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3. Disposal of Found and Unclaimed PropertyCity of Kalispell Public Works Department Post Office Box 1997, Kalispell, Montana 59903-1997 - Telephone (406)758-7720, Fax (406)758-7831 REPORT TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: James C. Hansz, P.E., Director of Public Works / City Engineer SUBJECT: Unclaimed Property Storage and Disposal MEETING DATE: 13 October 2003 Work Session A variety of unclaimed property is stored for the Police Department in an old building at the City shop. The volume of this property has been increasing over the past few years so that storage is becoming increasingly more difficult. Items must be securely kept for a minimum of six months to allow rightful owners the opportunity to re-claim their property. Unclaimed items accumulate and are periodically sold at auction. While the increased volume of stored items is becoming a problem, bicycles are a particular problem to store because they require so much space. Further, the space required for bicycles reduces the available space for storing other items and makes the tasks of sorting and cataloging, loading and transporting far more difficult. Simply walking through the storage building has often been difficult because of the large number of items in storage. Transporting all this property, particularly bicycles, to the auction house is also a time-consuming task. A typical auction effort involves two to three days with one person from KPD and at least two from PWD to sort, load, and transport materials the whole time. The last sale of derelict bicycles generated $612 for 40 bikes. The total revenue generated last time from the sale of all the unclaimed items stored for KPD, including bicycles, was $2,786, less $521 in auction fees, for a net of $2,265. Clearly, bicycles are some of the least "profitable" items in the auction, often returning only $5 for a bike. Many are sold for more, some for less (some for as little as $ l .50) but the average is about $15 per bike. Storage difficulties and disposal costs for bicycles could be reduced with an alternate solution to an auction. Barbara Sullivan and Leonard Hogan have suggested an alternative that appears to be desirable. In lieu of storing bikes for long periods and then auctioning for very little, Barb and Leonard have suggested the City donate excess bikes to local service clubs where they can be renovated and distributed to the children of low-income families. We believe this suggestion deserves City Council consideration. RESOLUTION NO. A RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH A PROCEDURE FOR THE DISPOSITION OF FOUND AND UNCLAIMED PERSONAL PROPERTY HELD BY THE CITY OF KALISPELL. WHEREAS, the City of Kalispell holds and stores various kinds of found and unclaimed personal property within its storage facilities maintained by the Public Works Department; and WHEREAS, the accumulated found and unclaimed personal property is generally of the nature of bicycles and skateboards; and WHEREAS, it is the desire of the City of Kalispell to dispose of the accumulated found and unclaimed personal property with a procedure that is consistent with laws of the state, that makes an earnest attempt to find the legitimate owners of the property, that reimburses the City for its costs in holding, advertising and disposing of the property and that benefits non-profit charitable organizations within the community. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF KALISPELL AS FOLLOWS: SECTION I. The City of Kalispell shall dispose of its inventory of found and unclaimed personal property not subject to the terms of MCA 45-5-305 no less frequently than annually using the following procedure: 1. A descriptive list of the property for disposition shall be compiled and published in the Daily Inter Lake with a notice describing how such property may be claimed by its legitimate owner and indicating that such property will be disposed of by the City fourteen days after publication. 2. The city shall solicit interest from the various charitable organizations within the community to determine which organizations may desire receiving the property for price of the costs paid by the city in storing and advertising the property. 3. If more than one charitable organization expresses interest in purchasing such property, the city shall provide such opportunity to each organization on a rotating basis. PASSED AND APPROVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL AND SIGNED BY THE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF KALISPELL, THIS DAY OF , 20 Pamela B. Kennedy Mayor