(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, 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, City Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, 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 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, to await trial; and every such bond taken shall be filed as soon as practicable with the Municipal Court Clerk by the officer approving and taking such bond; and the Municipal Judge, City Recorder, Municipal Court Clerk, 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 at police headquarters 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 Kanawha 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 which, in the judgment of the officer accepting the deposit, will be sufficient to cause the prisoner's appearance upon the day required to him before the Municipal Judge to await trail upon the charge against him. The amount of such deposit shall not be less than a sum sufficient in the judgment of the officer 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 bond or such deposit shall fail to appear before the Municipal Judge for trials at the appointed time, or, having appeared, shall leave the court without waiting trials, 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 as soon as may be practicable, no later than the following morning, 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 accounted for; and in the event of the forfeiture of a penal bond, the City Treasurer shall forthwith take the steps necessary at law for the collection thereof.
(b) Bail bond cards issued by automobile associations to their members shall be accepted for traffic violations in accord with the terms of such cards.
(c) 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 officer, in the exercise of sound discretion, considers it proper to do so.