[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Port
Washington North 10-14-2003 by L.L. No. 7-2003.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
The following terms when used in this chapter shall have the meanings
indicated:
A shopping cart left unattended in any public place for more than
five minutes, whether or not the shopping cart is empty.
Includes any municipal street, municipal sidewalk, municipal parking
field, or other publicly owned place within the Village.
Includes any cart, basket, container, or other device made of wire,
metal, plastic, or other material or combination of such materials, mounted
on wheels, manually operated, and designed and/or used for the conveyance
of goods and property.
The Superintendent of Public Works of the Village.
The Treasurer of the Village.
The Village of Port Washington North.
A.
No person who owns or makes available to the public in
connection with the conduct of business and trade any shopping cart shall
suffer, tolerate, or permit any such shopping cart to be or to remain abandoned
in any public place.
B.
No person who has used or otherwise moved a shopping
cart shall, thereafter, abandon such shopping cart in any public place.
Every person who owns or makes available to the public in connection
with the conduct of business and trade within the Village any shopping cart
shall mark or cause the same to be marked and identified conspicuously with
the name and address of the owner. Such identification shall be in the form
of metal tags securely fastened to the shopping cart, or a cutting or stamping
on the frame of the shopping cart, or in such other manner approved by the
Superintendent.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be
punishable by a fine not to exceed $100. The fine is to be paid in addition
to any fees for redemption of an impounded shopping cart or cost of sale chargeable
to the owner of an impounded shopping cart as hereinafter provided. Each shopping
cart that does not have the required identification tag shall be deemed a
separate and distinct violation. Each day that a shopping cart does not have
the required identification tag shall be deemed a separate and distinct violation.
Each abandoned shopping cart shall be deemed a separate and distinct violation.
Each day that a shopping cart is abandoned, shall be deemed a separate and
distinct violation.
Whenever the Superintendent shall take possession of any abandoned shopping
cart, and such abandoned shopping cart contains identification of ownership,
a notice shall be sent by ordinary mail to such person purporting to be the
owner, advising that such shopping cart is held by the Superintendent and
advising the owner of the amount necessary to redeem the shopping cart.
A.
An abandoned shopping cart, and any goods or other property
that may be therein, may be redeemed by the owner or the owner’s authorized
representative at any time prior to the sale, dismantling, destruction, or
disposal thereof, and such owner or representative shall be entitled to receive
such shopping cart, and any goods or other property that may be therein, upon
tendering the sum of $25 to the Village.
B.
No shopping cart shall be delivered to a person seeking
to redeem the shopping cart unless proof establishing such person's ownership
or authorization from the owner is submitted to the satisfaction of the Superintendent.
Any delivery to a person apparently entitled thereto shall be a good defense
to the Superintendent and the Village from any other person claiming to be
entitled thereto, but if the person to whom delivery is made is not in fact
entitled thereto, the person to whom the shopping cart ought to have been
delivered may recover the shopping cart from the person to whom the shopping
cart shall have been delivered. In the event that any dangerous or perishable
goods are contained within the abandoned shopping cart, such goods may be
disposed of by the Superintendent without any liability on the part of the
Superintendent or the Village for its value to the owner.
In the event that any abandoned shopping cart remains unredeemed in
the custody of the Superintendent for a period of 15 days after removal and
with respect to which no person has presented satisfactory proof establishing
such person’s ownership or authorization from the owner to the Superintendent,
the Superintendent shall give public notice in the official newspaper of the
Village, advising that at a specified place and time, not less than five days
after such notice is published, such shopping cart will be sold at public
auction to the highest bidder. A general description in such notice of the
shopping cart to be sold shall be sufficient. Such sales shall be conducted
by the Superintendent or any employee of the Village designated by the Superintendent,
the Village Clerk, or the Village Board of Trustees.
In the event that any shopping cart shall remain unsold at public auction,
the Superintendent may reoffer such shopping cart for sale at a subsequent
public auction held pursuant to this chapter or have it dismantled, destroyed,
or otherwise disposed of. Any such sale or other disposition of such shopping
cart pursuant to this chapter shall be without any liability on the part of
the Superintendent or the Village to the owner of such shopping cart or any
other person lawfully entitled thereto or having an interest therein.
Immediately after an abandoned shopping cart is redeemed, the Superintendent
shall pay over to the Treasurer the amount received for the redemption. Immediately
after a sale or other disposition of an abandoned shopping cart, the Superintendent
shall pay to the Treasurer the proceeds of sale or other disposition of such
shopping cart, with an itemized statement of the shopping cart sold, the price
received, and the costs and expenses of sale, and the Treasurer shall retain
so much of the proceeds as equals the costs and expenses of such sale plus
$25 for such shopping cart sold, to cover the cost of removing and storing
the shopping cart; the remainder of the moneys realized from such sale or
other disposition shall be held by the Treasurer and paid, without interest,
to the lawful owner thereof as determined by the identification, if any, on
the shopping cart so sold or otherwise disposed of, so long as such owner
files a verified claim form for such payment with the Village Clerk within
one year from the date of such sale. In the event that the owner does not
file a verified claim form for such funds within one year from the date of
the sale, such funds shall be deemed abandoned and shall be deposited by the
Treasurer in the Village’s general fund and there shall
be no further liability for such shopping cart or such funds on the part of
the Superintendent or the Village to the owner of such shopping cart or any
other person lawfully entitled thereto or having an interest therein.
