(1) The Code Enforcement Officer may take custody of an abandoned cart and impose a civil penalty of fifty dollars ($50) on the owner of the abandoned cart if the owner does not retrieve the abandoned cart within seven calendar days after the owner receives a report of an abandoned cart under MMC 5.565. The Code Enforcement Officer shall release the shopping cart to the owner after the civil penalty is paid.

(2) Disposition after Thirty Days. Title to any abandoned cart not reclaimed by the owner within thirty (30) days after notification from the Code Enforcement Officer, or to any abandoned cart where the City has been unable to identify the owner after reasonable efforts and which has been in the City’s custody for thirty (30) days, shall be forfeited to the City and the shopping cart may be sold or otherwise disposed of by the City.