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| Kansas Inmates Staff Giant Garage Sale of Government Surplus Property |
| By Kansas City Star |
| Published: 06/05/2003 |
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In the market for a walk-through metal detector? How about 26 barber chairs, tastefully covered in black vinyl? Maybe a sporty former Highway Patrol cruiser? Those are just a few of the items state government has for sale at its surplus property complex south of Topeka on the grounds of a former Air Force base. More standard items -- such as computers, office furniture, shop equipment and vehicles no longer needed by state agencies -- fill shelves and parking lots. As many as 1,300 shoppers from other state agencies, as well as individuals hoping to pick up bargains, filter through the facility each month. 'Our perception is we want to do what's best for the taxpayer,' said Doug Friesz of the Kansas Department of Corrections' Correctional Industries program. In some years, the operation sells as much as $7 million worth of property of all types. Most of the money is returned to the donating agency, and the rest is retained by the Department of Corrections, which operates the program. At its state surplus complex, the department employs about a half-dozen inmates from the Topeka Correctional Facility, a women's prison. Friesz said inmates covet the jobs, which pay 25 to 50 cents an hour. 'The use of inmate labor is what makes this viable,' he said. The Department of Corrections took over the surplus property operation from the Department of Administration about 20 years ago. Negotiations are under way that could result in returning surplus property operations to the Administration Department. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' Public Safety audit team recommended taking a new look at how the state handles its surplus property. It suggested placing the Administration Department in charge. Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said his agency was placed in charge of the program because it had become a financial drain on the state treasury when it was operated by the Administration Department. 'The decision was made to transfer it over to the Department of Corrections,' he said. 'I don't think it was because of our keen business sense, but because we could use inmate labor.' Preliminary discussions between the Corrections Department and the Department of Administration already have taken place. Werholtz said that regardless of who was in charge, inmates would continue to be assigned to the surplus property operations. 'We intend to provide the inmate labor to the function wherever it is and to whomever runs it,' he said. |
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