A police authority, upon the authority’s own initiative or upon the request of the City Council, may take into custody any junk/abandoned vehicle on public property and may take into custody any junk/abandoned vehicle on private property as set forth herein. The police authority may employ its own personnel, equipment and facilities or hire a private entity, equipment and facilities for the purpose of removing, preserving, storing or disposing of said junk/abandoned vehicle(s). If a police authority employs a private entity to dispose of junk/abandoned vehicle(s), the police authority shall provide the private entity with the names and addresses of the registered owners, all lienholders of record and any other known claimant to the vehicle or the personal property found in the vehicle.
(A) Notice by mail.
(1) The police authority or private entity that takes into custody any junk/abandoned vehicle shall notify, within 20 days, by certified mail, the last known registered owner of the vehicle, all lienholders of record and any other known claimant to the vehicle or to personal property found in the vehicle, addressed to the parties’ last known addresses of record, that the junk/abandoned vehicle has been taken into custody.
(2) Notice shall be deemed given when mailed. The notice shall describe the year, make, model and vehicle identification number of the vehicle, describe the personal property found in the vehicle, set forth the location of the facility where the vehicle is being held and inform the persons receiving the notice of their right to reclaim the vehicle and personal property within ten days after the effective date of the notice upon payment of all towing, preservation and storage charges resulting from placing the vehicle in custody and upon payment of the costs of the notice.
(3) The notice shall also state that the failure of the owner, lienholders or claimants to exercise their right to reclaim the vehicle or personal property within the time provided shall be deemed a waiver by the owner, lienholders and claimants of all right, title, claim and interest in the vehicle or personal property and that failure to reclaim the vehicle or personal property is deemed consent to the sale of the vehicle at a public auction or disposal of the vehicle to a demolisher and to disposal of the personal property by sale or destruction. The notice shall state that any person claiming rightful possession of the vehicle or personal property who disputes the planned disposition of the vehicle or property by the police authority or private entity or of the assessment of fees and charges provided by this section may ask for an evidentiary hearing before the police authority to contest those matters.
(4) If the persons receiving the notice do not ask for a hearing or exercise their right to reclaim the vehicle or personal property within the ten-day reclaiming period, the owner, lienholders or claimants shall no longer have any right, title, claim or interest in or to the vehicle or the personal property. A court in any case in law or equity shall not recognize any right, title, claim or interest of the owner, lienholders or claimants after the expiration of the ten-day reclaiming period.
(B) Notification in newspaper. If it is impossible to determine with reasonable certainty the identity and addresses of the last registered owner and all lienholders, notice by one publication in one newspaper of general circulation in the county where the vehicle was abandoned shall be sufficient to meet all requirements of notice under division (A) above. The published notice may contain multiple listings of junk/abandoned vehicles and personal property but shall be published within the same time requirements and contain the same information as prescribed for mailed notice in division (A) above.
(C) Disposal of abandoned vehicles. If a junk/abandoned vehicle has not been reclaimed as provided herein, the police authority or private entity shall make a determination as to whether or not the motor vehicle should be sold for use upon the highways and shall dispose of the motor vehicle in accordance with state law.
(D) Disposal of totally inoperable vehicles. The city or any person upon whose property or in whose possession is found any junk/abandoned motor vehicle, or any person being the owner of a motor vehicle whose title certificate is faulty, lost or destroyed, may dispose of such motor vehicle to a demolisher for junk, without a title and without notification procedures, if such motor vehicle lacks an engine or two or more wheels or other structural part which renders the vehicle totally inoperable. The police authority shall give the applicant a certificate of authority. The applicant shall then apply to the County Treasurer for a junking certificate and shall surrender the certificate of authority in lieu of the certificate of title.
(E) Proceeds from sales. Proceeds from the sale of any junk/abandoned vehicle shall be applied to the expense of auction, cost of towing, preserving, storing and notification required, in accordance with state law. Any balance shall be held for the owner of the motor vehicle or entitled lienholder for 90 days, and then shall be deposited in the State Road Use Tax Fund. Where the sale of any vehicle fails to realize the amount necessary to meet costs the police authority shall apply for reimbursement from the Department of Transportation.
(F) Duties of demolisher. Any demolisher who purchases or otherwise acquires a junk/abandoned motor vehicle for junk shall junk, scrap, wreck, dismantle or otherwise demolish such motor vehicle. A demolisher shall not junk, scrap, wreck, dismantle or demolish a vehicle until the demolisher has obtained the junking certificate issued for the vehicle.
(Ord. 14A, passed 6-7-2010)