In the market for a 72-passenger school bus?
How about a dump truck, a fire escape ladder or traffic stop lights?
The City of Oak Harbor and other local agencies are unloading their cast-off goods in one gigantic auction 10 a.m. Saturday at the city’s municipal shop, 1400 NE 16th Ave., Oak Harbor.
Viewing starts at 8 a.m. There also is a preview 3:30-5 p.m. Friday.
The city is hosting the auction but it also includes dozens of items from Island County, Oak Harbor School District and North Whidbey Fire and Rescue.
“This is the last resort,” said Sandra Place, the city’s budget and purchasing specialist. “We try to reuse them and sell them first.”
A peek at the offerings reveals a bizarre hodgepodge of municipal booty, including just for starters: teensy chairs kindergartens sat in, a boat trailer, fake potted plants, two globes, a hedge trimmer, a skateboard, a bingo score board, one steak knife, two outboard motors, a fire hose, a baseball bat, power flush toilets, the piano from the Senior Center and 70 cases of toilet paper.
The auction includes around 30 cars and big rigs, including three school buses, an assortment of trucks and two Ford Crown Victorias. If you’ve always wanted to be Mr. Plow, here is your moment: there is a plow and a sander attachment, too.
In all, the auctioned items fill four cargo bays at the city municipal shop, while the vehicles are parked in a nearby field.
The city has dabbled with selling things on eBay, including in one case a fire truck. That worked fine, Place said, but this is a more efficient way to move a lot of goods.
The last auction was held in 2009, and the city made $91,000. When the economic downturn hit, the city and other local agencies put off replacing some items. Now they’ve collected enough to make an auction worthwhile.
This is Place’s 10th auction and the oddest thing she’s seen auctioned was a recycling truck. The buyer bought some smaller items too and threw those in the truck before heading home.
“I think he thought it would be fun,” she said. “But I don’t think he asked his wife first.”
In the past, hundreds of people have showed up for the auction, including taxi companies from outside the state interested in those Crown Victorias.
The city hired auctioneer Harold Mather to lead the auction. His company based in Tacoma handles other auctions with public agencies, including selling items from the South Pole for the National Science Foundation.
He’s worked with the city before. His truck comes especially equipped with a pop-out seat in the back, and a driver steers him around the parking lot as he auctions off this and that. He expects the auction to last well into the afternoon and he has other auctioneers on standby, ready to give him a break from the rapid-fire selling.
For a list of items for sale, visit the city’s website at www.oakharbor.org
