City auction a success

NORWALK — The city hosted its first auction in seven years Saturday morning, auctioning off items no longer needed. The auction was considered a success, superintendent of general services Daren Smith said. "Everything went very well, it was very well organized," he said. "(Don) Sweeting did a great job putting on the auction." Those working in general services helped organize and put on the auction and those working in the city hall offices helped get all the necessary paperwork together, Smith said. Greg Finding, general services' mechanic, "spent hours" getting everything organized, Smith said. He said Finding helped to determine what could be put in the auction and what was still needed by the city. "When it came to auction day it went really smooth," he said. "A couple of our guys were out there working, helping people get around and get things loaded. It had a really good turnout." Smith said some pickup trucks, a backhoe and dump trucks were some of the higher ticket items, but some of the smaller items "brought in a lot more money than we had anticipated." While Smith didn't have a definite number, he said he thinks the auction brought in $120,000. "All that money goes back to the general fund," he said. "It'll help with things when we're low on cash. It's just helping the cause of everything, especially this year with the COVID and money being tight. It'll definitely help the city." The last auction by the city was seven years ago, Smith said, and general services started getting items together in May for this year's auction. He said many of the items in the auction were things that weren't put in seven years ago and items rarely used. Items like the pickup truck and dump trucks were going to be selling for higher prices and city council had to pass legislation allowing sales to occur. "We spent a lot of time down there organizing and cleaning everything, making sure everything was set up to make it fun smoothly," Smith said. "We appreciate everybody who came out and went around and purchased things. (They're) helping the city out and hopefully, somebody can get something good out of it."