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A. Vehicle Acquisition. Vehicles may only be purchased if the vehicle purchase price, including all applicable tax, license, fees, dealer preparation and delivery charges, is included in the fixed assets portion of the budget for the department requesting the purchase of a vehicle or vehicles and the purchase is specifically authorized, in advance of the purchase, by action of the Board of Supervisors. Such purchases shall only be approved if competitive bidding procedures are followed. Unless other specific requirements are established by the Board, informal bid procedures set forth in SCC 5.04.130 shall be followed. Informal bid procedures are waived for any vehicle purchase which is made pursuant to a federal or state of California government qualified acquisition program which has been established subject to federal or state bidding standards.

B. Title to Vehicles and Inventory. The title to vehicles shall be held in the name of “Sierra County.” Any and all original documents of title shall be held by the County Treasurer. Original acquisition documents shall be maintained by the department which acquires the vehicles. The Auditor shall maintain an inventory of all county vehicles.

C. Vehicle Surplusing. Individual county departments wishing to dispose of vehicles shall provide written notice to the Board of Supervisors indicating that a specific vehicle(s) is recommended for surplus. The Board of Supervisors, after consideration of this written notice and after finding that the vehicle(s) is no longer required for use by the subject department, may declare the vehicle as surplus. County vehicles may be declared surplus property only after such declaration is made by action of the Board of Supervisors.

D. Storage. The County Director of Public Works shall be responsible for the storage of surplus county vehicles. The County Director of Public Works shall obtain from the originating department current and complete files on all county vehicles which have been declared surplus and county departments shall turn over all records requested by the County Director of Public Works which may be necessary to maintain accurate information on the surplus county vehicles approved by the Board of Supervisors.

E. Disposition.

1. Interdepartmental Transfer. Any department requesting a surplus county vehicle shall make such request in writing to the Director of Public Works after the vehicle desired has been declared surplus. The Director of Public Works may make a determination of a proposed disposition for interdepartmental transfer of vehicles based upon his perception of need and relative priorities for vehicle use.

Not less than 10 days prior to a proposed interdepartmental transfer of any vehicle, the Director of Public Works shall give notice to all department managers of such proposed transfer. Within 10 days after such 10-day notice, the Director of Public Works or the requesting department shall place the proposed transfer on the Board of Supervisors Consent Agenda for approval. No interdepartmental transfer shall be made without the approval of the Board of Supervisors.

2. Public Sales. In the event that vehicles are in the surplus pool and either not requested or not approved for interdepartmental transfer, said vehicles shall periodically be offered for sale pursuant to the following procedures.

a. Preparation of Bid List: The Director of Public Works shall prepare a “bid list” identifying the type of vehicle, the date of manufacture by year, the license number, a proposed minimum bid, and other such information as deemed necessary by the Board of Supervisors.

b. Approval by Board of Supervisors: The Director of Public Works shall submit the bid list to the Board of Supervisors for approval (or modification) and for authorization to solicit sealed bids or to hold a public auction.

c. Advertising for Sale: Subsequent to receiving Board approval of the bid list, the Director of Public Works shall advertise for solicitation of bid upon the approved bid list as he deems appropriate, but not less than once in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county. Such advertisement shall contain the bid list information (item A above), and a date for final submission of sealed bids or the date, time and location of the public auction.

d. Director of Public Works to Authorize Sales to Highest Qualified Bidders: The Director of Public Works or his designated representative shall authorize sales to the highest qualified bidders in the sealed bid sale or public auction.

e. Unsold Surplus Vehicles: The Board of Supervisors may authorize the Director of Public Works to sell any unsold vehicles which have been advertised for sale but for which no qualifying bid was received, in any commercially reasonable manner at a price not less than 75 percent of the minimum bid price approved by the Board of Supervisors pursuant to subsection (E)(2)(b) of this section.

f. Condition of Sale: All vehicles shall be sold “AS IS” with no warranty, express or implied as to condition or fitness for any particular purpose. Obligations for smog certification, transfer fees and licensure transfer fees shall be the responsibility of buyer. The foregoing shall be contained in a bill of sale signed by buyer and county. The Treasurer and/or Auditor are authorized to sign the “pink slips” or other documents of title conveying the vehicle to the buyer.

3. Transfer and Sale of Surplus Vehicles to Special Districts. As an alternative to the public sale of any surplus vehicle pursuant to subsection (E)(2) of this section, in the event that vehicles are in the surplus pool and either not requested or not approved for interdepartmental transfer, said vehicles may be offered to sale, at nominal cost, to any special district within Sierra County. In the event that any such vehicle is not purchased by a special district within the county, the Director of Public Works is authorized to sell any such vehicle to a special district in a neighboring county within the state of California, at the lowest blue book value or at such other price as the Director feels is reasonable and appropriate taking into consideration the age and condition of the vehicle. If any vehicle is may sell any such vehicle to any special district in neighboring county within the state of California for such value as the Director may then deem appropriate.

4. Sales to Human Services Program Participants. Notwithstanding subsection (B) of this section, upon request from the Director of the Department of Human Services, the Director of the Department of Public Works, as the county official in charge of disposing of surplus vehicles, shall allow persons that are certified by the Director of the Department of Human Services as being eligible Cal Works, Welfare-to-Work or General Assistance program participants, to purchase surplus vehicles from the county, without submitting the vehicle to public bidding under subsection (B) of this section. Any such purchase shall be at the price established by the Board of Supervisors in the resolution declaring the vehicle surplus. The list of eligible program participants shall be transmitted by the Director of the Department of Human Services to the Director of the Department of Public Works as may from time to time be necessary to reflect eligibility of program participants that wish to participate in the purchase of surplus county vehicles. Any eligible program participant shall be allowed to purchase a surplus vehicle under this policy at any time prior to the vehicle being sold at public auction. Purchase shall be for cash and shall be on an “as is” basis. In purchasing a surplus county vehicle as allowed under this chapter, the identity of the program participant making the purchase will be a matter of public record and the participant will be deemed to have waived any confidentiality pertaining to participation in this particular program that may otherwise be provided by law. The Director of the Department of Human Services, or his/her designee, shall advise any program participant desiring to have his or her name certified as being eligible to purchase a surplus vehicle, pursuant to this chapter, that certification of his or her eligibility thereunder will constitute a waiver of any rights of confidentiality that may exist pertaining to their participation in the Human Services Programs.

5. Trade-In of Surplus Vehicles to Special Districts. This section is intended to provide an alternative to the procedures specified by this code for the disposal of surplus county vehicles, including but not limited to road graders, tractors and other heavy equipment used by the County Department of Transportation. Upon the recommendation of the Director of the Department of Transportation, the Board may authorize any county vehicle to be traded in to a vendor as part of the purchase of a new vehicle. The Director of the Department of Transportation shall negotiate an appropriate trade-in value based on the value of the vehicle being traded in based on such pricing guidelines and other information as may then be available.

F. Suspension of Procedures for Sale of Surplus Vehicles. Subsections (C), (D) and (E) of this section regarding procedures for vehicle surplusing shall be suspended for a period of 12 months (from July 1, 2012, to June 30, 2013) and the Director of Public Works is authorized and directed to dispose of vehicles declared by the Board of Supervisors to be surplus as follows:

Without otherwise complying with the provisions of Chapter 5.04 SCC, the Director shall publish a list of vehicles declared surplus in The Mountain Messenger and stating that the Director shall entertain offers to purchase and is authorized to sell for such price as the Director determines is reasonable and in the public interest, any of the surplus vehicles. (Ord. 1040, eff. 8/16/12; Ord. 991, eff. 8/2/07; Ord. 923, eff. 10/18/01; Ord. 920, eff. 8/2/01; Ord. 901, eff. 5/4/00; Ord. 812, eff. 2/12/94; Ord. 801, eff. 1/14/93)