By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
The Plainfield Police Department will find a new home for an old vehicle that has outlived its usefulness.
On Aug. 7, the village board signed off on an ordinance authorizing the sale of a 2007 Chevy Impala, once used by the police department.
The vehicle, which has logged more than 117,000 miles, will go up for auction with a starting price of $1,000.
“It originally was in patrol, and in its final uses was used by our DARE officers during the course of their duties,” said Police Chief John Konopek.
To sell the vehicle, the village first must declare it surplus property, and then can sell it off.
But while that process has been used numerous times over the years to shed the village of unwanted property or gear, the plan led to some hostile words between Mayor Mike Collins and Trustee Edward O’Rourke.
O’Rourke has asked over the past several months about the option of selling surplus property to residents.
“They pay for this with their tax dollars, so I don’t know why we can’t give our residents kind of a first shot, if somebody needs a vehicle and gets a good price,” O’Rourke said.
The trustee noted that he found information on auction of surplus vehicles – provided as a link to the auction site on the village website – to be confusing, noting that residents need a log in and password to look at vehicle that have been put up for auction.
“I can’t do it, it tells me when I go on that I need to be a dealer, and I’m not a dealer,” O’Rourke said.
But the trustee’s question was met with frustration by the mayor.
“Civilians cannot get on, period,” Collins noted. “It’s every Tuesday at 9:30 in the morning at that auction center is when the public auction is for all units. As the chief has explained… the units that we’re giving aren’t worth much, they’re just worth parts. So, I don’t think that anyone would actually want to purchase a piece of junk unless they’re looking for parts for another unit.”
But O’Rourke still thinks residents should have a shot at grabbing up surplus property.
“You don’t think our residents should have the opportunity [to buy those vehicles],” O’Rourke said. “Not all the ones we sell are unfit to drive.”
But Collins estimated that about 90 percent of the vehicles that the village puts up for auction are not fit to drive, and that the public is welcome to attend the public auction once a week to look at any vehicle publicly available from Plainfield or other municipalities.
Still, O’Rourke said he’d like to see residents get a chance to purchase property the village no longer wants or needs.
“Sometimes we say the minimum price is $1,000, but they sell for $5,000,” O’Rourke said. “If they’re not drivable, somebody is paying money for them. We’ve been told for months that if you go on the website, it tells you when those vehicles are going to be auctioned off. And now you’re telling me, no, you’ve got to be a dealer… So why are we telling the public that they can go on the website to do that?”
But other trustees said they would not be in favor of selling a heavily used vehicle to members of the general public.
“If we’re not going to keep our officers behind the wheel, then I have a liability concern if a resident was to buy one of the vehicles and something happens,” said Trustee Cally Larson. “I don’t want the finger pointed back at us saying, you sold me this hunk of junk, something happened and my kid was behind the wheel… But with that being said, if there are vehicles being sold that are still functional, you make a great point in saying, this one still has some use on it.”
Chief Konopek said that the vehicles that the police put to auction are no longer useful or safe.
“We run those vehicles into the ground,” Konopek said. “They’re not safe to drive when we are done with them.”
The vehicle will be auctioned through the Will County Governmental League, utilizing Manheim Arena Auto Public Auction in Bolingbrook.