Want a deal? Try govdeals.com

The City of Gulf Shores did.

Gulf Shores’ plan was to have the current fire department building torn down and a new one built on the same spot at the city complez.

First things first: the old building had to be removed.

“I went to get a bid for it and it was over $39,000,” Fire Chief Hartly Brokenshaw said.

Enter city procurement official Wanda Brantley. She suggested using the website govdeals.com to sell the rights to the demolition.

“I said something to her and she said ‘I think we can sell that building,’” Brokenshaw said. “If it hadn’t been for her we’d be $39,000 behind.”

The website works a lot like EBay where companies bid surplus materials from various government agencies.

“Wanda Brantley, she did it,” Brokenshaw said. “We got together and she said ‘I know we can do this because we have done it on another building.’ I said ‘all right, Wanda, let’s go.’”

Previously the city had used the website to sell a building at Moe’s Landing down Fort Morgan Road. So the govdeals.com representative came down to look at the fire station.

“I told him ‘do you really think we’re going to sell it?’” Brokenshaw said. “He said ‘oh yeah, without a doubt. We’ll get rid of it.’”

At first, the bids were going slow.

“I watched the bidding online and I was worried for the first couple of weeks,” City Administrator Steve Garman said.

Brantley, Brokenshaw says, kept the faith.

“She said there was several people watching it, but nobody was bidding on it,” Brokenshaw said. “Now Sunday they started going back and forth and one guy finally said ‘this guy’s not going to give up.’  Supposedly he’s going to take it down and put it back up. He has some kind of big salvage business he does.”

So when all was said and done, the winning bidder came to town to sign paperwork on Aug. 26 and demolition was scheduled to start Monday.

The cost?

“It actually sold for a whopping $1,300,” a grinning Brokenshaw said. “Here’s the catch. If we would have had it torn down, I had gotten a bid for nearly $39,000. So we really saved $39,000.”