(1) Not withstanding any other provision of law, the Garfield Town Marshal or any Town employee authorized by the Mayor, upon receiving a complaint from a landowner, shall inspect and may authorize the disposal of an abandoned junk vehicle. The person making the inspection shall record the make and vehicle identification number or license number of the vehicle if available, and shall also verify that the approximate value of the junk vehicle is equivalent only to the approximate value of the scrap in it.

(2) If the Garfield Town Marshal or other authorized Town employee determines that the vehicle meets the requirements of §12.14.010(4), the Marshal shall provide information on the vehicle’s registered and legal owner to the landowner.

(3) Upon receiving information on the vehicle’s registered and legal owner, the landowner shall mail a notice to the registered and legal owners shown on the records of the department. The notification shall describe the redemption procedure and the right to arrange for the removal of the vehicle as set out in subsection 4, below.

(4) A registered or legal owner may redeem the vehicle by paying the landowner for any costs incurred with regard to the junk vehicle and by removing the vehicle to a place outside of the Town of Garfield or otherwise complying with the requirements of §12.14.020(3) with regard to storage and/or screening.

(5) If the vehicle remains unclaimed more than fifteen days after the landowner has mailed notification to the registered and legal owner, the landowner may dispose of the vehicle or sign an affidavit of sale to be used as a title document.

(6) If no information on the vehicle’s registered and legal owner is found in the records of the department, the landowner may immediately dispose of the vehicle or sign an affidavit of sale to be used as a title document.

(7) It is a class 1 civil infraction as defined in RCW 7.80.120 for a person to abandon a junk vehicle on property located in the Town of Garfield. The landowner of the property upon which the junk vehicle is located is entitled to recover from the vehicle’s registered owner any costs incurred in the removal of the junk vehicle.

(8) For the purposes of this section, the term “landowner” includes a legal owner of private property, a person with possession or control of private property, or a public official having jurisdiction over public property. (Ord. 280-N, §4, 2001)