SALEM TWP. — Trustees said Tuesday they want to get some roads patched this winter while also trying to sell the patching machine the township no longer uses.

The township purchased a new machine last year and had talked about auctioning off the old one last fall, but still had not placed the information on the governmentdeals.com website, which is used by many government entities to get rid of equipment that’s been replaced or no longer in use.

Constable Dan Valentine had done a lot of research on how to use the website to auction off equipment. The website takes a fee of 12.5 percent of the purchase price and Valentine said some entities will pay part of the cost and pass the rest onto the buyer. He was told by someone that they should pass the entire cost onto the buyer, noting that if they’re already, for example, paying $10,000 for a piece of equipment, they’re not going to pass it up because of the fee. They know there’s going to be a fee.

He was also told the items should be left up for sale for at least 10 days, explaining that the website wants to sell the item just as badly as the township because they’re getting paid 12.5 percent. The township just has to include a detailed description, a photo and a starting bid.

Trustee John Wilms said he would talk with road foreman Jason Entrikin about getting on the website to sell the equipment.

Wilms also suggested trustees approve a purchase order for some emulsion for the road crew to do some patching now. Trustees approved a purchase order for $5,000.

Trustee Ray Heddleson mentioned a dip or hole in the road when turning from state Route 558 onto Lisbon Road and was told that belongs to the state.

Trustees had no problem with Valentine’s request to join the Ohio Fire Academy 24-7 courses for $26 per year. He does fire training, such as on building codes, and the Ohio Fire Academy offers online webinars. Valentine also told trustees about an offer from Leetonia Schools for their old sign in front of the school since the district is getting a new electronic sign. The sign was already offered to the village for free, but the village didn’t want it, so the district wanted to see if the township was interested. Trustees decided to pass on the offer.