From Bulldozeers to PCs, the Borough Has a Deal for You

Brianna Gibbs/KMXT
Kodiak garage sale enthusiasts can hit the mother load this week in the comfort of their own home. The Kodiak Island Borough is having an online surplus sale to dispose of items and supplies that are no longer used within the borough. With the click of a mouse, community members can bid on the bulldozer they’ve always wanted, computer they’ve been needing, or any other item the borough has posted onlin. Meagan Christiansen is the grant writer and special project support for the borough manager’s office. She was in charge of putting the items online for this year’s sale.

— (Borough Surplus 1 :17 "We try to hold the sale once a year. It doesn’t always happen that way. It’s equipment such as computers and related accessories where we’ve bought new equipment and the older equipment is still usable but we’re not using it any longer.")

The electronic auction is referred to as a blind bid in the sense that people can submit a bid, but can’t view other bids that have been placed. She said when it’s all said and done the borough will contact the highest bidder. The sale was a collaboration between many different departments within the borough, as evident by the diversity of items for sale.

— (Borough Surplus 2 : 29 "The bigger heavy equipment type items like the bulldozer and the engine, that came through our engineering facilities department and that might be equipment that was used for storage, maintenance of buildings and grounds. Equipment that was used either the van from the fire station, there’s things that were used out at the landfill. So it’s just a variety of things that are no longer being used. The computer equipment came from our IT department, and so different departments have worked together to put together this list.")

Like most garage sales, Christiansen said the borough doesn’t expect to make too much money from the sale.
— (Borough Surplus 3 : 26 "We don’t get a lot of money out of it. It’s just an opportunity to continue with the motto reuse and recycle. So we try to give other people in the community the opportunity to make use of equipment that this public entity no longer needs. Things that are not purchased or are really not usable anymore will be disposed of in the appropriate meants.")

Money that is generated from the sale will go into the borough’s general fund, which Christiansen said can cover a variety of expenses. The sale started on September 14 and will remain open through 8 a.m. on Friday. You can few the full list of items and make your bids online at Kodiak AK dot US.

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