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Minnesota State Colleges and Universities: Board of Trustees

System Procedures
for Chapter 7- General Finance Provisions

Procedure 7.3.13 Surplus Personal Property / Building Disposal

for Board Policy 7.3

Part 1. Authority.

The 1996 Mandates Reduction Bill (H.F. 2206, Section 62) requires MnSCU to develop a surplus property disposal procedure in consultation with the Department of Administration.

Part 2. Personal Property

The system office, a college, or a university shall sell, trade in (if item has a value), give away, or destroy surplus personal property that is no longer useful. The State's Surplus Service Program is available to assist the system office, college, or university in determining the most appropriate method to dispose of property which will best fulfill its needs. The system office, college, or university shall take the following steps for disposal of surplus personal property.

    Step 1:
    Offer to other offices, departments, divisions, or campuses within the institution.
    Step 2:
    Offer to other institutions within MnSCU.
    Step 3:
    Offer for sale to the general public by sealed bids, public auction, negotiated sale, pre-priced garage sale, or non-sale by consignment/donation or use the services of the State's Surplus Services Program.

In the event there is a publicly advertised auction sale, the public will have the opportunity to inspect the property within a reasonable period of time. All items disposed of will have no implied warranty and will be disposed of in an "AS IS" condition at the time of viewing. Disposed items that are on the fixed assets inventory list shall be removed from the list at the time of disposal.

Any items remaining after using one or more of the above options will be disposed of as determined by the system office, college, or university.

Part 3. Buildings

If the system office, college, or university determine that a state-owned building is no longer used or which is a fire or safety hazard, it shall sell, demolish, or otherwise dispose of the building.

Before disposing of any building, a review should be done to determine the presence of any hazardous materials.

When appropriate, the State Historical Society should be notified to determine if the designated surplus building has any historical significance and the State Building Construction Division should be notified in order to update the master register of state buildings.

If a building has a real net value of $5,000.00 or more (after giving consideration to costs of removal, demolition, salvage and restoration of land), the building will be sold through sealed bids or at a public auction to the highest responsible bidder. A sale may not be made until publication of notice of the sale in a newspaper of general circulation in the area where the property is located and any other advertising deemed appropriate. Any of the property may be withdrawn from the sale prior to the completion of the sale unless the auction has been announced to be without reserve. If the sale is made at public auction, a duly licensed auctioneer must be retained to conduct the sale. The auctioneer's fees and other administrative costs of the auction must be paid from the proceeds from which an amount sufficient to pay them is appropriated.

Guidance for the demolition of a building is available from the State Building Construction Division.

Part 4. State Employees or Officers

In accordance with M.S. 15.054 no state employee or officer shall sell or give away to any other state employee or officer any personal property or materials owned by the state except such items may be sold to a state employee after reasonable public notice at a public auction or by sealed bid if the state employee is the highest bidder and is not directly involved in the auction or sealed bid process. A state employee may purchase no more than one motor vehicle from the state in any 12-month period. A person violating MS 15.054 is guilty of a misdemeanor. This does not apply to the sale of personal property or materials acquired or produced by the state for sale to the general public in the ordinary course of business. State employees are not prohibited from selling or possessing for sale public property if the sale or possession for sale is in the normal course of the employee's duties.

Related Documents: to view the following related statute, go to the Revisor's Web site (http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/). You can conduct a search from this site by typing in the statute number.
  • M.S. Chapter 15.054, Public employees not to purchase merchandise from governmental agencies, exceptions, penalty
  • M.S. Chapter 136F.526, Audits
  • M.S. Chapter 136F.72, Activity Funds
  • M.S. Chapter 136A.1313, Financial Aid Audits
  • M.S. Chapter 135A.30, Minnesota Academic Excellence Scholarships
  • M.S. Chapter 136F.72 Funds
  • M.S. Chapter 136A.1313, Financial Aid Audits
Date of Implementation: 06/21/00
Date of Adoption: 11/22/96
Date & Subject of Revisions: 06/21/00 - Contains language formerly in system procedure 5.0.2

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