ORDINANCE NO. 234
AN ORDINANCE GOVERNING THE IMPOUND AND DISPOSITION
OF DISCARDED VEHICLES
The City of Adams ordains as follows:
Section 1. Definitions:
A. As used in this ordinance, the following shall mean:
1. Costs: The expense of moving, storing, or selling a discarded vehicle.
2. Discarded vehicle: A vehicle that is inoperative, wrecked, junked, dismantled,
partially dismantled, abandoned, or apparently abandoned. Current licensed and operable
vehicles on a public way shall not be considered discarded for the purpose of this ordinance. The
term discarded vehicle includes major parts thereof including, but not limited to, bodies and body
parts, engines, chassis, transmission, and axles.
3. City official: Includes any member of the City Council, the Mayor, and any
designee of the City Council or Mayor for purposes of the enforcement of this ordinance.
4. Person in charge of property: An agent, occupant, lessee, contract purchaser,
owner, or person having possession, control, or title to the property where a vehicle is located.
5. Vehicle: Every device in, upon, or by which a person or property is or may be
transported or drawn upon a public highway, except devices moved by human power or used
exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. For example, and not for limitation, the following are
vehicles whether or not operable.
a. motor vehicle,
b. motor home,
c. utility trailer,
d. house or vacation trailer,
e. implement of husbandry,
f. article of machinery,
g. boat
h. camper, or
j. pickup truck or any part thereof.
6. Vehicle owner: An individual, firm, corporation, or unincorporated association
with a claim, either individually or jointly, of ownership or an interest, legal or equitable, in a
vehicle.
7. Emergency; An unexpected situation or sudden occurrence of a serious and
urgent nature that demands immediate action.
Section 2. Declaration of Public Nuisance
A. The accumulation and storage of a discarded vehicle, or vehicles, is hereby found to
create a condition tending to reduce the value of private property, to promote blight,
deterioration and unsightliness, to invite plundering, to create fire hazards, to constitute an
attractive nuisance creating a hazard to the health and safety of minors, to create a
harborage for rodents and insects, and to be injurious to the health, safety and general
welfare of the inhabitants of the City. Therefore, the presence of a discarded vehicle, or
vehicles, on private property is hereby declared to constitute a public nuisance which may
be abated in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance.
Section 3. Prohibited Actions:
A. No person shall keep or permit the storage of a discarded vehicle upon private
property within the City for more than seven days unless the vehicle is completely
enclosed within a building secured against unauthorized entry, or is completely enclosed
within a six foot sight-obscuring fence, the fence being erected in accordance with any and
all applicable ordinances of this City. Any fence erected or used for compliance with this
ordinance shall be made of solid panels, chain link wire with slats, or similar sightobscuring materials, and shall be capable of being secured from unauthorized entry. If a
fence is used for compliance with this ordinance, no more than five vehicles may be stored
on a single parcel of property.
B. Nothing stated within this section shall be construed to allow the storage of any
vehicle otherwise prohibited by any ordinance or regulation of the City or by any land
use regulations or any other applicable laws, or to declare any noncommercial automotive
activity as commercial, or to override provisions of any ordinance of this City regarding
home occupations, or to authorize automobile wrecking, repair or activity not in
conformance with other provisions of this City ordinance or other applicable laws.
Section 4. Investigation:
A. When a city official investigates a discarded vehicle on private property and
determines that a nuisance exists which should be abated, the official shall:
1. Attempt to discover the owner of the vehicle and all persons who may be a
person in charge of the real property on which the vehicle is located; and
2. Give a written notice to the persons described in Subsection 1 of this section
by regular first-class mail and registered or certified mail requiring a return receipt that
the vehicle is in violation of this ordinance. If the owner of the vehicle is not found, the
city official shall place a notice on the windshield or some other part of the vehicle where
it can be easily seen.
Section 5. Contents of Notice:
A notice issued under Section 4 of this ordinance shall state that a certain discarded
vehicle or vehicles is in violation of this ordinance and that within thirty days after sending
or posting the notice:
1. The vehicle must be removed from the City or to the storage yard of a
lawfully conducted business dealing in junked vehicles; or
2. The vehicle must be completely enclosed within a building or a six foot
sight-obscuring fence as provided for in this ordinance; and
3. That the alternative to compliance with this section is to make a written
request within ten days of the date of the notice for a hearing before the City Council
to show why the vehicle should not be immediately abated; and
4. That failure to comply with this ordinance authorized the City to remove the
vehicle, charge the cost as a lien against the real property from which it was removed, and
to sell the vehicle to satisfy the cost of moving , storing and selling the vehicle or to
authorize a towing company to remove the vehicle and to sell it in compliance with
applicable laws to satisfy the costs of removal and storage; and
5. That the recipient of the notice may be personally charged with the costs of
abatement as is more specifically provided for in this ordinance.
6. That the failure to comply with the notice may subject the owner of the vehicle
to a administrative fees, penalties and interest as set forth by resolution.
Section 6. Entry on Private Property:
A. City officials are authorized to enter onto private property at all reasonable times
to examine a vehicle to determine whether it is in a discarded condition, and following
the procedures set forth in this ordinance, to remove the vehicle or to otherwise abate
the nuisance. Except when an emergency exists, before entering onto private
property, the city official shall obtain the consent of an occupant of the property, or upon
application filed by the city attorney, obtain a warrant of the Circuit Court of the State of
Oregon for Umatilla County.
B. No search warrant shall be issued under the terms of this ordinance until an
affidavit has been filed with the Circuit Court showing probable cause for the inspection
by stating the purpose and extent of the proposed inspection, citing this ordinance as the
basis for the inspection, stating whether it is an inspection instituted by complaint, and
giving other specific or general information concerning the vehicle in question or the
property on which it is located.
C. No warrant for entry to remove a vehicle, or vehicles, or to otherwise abate the
nuisance, shall be issued under the terms of this ordinance until an affidavit has been filed
with the Circuit Court, citing this ordinance as the basis for the entry, and stating that the
City has administratively determined that a nuisance exists which should be abated, that all
required notices have been served or that stated circumstances exist which excuse their
service, whether a hearing has been requested and, if so, that the hearing has resulted
in a ruling upholding the administrative determination that a nuisance exists which
must be abated, that the nuisance has not been abated by the landowner or a person
with an interest in the vehicle, or vehicles, within the time required for compliance,
and the general circumstances reasonably justifying a finding that the vehicle, or vehicles,
violate the terms of this ordinance.
D. No person shall interfere with or attempt to prevent a city official from entering onto
private premises when an emergency exists, or when the official exhibits a warrant
authorizing entry.
Section 7. Hearing Before City Council:
A. Following a request for a hearing, the City Council shall provide a hearing for the
petitioner to show cause why a vehicle should not be abated immediately and to
receive the testimony of the city official and other interested persons concerning the
existence, location, and condition of the vehicle. After the hearing, the City Council may
order the vehicle a nuisance in violation of this ordinance to be removed by the City in
accordance with the provisions of this ordinance.
B. The order may require the removal of more than one vehicle and may consolidate the
hearings and orders relating to more than one vehicle on a single parcel of property.
Persons receiving the notice specified in Section 5 shall be sent copies of the order.
C. The City Council may impose conditions and take other actions considered
appropriate under the circumstances to carry out the purposes of this ordinance. The City
Council may delay the time for removal of the vehicle when, in the Council’s opinion,
circumstances justify such action. The City Council shall refuse to order removal of the
vehicle when the vehicle, in the opinion of the City Council, is not subject to provisions of
this ordinance. The City Council shall not be bound by technical rules of evidence in
conducting the hearing.
Section 8. Abatement by the City and Appraisal:
A. Fifteen days after giving notice required by this ordinance, or if the hearing
is held, fifteen days after issuance of the order referred to in Section 7 of this ordinance
or upon the passage of any lessor or greater period of time stated in the order, the City
will have jurisdiction to abate the nuisance and may remove the vehicle by use of city
employees or to have the City declared the lawful possessor of the vehicle empowering
the City to engage authorized independent contractors to remove the vehicle without
further notice. No person shall interfere with, hinder or refuse to allow authorized
persons to enter upon private property for the purpose of removing a vehicle under
the provisions of this ordinance.
B. The City shall have the option of removing the vehicle and taking it into the City’s
possession for purposes of disposition and sale or to allow the vehicle to be taken into
the possession of an independent towing contractor. A person who, at the request of the City
Council, takes a vehicle into possession under the provisions of this ordinance shall
have a lien on the vehicle and its contents for reasonable towing and storage charges
in accordance with ORS 87.152, and the attachment and perfection of said liens shall
be governed by the provisions of ORS 87.152 through 87.212. The person claiming a
lien under this section and said state statutes may retain possession of the vehicle until
the charges are paid, and may have the vehicle sold to satisfy the lien in accordance
with said state laws. If the appraised value of the vehicle is within the range of the
values set forth in ORS 819.215, the vehicle may be disposed of in the manner provided
for therein. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the vehicle may be disposed of in accordance
with any other applicable state law.
C. If after removing the vehicle the City retains possession of it for purposes of discard
or sale, the City may sell the vehicle and its contents at public auction in the manner
provided for in ORS 87.192 through ORS 87.206, or may have the vehicle and its contents
appraised and disposed of pursuant to the terms of ORS 819.210 through ORS 819.260.
D. Upon sale as provided for in this section, the proceeds of the sale shall be used first to
satisfy the towing and storage lien, next to the cost of sale, next to the payment of all
charges and penalties imposed by this ordinance, and then shall be distributed as provided
for in ORS 87.206.
Section 9. Rights and Liabilities of Owner:
A. The owner, a person entitled to possession, and any person with an interest recorded on
the title of a vehicle taken into custody under this ordinance:
1. Is liable for all costs and expenses incurred in the removal, preservation, custody
and sale of the vehicle and its contents except that in no case shall a person be required to
pay storage charges for a storage period in excess of sixty days for a vehicle abated pursuant
to the terms of this ordinance, and a security interest holder is not liable under this ordinance
unless the security interest holder reclaims the vehicle; and
2. May reclaim the vehicle at any time after it is taken into custody and before the
vehicle is sold or disposed of upon presentation to the authority holding the vehicle of
satisfactory proof of ownership or right to possession and upon payment of costs, expenses,
and penalties for which the person is liable under this ordinance, and
3. Has a right to request and have a hearing under the procedures established by
this ordinance.
B. If the vehicle is sold or disposed of under the terms of this ordinance, the owner has no
further right, title, or claim to or interest in the vehicle or the contents of the vehicle.
Section 10. Assessment of Costs:
A. If after disposition and/or sale by the City of a vehicle abated pursuant to the terms of
this ordinance there remains unpaid any costs associated therewith the Mayor shall forward
to the owner of the vehicle and of the person or persons in charge of property, by
registered or certified mail, a notice stating:
1. The total cost of the abatement and the total proceeds obtained in the sale
of disposition of the vehicle and/or contents sold, and
2. That the cost indicated, less the proceeds of sale, will be assessed to and become
a lien against the property upon which the vehicle was found prior to abatement unless the
sum is paid within thirty days from the date of the notice, and
3. That if the owner of the vehicle or of the real property upon which it was found
objects to the costs of the abatement, as indicated, a notice of objections may be filed
with the Mayor and not more than ten days from the date of the notice.
4. No sooner than thirty days after the date of the notice, the City Council, in
regular course of business, shall hear and make any decision on the objections to the
costs assessed.
B. If the costs of the abatement are not paid within thirty days from the date of the
notice, an assessment of the costs, as stated or as decided by the City Council, shall be made
by resolution and shall be entered into the docket of city liens. When the entry is made, it
shall constitute a lien on the property from which the discarded vehicle was removed or
abated.
C. The lien shall be enforced and shall bear interest at the rate of nine percent(9%) per
annum. The interest shall begin to run from the date the City Council determines by
resolution the amount of the assessment. Unless paid within one year after assessment, the
City Council may foreclose the lien in accordance with ORS 223.505-223.650
D. An error in the name of the owner of their vehicle or of the property upon which it
was found, or a failure to receive any notice required by this ordinance will not void the
assessment, and it shall remain a valid lien against the property.
E. If the disposition and sale is conducted by an independent towing contractor, this
section shall not apply.
Section 11. Contents of Abated Vehicle: The authority given the City under the provision of
ordinance with regard to the authority to abate, dispose of, and sell discarded vehicles, shall
include the authority to abate, dispose of, and sell the contents of any abated vehicle, in
accordance with the terms of this ordinance.
Section 12. Right of Appeal: Any person or entity aggrieved by the decision of the City Council
in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance may appeal to the Circuit Court of the State of
Oregon for Umatilla County. However, any request for review must be filed within thirty days of
the date of the initial announcement of the City Council’s decision. Absent a timely filing of a
request for review with the Circuit Court, the City Council’s decision shall be final. Filing within
the time stated herein is jurisdictional and may not be extended for any reason.