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Amherst council adopts measures allowing online auction sales of surplus city property
Summary
On March 10, 2025, the Amherst City Council suspended rules and adopted a resolution and an ordinance authorizing the sale of municipally owned personal property by Internet auction through 2029, and setting a $1,000 threshold for certain sales. Both measures were adopted on first reading by recorded voice roll call and declared emergencies.
The Amherst City Council on March 10 adopted two measures that authorize the city to sell surplus personal property by Internet auction and to set a minimum estimated value threshold for such sales.
Councilmember Janek moved to suspend the three-reading rule so the resolution authorizing Internet auctions of municipally owned personal property could be adopted on first reading; the motion was seconded and the suspension passed by roll call. Councilmember Dembinski then moved to adopt the resolution; the motion was seconded and adopted. The clerk recorded the outcome as passing by a 7-0 vote. The resolution authorizes sale of municipally owned personal property through calendar year 2029 by Internet auction and was declared an emergency.
Immediately afterward the council took the same expedited steps on a companion ordinance that authorizes the safety service director to sell through 2029 municipally owned personal property with an estimated value of $1,000 or more by Internet auction, also declared an emergency. Council moved to suspend the three-reading rule, the suspension passed by roll call, and the ordinance was adopted on first reading by a recorded vote the clerk reported as 7-0; the ordinance was entered as O-25-06.
Both measures cite state law as the authorizing statute. The agenda and roll-call language references the Revised Code provision governing disposition of municipal property (transcribed as "RC 721.15(d)").
Council actions were procedural and brief: each measure was advanced by a motion to suspend the rules to allow adoption on a single night, then adopted after roll-call votes. No extended debate or public comment on the measures is recorded in the meeting transcript.
The adopted measures allow the city to use online auction platforms to dispose of surplus items the city determines are "not needed for public use" or are "obsolete or unfit for the use for which they were acquired," and set an explicit dollar threshold for items subject to the ordinance. The emergency declarations permit immediate effect rather than waiting the customary waiting period for ordinances and resolutions.
The council did not provide details in the meeting about which specific types of property would be sold online, what Internet auction vendor(s) might be used, or how proceeds will be appropriated; those specifics were not specified in the transcript.
