Every sheriff and each of the sheriff’s deputies and civil deputies, as defined in Title 30-A, section 351, subsection 5, shall serve and execute, within the sheriff’s county, all writs and precepts issued by lawful authority directed and committed to the sheriff, including those in which a town, plantation or parish of which the sheriff is a resident, or religious society or school district, of which the sheriff is at the time a member, is a party or interested, but the sheriff’s legal fees for service must first be paid or secured to the sheriff. If the fees are not paid or secured to the sheriff when the process is delivered to the sheriff, the sheriff shall immediately return it to the plaintiff or attorney offering it; or if sent to the sheriff by mail or otherwise, the sheriff shall put it into a post office within 24 hours, directed to the person sending it; otherwise the sheriff waives the sheriff’s right to the sheriff’s fees before service. [PL 2017, c. 332, §1 (AMD).]