Going, going, gone! Auction season is here for a local agency with goods that have to go.
Now through mid-November, the public can start their bidding in the online auctions by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Every week, the forest preserve will post a dozen or so new items on govdeals.com/dupageforest.
“We do sell off all the surplus vehicles, equipment, lost and found items, police confiscated items, anything that the district owns or acquires that’s beyond its useful life, and we will sell it through the online auctions,” said Mike Webster, the Fleet Services manager of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
Vehicles, boats, and other miscellaneous items are sold for the benefit of the forest preserve.
Around $500,000 has been made in the five years that the auctions have run, with profits going toward new equipment, programs and services offered by the forest preserve.
The online auctions have helped expand the reach of the forest preserve as well.
“We have gotten a lot of regulars now that we’ve been doing it for a few years, which is nice, it goes back to the local economy,” said Webster. “But we also have gotten buyers from over 40 states in the United States, we actually had one from out of the country as well, that was shipped out. So it does give us pretty much a worldwide audience.”
If you’re interested in seeing any items in person, you can contact the forest preserve’s Fleet Services management. You can also keep up to date on all items in the auctions on the forest preserve’s Facebook and Twitter.
Naperville News 17’s Christine Lena reports.
