Local municipalities are always in a continuous loop of managing resources, serving communities, and ensuring sustainability. In an insightful interview with Gene Irvin, the fleet supervisor at Springfield Township imparts valuable strategies for managing municipal fleets and leveraging public auctions for enhanced surplus sales.
Municipal Auctions and Financial Prudence: The Perks of Online Auctions
Switching to an online auction service has been a game-changer for Springfield Township. The municipality employs police vehicles, heavy duty trash and plow trucks, medium duty trucks, and other equipment like blowers, weed whackers, and more. Before Municibid, they were reliant on private auctions, but these were anything but ideal. High fees were only one of the major issues they faced.
“I went to one of the auctions one weekend, and one of our trucks came up. It was the next one on the bidding block. It was over in Norristown, and when they brought the truck up for bid, the auctioneer went into how the frame was cracked, and this and that, and said how the truck was in really bad shape, and none of that was true. So that's when I decided we had to find somewhere else to do that.” - Gene Irvin
Gene began researching Municibid back in 2016. He spent a year trying to convince his director to make the switch. Eventually the team did, selling off the public works director’s car. This success was the start of more to come. Following the shift, Springfield Township enjoyed complete control over the sales process, avoided unnecessary fees, and significantly shortened the time from decommissioning to sale, leading to better asset value retention. Moreover, with their detailed service records and maintenance histories, buyers have appreciated the transparency and condition of the vehicles.
“I'm employed here at Springfield Township for about 11 years. I'm currently the fleet supervisor. We're in charge of the entire fleet here. Everything with wheels, everything without. The guys bring it to us, we fix it. Hopefully not that often. I've been using Municibid now for about six years, since 2017. I've had quite a bit of success with it. Right about now we're sitting at like $330,000 in sales, with no cost to us.” - Gene Irvin
A Case of Return on Investment
The township has had several experiences of great returns on investment. One such case was a 2000 Ford F-350 bucket truck. They bought the vehicle for $21,000 in 2007. Then in 2021, the team sold the truck for $20,500! These numbers prove the effectiveness of the municipality’s approach, and at the same time, prove the utility of Municibid.
“I just wanted to reach out to the whole Municibid gang and thank you! Springfield Township listed and sold a 2008 tub grinder on the site for a third of what we paid for the equipment new."
"I took phone calls regarding this equipment from Montana, Massachusetts and Florida. This shows how large this platform is. Anyone who is not using this site should be looking into it!” - Gene Irvin
Springfield Township adopted a system that prioritizes maintenance services based on vehicle hours instead of mileage because their locale is so small. Thus far, this has ensured consistent fleet performance and minimized long-term wear and tear.
“The police fleet is mostly tires, brakes, oil. Fortunately the fleet's relatively new. We rotate the cars every five years. That's why we have so many of them on Municibid. Right now we're transitioning over to hybrids. So the services have really gone farther out. Like the service interval has become longer in time because it takes them that much more time to get 300 hours on it than it used to when they'd leave them idling for, whether it's cold out or whatever. The cars now that, you know, because it's all hybrid, it's running on the battery instead of the engine.” - Gene Irvin
Cultivating Community and Historical Pride: The Essence of Springfield Township
Top-notch fleet maintenance definitely contributes to the vibrant community events happening at Springfield Township. Gene’s favorite season is summer when their trucks are getting plenty of use. During that time many projects are happening like cutting the grass, paving, or building up local parks. This township’s story is not just a narrative of good practices, but a blueprint for municipalities nationwide aiming to foster community while growing fiscally.
“I've had a couple of municipalities switch over to Municibid. On recommendation, they called and asked how easy it was, what was involved, what the fees were, and I explained to them there's no fees. I've probably got three or four townships to switch over. I mean, it's a great experience, it really is. It couldn't be any easier, and like I said, it's not costing us anything.” - Gene Irvin
