BASEMENT COLLECTION
Maumee’s leftovers destined for auction
Bryan firm may get bid to handle April 27 sale
4/9/2013Maumee is cleaning out some of the clutter in its city hall’s basement, but anyone interested in buying it may have to drive to Bryan.
City council recently approved a declaration that a collection of old photocopiers, computers, office furniture, filing cabinets, and other items is surplus and should be sold off.
Last week, council approved a similar resolution for miscellaneous items no longer needed by Maumee Municipal Court, including nearly two dozen computers, 13 filing cabinets of various sizes, five chairs, four televisions, and a variety of other items including an “unknown” number of computer mice.
“The first computer ever made is down there, and the first copier ever made,” Mayor Richard Carr joked about the city’s surplus. “It’s just collected and collected and collected, and we’re going to clean it up.”
But to put it up for sale, the city will likely truck it to Wilson Auctioneers in Bryan for an April 27 sale, city Administrator John Jezak said.
City council has yet to formally approve that idea, but the recommendation to use Wilson will be on council’s agenda Monday, Mr. Jezak said.
Maumee’s last surplus auction, held about 10 years ago, was staged in a Service Department garage, the city administrator said. But with construction about to start on a new building, there’s no extra space to set up for an auction, he said.
Some of the basement hardware became surplus, Mr. Jezak noted, when the city switched to networked copiers and printers, with which “we saved a bunch of money.”
But unless council were to declare the items to have no value, the city legally can’t just junk them.
“The only way to dispose of it is by public auction or donation to another government agency,” Mr. Jezak said.
Perhaps most distinctive in the city hall collection is a wide wooden bench, suitable for three people, maybe four if they’re thin, that Mr. Jezak said was brought over from Maumee’s previous municipal building and immediately stashed in the basement.
“It’s been down here ever since,” he said. “Nobody has any history on it. I definitely wouldn’t consider it an antique.”
Along with the office supplies on the surplus list, a small Lego table with Lego blocks will have to go.
Howard Brebberman, Maumee's commissioner of public service, said the toy will be sold because the conference room where it was kept for children to play with while waiting on court proceedings, has been converted into an office.