The police department may take into custody any abandoned motor vehicle found on public or private property. In such connection, the police department may employ its own personnel, equipment, and facilities, or hire persons, equipment, and facilities, for the purpose of removing, preserving, and storing abandoned motor vehicles.
(Code 1973, § 18-30; Code 1997, § 94.37; Ordinance 71-29, adopted 9/15/1971)
(a) 
The police department shall send notice of abandonment to:
(1) 
The last known registered owner of each motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor taken into custody by the agency or for which a report is received under Texas Transportation Code § 683.031; and
(2) 
Each lienholder recorded:
a. 
Under Texas Transportation Code ch. 501 for the motor vehicle;
b. 
With the Federal Aviation Administration or the secretary of state for the aircraft; or
c. 
Under Texas Parks and Wildlife Code ch. 31 for the watercraft or outboard motor.
(b) 
If the police department takes into custody an aircraft, it shall contact the Federal Aviation Administration in the manner described by Texas Transportation Code § 22.901 to attempt to identify the owner of the aircraft before sending the notice required by subsection (a) of this section.
(c) 
The notice under subsection (a) of this section must:
(1) 
Be sent by certified mail not later than the tenth day after the date the police department:
a. 
Takes the abandoned motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor into custody; or
b. 
Receives the report under Texas Transportation Code § 683.031;
(2) 
Specify the year, make, model, and identification number of the item;
(3) 
Give the location of the facility where the item is being held;
(4) 
Inform the owner and lienholder of the right to claim the item not later than the 20th day after the date of the notice on payment of:
a. 
Towing, preservation, and storage charges; or
b. 
Garage keeper's charges and fees under Texas Transportation Code § 683.032 and, if the vehicle is a commercial motor vehicle impounded under Texas Transportation Code § 644.153(q), the delinquent administrative penalty and costs; and
(5) 
State that failure of the owner or lienholder to claim the item during the period specified by subsection (c)(4) of this section is:
a. 
A waiver by that person of all right, title, and interest in the item; and
b. 
Consent to the sale of the item at a public auction.
(d) 
Notice by publication in one newspaper of general circulation in the city is sufficient notice under this section if:
(1) 
The identity of the last registered owner cannot be determined;
(2) 
The registration has no address for the owner; or
(3) 
The determination with reasonable certainty of the identity and address of all lienholders is impossible.
(e) 
Notice by publication:
(1) 
Must be published in the same period that is required by subsection (c) of this section for notice by certified mail and contain all of the information required by that subsection; and
(2) 
May contain a list of more than one abandoned motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor.
(f) 
The police department is not required to send a notice, as otherwise required by subsection (a) of this section, if the department has received notice from a vehicle storage facility that an application has or will be submitted to the Texas department of motor vehicles for the disposal of the vehicle.
(g) 
In addition to the notice required under subsection (a) of this section, if the police department takes an abandoned motor vehicle into custody, the department shall notify a person that files a theft report or similar report prepared by any law enforcement agency for the vehicle of that fact. The notice must be sent by regular mail on the next business day after the department takes the vehicle into custody. The department shall also provide the name and address of the person that filed the theft report or similar report to the vehicle storage facility or governmental vehicle storage facility that is storing the vehicle.
(Code 1973, § 18-31; Code 1997, § 94.38; Ordinance 71-29, adopted 9/15/1971; Ordinance 83-49, adopted 6/15/1983)
If an abandoned motor vehicle has not been reclaimed as provided for in section 32-83, the police department shall sell the abandoned motor vehicle at a public auction. The purchaser of the motor vehicle shall take title to the motor vehicle free and clear of all liens and claims of ownership, shall receive a sales receipt from the police department, and shall be entitled to register the purchased vehicle and receive a certificate of title. From the proceeds of the sale of an abandoned motor vehicle, the police department shall reimburse itself for the expenses of the auction, the costs of towing, preserving, and storing the vehicle which resulted from placing the abandoned motor vehicle in custody, and all notice and publication costs incurred pursuant to section 32-83. Any remainder from the proceeds of a sale shall be held for the owner of the vehicle or entitled lienholder for 90 days, and then shall be deposited in a special fund which shall remain available for the payment of auction, towing, preserving, storage, and all notice and publication costs which result from placing other abandoned vehicles in custody, whenever the proceeds from a sale of such other abandoned motor vehicles are insufficient to meet these expenses and costs.
(1) 
If an abandoned motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor is not claimed under section 32-83:
a. 
The owner or lienholder waives all rights and interests in the item and consents to the sale of the item by public auction or the transfer of the item, if a watercraft, as provided by subsection (4) of this section; and
b. 
The police department may sell the item at a public auction, transfer the item, if a watercraft, as provided by subsection (4) of this section, or use the item as provided by Texas Transportation Code § 683.016.
(2) 
Proper notice of the auction shall be given. A garage keeper who has a garage keeper's lien shall be notified of the time and place of the auction.
(3) 
The purchaser of a motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor:
a. 
Takes title free and clear of all liens and claims of ownership;
b. 
Shall receive a sales receipt from the police department; and
c. 
Is entitled to register the motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor with and receive a certificate of title from the appropriate authority.
(4) 
On consent of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the police department may transfer a watercraft that is not claimed under section 32-83 to the parks and wildlife department for use as part of an artificial reef under Texas Parks and Wildlife Code ch. 89, or for other use by the parks and wildlife department permitted under the Parks and Wildlife Code.
(5) 
The police department is entitled to reimbursement from the proceeds of the sale of an abandoned motor vehicle, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motor for:
a. 
The cost of the auction;
b. 
Towing, preservation, and storage fees resulting from the taking into custody; and
c. 
The cost of notice or publication as required by Texas Transportation Code § 683.012.
(6) 
After deducting the reimbursement allowed under subsection (5) of this section, the proceeds of the sale shall be held for 90 days for the owner or lienholder of the vehicle.
(7) 
After the period provided by subsection (6) of this section, proceeds unclaimed by the owner or lienholder shall be deposited in an account that may be used for the payment of auction, towing, preservation, storage, and notice and publication fees resulting from taking other vehicles, aircraft, watercraft, or outboard motors into custody if the proceeds from the sale of the other items are insufficient to meet those fees.
(Code 1973, § 18-32; Code 1997, § 94.39; Ordinance 71-29, adopted 9/15/1971)
(a) 
Persons may apply to the police department for authority to sell, give away, or dispose of an abandoned motor vehicle to a demolisher under the conditions specified in Texas Transportation Code ch. 683, subch. D (Texas Transportation Code § 683.051 et seq.).
(b) 
The application shall set out the name and address of the applicant, the year, make, model, and serial number of the motor vehicle, if ascertainable, together with any other identifying features, and shall contain a concise statement of the facts surrounding the abandonment, or that the title of the motor vehicle is lost or destroyed, or the reasons for the defect of title in the owner. The applicant shall execute an affidavit stating that the facts alleged therein are true and that no material fact has been withheld.
(c) 
If the police department finds that the application is executed in proper form, and shows that the motor vehicle has been abandoned upon the property of the applicant or if it shows that the motor vehicle is not abandoned but that the applicant appears to be the rightful owner, the police department shall follow the notification procedures set forth in section 32-83.
(d) 
If any such abandoned motor vehicle is not reclaimed in accordance with section 32-83, the police department shall notify the Texas Highway Department which shall issue the applicant a certificate of authority to sell the motor vehicle to any demolisher for demolition, wrecking or dismantling. The demolisher shall accept such certificate in lieu of the certificate of title to the motor vehicle.
(e) 
Any persons upon whose property in the city or in whose possession in the city is found any 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 without that title and without notification procedures of section 32-83 if the motor vehicle is over eight years old and has no engine or is otherwise totally inoperable.
(Code 1973, § 18-33; Code 1997, § 94.40; Ordinance 71-29, adopted 9/15/1971)