Dorval turns to Kijiji to unload surplus items

Website costs far less than holding a live auction, mayor observes

We’re analyzing all of this. These are our first times. It worked well since we got rid of this stuff. DORVAL MAYOR EDGAR ROULEAU

Faced with cleaning out some leftover construction materials, the city of Dorval, which boasts a $122-million annual operating budget, has opted for the first time to use the Kijiji online classified service.

Last week, city council unanimously ratified the sale of wood that had been used for moulds to pour concrete during the construction of the municipality’s new $20-million aquatic sports complex, which opened in late August. The city’s public works department placed the wood on sale on Kijiji, garnering three bids, of which the highest offer, $2,210, was accepted.

“These are leftovers we wanted to get rid of,” said Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau. “The wood was used for forms to pour the concrete. The wood was ours, since we paid for it. We sold it since, of course, we don’t need it any more.”

However, the city placed eight batches of unwanted stock of uni-stones for sale on Kijiji last month, though no offers came in. Instead, the city then held an inhouse silent auction and sold off three batches of these uni-stones to municipal employees for $100 each, deals which were also ratified by council last week.

Rouleau said a city employee had suggested the idea of using Kijiji to sell leftover materials that were taking up storage space at the public works yard. Not only was using Kijiji deemed practical, it’s a cheaper option than holding a formal auction, which requires publishing notices and hiring a professional auctioneer, the mayor said.

“We’re analyzing all of this. These are our first times. It worked well since we got rid of this stuff,” he said of the wood sale.

“When a city wants to get rid of something, there are different ways. Sometimes what we do as a city is do an auction, once a year, or whatever. It costs us a lot. I don’t know by heart exactly, but it’s thousands of dollars. The cost of an auctioneer and everything is sometimes more than what we get for the material we are getting rid of, which is usually useless to the city.”

Rouleau said the city will continue to explore using Kijiji to sell unwanted materials as needed in the future.

“We don’t have that many items. That’s why it’s costly when we do (an auction) because we’ll never get our money’s worth,” he said. “We said we’ll try Kijiji and see. It’s paid off.”

The mayor said there has been a learning curve for the city, noting there are costs associated with using the Kijiji for business site but not the regular public Kijiji site.