(a) The Sheriff of Etowah County shall keep and maintain a permanent record of all abandoned and stolen personal property recovered by the sheriff’s office, which the records shall state the description of the property, the date of recovery of the property, the serial or other identifying number of the property, and the place of recovery of the property. The records shall be open to public inspection at all reasonable times. All abandoned or stolen property recovered by the sheriff’s office shall be stored in a suitable place to protect the abandoned or stolen personal property from deterioration. If the property is perishable, after reasonable attempts have been made to locate and identify the owner thereof, and if the attempts are unsuccessful, the abandoned or stolen personal property may be sold at once without notice. The proceeds shall be held for a period of six months for the account of the owner and if the owner has not claimed the proceeds within that period of time, after deducting and paying all expenses incurred in the recovery, storage, maintenance, and sale of the abandoned or stolen personal property, the balance shall be paid into the Etowah County Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund.

(b) The sheriff may sell at public auction to the highest bidder for cash all abandoned or stolen personal property which has been recovered by the sheriff’s office, and has remained unclaimed by the rightful owner thereof after a period of six months. The sales are to be made after notice thereof shall have been given by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in Etowah County once a week for two successive weeks or by posting the notice in a conspicuous place at the Etowah County Courthouse for a period of at least 20 days prior to the sale. The notice shall contain the place, date, and time of each auction and shall contain a description of each item of personal property to be sold at the auction. If publication of the notice is made by publication in a newspaper, the first notice shall run at least 20 days prior to the auction.

(c) The owner of any abandoned or stolen personal property recovered by the sheriff’s office may redeem the same at any time prior to its sale by paying any reasonable expenses incurred in the recovery of the property, its maintenance and storage, and a pro rata share of the costs, if any, of publication of notice of the sale of the property.

(d) Whenever any property is sold at public auction pursuant to subsection (c), a notation in the storage record book shall be made of the fact of the sale and of the amount received for the property. All sales shall be cash. The person making the sale shall reject any and all bids if the amount of the bid is unreasonably low and shall continue the sale from time to time if no bidders are present.

(e) The proceeds from any auction conducted pursuant to this section, after deducting and paying all expenses incurred in the recovery, storage, maintenance, and sale of property sold at auction, shall be paid into the Etowah County Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund and may be used by the sheriff for law enforcement purposes in the county.