By Kellen Olshefski
SLN Staff
Following a question from a local business owner about city procedures for handling surplus and abandoned property, Elkhorn’s Finance and Judicial Committee began discussions Monday night about how policy might be able to be changed for the betterment of the community.
Chairman Scott McClory said one of his constituents, Anna Griffin, who owns Lakeland Bakery on North Wisconsin Street, brought the idea to him. McClory said she wanted to see something happen with abandoned or lost bicycles collected by the city rather than see them simply go to auction.
“She had a lot of different ideas,” he said, noting she also wanted to better understand the city’s policies on surplus property.
McClory said various alternatives discussed included refurbishing the bicycles and giving them to children in need or perhaps a public bicycle program, like Madison’s Red Bike program in which anyone can grab a red bicycle and use it as needed, returning it to a bicycle rack when done.
“Something other than simply letting someone show up, buy 50 of them at auction and then sell them all on eBay,” he said. “When I spoke to her, we talked about a myriad of options.
“I’m not trying to put words in Anna’s mouth, but if I understand her, her posture is can we do something different than what we’re doing now.”
In response to a question from Alderman Tom Myrin, City Administrator Sam Tapson said the city has a large stockpile of bicycles that have been abandoned, lost or stolen and never claimed. While not all of the bicycles are in good condition, Tapson said a lot of them are, some of them even almost brand new.
“The current system, I don’t think is working,” Alderman Hoss Rehberg said Monday. “If you go to the city garage, they’re in the garage, they’re out back, they’re everywhere.”
Rehberg said when the topic was previously discussed at a Municipal Services and Utilities Committee meeting, the only concerns were statutory requirements because the city can’t just simply get rid of surplus property. However, Rehberg said one option that was discussed and suggested, was changing the auction process to an online auction site.
This way, the city could put surplus property, like bicycles, up for auction once every 30 to 60 days for example to prevent them from piling up.
If the bicycles were to go towards a public benefit, Tapson said there might be a way they could be donated to the public by the city, though it’s something he would have to research further before he could say for sure.
McClory also noted working for the Walworth County Sheriff’s Office, he knows it would be easy to contact the Walworth County Health and Human Services to get a list of those in need to whom bicycles could be donated to.
“If you’ve ever been there right before Christmas, that auditorium is filled right to the brim with every kind of toy for every age group, every gender,” he said.
“So, I know it wouldn’t be that hard to find out who’s the most needy in our community and it’s something we could even do anonymously.”
The committee made no decision Monday night on the topic as further research and input is needed to determine what exactly state statutes will allow. Looking to find out an answer, the committee hopes to bring the topic back for further discussion in July.
