City looks again to eBay to dump old stuff

So your faithful half-ton pickup truck has lately seemed, well, a trifle wimpy.

You could upgrade to a heavy duty one-ton model.

But why not dispense with such half-hearted measures altogether and just get yourself a dump truck.

A real dump truck.

One that can haul five cubic yards of whatever it is you need to haul.

Which is enough to pretty much bury your garden-variety pickup.

Or, speaking of gardens, enough topsoil to start a plot of sufficient size to keep your whole neighborhood in vegetables all summer.

Baker City has the truck.

Most of which, unlike the dump truck, will fit in your garage.

For the fifth time in the past seven years the city, striving to clear its storage spaces of superfluous items, has turned to Internet auction behemoth eBay.

The city’s eBay auction starts today at 10 p.m.

After logging in, type “Baker City.”

Bids on the 120 or so items will be accepted through Thursday, July 8.

(Bidding for each item will close at two-minute intervals between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. that day.)

The city’s first eBay auction was in 2004. It netted the city about $13,500.

There were auctions again in 2005 and 2006.

Since then the city, having rid itself of hundreds of items, has switched to an every-other-year schedule, said Tom Fisk, who’s the city’s street supervisor and auction coordinator.

There was an auction in 2008, but none in 2007 or 2009.

The previous four auctions added about $40,000 to the city’s coffers.

Fisk said he expects the city will continue to accumulate enough excess stuff to warrant an auction every two years.

Unlike past auctions, this year the city has not set a minimum bid for any lots.

“I don’t really see the advantage of (setting minimums),” Fisk said. “Our goal is to really get the bidding going.”

One thing that hasn’t changed from the city’s previous eBay auctions is that the list of items fits comfortably under the heading “eclectic.”

Certainly there is no apparent similarity between, say, a scythe and a lighted snowflake.

The scythes — there are two available — are described in the city’s program as “well used antique” tools that were “recently replaced with a new weed eater.”

Which is distinct from the old weed eater that’s also for sale. Alas, that one, having had “extensive use” according to the city, doesn’t run.

The snowflakes — two lots, each consisting of two flakes — once adorned Main Street during the Christmas season.

As did a pair of metal boxes where drivers could deposit their parking ticket fines.

Except the boxes, along with the parking meters which the city no longer uses, were in place year-round.

(Four of those retired meters are for sale too. They don’t work, though, so don’t figure on supplementing your income by turning your block into a parking garage.)

Boxes and ornaments and parking meters, though interesting trinkets steeped in Baker City history, won’t haul a load of gravel for your driveway.

Which returns us to the dump truck. It’s a 1981 Ford 700 that has rolled up 41,617 miles during its nearly three decades of service.

It’s no stripped-down model, either.

The truck is equipped with an 11-foot-wide snow plow, and it boasts a nearly new clutch.

And if you need to smooth that load of gravel, the city will sell you a 1963 Huber Warco steel wheel drum roller. It has front and rear rollers, each 50 inches wide.

Other rolling iron on the auction block includes:

• A 1989 GMC Sierra S-15 two-wheel drive pickup truck with 93,968 miles.

• A 1988 GMC Jimmy four-wheel drive with 84,341 miles.

• A 2003 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with 132,888 miles.

If the bidding on the vehicles gets too rich for you, Fisk suggests another option that, though it lacks utility, would at least add flair — of the non-felonious sort — to your landscaping.

The city wants to sell several former street signs that are no longer legal because they’re not reflective.

Among the streets represented are Baker, Virginia, Grandview, Dewey, Orchard, Clark, 1st and Highway 7.

Fisk said that although eBay auctions are open to pretty much anyone with a computer and an Internet connection, he hopes local residents, or former Bakerites, will put in the winning bid for the street signs and other items that have a semblance of local historic significance.

“It’s a great opportunity for the citizens,” he said. “I’d estimate that 80 percent of what we sell does go to local people.”