The Town of Winamac is hoping to bring in some extra money by selling off some of its surplus equipment.
Town Manager Brad Zellers told the town council last week that several items have been listen for sale with Olson Auctions, “We’ve got the 2006 Impala, we have the 2003 GMC, the old town office pickup, the bucket truck with the reserve of 8,500, and the old dump truck.”
However, one item not on that list is a garbage truck owned by the town. Zellers says he would prefer advertising for bids for the truck, instead. “It’s in fantastic shape, but when it sits there, all the seals start to dry out,” he said. “It’s not working. We’re spending $500 a year on insurance on it. We haven’t used it. When we do get it out to use it, we have to do work on it just to get it going.”
Council members discussed the possibility of selling the garbage truck either to another town or to someone locally. Zellers guessed it’s worth at least $20,000. Money raised from the truck’s sale would go into Winamac’s General Fund.
However, council member Dan Vanaman suggested holding off on the sale of the truck to leave open the possibility of the town once again collecting garbage itself. Zellers complained that service from the town’s garbage pickup contractor has been getting worse. “We have had a ton of complaints with garbage pickup,” he said. “I mean, it’s a weekly occurrence.”
Some council members also discussed the possibility of seeking out other companies to do the work, once the town’s current contract is up. No formal action was taken by the council on the potential sale of the town’s garbage truck.
