§8-35-6. Sale and liquidation of dissolved municipal assets.

(a) If the State Auditor, as special receiver, makes a determination that a dissolved municipality’s real and/or personal property must be liquidated to satisfy its debts and liabilities then a public auction may be conducted. The property shall be sold either at an on-site public auction or by utilizing an Internet-based public auction service, or at a suitable location within the county wherein the dissolved municipality was principally located and such shall be conducted by the State Auditor. Before making such sale, notice of the time, terms, manner and either the location of the sale or the Internet-based public auction service to be utilized, together with a brief description of the property to be sold, shall be published as a Class II legal advertisement in compliance with the provision of §59-3-1 et seq. of this code, and the publication area for such publication shall be the county.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section concerning sale at public auction shall not apply to the State Auditor selling or disposing of the property for public use to:

(1) The United States of America its instrumentalities, agencies or political subdivisions;

(2) The State of West Virginia, or its political subdivisions, including county boards of education, volunteer fire departments, and volunteer ambulance services; or

(3) Any authority, commission, instrumentality, or agency established by act of the State of West Virginia.

(c) For all sales made pursuant to this section, the State Auditor is not required to exclusively consider the present commercial or market value of the property.

(d) No officer or employee of the State Auditor or the Prosecuting Attorney for the county where such municipality or the majority portion of the territory thereof is located, or his or her immediate family, may purchase or acquire any property municipal assets disposed of pursuant to this section.