Ord. No. __________
ORDINANCE NO. __________
ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ROSA AMENDING TITLE 10, AND ADDING CHAPTER 10-22 TO THE SANTA ROSA CITY CODE REGARDING THE
DISPOSITION OF UNCLAIMED LOST PROPERTY
THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF SANTA ROSA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Chapter 10-22 is added to the Santa Rosa City Code to read as follows:
“Chapter 10-22
LOST PROPERTY
10-22.010 Title.
A. This chapter shall be known as the Lost Property Ordinance. 10-22.020 Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
A. "City" means the City of Santa Rosa and any department, agency, bureau, and/or subordinate division thereof.
B. “City Council” means the City Council of the City of Santa Rosa.
B. C. “City Department” means any department of the City of Santa Rosa.
C. D. “C hief of Police ” means the Chief of Police of the Santa Rosa Police Department, or their designee.
D. E. “P
olice Department” means t he Santa Rosa Police Department and any division, section, bureau, employee, volunteer and/or contractor thereof.
F. “ Property” means money, goods, things in action, or other personal property.
10-22.030 Legislative authority.
The ordinance in this chapter is adopted pursuant to authority granted in Section 2080.4 of Tthe Civil Code of the State of California.
10-22.035 Property held in evidence.
This chapter does not apply to Property held by the Chief of Police as evidence.
10-22.040 Delivery of unclaimed pProperty to Police Department.
Ord. No. __________
A. Property valued at or in excess of $250. Any unclaimed pProperty found, recovered, delivered, or otherwise coming into possession of an officer, employee, or agent of the City during the course of their employment, that is believed to be valued at or in excess of $250.00, shall be delivered to the Police Department. Any unclaimed property believed to be valued at less than $250.00 shall be retained by the Police Department that found it for a period of 90 days.
B. Property valued at less than $250. Any unclaimed Property found, recovered, delivered, or otherwise coming into possession of an officer, employee, or agent of the City during the course of their employment, that is believed to be valued at less than $250.00 shall be delivered to the Director of the City Department of that officer, employee or agent. The City Department shall retain the Property for a period of 90 days, and if not claimed by the true owner within that period, the Director of the City Department shall dispose of the Property as the Director deems appropriate.
B.C. T he Chief of Police shall make provisions for receiving and safekeeping property and moneyProperty found and delivered to themthe Police Department or coming into theirits possession. A police property report shall be made by the officer receiving such pProperty, and a receipt shall be issued to the person delivering such pProperty upon request.
C.D. Property received as provided by this section 10-22.040 shall be stored in a safe location for a period of 90 days unless sooner claimed by the true owner and shall then be deemed to be unclaimed property or unclaimed moneyProperty and be subject to the disposition as provided in this chapter.
10-22.050 Restitution Return of unclaimed pProperty to true owner.
During the 90 days period specified by section 10-22.040, any pProperty subject to the provisions of this chapter may be delivered to the true owner. The Chief of Police shall, upon satisfactory proof of ownership and upon payment to the Chief of Police of all reasonable costs of safekeeping thereof and execution of a found property release receipt, return the pProperty to the true owner. Charges for the safekeeping of the property Property shall not exceeding ten percent of the value of the property may be charged for its safekeeping.Property. Where any such pProperty is introduced as evidence in a criminal case, the Chief of Police shall delay the restouration of such pProperty to its legal owner until the conclusion of such proceeding. If the true owner is a person prohibited by law from possessing such property, restitutionProperty, return shall not be made.
10-22.060 Delivery to finder.
If the true owner does not appear during the 90 day period and claim the property or moneyProperty, it may be delivered back to the person who delivered it to the Chief of Police if at the time of delivery such person indicated in writing that they wished to assert a claim to the property or moneyProperty as a finder provided that the property or moneyProperty was found Ord. No. __________
by a person other than in the course of employment as an employee of any public agency.
Charges may be imposed as provided in section 10-22.050. 10-22.070 Disposition of unclaimed pProperty.
At any time after the expiration of the 90 days provided for by Section 10-22.040 the unclaimed pProperty shall be delivered to the finder in accordance with Section 10-22.050 or disposed of by public auction or appropriationed to the use of the City in accordance with this Section 10-22- 070. Such public auction or appropriation shall take place not lesssooner than five days after a notice describing the articlesProperty to be disposed of that announces the date, time, and place of the auction is published once in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. The notice shall be signed by the Chief of Police. The proceeds of the public auction shall be paid into the City’s general fund. The expenses of the sale shall be a proper charge against the budget of the City.
A. All money or cash equivalents received by the Chief of Police and not delivered to the true owner during the 90-day period or to the finder shall within thirty (30) days thereafter be deposited in the general fund of the City.
B. This chapter does not apply to property held by the Chief of Police as evidence.
C. At any time after the expiration of the 90 days provided for by Section 10-22.040, the unclaimed property shall be disposed of by public auction or appropriation to the use of the City not less than five days after a notice describing the articles to be disposed of that announces the date, time, and place of the auction is published once in a newspaper of general circulation within the City. The notice shall be signed by the Chief of Police. The proceeds of the public auction shall be paid into the City general fund. The expenses of the sale shall be a proper charge against City’s general fund.
D.B. All guns or firearms which are not required or authorized to be destroyed by federal or state laws shall be destroyed in the manner specified in the Dangerous Weapons Control Law of the State of California.
E.C. If any pProperty requested by any department in the City Department is not subject to destruction under applicable federal, state, or City laws, the pProperty shall be turned over to the City Manager, who shall sign a receipt therefor, for distribution to the departmentCity Department making the request.
F.D. Disposition of property remaining unsold anyAny unclaimed pProperty subject to sale under this chapter whichthat remains unsold after public auction shall be destroyed or disposed of by the Chief of Police as they may deem in the public interest.
G.E. Any pProperty coming into the possession of the Chief of Police which they determine to be dangerous in itself, perishable, or contrary to public policy to retain or Ord. No. __________
sell shall not be subject to sale under this chapter and shall be disposed of in such a manner as the law shall direct or the Chief of Police may deem in the public interest.” Section 2. Environmental Determination. The Council finds that the adoption and implementation of this ordinance are exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act under section 15061(b)3 in that the Council finds there is no possibility that the implementation of this ordinance may have significant effects on the environment.
Section
3. Severability . If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or word of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid and/or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance.
Section 4. Effective Date. This ordinance shall take effect on the 31st day fo llowing its
adoption.
This ordinance was introduced by the Council of the City of Santa Rosa on November 1, 2022.
IN COUNCIL DULY PASSED AND ADOPTED this _____ day of ___________, 2022.
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
ATTEST: _________________________ APPROVED: ______________________________ City Clerk Mayor
APPROVED AS TO FORM: ________________________
City Attorney