Skagit County holds public hearing to surplus vehicles, equipment ahead of October auction

Skagit County commissioners heard from county equipment staff Aug. 19 during a public hearing to consider surplusing vehicles and equipment the county no longer needs.

Jason Ludgood, ER&R manager in the county equipment division, told the board the items on the published list had reached or exceeded their useful lives, been replaced and in some cases used a “second life.” He said replacement timelines are based on estimated service lives — for example, six years for share-type vehicles, 10 years for passenger cars and 20 years for dump trucks and heavy equipment — and each unit is evaluated on miles, hours and overall condition.

Ludgood said some units on the list have relatively low miles because they were totaled in crashes; others had more than 100,000 miles. He described coordination with the Sheriff’s Office to reassign some vehicles and noted three Cummins engines from the ferry haul-out and a 10,000-pound four-post lift also will be surplused.

ER&R recommended the commissioners sign a resolution to declare the listed items surplus and route it to the consent agenda. Ludgood said the surplus items will be sold through James G. Murphy Auction in Marysville with in-person previews and online bidding; preview dates are scheduled and the auction runs in October.

No members of the public spoke during the hearing. A motion to close the public hearing was made, seconded and the motion carried. Ludgood and county staff said the resolution declaring the items surplus will appear on the next consent agenda for formal adoption.

The county encouraged people with questions about particular units to contact ER&R staff; staff said some government-to-government transfers can occur but otherwise sales will proceed through the auction house.