property from the premises after being requested to do so, the articles of personal property found on the premises may be removed for safekeeping in a storage facility owned by the town. Written notice of each removal of personal property shall be promptly given to the owner of the articles of personal property to the extent that the identity of the person is known or may be reasonably ascertained. The owner or any other person who may be entitled to possession of any articles of personal property, before obtaining possession thereof, shall pay to the town all reasonable costs incident to the removal, storage and locating the owner of the property or any other person who may be entitled to possession thereof. Should the owner or other person entitled to possession fail or refuse to pay the costs, or should the identity or whereabouts of the owner be unknown and unascertainable after a diligent search has been made and after notice to him or her at his or her last known address, the Inspector may, after holding the property for 30 days, dispose of the same by public sale after ten days’ public notice published in a local newspaper of general circulation, and the proceeds of the sale shall be forwarded to the Finance Officer of the town. The Finance Officer shall pay, from the proceeds of the sale, costs of removal, storage, investigation as to ownership and sale, the liens, in that order; and the remaining proceeds shall be deposited in the General Fund of the town, subject to the following provisions. If the ownership of the property is established satisfactorily to the Finance Officer, the owner shall be paid by the officer so much of the proceeds from the sale of the property as remains after paying the cost of removal, storage, investigation as to ownership and sale and any other liens thereon.
(Ord. 21- , passed - -2021)