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Richland County committee questions $154,500 inventory proposal, asks staff to pursue local auction options
Summary
County staff described a proposal to inventory campus fixtures and equipment at an estimated $154,500; committee members said expected auction revenue will likely be lower than inventory costs and asked staff to seek local auctioneers and bring a recommendation to the full board.
County staff told the campus reconfiguration committee that a consultant proposal would inventory fixtures, furnishings and equipment across six UW Richland campus buildings and prepare photo-documented lots for online auction.
The consultant SEH’s written estimate presented to the committee was about $154,500; the transcript also contains a likely typographic reference to "not to exceed $154.05," which the committee treated as a transcription error and confirmed the intended estimate as roughly $154,500. Staff cautioned the committee that many items now on the campus are older and have low resale value: “it will cost us more to inventory the items than what we will most likely make on auction,” a staff member said.
Several committee members recommended pursuing local auction houses that inventory and sell in lots and take a percentage of sales rather than charging a large flat fee. A member who had spoken with Wilkinson Auction said that local firms could assess the campus and might deliver better local bidder participation and reuse by schools and community groups.
Committee members and staff flagged specialty equipment — chemistry hoods and laboratory islands — that cannot be auctioned while still attached to buildings and may require separate specialty removal. Other items (older desks, chairs, monitors and kitchen equipment) were described as low-value or cumbersome to move.
The committee did not vote to hire SEH; instead members asked staff to contact local auctioneers for site visits, to provide the committee with the SEH inventory materials at the next meeting for review, and to report back with recommendations for how to proceed. Staff said the county would manage any auction platform (for example, Wisconsin Surplus) if that route is selected.
The committee also agreed to share reports and a campus executive summary from Venture Architects with staff before the next meeting to help prioritize items for reuse or relocation.
What’s next: staff will contact local auction houses for assessments and provide inventory materials and a custom building report to the committee ahead of the next meeting; any final decision to hire a firm or to take a building to ambient temperature would be brought to the full board for approval.
